One Year After Getting Laid Off – My Annual Passive Income Report
A lot can happen in one year. A lot.
Just one year ago, at the age of 25, I was living in my parents’ home, engaged to be married. I got laid off and wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen next. Now, I’m married with a baby on the way, we have a puppy, we’re living in an apartment (about to move into a house), I own a couple of businesses and I work for myself on the internet. A lot can happen in one year.
I do feel very fortunate to be where I’m at today. That being said, I also know that it wasn’t all luck. There are a few things I’d like to mention about how I think I got here, before I get deep into the numbers.
My Mindset for Success
Survival
Getting laid off sucks. For those of you who are fortunate enough to have never been laid off, it’s kind of like getting punched in the stomach, losing your breath, and when you finally regain your lungs and get back up, you have no idea where you’re at.
It’s easy to panic, because it’s human nature. I panicked for a day or two myself, but soon realized all it did was make me feel worse, and get nowhere fast. Think about this: in life and death situations, who are the ones that usually survive? The ones who panic and freeze, or the ones who focus and assess the current situation, and act accordingly? I did not want to become a victim of natural selection.
Decisions
Getting laid off was not like coming to the end of a road, but rather arriving to a fork, one where I could decide where I would want to go next. We don’t often think about it, but every single decision we make determines the course of the rest of our lives. I hate to get all philosophical, but it’s important to understand, especially when you are ready to make an important decision in your life, like which college to attend, what your major will be, or what to do after a lay off. Thus, I gave some careful thought into my next decision.
One path I knew would lead me down a road that I was quite familiar with: I’d go out and search for another job in the architecture industry. It’s the comfortable path that I had been down before, so it was really attractive to me at first. It was really all I knew.
There were two reasons why I didn’t go down that path again:
- I thought about how happy I was the last time I was on that path. I liked my job, but I didn’t like the kind of person I was when I got home from my job – tired, stressed, and grumpy. I didn’t want to be that kind of husband or father.
- I wanted to explore what the other road had to offer, and I knew that if I had reached a dead end, I could very easily come back to the fork, and go down the road I was on before.
So, I made the decision to go full force with an internet business. I had a non-monetized blog that was getting some decent traffic, so I knew there was something I could do with this.
Know You’re Right
When I was in architecture school at Cal, specifically in our semester long studio courses, we were required to make plans and build models for various types of projects. It was awesome because we could usually design the buildings however we wanted. The problem with that was, that left a million and one possibilities, which meant that we would have to determine a reason why we design something a certain way. When presenting our final designs to a jury (a group of panelists, usually local architects and designers. Yeah…that’s how it worked), we must also give the reasons why.
“The building curves here…”
“Why does the building curve there?”
“Well, because it addresses the wind coming from the West.”
“Why is it at that particular angle?”
“Because it allows for views into the courtyard from North side of the building.”
See what I mean? Anyways, what I learned from this is that if you’re going to make any kind of decision, you must be able to:
- Back it up from all angles; and
- Know you’re right.
When deciding to go into internet business, I was fortunate enough to have the support of my family and friends. For many people, however, this kind of decision is met with immediate backlash from others, which will often lead that person to some kind of self-doubt.
Self-doubt, especially self-doubt implanted by others, is a killer. If you can back up your decision, and believe in yourself and know you’re absolutely right, you’re going to give yourself a better chance to succeed. Some of you may call that “delusive”, I call it “mandatory”.
In architecture school, even if you’re designs weren’t that good, if you had a legitimate reason for them, you were given more credit than if you had an outstanding design for no apparent reason.
For whatever reason, I knew I was going to succeed with online business one way or another.
Knowing and Doing What it Takes
My next step was to figure it out. I read books, researched like hell, asked a billion questions, and even paid a monthly fee to join the Internet Business Mastery Academy so I could figure out exactly how it was supposed to work.
Everything I had read helped, but nothing would of happened if I just read and did nothing. So, as I was learning things I put them into action. I learned about how to optimize my blog, so that’s exactly what I did. I learned about outsourcing to do various tasks, so I did that as well. I even learned to create some type of information product, so I sat down and wrote an eBook for a couple months, which many of you know became my main source of income ever since.
