Brian Page joined me on the How to Sell Online Podcast to talk about passive income and his new book, Don't Start a Side Hustle.
In a “hustle” culture – we constantly hear that we need to be constantly working harder. However, creating passive income actually means you work less. Let’s take a step back for a sec.
I think it’s pretty dang fair to say that a lot of people—you and me included—want to be entrepreneurs. Maybe we don’t call it that or think of ourselves that way. It could be that you decided to start an online store because you just wanted to earn a little extra money to pay for your kids’ piano lessons or to just add a little cushion to your budget.
But you don't want to work for someone else, right? It's not ideal to go find a full-time or part-time job. Or maybe you wanted to set your own hours, work at home, and have control when it came to your future.
You are an entrepreneur.
And there are a ton of different kinds of us out there. Some sell cars, others have upscale bike shops, some teach skateboarding, and some make cool stuff that they sell at craft fairs. You and me? We sell products in our online stores and other online platforms.
There are other entrepreneurs like Brian, who has built an amazing entrepreneurial life. He’s done it a bit differently (twice) by focusing on passive income.
If you’re not familiar with the idea of a passive income, think about someone who writes a book. They only write it once, but they sell it over and over and over again. Each time it sells, they receive a small “cut” of the sales price. They do all the work once to write the work, but the money continues to come in (as long as the book sells) without having to do more work. There are other ways to generate passive income, many of which Brian talks about in his new book, “Don’t Start a Side Hustle.”
I’m not gonna lie, when I heard the name of his book I wasn’t sure what to think. It kind of flew in the face of a lot of my ideas. But as Brian explained the different kinds of passive income entrepreneurs (or “passive-preneurs”, as he calls them), it clicked with me.
Brian Page explains “modeling.”
A lot of times when we start a business, we think we need to understand how to do every little thing within the company. We build our own website, or create or our own logo, study how to create a sales funnel, write our own emails, choose the right marketplace, figure out sales margins…you get the drift. It’s not necessarily a bad thing—and sometimes it’s necessary to know how to do a lot of things when funds are tight (or virtually non-existent.)
When you model someone, though, you save yourself a whole bunch of time. You look at the people who are doing what you want to do—and figure out how they do it. My students get the benefit of all of my years of experience. I try to teach them how to avoid the mistakes I made while also showing them my paths to success. They can then model what I’ve done and what I’m doing to make their businesses more successful, faster. Once that happens, they can begin to hire experts who can build a website or write their emails or any of the other tasks they need help with.
You can do the same kinds of things as you learn about how to infuse passive income opportunities into your online store. That way you can turn what you do into less of a hustle and more of a long-term strategy.
Top Five Takeaways
- Model (don’t copy!) someone else.
- Creators, controller or owner—which are you?
- Surround yourself with people with the skillsets that you don't have.
- Be selectively ignorant (you don’t have to learn everything)
- The skills you learn now will prevent you from having to start at zero again.
Additional Resources:
– Get Brian’s New Book here.
Special Offer: Purchase Don’t Start a Side Hustle directly from Brian’s site and you’ll receive multiple bonuses including access to the Brian Page launch team and entrance into the Passivepreneur Workshop.
– Follow Brian
Instagram: @bpagester
Facebook: @bpagester
-Follow Alison
Facebook: @alisonjprince
Instagram: @alisonjprince
Click here to learn about the 0-100K System and how you can launch and grow your own online business.
