The theory behind passive income sounds great, but it is repeatedly described as unsustainable and sometimes as a “sold dream”. Passive income flows into our account day and night without us having to invest time or money in direct return.
This contrasts with active income, where we exchange our working time for a salary or wage. So the big difference between the two types of income is scalability. Our time is severely limited, which means that income is also capped at some point.
I don’t think I need to ask anyone which way he or she would prefer to earn money. Does the concept of passive income on the internet sound too good to be true?
Passive income is not an innovation from the internet
Well-known methods of earning passive income include trading in securities or real estate and starting your own business. Once we can subtract our own labour from the equation, there is virtually no limit to how much we can earn.
In the traditional sense, creating a passive income involved high risk. It was a matter of first making a major investment and then hoping for one’s own intuition. This is no longer the case today, and yet many people take heart because they are afraid of large debts and investment risks.
Today, anyone can break free from salaried employment and build a passive income without taking big risks. Chris Guillebeau shows it in his book “$100 Startup” and Günter Faltin in “Kopf schlägt Kapital”. Anyone who still thinks that a lot of start-up capital is needed to start a business is too influenced by institutional upbringing.
All it takes is 5 euros a month for a hosting provider, perseverance and time. The latter is the important keyword here because no one becomes a millionaire overnight on the internet or anywhere else. Consistency and diligence are necessary virtues.
“Every overnight success is preceded by years of hard work, acquisition of the required skills and setbacks.”
How to actually earn passive income on the internet
Compared to the stock market, dividends are certainly not as spectacular in the short term, but they are much less risky, less dependent on outside influences and easier to manage. The big disadvantage and the reality that many aspiring Internet marketers do not like to hear is the huge time investment. Several months can pass before the first rubles roll in.
What remains, however, are the experiences that are absorbed over time. I am convinced that anyone who has once managed to earn a small income on the internet will never have to rely on the job market again. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll manage to generate income streams over and over again.
So how can you start building a passive income? The best way is to have your own platform. By that, I mean a blog, a large readership or a customer base. Once you’ve built up some authority, monetization is the supposedly easier step.
Here are a few ideas that can be used to create passive income streams:
- Affiliate niche sites
- Selling information products or software
- Outsourced sales of physical products
- Membership sites
- Blog with advertising, affiliate links or article marketing
This is just a small selection of possibilities, all of which have one thing in common. A large initial investment of time is required to build something up. Once the framework (website, business processes, products) is in place, then money can be earned even with minimal maintenance.
“The initial time investment is large. If you persevere and show perseverance, you will be rewarded with a long-term passive income.”
For me, the concept works and I see it as a long-term source of income, even a retirement plan. I am currently already earning well over 1,000 euros a month with affiliate marketing, for which I only have to invest a few hours of time each month. Of course, this was preceded by a lot of time spent on the acquired knowledge and the development of the pages.
In the meantime, however, I know how it works, and I have few worries about my income or my pension. I now know that I am always able to build up different income streams on the internet, and I hope to be able to motivate you with this.
What do you think about passive income? Take a few hours every week and start building something on the internet on the side!