I’m not a genius, nor do I consider myself an expert in anything. I got a 1240 on my SATs, and I still write “would of” instead of “would have” no matter how many times I try to correct myself. I forget where my sunglasses are, when they are on top of my head. I’m deathly afraid of spiders. I am not special! With the internet, we’re all on level playing fields, so it’s really the people who take action, those who learn and do, who will meet success in the future.
Looking Back
As I reflect on the past year, I can truly say that my lay off was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. For some reason, my 9 to 5 job was masking the fork in the road that has been there the whole time. It just took an eye-opening experience like a layoff to really see what was available for me and my future.
Income
Most of you are familiar with my monthly income reports. Well, here’s my first ever annual report, a sum of all of my income from all of the different sources for the entire year. This goes from October 2008 through September 2009 (it doesn’t include my latest report from October 2009).
- GreenExamAcademy.com Product Sales:
- Ebook Only (2 versions): $70,353.78
- Audio Only (2 versions): $8,536.45
- Ebook + Audio Package (2 versions): $79,163.06
- Total: $158,053.29
- Google Adsense:
- Total: $16,456.25
- Private Advertising:
- Total: $7,108.32
- eHow Earnings:
- Total: $1,448.56
- Affiliate Earnings:
- Total: $10,806.62
- iPhone Apps:
- Total: $9,346.00
Gross Total: $203,219.04
Basic Expenses
Here, I’ll give you a rough idea of what kind of expenses I’ve had. In total, I’ve spent over $20,000. That may seem like a lot, but just to be clear, most of these expenses are expenses that were made after my business was already created and generating an income. The total startup cost, including the domain, hosting, paypal (payments pro) and shopping cart fees, and even the creation of my eBook, was less than $200 bucks.
- Bookkeeper: $50/month
- Tax preparation: $500/year
- Formation of LLC: $420 bucks
- Voice talent (for audio book): $3,500.00
- Website design stuff: $3,200.00 (redesigns and updates)
- Paypal fees: 4% (about $6,000)
- Legal Fees: $1000.00
- Business education: $3,000.00 (classes, books, courses, etc.)
- Outsourcing SEO: $900.00
- iPhone App Development: $6000.00+
Time
At the beginning, creating the business did eat up a lot of time, but I knew it was all an investment.
The green exam blog actually was built while I was working my 9 to 5 job, since it’s primary purpose was to hold my notes for the exam before I took it. So during this time, I’d spend an extra 2 to 3 hours a day writing my notes on my blog. It was kind of like killing two birds with one stone, because I was studying at the same time as I was writing these blog posts, which I didn’t know would get picked up by Google, but they did.
After I was laid off, I had all the time in the world to work on my business. When I finally decided to write an eBook, I’d spend 6-7 hours a day for over a month writing, organizing, and re-writing until I was satisfied with it.
After the business was setup, and the shopping carts and payment processors were all in place, and my eBook was launched, I’d spend about an hour a day answering emails and tweaking the website for better results. I soon created an FAQ, and was down to just working 15 minutes a day while earning a full-time income.
When I learned about product expansion, and decided to create an audio version of my eBook, I hired a voice talent to record the entire thing for me. It took about 2-3 hours to go over instructions with the person I hired, and after 2 weeks, it was complete. It took about a day to incorporate my new product into the existing website, update the shopping carts, make new buttons, etc. but after that was finished, I was back to only working 15 minutes a day, mostly answering customer emails.
Giving Back
Right now, I’m not quite earning enough to feel comfortable donating a large chunk of my income to charities and back to organizations that have helped me get to where I’m at, but that’s a very important goal for me. With the baby coming soon, I want to make sure we’re all good and set on his financial future first. Remember, a large chunk of my income goes back to Uncle Sam too.
The Smart Passive Income Blog is kind of my way of giving back at this moment in time, by providing helpful information and quality content related to how I got to this point. If I had a resource like this blog when I was starting out, I probably could of done even better, and reduced the amount of mistakes I’ve made in the past. Hopefully, it has helped you out in one way or another so far. If not, I apologize for wasting your time.
