Today we're thrilled that the super talented and knowledgeable Joelle Byrne is sharing an insight into Passive Income. You can find out more about Joelle and her free Passive Income Bootcamp over on her website.

Joelle Byrne

Income Strategist

Passive Income 2020

Why Your Business Is Never Going To Pay You Enough...

When I first started this passive income business, I asked my ideal clients about all the problems they faced as business owners. I asked them:

“What is the biggest obstacle stopping you from going bigger with your business? Like implementing new things, getting noticed… all the stuff you do to make more money…”

They told me that it was a combination of these things –

Fear
Finance
Mindset
A perceived lack of knowledge
Technology
Time
Confusion
Analysis paralysis

But to be completely frank… they left out the biggest one.

As sole traders, or at least most of the time, you’re a one-man-band trying to do all the things. Yeah sure you might have smart systems in place to do the social media. Or an accountant that takes care of the numbers. But when it comes to satisfying your customer’s needs…. That’s all on you. All on your own.

And no matter how hard you work to produce all the things your customers order or to fulfill all the services that are booked in during the day, you’re still only able to earn so much money because there are only so many hours in the day.

This is the biggest problem with the exchange of time for money; It’s the glass ceiling that we’re all desperately pressed against and can’t get past.

The Glass Ceiling

I’m betting that whatever your small business sells, whether it’s products you create or services you deliver, that all your income is generated through an exchange of time for money. Am I right? Yes, there is some freedom to choose your hours and less worry about sick days, but when it comes to your income the fact remains: the more you work, the more you earn.

You and I both know that it isn’t physically possible for you to sell more than so many timeslots in one day for your service-based business. Or to create more of the products that you lovingly craft than you’re currently producing. Whatever anyone says, there are still only 24 hours in the day.

And then there’s the time off. Do you get any? If you do; do you get paid while you’re taking a break? For whatever reason? I’ll bet you don’t.

Success Is Not A Secret; It's A System

The key to changing this isn’t to work harder or for longer; it’s working smarter. Changing the way your income is generated, adding to it and automating how you do some of that business. The ultimate goal: to diversify where your income actually comes from so it’s not reliant on that one, single, time-for-money source.

Simply put: The more income streams you have, the higher your business returns, the more likely it is that you can take time off without giving up business and the more customers you can reach with the same time invested.

It’s commonly known that millionaires have an average of seven income streams at any one time. That’s no coincidence! The more income streams you have, the more money you make. It’s that simple.

How Much Could You Earn?

I want you to do some quick maths to get this point across. I want you to work out how much you get paid for your most expensive product or service. Then work out how many of those you can complete in a day (let’s say you work 8 hours a day).

Times that by 5 (5-day weeks)

Then times that by 52 (weeks in the year)

This is your annual income ceiling. This is the absolute most money you can make in a year from your business. With no time off. No holidays. No getting ill. No breaks. It’s the top. The pinnacle. The summit. The peak.

And that’s not to mention adding time to actually run your business, market those products or services, and do all the other things that we don’t talk about in the entrepreneur world!

What do you make of that? Is it as much as you thought it would be? Is it achievable? And MOST IMPORTANTLY, is it healthy and sustainable? I’ll bet it isn’t.

Engineering For Success

That exercise may well have left you feeling a bit… well err… a bit crap. And that’s completely understandable. It really, really, really, really, sucks that you went to all this trouble to set up business, to create something from scratch, to put your heart and soul and hard-earned cash into your dreams, only to be told there’s still a limit. You’re still stuck like a big ass lorry that’s got jammed under a bridge. Just sitting there. Taking up space in your otherwise perfect little street…

But I want you to image a world where there aren’t any bridges. That the metaphorical, (beautiful, pink) lorry that is your business can’t possibly get stuck. It’s too sleek. Too smooth… Too awesome…

The other issues that prove to be humps in the road, you know, the fear, mindset baggage, lack of knowledge, lack of time, confusion (all that crap), they aren’t a thing either. Why? Because your lorry is basically just a transformer. It’ll kick the ass of anything that gets in its way… (Sorry, I know I’ve got giddy with the old metaphors here, but go with me)

Your business can be that transformer. It isn’t too hard. It isn’t too expensive. It just needs the engineering. That engineering is; Additional income streams.

Want Additional Passive Income Streams?

When you stop believing that you need to exchange time for money, at least some of the time, you can begin to generate revenue from income streams that manage themselves or allow you to move from a ‘one to one’ model of service delivery, to a ‘one to many’ model. This is called passive and semi-passive income, and these models are the only ways to get more cash into your existing business without employing minions or becoming a franchise.

How Can It Help You?

So, what am I telling you this for? Well, for starters, I need you to know that the way you’ve been doing business so far is not wrong. Far from it. If you were doing everything wrong you’d have been out of business a long time ago. What I am trying to tell you though is that there are options for your existing business that you may not have considered.

The exchange of time for money does not have to be the “be all and end all” of your income. Your bottom line could be made up of a number of sources of revenue on top of what you’re already creating, with little effort. Providing effective products and services that help your customers, align perfectly with your business goals and values, and allow you to become a leader in your field. All leading back to a bulky bank account that leaves you impassioned to continue to create wonderful things and serve your customers with the time you do choose to exchange.

What Are Your Options?

There are so many options for passive income streams that are relevant to your business. You are simply expanding on, or changing, the delivery of your specialist skill or knowledge. Create something once and let it produce revenue for you while you sleep. On autopilot! Or deliver your knowledge in a different way, reducing the hours spent labouring whilst still serving your customers in the best possible way.

Here are some options you could consider:

· eBooks

· Membership Programs

· Affiliate Marketing Promotions

· Online Courses

· One to Many workshops or delivery of services

What's Next For You?

Passive income is being paid for something over and over again, after the work is done. You invest an initial time and effort, for continued rewards that pay dividends while you work, rest or play.

One of the best feelings is waking to more money in your bank account from sales you’ve made overnight! Or hearing the ‘Kerching’ of a sale going through (and the product being delivered!) all while you’re working with another client or creating something for another customer.

Perhaps it’s time to start thinking outside of the box for your own business? The possibilities are endless!