Every morning I wake up, check my email, brush my teeth, and go downstairs to have a nice breakfast with my parents. And every single morning my retired dad asks me the same question: “So how much money did you make while you were asleep last night?”
I usually answer with a number between $75 and $150, which means I usually sell between 4 to 8 books while I’m asleep. He always responds with the same phrase:
“That’s Ridiculous.”
Now, I’m not quite sure what he means by that. He usually shakes his head a little, but he adds a little smile. I can interpret this in a few ways. One, maybe he’s using the word “ridulous” in the sense that it’s FREAKING AWESOME, like when I sit on the beach and watch a surfer catch a massive wave and I say “that’s ridiculous.” Or instead, he could be saying to himself “How could it be that easy?” I was curious, so I asked him.
This morning I woke up, checked my email, brushed my teeth, and went downstairs to have a Denver omelet. Yum! My dad asks me the same question, and I actually sold 7 this morning, so I told him. “That’s ridiculous,” he said, and then I asked him “why?”
This was his response:
“Well, you got laid off, didn’t even look for another job, you go to bed late, wake up late, and now you’re making more money than you did when you had your job. I just can’t believe it, and I don’t know how you do it, but I’m really proud of you.”
That was nice to hear, and it let me know exactly what he was thinking.
The Generation Barrier and Work Ideology
My dad is retired, and he’s a little before the baby boomer generation, but their ideology of work is generally all the same: you work for X hours, you get paid X dollars. It’s that simple. You work hard, you climb the ladder, and you get paid. My dad worked for the same company for 45 years. 45 YEARS! Now that’s ridiculous, and not in the wake up with money in your pocket kind of way.
I respect my dad, and he’s worked really hard to keep the family afloat. I know exactly where my dedication and hard work came from, and it was from him. But I cannot imagine working in a single company for that long. Now, I can’t even imagine working for anybody but myself.
Passive Income is no longer just an interest rate in a bank account, it’s being able to monetize websites, write ebooks, become an affiliate, advertising – all on autopilot once it’s done. It’s a totally different era now.
We’re now in the Information Age. There wasn’t a computer in each and every home back when people my dad’s age were working, but now there are 2 comptuers and a laptop in each household. The world is changing so fast, and that’s why I think my dad responds each morning the way he does.
What This Means to Us
My point of this post is this: you shouldn’t have to think that working 9 to 5 each and every day is the only way to live – because it’s not. I’m not trying to put down those of you who have 9 to 5 jobs. I mean, I had one just a while ago and I was basically making two incomes simultaneously for a brief period of time. I would have loved to keep it, but I got laid off, and luckily my other form of income is what kept me from breaking down.
But what I’m trying to say is that you should begin to explore the kinds of opportunities we have in the world today. I may be preaching to the choir here, but there are tons of things you can do to earn money online, you just have to almost “snap out of it,” get out of the rat race and create the lifestyle you want to live.
Now that I’m living a passive income lifestyle (although I’m still working on new projects), I’m able to set my own hours, make my own decisions, be stress free, plan other things, and if I ever just wanted to make even more money, all I would have to do is create another product online. It’s ridiculous.
Ask the Reader
If you’ve ever made money online, have you spoken to anyone who may have doubted what you do online and how you make money? I was talking to one of my online friends who makes great money online (over a million a year actually), and whenever he brings it up with his parents, they think he’s running a porn site. Hah.
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I can relate! Although my parents actually encourage me in it, I have a few friends who don’t quite understand how passive income works and I question what they are really thinking in their heads about how I spend my time. Of course part of the reason for their sentiments might be that I’ve only just begun attempting to earn passive income so I don’t have too much in terms of results to report yet. This was a motivational post, thanks.
Sarah H.´s last blog post..Houseplant Hacks – Five ways to save money when buying houseplants
LOL. I have to confess that before I became a freelance writer, I had a friend who worked from home “editing and writing”. I swore she was a dominatrix…if you saw her you would understand.
Now, I’ve read some of her work and she is quite an amazing and accomplished writer, she just didn’t like to brag.
I can relate. My husband is amazed that I still earn money when I’m sleeping, out for the day, or on vacation. It’s actually caused him to rethink his own career and plans.
My sisters have begun online writing on the side following my lead, and I’ve helped them get started. It was the $1,000/month in residuals mark that made then sit up and take notice. Now they believe it is possible.
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Wow you are making a large amount of money every day. I need to triple my online income before I could support myself from this.
Online Dividends´s last blog post..Should you write for other sites in your quest for passive income?
It’s funny, and sad at the same time. I have the same thing with my parents. Except my mom, she is a world authority on iguanas, I told her, Mom write me a small book on iguana care. I’ll market it, make a site and sell and ebook, and give her the money. She doesn’t think it will sell or make money. too closed minded to even try. it’s a shame because she could be supplementing her income. Makes me sad and mad too, at the same time.
I like your blog I am going to add you to my roll.
Larry
That was very beautiful what your father said to you. I Just completed my very first ebook and is looking for ways to market it. My husband think I am wasting my time with this internet thing. He wants me to go out an find a real job. I hope to prove him wrong soon. If I can give my ebook a plug, “How I went from $0 Business Credit to over $300,000
For now it’s being marketed on smashwords.com and scribd.com
Thank you.
Thanks for taking the time to talk about this, I feel powerfully about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is exceedingly helpful for me.
well, most people who try to make money online make less per hour than they would at a regular job. I’ve been working on unique articles (already mindmapped) and never thought about turning them into e-books.
Right now I just want to ask:
How many pages/articles do you need for a good e-book?
I create art, but I wonder how a photo-e-book would work.
It’s funny because I just had a similar conversation with my dad who is also from the baby boomer generation. The crazy thing is, he actually purchased a guide a few months back on how to do exactly what I am doing and he never got around to using it because he is too busy working. One day I will take the time to help him set up a niche site, when he gets a day off.
To be honest I don’t try to explain anything to anyone. My parents and friends just know that I spend a lot of time on the computer.
The funny thing is I AM a baby boomer and I am trying to convince my kids!!!! Go figure.