If I told new bloggers seeking passive blogging income how many years of ACTIVE work I put into seeming passive sales, now, these cats heads would explode.
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New, struggling and heck, lost bloggers often seek passive income believing this channel earns money on its own, without any effort from the blogger. Nope. Although passive blogging income flows to you passively, around the clock, without a 1:1, time to pay, type ratio, every eBook or course you sell passively now involves months to years of patient, persistent, generous creating and connecting. No way around it. Nothing truly passive about it, when you think the concept through.
Passive Problem
Some new or lost bloggers believe creating a passive income stream makes them money, through the stream itself.
Example; new blogger writes and self-publishes an eBook, writes and publishes 2 blog posts, and expects passive income via eBook sales to grow. But you only published 2 blog posts, putting in virtually zero work, so no passive income, for you. If however, you:
- write and publish 180 to 400 blog posts over the next 6-12 months
- read and genuinely comment on hundreds to thousands of blogs over the next 6-12 months
- generously promote other bloggers on your blog and through social media over the next 6-12 months
you will slowly and steadily note passive income here and there, over the next 6-12 months.
Why?
The money you make is not in any passive income stream, but through your creating and connecting.
Your free content and friend network grows both active and passive blogging income; the passive income stream itself is almost worthless, especially for unskilled, stingy, non-connected bloggers.
Years of Working Not Quite Passive
My friend and fellow blogger Chris Deewaard bought my paperback recently.
Here’s the selfie.
Sure I earned passive income through an Amazon royalty payment. But Chris bought the book because I spent years:
- honing my writing skills, practicing for thousands of hours
- honing my blogging skills, creating and connecting for thousands of hours
Spending 20,000 plus hours of my life blogging over the past 10 years does not sound like a passive endeavor, no?
Talk to blogging rock star Julie Syl Kalungi; income may flow to her through passive channels but 10,000 to 20,000 hours or more of generous, loving but heck yeah, persistent work, yielded the passive income.
Passive income just means you have potential to earn around the clock through certain income streams. Passive income does NOT mean you earn money through certain income streams by doing nothing.
If you work at blogging for years, building passive blogging income, you can live in a Star Wars home in Turkey and snap hardcover selfies in it, like I’m doing these days. See image blow.
One massive upside of passive blogging income; earning potential becomes limitless, plus, after you REALLY put in the time over 5-10 years, you can keep earning dough steadily even when you step away from your blog for travels, family time, etc. Unless you’ve the clarity of a Tony Robbins, any reader of this blog will have a difficult time charging $40,000 to $100,000 per hour for consulting or coaching services rendered. One day, you may….but for now, it makes more sense to travel the path of least resistance. Write and self-publish a ton of eBooks, create courses, and, as you offer a few active income streams, keep creating and connecting, to boost passive income. Current day blogging you may not earn 40 G’s an hour, but when 40 G’s flow in passively over months, and when you earn a 6 then 7 figure passive income over years, you see the exponential potential inherent in passive blogging income.
Just know this; even though you will largely love the ride, you will work your tail off.
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