These days we are doing our best to stay ahead of the curve, especially when we’re looking at setting up things like side hustles or online stores to form a key part of our blogs. The problem we all have is that these days there’s an influx of competition.
Everybody is starting a blog in one way or another, and the goal is for everybody to monetise it, predominantly through the notion of passive income. Passive income is one of those things that is often touted as the greatest solution to our financial woes. The idea that you can earn money in a passive sense is somewhat of a misnomer.
You can build passive income, not just through blogs, you can utilise investments or be a landlord that does not require the same level of commitment and time as a typical job. With this in mind, what do we all need to remember if we’re looking to set up something on the side that constitutes a passive income?
It is Not a “Set-it-and-forget-it” Approach
One of the biggest myths about passive income is that it runs itself. If anything, when you look at what a passive income is defined as, especially in terms of blogs, you have to remember there are a number of smaller components that bubble underneath, giving the impression that what you are doing is passive. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it approach in the slightest.
A blog requires maintenance and to do the blog justice you’ve got to look at what will generate more traffic. This can involve analytics, marketing the right content, and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Ask any SEO agency about a “passive” approach, and they will tell you that it’s not going to generate a passive income unless you put in the work upfront.
We all think that we can sit back and do nothing while earning money. However, the reality is that in order to get a blog to a point where it is earning you a significant income in a “passive” sense, you will need to put in months, if not years, of work upfront.
What Can You Do to Carve Out Your Niche in a World of Passive Income Seekers?
The answer to this question is all about differentiating yourself. It’s not necessarily about selling niche products or looking for a specific need in a difficult market. Passive income streams like being a landlord are very tough to utilise right now because landlords are selling off their properties faster than hotcakes! Therefore, you’ve got to ask yourself a number of pivotal questions:
- What are your financial goals?
- Have you got a specific figure in mind to help you earn an income that is passive enough to live a better life?
- Is a specific passive income stream going to fit you?
You have to understand what you can and cannot physically do. You may already be working a full-time job and dreaming about a blog earning money for you. In this case, you have to spend the years building up the following, monetising your blog, and incorporating everything that makes a blog a money maker. There are many people who don’t just use a blog as a way to earn money, but they use supplementary products, for example, t-shirts or ebooks.
You also need to think about how long it takes to set up the supplementaries as well as the overall investments. There are a wide variety of YouTubers that have their own blog and website but also sell products, and when you start to think about how all of these things converge together and you are, in essence, running a business, it is the total opposite of a passive income in the literal sense.
What Does It Truly Take to Learn a Passive Income Stream in the Modern World?
If you start to think about differentiating yourself from everyone else as a way to literally do nothing and have your money work harder for you, the real solution here is in investing. Investing is one of those things that, over at least a decade, can help you potentially double your earnings. This might be the very definition of a passive income.
Investing covers a lot of ground, not just in terms of stocks or shares, but also savings accounts with high-interest rates and diversifying your funds, while also remembering that if you are looking to earn a lot of money in a relatively short period of time, the reality is that this is not going to happen unless you magically win the lottery or come into an inheritance. This is why you must be dutiful and think about passive income as a long-term endeavour.
One of the biggest mistakes many people make is thinking that passive income can get them from zero to rich in the space of 12 months, if not sooner. Many people get frustrated due to their lack of finances, and this is why it’s such an important lesson to learn, the act of earning a lot of money takes time. Even millionaires are aware of this because they have, for the most part, needed to build up their earnings from nothing and were shrewd investors while also being notorious penny pinchers.
Passive income, as defined by the modern sense of the word, does not necessarily exist. If you are looking to capitalise on more modern methods, passive income is not going to mean you can sit back and do nothing. You will always need to have a vested interest in what you are doing.
It can get to the point where you may need to delegate but this is after many years of trial and error. Whether it’s running an online business, blogging, being a landlord, or investing in stocks and shares, the reality is that passive income is not exactly what most of us think it is. The sooner we get our mindset into doing the necessary work upfront so that it can feel like a passive income to an extent, the better.