Let’s be honest—the term “passive” income can be something of a misnomer.
Sure, you could leverage your knowledge, write an ebook, sell it online, and create a blog to promote it. Aside from the occasional blog update, once the ebook is written and the website is made, there’s not much work you would need to do to earn some money on the side from this type of venture.
However, the problem is, you need to write the book and create the website first before you can start selling anything. These initial stages do involve some degree of work, and no matter what passive income strategy you have in mind, odds are good you won’t be able to avoid putting in some effort upfront.
This essential truth discourages many from pursuing their passive income dreams, especially when they are already busy with their primary job or the responsibilities of caring for a family. If you’ve already got a lot on your plate, finding the time to develop a project can seem impossible.
However, it doesn’t have to be. If you want to make easy money on the side, but feel like you have no time to get started, keep these two key tips in mind:
Outsource What You Can
Let’s use the ebook example to explore the concept of outsourcing certain tasks.
For instance, perhaps you know a lot about effective SAT study methods, and decide to publish an ebook featuring your best tips. It’s a smart way to make money. Every single year, a new batch of potential customers across the country will take the test. If you write a quality book with valuable information, you could attract new customers on an annual basis.
That said, first you need to actually write the book. If you’re not skilled at putting your ideas down on paper, this can be an overwhelming task to consider. You also need to make sure it’s formatted properly, and that there aren’t any glaring errors. To establish yourself as a professional, you need an effective cover, too.
And those are just the steps you need to take to create the book. Next, you need to create a website, write content for it, and, ideally, establish a social media presence to help promote the book.
Again, once you’ve completed these steps, you could make a lot of money. But make no mistake, these steps involve a lot of work.
Luckily, you can outsource many of them. Websites like Upwork and Craigslist can provide you with access to a vast network of freelancers. Because many people are competing for the same gigs, it’s easy to find people who will offer their services at low prices.
Decide on which tasks you feel comfortable handling on your own, and which you would rather outsource to a freelancer. Obviously, you’ll have to coordinate with them to some degree—if you’re not actually writing the book, you still need to supply the content for your writer.
Outsourcing major components of your project will increase your upfront cost, but it will also make a big dent in the amount of time it takes to complete the project.
Apply the 80/20 Principle
It’s a principle that’s been covered on this blog before, because it applies to so many different situations.
Essentially, the 80/20 law—derived from the Pareto Principle—states that in any given endeavor, approximately 20% of your effort contributes to 80% of your results.
For example, maybe you’re a freelancer. If you were to sift through your clients, there’s a good chance you’d find that about 80% of all the money you make comes from about 20% of your clients.
This principle is critical to saving time. Once you have an idea for a passive income strategy, rigorously work through all the different tasks you think you need to complete in order to bring the project to life. For the best results, you may want to put in a week or two of effort into the project before applying the 80/20 test.
Once you’ve done so, try to identify how 20% of your efforts could potentially yield 80% of your rewards.
Let’s go back to the ebook example. Maybe you’re working hard to promote your ebook on message boards and social networking sites related to your topic. However, after applying the 80/20 law, you might find that the sales you make as a result of these efforts aren’t worth the amount of work you put into them. On the other hand, you may find that whenever you post a blog entry, your website gets a lot of hits. Thus, you can save time by focusing on blogging, and forget about promoting your product on message boards.
How this principle will apply to your passive income strategy depends primarily on the nature of your business. Regardless, many people who earn substantial amounts of money through passive income know that using the 80/20 rule frees up a lot of their time. By figuring out what you need to do to make money, and outsourcing what you can, you’ll likely realize that you do have the time to start a passive income business.