Thank You
It’s been a great year, a year I would have never imagined would ever happen. I just wanted to personally thank you for joining me on my online entrepreneurial adventures, and I hope I can continue on this path and take things to the next level again in the near future, and share my experiences with you.
I wish you nothing less than success. Cheers!
P.S. If you’re new to this blog, please feel free to stay updated with your RSS reader by subscribing here!
Posted on : November 4th, 2009
Related posts:
- Nevermind. I Just Got Laid Off.
- Generating Passive Income from Passive Income
- A Passive Income Mistake: Knowing and Doing Everything
- Another Benefit of Passive Income – Muscles?
- Passive Income as a Lifestyle Design Aid
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102 Comments (Click Here to Leave a Comment Below)
Very interesting and inspirational story, thanks for sharing.
Pat is one of my favorite blogs that I check almost every day with my morning coffee. The guy not only makes the big bucks online, he also walks you through it step by step. That’s just awesome.
I have one question to Pat however. Do you get to save any of these money and put them in stocks/fixed income in order to create another income stream which is not reliant on online earnings, or do you do something else with the money ( I hope you are not spending everything you are earnings).
Best Regards and hope you quadruple your income to 1 million in 2010
Blogging Banks
Actually, I save MOST of my money. I don’t really splurge on anything. For one, I know I’m going to owe a lot back to uncle Sam. Secondly, there’s no reason for me to spend more than I have to to be happy, and what makes me happy is just knowing that my family can eat decent food, sleep under a roof, and spend time together, whether it’s for free at the park, or for a small cost at the movies or Disneyland or where ever.
A lot of the money I save goes into stocks and mutual funds, as well as IRAs and stuff for retirement. Also will plan on a 529 plan for my child’s education. I’d love to get to a point where I would fund a scholarship for the Marching Band I was a part of in College, but that’s way down the road (well, hopefully not!).
Thanks, and best of luck to you too!
-Pat
Pat, congratulations on your successful year.
If you type a lot and want to get rid of things like “would of”, you could use an autotext program. It will expand text for you and also correct your typos automatically. The program I use is only available for Windows, but I found the following two for Mac:
http://www.smileonmymac.com/TextExpander/index.html
http://www.macility.com/products/typinator/
Great post Pat!
To me it feels like an adventure that we are on. Working on the online business has given me something to really look forward to. I get inspired by yourself and others and I am starting to see what you have learned in the past is starting to happen to me as well.
I haven’t hit the fork yet, but I know it’s just down the road. Time will tell but I am enjoying the ride!
Thanks again for these posts. They truly keep me moving forward.
Marty Green
Truly an inspiring year Pat. I’m working on doing the same as well, since being faced with some similar job-work related experiences. Your site has been VERY helpful and encouraging by the way. I’m planning on joining the Internet Business Mastery Academy sometime this month as well, Sterling and Jay have a killer podcast, so thanks for the recommendation.
Wow! I would say im jealous, but I know I will be there one day. It is so good to see people talk about there success online. Thanks.
Congrats, been following for almost a year and feel like I have seen the growth and know it is going to double over time.
Just so you know, Pat . The day I stumbled on to your SPI blog is the day I decided to start my own journey, you have been an inspiration. Congratulations and keep up the good work.
What a great journey you’ve had over the last year, Pat! Thanks for the inspiration and congrats on your success!!
Congrats Pat… Really worthfull to read. Very inspiring … me too traveling on the same road [ internet ] but not yet layyed off
Excellent stuff man
It’s really great to see you succeed!
- Glen
Pat, this is awesome. You are doing better than 99.99% of folks who want to “make money online.” Congratulations!
-Erica
To everyone: thank you so much for your kind words. They always inspire me to do more, bigger and better things. Cheers!
Thanks for posting this. This the EXACT situation I am in right now. Coming from working at the best job I’ve ever had; I was saw that I wasn’t doing what I was passionate about. And I was too tired afterwards to spend with my family. It’s good to read about your success. Look out for my version of this post next year!
