Making an online passive income from Internet Marketing is the strangest thing. When I had a job as a geologist few people understood what I did – but no one doubted that I was well-paid for it, when I worked in IT even fewer people understood my job, but they took for granted that I made money. Now I do something really simple – I put up websites, based on topics people search for, I use SEO techniques to rank my sites and I make passive income.
And even now that I make enough passive income to go travelling for 2 months they don’t understand how I make money. That’s OK – I’m used to that. What kinda of amazes me is that – they don’t believe that I make money either! Now frankly I don’t give a shite whether they believe me or not- my partner believes me – he sees me pay the bills, my bank manager is happy, my accountant is advising me to make provision for tax – but the other people – they seem to think I’m delusional.
If you are starting out this game – here’s some advice. Don’t expect anyone to be supportive or believe in your dream. In may be nice to think those closest to you will be your greatest support – in fact from what I see on the Keyword Academy forums – that’s very, very rare. In fact anyone who has a financial interest in you making some money will probably be loudest in their calls for you to get, retain or focus on, your “real job”, Or an education to the one.
I haven’t seen that many people fail in this game – but 95% plus of people who start don’t make more than $10. They don’t fail though because they never put enough work in to have even have tried. I know – I wasted at least a year – not working – at the end of it – I’d acheived very little.
I’ve been around long enough to see who succeed and who fail in this game. This is utterly subjective and totally unscientific – but I am convinced that most people that succeed with making a passive income online – do share some common characteristics:
- they are bloody minded;
- they don’t give a damme what anyone else thinks of them;
- they are out of other options – because of age, skills, location etc they couldn’t get a “real” job even if they wanted one;
If you are worried about what your family/friends/partner thinks of making money online – get a job – this game is not for you.
Now I have some very boring things like goals and objectives and plans to achieve the same. I have business .
23 replies on “Passive Income and What People Think”
Very true, my main problem is that I get bored easily, like ‘I know what works, so where is the next challenge?’ Therefor I have decided to make 2011 the ‘Year of Outsourcing’. I like finding new keywords, I like setting sites up, I know that I don’t want to write about certain topics that are just plain boring. Voila, time to reinvest the money and start outsourcing seriously. That way I hope 2011 will be more better for me than 2010 😉 SY
Definitly SY – outsourcing is the key to this business! only have a couple of sites that I actually do the writing for – this is one of them!
Im in exactly the same boat SY. There are certain things that I dont particularly enjoy doing, and when all the tasks that i do enjoy are completed, I have a good old fashioned session of procrastination on Lis’s blog (or some another informative blog).
I have also decided to outsource everything that I dont enjoy in 2011, a tactic which I hope will speed up the growth of my niche website network. I have even decided to go back to full time employment for a year or two in order to have extra money to invest in outsourcing, and be able to reinvest everything that my websites earn back in to the business. I am sure that I can achieve more this way.
Lis, your absolutely right about people not being supportive of online business endeavors. I had a hard time handling all the negativity when I started out, but I soon developed a thick skin. I wrote about my experience in this post.
on my blog (feel free to remove the link, just thought people might find it interesting). Im sure that peoples concerns are legitimate, you dont really earn any money in the beginning, but you know what, my business is growing, and i am learning new skills all the time.
Wishing you the best of success in 2011
Nice post! I completely understand everything you said. Although, I am not there YET, I do fit all the criteria – very bloody-minded! It’s funny that most people do not have any idea of how you can make money online. I hope by this time next year (2011) I will be making enough money online to not have to work anymore outside of doing that! I will see you here next yeear. Thanks Lis! (I have created a new site related to Internet Marketing)…:)
Nice site Julie! Yeah there are a few bloody minded people around here LOL
I have started outsourcing, but don’t have enough $$ to do that regularly! It does takes up a lot of time. I would like to jut focus all my writing on my two blogs and content sites. If you know of a quality (but cheap) writer for niche sites, let me know.. 🙂
I’m lucky that my husband is very supportive, and provides tech support too! I don’t mention what I’m doing to anyone else, but wouldn’t care what they think anyway. And being unemployable is great for the motivation too lol
It must be tough to have an unsupportive spouse/partner, but from what I’ve read on various forums, I think a lot of people make it hard on themselves by talking about their MMO efforts to everyone they meet – or even worse, trying to teach it to people who aren’t really interested. Then they’re upset when they get the inevitable negative response. Better to just keep quiet and get on with things.
