Passive Income: Path to Freedom!

Some 15 years ago I got involved in a Multi Level Marketing (MLM) company. I was still too young to legally become a distributor for the company so I forced my parents to come to a notary office with me and sign a piece of paper that stated they gave me permission to pursue the business.

Having just come from a dairy farm in Bolivia 2 years prior (where I grew up), I honestly had no idea what I was doing. Heck, I barely even spoke English.

I remember spending hundreds of dollars on products with the company. I didn’t need the products and don’t think I got anything out of using them. Where I did get my return on investment (ROI) though was in the mentor that sponsored me.

He sent me dozens of CDs, cassettes, VHS videos, books, etc. All of which were intended to help me grow as a business person, and that is exactly what happened.

I didn’t stay with the company for long because I just couldn’t figure out how to sell their products, but I’ve never regretted getting involved with them (despite spending most of my part time McDonalds paychecks with them at the time).

Why? Because the training and study material my sponsor sent me changed the course of my life. Even if it was on a tiny scale at the time, it had a tremendous impact on my life since.

Sure it took me years to get to where I am today, but it all started with that mentor. I now live – as a result – a life I could not even have imagined at the time.

• Instead of working at a job I hate (for a boss that hates me), I work for myself and love it!
• Instead of only spending my left over time (after work and on weekends) with my family, I get to spend all day, any day with them if I want to.
• Instead of waking up to an alarm clock every morning, I get up when I’m done sleeping or when my baby girl drags me out of bed :).
• Instead of getting (at most) 2 weeks of vacation a year, I can take a vacation whenever I want, wherever I want, for as long as I want.
• Instead of having to stick close to home because of work, my family and I get to travel the world. In fact, I’m writing this from Hoi An, a beautiful beach town in Vietnam.

I could go on and on but you get the idea. This mentor/sponsor changed my life and he probably doesn’t even know it.

The single biggest lesson I learned from the material he sent me is this: Passive income trumps all other income!

Midweek, midday. Spent some quality time with my wife and daughter at the beach in Hoi An, Vietnam.

If you haven’t heard of passive income before, it basically goes like this: You do the work once, and yet you get paid for it over and over and over again.

Robert Kiyosaki explains this wonderfully in his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and I’d be willing to bet that he’s single handedly responsible for making “passive income” a commonly used term among entrepreneurs today. It was from his book and audio cassettes that I first became familiar with it as well.

Here’s the thing: Our whole family lifestyle would not be possible if it wasn’t for passive income.

Sure it’s nice to be a highly paid professional. I have friends that are highly paid copywriters, house cleaners, doctors, etc. It’s wonderful to get paid big money for doing something you enjoy doing, it truly is. But NOTHING smells like freedom the way passive income does.

I for one would MUCH rather work my buns off for a few years and get paid a decent income from that for the rest of my life, than to bust my behind for a one off (although larger) paycheck.

It doesn’t mean that I am not open to taking on the occasional side gig. It simply means: I don’t have to anymore if I don’t want to. We (as a family) have enough completely passive income coming in from various sources that anything we do above and beyond now is extra.

I am not saying this to brag. In fact, I am extremely humbled just thinking about how blessed we are. What I am trying to say though is: Once you have a consistent flow of passive income, you start to feel FREEDOM.

You’re no longer hustling along just to pay bills or to put food on the table. You’re finally able to focus on increasing that passive cash flow and pursue other things, be it owning earthly possessions, giving to charity, or even world travel (like it is for us).

Whatever your reason for wanting absolute freedom is, realize that it takes time to build up. It may take a few projects before you’re at a level where you can comfortably live from it.

Once you reach that, it gets easier and easier. Your stress levels start going down and your joy for hustling towards a bigger cause goes up.

15 years ago I would have never thought I’d love working, but when you work from a level of “I get to” instead of “I have to”, everything changes. You want to work more. Not just for selfish reasons, but much more for the greater good of the people I love and cherish in my life.

Let me ask you this:

• Do you hate what you do for a living?
• Do you often feel stressed and overwhelmed thinking about bills, income, etc?
• Are you working because you have to (and not because you really want to)?

If you answered “YES” to any of the above, here is your solution: Start working towards residual passive income.

Even if you’re working a fulltime job, try working towards passive cash flow for an hour a day. Cut out TV if you have to.

If you have absolutely no ideas for generating passive incomes, start by plugging yourself into training that teaches it. Be it reading books, listening to podcasts, or even listening to audio books.

Some of the books I’ve read and highly recommend:

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad
• Millionaire Fastlane
• 4 Hour Workweek

I’ve read a bunch more but those should give you a very clear picture of where to start.

NOTE: You should be able to get all of them in audio format as well if you prefer that.

In regards to podcasts, I tend to pick and choose between a bunch of different ones, but my top recommendations on this topic are:

• Smart Passive Income Podcast by Pat Flynn
• Freedom Fastlane by Ryan Daniel Moran

I hope this is of some help. If you have any questions, please be sure to post in the comment section below. If you got some value out of this post, please share it and I just might do a follow up posts in the future 🙂