Hi Pat! Just wanted to say congratulations, and thanks for all the good advice. I’ve been on EHow for three months now and I finally got my first payout! Also, I’m trying to follow in your footsteps with my first blogging experiment, so we’ll see how that goes!
Keep up the good work, man!
“When deciding to go into internet business, I was fortunate enough to have the support of my family and friends. For many people, however, this kind of decision is met with immediate backlash from others, which will often lead that person to some kind of self-doubt.”
This is the most important part of the whole post.
Well done Pat. Looks like getting laid off was a really great change in direction for you
Very inspirational. Congratulations.
Hi Pat,
You have been a source of inspiration for me and seeing great results from your balance sheet and monthly income report just spur me to work harder. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to your next update.
Cheers,
Vincent
Congratulations, Pat! I’ve been following SPI for about a year now, and am thrilled for you. Love this part of your post:
“I’m not a genius, nor do I consider myself an expert in anything. I got a 1240 on my SATs, and I still write “would of” instead of “would have” no matter how many times I try to correct myself. I forget where my sunglasses are, when they are on top of my head. I’m deathly afraid of spiders. I am not special! With the internet, we’re all on level playing fields, so it’s really the people who take action, those who learn and do, who will meet success in the future.”
Taking action is the most important part, and I know I can’t possibly be the only person you’ve inspired by generously sharing your knowledge and experiences. Thanks from all of us, and here’s to your continued success!
Very impressive results after only one year. WOW!
Another metric that I would be very interested in is Hours Worked.
How many hours in total does it take to build a business like you have? (Initially and ongoing) You have obviously put in a phenomenal effort to build a quality business.
Hey John! Thanks!
Actually, at the end of the post, under “time”, I talk about how many hours were put in, and how many hours I work now on my businesses. All the best to you!
It really only takes 15 minutes per day?
Maybe you are not counting blog posts, social media, planning, stats checking, etc. ??
My study guide exam business is all automated, I only spend 15 minutes a day on that, including checking stats.
This blog, of course, I spend way more time on, but it does hardly anything for my income, so I don’t count it. What I do here is just extra, “volunteer” stuff I guess you could say.
Hi Pat,
Thanks for posting this. As others have said, it’s very inspiring! One quick question… How do you manage your business accounting (I’m sure you have an easy way!), specifically in regards to making sure Uncle Sam get’s paid, and not in a big lump at the end of the year?
Best,
Mike B.
Sup Mike!
Well, I have a combination of a bookkeeper, who puts my earnings into QuickBooks every month, and I also have a CPA that handles all the necessary tax stuff so I can make sure I pay what I’m supposed to.
When you own a business, it’s proper to pay quarterly, so like you said, you don’t have to pay a lump sum at the end of the year. My CPA figures out, based on the previous year, what my quarterly payments should be. We make up for any differences in the final payment at the end of the year.
I’m not a CPA, tax expert or lawyer, so my best advice would be to find one for yourself to figure things out for you for your own specific businesses and situations
Cheers!
Hey Pat!
Wow, it’s so inspiring to read your story. Thanks for sharing it
Amazing how you got to where you are, it’s really something to be proud of.
Love reading your blog
Cheers
Diggy
Great to hear your story Pat!
Very impressive Pat !
I love to read people success stories just like yours. Well done.
And what’s more?you have got lot of time to spend with Mr.Gizmo and April.you are living the dream Pat.
Amazing Pat! Way to go!
[...] Pat published his ebook and made $8,000 in his first month. After just one year of running his online business he has made $203,219.04, as reported in his Annual Passive Income Report. [...]
This really is a fabulous post – I have been reading for a little while but I didn’t realise you’d been through all that. I also love what you say at the end about giving back. That’s really important to me too.
It’s amazing what can happen when are backs are pushed against a wall. Very impressive! Great post!
Cheers
Dayne
Don’t know what else to add besides: congrats and thanks!
P.S: Your content is amazing but don’t start charging us because I would definitely pay for it.