Fair point Cat – I used to talk about what I did in my enthusiasm – no more though! I just smile when they say we are “lucky” we can travel 🙂
Hi Lis,
Great to hear about your travels! I just got back from a four to five week walkabout around the states myself, and it was everything I imagined and then some! I think you bring up a fantastic point that I probably need to hit on more on my blog (along with the “JUST GET STARTED, DARN YOU!” warnings I’m so found of giving newbies). You automatically assume that the people you’re closest to will support you, but often times they’re your loudest detractors. The “get a real job, don’t be foolish” mantras normally come from a good place as those close to you want what’s best, but if you’re going to succeed online you have to realize that they don’t have any idea what’s best, and you have to ignore them to get ahead. Things were so rough for me at one point I limited phone calls to once a month from family because I didn’t want to hear about another darned academic job as an adjunct. I’m fortunate enough where I’m at the point that results act as evidence for family: they don’t know what I do, but now that it actually seems to be working they’re great with it, LOL. Great advice about putting on the blinders and just forcing your way to success. I’m definitely strongly #1 and #2 on your list…I might be #3 because of my constant issue with authority, which doesn’t make me a boss favorite despite work ethic. Keep up the great work, Lis!
Unfortunately, telling the truth does not pay the bills in this world. In fact, trying to tell those around you how you really get paid could cause them to do things that sabotage you, e.g. trying to persuade you day and night to get a real job, all in “your best interests.” Just showing them your (Adsense) paycheck doesn’t always solve the problem, because some will just assume that you are doing something shady to earn money. Now, I just tell people that I do computer-related work, or that I get paid to build and/or manage websites if they ask for more details. Most people can at least understand or accept this kind of half-truth.
Calvin, I tell people I work for Google and they don’t ask questions anymore.
Well, I don’t know what the heck bloody-minded means, but it must apply to me. 🙂
I don’t make a lot of passive income. I guess I’m not passive enough to call it that. Of course, I don’t make a whole lot of online income but I will eventually. My goal is to simply match what I get for a pension so that if the pension disappears (for whatever reason), I’m not left high and dry. And I can pretty much forget about social security at 67 (I’m 50)…
A timely piece of writing, Lis, since the calendar has now flipped over and it’s time I got busy on filing my income taxes.
A great many people seem to “be their job” or profession. So if you want the “aura” of an being an MD or a university professor or whatever sounds like an impressive title to you, stay out of this business.
I really like RT’s answer … I work for Google … must remember that next time I am asked.
I also very much identify with RT’s thoughts for the future. He’s older than many readers here. Me? Well I’m a lot older.
The writing is on the wall. For those of you who think you are too young to worry about retirement, think again … you owe it to yourself, now, to start structuring your life for that seemingly far off time.
You can sit around and do the things that worked for your dad or your grandpa, watch you returns from real estate, stock market schemes and such dwindle, watch governments balance the budget by cutting retirement, medical programs and such, or you can just decide to empower yourself now, today, 1 January 2011 … 1/1/11 … and not worry about what will happen when you’re 55 or 65 or 75.
Believe me, if for no other reason, the relief from worrying about being a struggling pensioner on a “fixed income” is worth as much as the Google checks themselves.
Make 2011 your own year of personal independence. All the best for the future to all.
Great post, Lis and spot on! I think I’ve got all three characteristics for earning passive income online. I have one more to boot; I get physically ill at the thought of anything sounding, looking or quacking like a job. In my opinion, passive income is the only way to go.
