Investing is sometimes cleverly called "The art of money making money", and rightfully so. The typical worker goes to work each day, every week, month and year of his life from graduation up until retirement. He earns a steady paycheck each month, and has a set hourly wage. This person usually thinks he earns $x amount an hour by being an employee, but this is false thinking. In actuality, he is selling x amount of hours each day, for a dollar amount. The ones who are earning money, are the people who hired this worker. So what happens if this worker takes a day off? Well, he won't be getting a single dime, because he has sold zero hours of his life to the company. How about the company owners or investors? If one of them decides to go on a holiday, what will happen to him? He will still be expecting a paycheck when he gets home… Why? Because the worker invests his life in active income, and the investor/owner in passive income. The owners and investors of the world makes money work for them, instead of having to work for money.
Passive income is income that does not require your direct involvement. Some kinds of passive income you may be familiar with include owning rental property, royalties on an invention or creative work, and network marketing. If you want to earn more, work less, and have a decent retirement, you're going to have to start creating income streams that do not require your direct involvement. Whether you're just starting your business, or you've been running it a while, the sooner you start thinking about how you are going to shift your business model to create more passive income, the sooner you can achieve personal and financial freedom.
So what makes a smart passive income investor? Let's make up an example of the average "work for money"-type of person, and the "let money work for me"-type of person:
David works 7 hours giving aerobics lessons in a gym in New York. He makes $2200 a month after taxes, which he is happy with. He is free on Saturdays and Sundays, and on all major holidays, which is the standard in his line of work. He is also happy with an annual 7% increase in wages.
Compare David to this next person:
Frederick is also an aerobics teacher, but one who earns money in a different way. He doesn't work at a gym, and does not have a workplace to go to every day. Instead he invests some money in hiring a professional photographer and some money in a digital video camera. He then creates his own aerobics video, and sells it online. He then pays professional marketers and designers to promote his website. He makes $2200 a month after taxes, just as David does. He now has time to concentrate on new products to further increase his wealth, and start earning income to suit his choice of lifestyle.
So, what's the point of this comparison? No one is richer than the other, so why bringing it up? Well, what would happen if David decided to visit Tokyo for a week, or go and see family in Canada for a few days? His income would cease, and he would risk being fired. Frederick on the other hand has invested in himself – He makes that $2200 every month regardless where in the world he is! He has truly understood the value of time, the only really non-renewable resource we have.
What makes passive income a winner in the long run is not primarily the money – it's time! Earning passively makes you free of a lot of burden than comes with a normal worker's life. Not to mention that with a passive income you can usually leverage your time very well and easily increase your revenue each month.
A worker cannot do this as the old "work harder and earn more" type of thinking does not apply in our modern world. A worker who decides to put all his strength into performing tasks a certain month will not see an increase in his paycheck for that month. However, if he slacks off for a month, he gets fired. This is not a logical way of trading time for money, yet it is the one most people subscribe to because they don't know about other options.
It's not hard to earn a passive income. It is very important to understand this statement. What makes people refrain from trying to earn passively is simply the, "I don't know how to…" or "I don't have time…" types of thinking. Let's address the first one, "I don't know how": This, in itself is not true. Fat people know why they are fat, and they know that by eating more healthy food and going to the gym will make them slim and healthy – but do they do it? Usually not. It's not about "I don't know how", but rather, "I don't have the motivation to try" that keeps people from achieving success in their lives.
Lucas Lowrey has made over $650.000 online by investing in websites that generate automatic income since 2007. Visit his website for free articles and tips on website investing!
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