Awesome job Pat! Keep it up and keep us updated with your next ventures and what you learn from them in the process.
A truly impressive status update! I had heard about how well people have done with eBooks, but I’ve never seen actual numbers. I’ve truly underestimated their potential.
Well done!
Awesome breakdown and a great inspiration for many! Also very glad to see you point out one of my favorite ideas — “success lies on the far side of failure” — just as your seemingly unfortunate layoff shows. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Jason Clegg
Hello Pat.
I just discovered your blog and it is very impressive. I love this article. It will help empower others just starting out. What impresses me the most is that you plan on giving back. That is soooo important online and offline. Karma works in strange ways.
I look forward to more of your stories and thoughts.
Well done!
Garret Belisle
Hey Garret, thanks for stopping by! Actually, “online karma” is something I really do truly believe in. I wrote a post a while back called: The Number One Way to Increase Traffic – Be Nice.
It’s worked for me in all of my businesses. Work hard and honest, and good things will happen. They just do.
Cheers mate!
Congratulations.
First, for the truly astonishing success you’ve had in just one year.
Secondly, for writing this inspiring post.
I’m looking forward to what you will have in store for your readers for many years to come (I hope)!
Cheers,
Shane
A great read, and like so many have said a great inspiration to those of us seeking a different road to go down. Let this be the right fork for all of us. Best regards.
As someone who is putting together his first product/service, I have to say reading experiences like this helps motivate me to keep taking all the actions required to create something from nothing.
I can only hope to be as successful as you.
PS – I like your tone – not hyped at all. Very matter of fact, and thus comes across as sincere. I’d hope to handle such success the same way.
Thanks Dave! I wish you all the best of luck with your online business!
[...] Pat published his ebook and made $8,000 in his first month. After just one year of running his online business he has made $203,219.04, as reported in his Annual Passive Income Report. [...]
[...] Pat published his ebook and made $8,000 in his first month. After just one year of running his online business he has made $203,219.04, as reported in his Annual Passive Income Report. [...]
I don’t know…a little skeptical for now. 2 ebooks got 70K.
Luke, for a $30 eBook, that’s only 2,333 customers to add up to 70k, and over the course of 365 days. That isn’t that very many people!
Just think, how many people are there in the entire world? 6 BILLION? Just selling something to a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of that can be very profitable. Am i wrong?
Success is a choice. We a re all capable if and only if we took that challenge of plunging into the unknown. Not all are capable because they focus on outside measurement, whence the truth is that their capacities are immeasurable.
I salute your effort and I will climb my way to up to meet you.
Awesome Walter, I couldn’t of said it better myself. See you there
Hi Pat, thank you for your inspiring story. Which hotel did you stay in Hawaii? I work in Waikiki and you may have noticed that toursim has slown down a bit, my income is down 40%. Also right now my hotel is thinking shuting down for renovations for 3 years. This situation got me looking for ways to supplement my income till tourism comes back or to replace my income should my hotel close down. With all the people teaching only about how to make money online selling How To Make Money Online programs, your story is a breath of fresh air. It is hope that me, a beginner with no experience, can make it online without selling How To Make Money Online programs.
Thank you so much for sharing,
Les
Hey Les, we stayed at the princess kaiulani. Beautiful, beautiful Hotel in Waikiki, right by the beach and the international marketplace.
Anyways, I’m glad I could show you that you don’t have to teach about making money online, in order to make money online.
Best of luck to you!
Hi Pat, maybe I saw you. I work at the PK belldesk and maybe even carried your bags. I have been ther for almost 33 years. What a small world.
You inspire me and I hope an old guy like me has a chance to make it online. Thank you again.
Aloha,
Les
Wow, Pat $180,000 in income after expenses is HUGE! Getting laid off was a blessing in disguise, congrats!
Glad to see a fellow Cal Bear do so well. Go Bears!
Financial Samurai
It was a blessing, for sure! Go Bears!!!!!
WOW! This is a really impressive pay off to a decision to take the road less traveled. I find that one of the biggest thing that holds a lot of people back, myself included is “Not knowing they are right” as you said.