Fortunately my hubby has always been supportive, but everyone else didn’t understand. They thought that a part time job was better than my “playing” on the computer all day. Little did they know that I have quadrupled my part-time job salary by “playing” on the internet and am looking to earn much more in 2011.
Lis, you’re living my dream. Earning passive income and traveling. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Hi Lis,
If you do it, so do i. I know it i dream all the time. It is my biggest dream. Just trying hard and doing some good research. I hope 2011 will change my life.
Liz i have full time job. But this is my passion. In last two years i worked 4-5 hours every day and more on weekends. I earned some money online. Now i just wanted to do some serious work.
I haven’t had a lot of my friends/family not be supportive but it has definitely happened. And I know in many cases it is very bad with people not having any support. I think most people are just jealous in some way because they have to actually go to work every day and they see us as being lazy but still making money.
Maybe I am lucky because everyone in my life has supported me in anything I’ve ever done. While I don’t let what other people think about me affect me, it is nice to have support around you, especially when you are first starting out. I think the key is knowing what you want, then making some kind of plan to get started. Otherwise it’s just a wilderness and that’s why people begin, but never go the extra mile to see what else is out there.
People have always been skeptical bout things which they don’t understand fully. Even I didn’t use to believe that ‘Passive’ income can be a major source of income as it is today for me. But blogs like these and other. I was blessed in a strange way that my parents weren’t really into IT and I could pass off my new ‘work’ as website development 🙂
Though i did take the pain to explain them later exactly what I do 🙂
I am totally on the same page here. When I started putting up websites to see if I can make money, my friends thought I am joking. Now I am a full-time internet marketer and my friends and family still think I need some financial help because how can I be making money sitting at my home office. 🙂
I often tell newbies to give 1-2 years to internet before they can quit their job and go full-time. I have seen many failures who jumped full-time too soon and expected their websites / network to provide them daily bread.
Oh Dear Lis –
You just blew it for me. It is quite unsporting of you to point out so believably “that there is no free lunch”!
Are you quite sure that if I read a lot of get rich quick blogs, that some of the magic won’t rub off and somehow I’ll ge rich WITHOUT working!
It is almost enough to send me off to Ken………….
😉 – Rhys
I am terribly sorry about that Rhys! (sarcasm filter off!)
Hi Lis! 🙂
I got here while I was searching for more information on the Catalyst theme and I’m glad I decided to check your blog to read around. I’m in the same boat, I’m still young (going 26) but I finished college late due to illness and I’ve found it difficult to find a job related to my course. Most jobs available here are at contact centers and I tried it before and I don’t wish to come back. It’s just too stressful.
I’ve been earning through my blogs for a while now. I don’t earn a lot, but it works well enough for my needs. People look at me in a funny way when I get asked where I work and I say I work online. They think all I do all day is play around the computer, to them if it’s not a brick and mortar job, it’s not something to be proud off. I just shrug their comments off. To each his own.
I stopped blogging for a bit so my blog is a little outdated but I’m slowly returning to it again and overhauling my blog.:)
Hey Liz,
I laughed out loud when I read your list of common characteristic. My wife wondered what I was laughing at and I read her the list and she laughed too and said “yes, that’s you”. I totally agree with your post and I can usually tell if someone has what it takes or not.
I too was a little over enthusiastic with telling people about this line of work ,after all I could see the beauty of it and wanted to tell everyone, I soon realized it was another “strange Darren thing” almost no one wanted to hear about or could comprehend (but it so fricking simple!!! what’s wrong with you all). Anyhows, if people choose to live and suffer in the matrix, what can you do! LIfe is too short to take what others think personally.
Fortunately my wife sees the beauty of it too, and is a great support, so have to thank my lucky stars (if anyone knows how to thank a star, please let me know). She is just waiting for me to up the earnings a little more so that she can quit her full time job and work on IM with me.
So yes – I am bloody minded, I am (mostly) desenitized to the formatted attitude of the masses and I am far past the point of being employable. To me a 9 – 5 job is synonymous with death.
Thanks again for the laugh Liz
Darren