Many people misunderstand the term passive income. Some people think that you can set things in place and suddenly have money coming in randomly. That’s usually not the case.
For passive income to succeed, you have to do a great deal of work upfront for a later reward. However, when that money does come in, it can feel like free money. But why doesn’t it feel free after we worked hard to create it?
Work for assets. The main idea for passive income is exchanging time for assets. For typical employees, they are trading time for money. Once they complete their work, they earn a paycheck. Then they must perform more work to earn another paycheck.
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They depend on their paychecks and aren’t surprised when the money hits their account. Usually, they are waiting for wages to spend on expenses and luxuries.
Passive income acts differently than earned income. When you buy, build, or create an asset, you move on to the next one. When you receive compensation for your first assets, it surprises you.
Mailbox Money. In the days of yonder, they would call passive income Mailbox Money. People owned dividend-paying stocks and interest-bearing bonds that entities would deliver via mail.
Because nobody was online, the investors would not know precisely when these checks would arrive. Sometimes their dividends and bond payments would pile up inside the mailbox.
If one of the spouses died, the money would continue to arrive for the other spouse. This is the purest form of passive income and something we should all look to replicate.
My experience. Recently, I have been receiving a lot of mailbox money—only digital. That’s why I like to call it Email Money.
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I would wake up or come home from work to find a dividend, blog payments, books sales, or affiliate sales in my inbox. Over time, these payments will continue to increase.
Today, I want to provide you with the actual results of the different cash flows that hit my account. I’d like to write about this topic every six months so we can track all the updates to my portfolio. Let’s dig into my passive income streams.
Blogging. I wrote an article called “Blogging to Financial Independence” to explain my journey thus far. Blogging is tough, especially when you don’t write precisely for search engine optimization (I don’t). However, I am slowly making inroads.
I recently had my best day ever on my blog, with 170+ pageviews earning me $7.50 in ad revenue. One day, I plan to have 1,000+ page views a day, which could net me $20/day in income. Exciting!
I also earned my first paycheck from Google ads on my blog. They only send checks out once you reach $100. It took me 13 months of blogging to achieve this goal; however, I’m curious to see what lies ahead.
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Rents. My rental income comes in through cash, banks, and a web portal from my property manager in Arizona. Rent is magical because it is consistent. You know it will be there—that’s the beauty of rental income.
Books. There are all kinds of ways to monetize your writing. I learned most of them from the book “How to Make a Living with Your Writing.” The key is to be consistent. All of these income streams take a while to get moving. That’s why it’s important to have grace for each royalty payment you receive.
It is hard to understand the image above—thus I will break it down. Currently, I am monetizing my books in three ways on Amazon. I don’t run ads either.
- eBook Sales. First, I earn income from selling ebooks. Most cost $3, but my larger books cost more.
- Paperback sales. I just started taking paperback sales seriously. I sold two paperbacks over the last month. I expect sales to pick up near the holiday season.
- Kindle Unlimited. I also list some of my books on Kindle Unlimited. When people read my books, I receive a commission for the number of pages they read.
Books outside of Amazon. I also list my non-Kindle Unlimited books on Draft2Digital. This aggregate site houses multiple smaller book publishers under one roof. I have been earning a small number of sales on these channels. This is yet another way to market your books.
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Unfortunately, the two biggest retailers on Draft2Digital, Apple and Kobo, don’t accept books with links to Amazon. So, in 2023, I will make it a point to get my best-selling books onto those platforms by stripping out the links.
Affiliate sales. I also have affiliate links on my book reviews. Book links aren’t a huge moneymaker, but I can add more valuable products I use like laptops and software over time.
Dividends. My dividends come at all times of the day and night. I get emails from Cash App, M1 Finance, and Stash. I like my Cash App emails the best because the money is sitting on my Dividend Debit Card once I receive the email.
That means I can spend this money at will. I recently received a $51 dividend from AT&T. It is a fantastic feeling to have this amount of money at your fingertips.
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What the future holds. When you start a business, there is no limit to the number of income streams you can produce. However, time and attention to detail can factor into your implementation.
The book “You are the Brand” talks about adding a new income stream every year. Basically, you scale your business a little bit every year.
For me, 2020 was the year I started my blog. 2021 was the year of the eBook. 2022 will be the year of paperback and SEO.
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I don’t have a concrete plan for 2023, but I am thinking of a wider distribution of my books to Apple, Kobo, and Ingram Sparks. Once all of those are in place, 2024 will be my year for YouTube.
Conclusion. There are lots of things to accomplish. Now, running a business, owning three rental properties, and building an income portfolio is all part of my life. I love every one of these passive income generators.
If you are interested in building your own portfolio of Email Money, I have many ways to get you started. I recommend first reading my article “What is Passive Income?” Good Luck!
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing
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