Sometime being laid off is the catalyst needed to ignite a dream and to push forward to realize it. Most of us working stiffs are a paycheck away from homelessness so we better be able to make the most beneficial choice when faced with the fork in the road literally or proverbially.
I’m not sure how I happened upon your blog, but I am glad I found my way. Got you in my reader ?
Thanks Ms. Freeman, I’m glad to have you on my blog! Hope to hear from you again soon!
Hi Pat,
Just found your blog and I’m really impressed. I’ve been working years at trying to achieve what you have done in just 12 months. I’m hoping to learn lots from you. You’re my new hero!
Steve
Hehe, I appreciate that. Hopefully I can continue to provide you with some great info. Cheers!
very inspiring…
this is my first time visit this blog, but read your story really wake up my spirit.. ( from indonesian.. )
Hi Ebta, thanks for stopping by the blog. Please keep in touch! All the best to you!
What a great story Pat. I just heard of your blog through Yaro Starak. I imagine that decision you made a year ago must have been a difficult one (or maybe it wasn’t). I am just new to the world of making income online. I look forward to hearing more about your success.
Shawn
Hi Shawn,
The decision was kind of difficult, but I almost had no choice. Everyone looking for architecture jobs were having such a hard time finding one, so I just chose the path less taken to see what would happen.
Thanks for stopping by, and I wish you all the best. Hope to hear from you again soon!
[...] One Year After Getting Laid Off – My Annual Passive Income Report [...]
The internet is there for everyone to leverage. Prime example of someone getting up and following through with a plan. All it takes is an idea and some creativity to make it happen.
Very inspirational story. I’m writing an ebook, and I have a lot to learn from your story. I’ll keep subscribing to your site.
It’s interesting that you got laid off and then started your business. I have the problem knowing when to quit my job. Should I wait until I have enough cash? Or should I just quit when I feel ready?
Nice! I like hearing about success stories like this. I also heard about your success story through Yaro Starak. Will be reading more of your blog posts.
All the best.
Steve
This is so inspirational to the many of us who are just starting websites. Although my site is nothing like yours, and is a World Cup Soccer site and fan forum, I would like to make enough money so it operates and I break even. You seem to have laid out a lot of money, but the returns you are getting are fantastic, I got here from Yaro’s site, and I have to thank him and you for sharing this, keep it going!
great story.
i’m looking forward to joining you soon in the land of full time interntet business owner.
i too realise that despite being in a comfortable full time job…i am losing my true self..spending my days complaining and bitching about work and bosses and the company. definitely i do not want myself to continue being the negative bitch.
thus..i am so looking forward to sending in my resignation letter by end of this month.
all the best to all of us e-biz owners.
-newbieguideto-
i always enjoy the real story of those who succeeded to get a life in internet. kewl beans dude!
These stories are always great to hear!
Thanks Pat. You have given me another chance to think about setting up my own online business.
Awesome, Inspiring, Motivating! It’s interesting how, when your came to the fork in the road, you put all your eggs in this basket. It certainly paid off. I appreciate you giving back at this site, and showing all of us that it is possible.
I like your blog. Thx
Great post Pat, really seems to sum up your acheivements this year, and is great motivation.
Just looking at the breakdown of those figures: the ebook income dwarfs the income of the other persuits (lets say eHow articles and iPhone apps). Do you think if from now on you ignored all other methods and focused solely on ebooks, your productivity (financially speaking) would improve? I’m thinking along the lines of the 80-20 principle here. Obviously, earnings from advertising would remain because it’s more passive.
I’d be interested in seeing a comparison of time spent on your different projects.
I’m so glad I discovered your blog today. I actually found it through a utube video that was shared on facebook. What I enjoy most it the language with which you blog – your blogs are useful and interesting.
I have thought about distributing content using ebooks. However, I have been concerned about how to protect the content. It seems like an ebook could easily be copied and redistributed. How do you protect yourself from this happening?
[...] Pat published his ebook and made $8,000 in his first month. After just one year of running his online business he has made $203,219.04, as reported in his Annual Passive Income Report. [...]
Excellent summary, Pat. You are killing it, man…keep up the hard work and thanks for sharing!
[...] One Year After Getting Laid Off – My Annual Passive Income Report. An entrepreneur shares his story about striking out on his own. [...]
..i also got here from Yaro’s site EJ. Very inspirational, both of you. Am also looking forward to repeating the same and will definitely be checking you guys out. I run a humour blog and would like to run a passive humour website for my countrymen, a first-they’re the ones who will be contributing while i concentrate on my outlet, blogging. Any ideas and suggestions highly appreciated
Pat, just came across your blog for the first time and I really like it. Great posts.
Thanks Tom! I appreciate that! Please let me know if you ever need anything. Cheers!
I love to watch American Super Idol. I love even more to hear success stories.
Thanks Pat, you are my inspiration.
I am following you closely. Will let you know when i made some remarkable money online. Now i know i am in right path.
Thanks,
Azad Shaikh
http://www.internetgeeks.org
[...] Pat published his ebook and made $8,000 in his first month. After just one year of running his online business he has made $203,219.04, as reported in his Annual Passive Income Report. [...]
Pat,
This is a great post. It sure gives us all hope and assurance that it can be done and we don’t need to have it all planned out before we start. We just need to START.
Thanks
Awesome stuff, Pat!
Just goes to show you what you can put together if you concentrate and focus on something properly.
I will actually be launching a new Info Product next year and will give your ‘Test’ procedure a try…
Excellent blog, you have here.
Best,
Chris
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[...] One Year After Getting Laid Off: My Annual Passive Income Report – The Smart Passive Income Blog [...]
Hi Pat,
Please don’t take this the wrong way because I am happy that you are successful.
I must say that I am skeptical but not about how much money you are making.
Many years ago before the Internet ever got going, I was looking for ideas on to start and then to make income from a business. I was young, broke and desperate. I was looking through the classified ads in the newspaper and came across an ad under “Business Opportunites” that said I could work from home and earn a decent income.
Well I answered the ad by sending in a self addressed stamped envelope requesting more information and then, a week later, received a well written letter that encouraged me to send the writer $20.00 for which I would receive a “book” that would contain all the instructions I would need on how to start my own business from home.
Needless to say, I sent out the $20.00 and then in about 10 days received a package with a “small book” that contained all the “instructions” on how to make money from home. The basic premise was to “rinse and repeat” what had just happend with me.
In other words, all I had to do was create a classifed ad and then wait for people to send me $20.00 so that I could send them the same book or a variation of it, that would tell essentially show them how to “rinse and repeat” as well. I chose not to follow this course of action.
So what am I saying? I can’t help but get the feeling that 95% of all this Google advertising is all about doing the same “rinse and repeat” cycle, but it now gets done by using technology in an EXTREMELY sophisticated way.
Now we have umpteen thousands of “work at home” folks all racing around doing Google advertising trying to sell “each each other” a new e-book that instructs them about how to create a website that sells another ebook that will show them how to make money online.
Well the system works very well as shown by your income statements.
My question to you is how much money would you make by writing an e-book about architecture and then trying to sell that online?
Just curious…..
Hi Bruce,
Thank you for your comment. Let me first say that I totally understand your skepticism, and I appreciate the time you put into writing your comment.
The classified ads example, which is a marketing scheme / system that I’ve read about before, is a type of multi-level/pyramid marketing scheme that in my opinion is a totally dishonest way of doing business. There’s no product or service example the system of selling itself to others, and I’m sorry you became another $20.00 in someone else’s pocket for getting that “instructional book”.
You’re right in the fact that many things that are done online these days are similar, if not exact digital carbon copies of what you mentioned. But what I do, and the type of businesses that I promote doing online are NOT even close to those kinds of things. My guess is that you haven’t looked at many of my other posts her on this blog.
Any “systems” or “instructions” that I talk about take weeks or months of HARD WORK and dedication, and are not easy. Only after setting up a business in the proper way can we then be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor, and at the same time we will be providing helpful and useful content to others.
Most of the money I’ve made online was done by providing a group of people (people wanting to pass the LEED exam – mainly architects and others in the design/build industry), with something that they needed that they were willing to exchange an amount of money for, and do so willingly.
If I come across as one who has a “system” that you can rinse and repeat and earns tons of money from, I’m sorry, because that’s not my purpose here. Please, show me where I talk about a system like this. My purpose here is to show you that it is indeed possible to earn a decent income online while putting in some hard work and providing something that people need. I talk about how I do this same thing, and people who come to this blog can take my advice for what it’s worth to them. I hope that makes sense.
To answer your question ,”How much money would you make by writing an e-book about architecture and then trying to sell that online?”, my answer is this: exactly however much you want to make. It’s up to you and how much research and work you’re willing to put into providing something that people would be willing to pay you for.
Would love to hear your response. If you’d like to talk more via email, or even chat by phone, contact me in the contact area above. Thanks Bruce, and I wish you all the best.
[...] One Year After Getting Laid Off – My Annual Passive Income Report: This is one of the most inspiring and uplifting blog posts you’ll ever read. Not only does it go through Pat’s success story after getting laid off, but he also breaks down exactly where his $203,219.04 came from. photo credit: Son of Groucho [...]
Hey Pat,
Thanks for your response. Again I’m not trying to be negative, but you have to admit, in a sense, that many “work-at-home” people are buying “classified” online advertising to promote their e-books. Many of these “opportunities” are scams.
(That being said, I myself am looking at what you are doing as a possible option to make some extra money as well, but I would only want to do it in the most ethical way possible.)
To be honest, I can see that you are not operating a “system”. You are merely selling information and I commend you on this. I know that those who sell information are the ones who will make a lot of money in the future. I wish my 25 year old would do something like this to get himself out of his JOB, (Just Over Broke.)
Again, selling books on how to pass exams is one thing but selling information that appeals our greedy natures is something completely different. Information for helping people pass exams is valuable to people who need it.
I suppose that one needs to be careful not to sell information that includes books instructing other people that they can make a lot of money by simple replicating a “system” themselves, even if the creation of that said system may take many months of hard work to develop. ie, create a website, research articles, create links, figure out keywords and key phrases, organising advertising, etc, etc. You have to agree with me that we now have hundreds of thousands of bloggers, facebookers and tweeters all trying to make a buck by sitting in front of their computers day in an day out. What percentage of them are legit? What type of economy are they creating? They don’t create anything exept for information which they then sell. Pretty interesting isn’t it?
Anyway, I shall be watching your activities and reading your blog in the future. Who knows, it could pay off.
[...] One Year After Getting Laid Off – My Annual Passive Income Report: This is one of the most inspiring and uplifting blog posts you’ll ever read. Not only does it go through Pat’s success story after getting laid off, but he also breaks down exactly where his $203,219.04 came from. photo credit: Son of Groucho [...]
All of this in only one year? Then there’s hope for me as well. How long did it take to start generating a livable income? My goal is about $1500 a month.
It took about 5 to 6 month of “prep” work, as far as setting up a site, and delivering free content for a while. But after that, I launched my eBook, and was immediately able to live off of it. $1500 a month is totally doable! You can do it!
[...] Pat published his ebook and made $8,000 in his first month. After just one year of running his online business he has made $203,219.04, as reported in his Annual Passive Income Report. [...]
Congrats! It’s great to see others’ progress and benchmarks. My goal is $3000/mo right now. That will go very far for me. I know that $1500 is probably doable, but making my plans now to get to the next level. Any input is appreciated! (DM or @ me on Twitter too, anyone!)
Hey man can I borrow $10 bucks for gas?
Just kidding of course, but what an awesome story man. It’s great to see other people’
s actual progress and it’s so awesome you detail the work that went into it. Other bloggers (not all just a few) act like all you have to do is sit down at your computer and money just starts coming out of the floppy drive once you have a blog.
Keep it up man, this is somewhere I plan to be at the end of 2010 myself.