Meet the Man Who Started It All
Hey everyone! Pat here. I’m a family man who learned about online business because I had to. Like so many other people who have faced hardships in their jobs, I was forced to adapt—and quickly—to support myself and my family. Today, I’m well into my Plan B career.
I graduated from college with an architecture degree and went to work for an amazing architectural firm as a Job Captain. I was thriving in my career and had no plans to leave it—but there are some parts of life we can’t control.
The economic collapse of 2008 hit my industry hard. I watched with deep sadness as many of my colleagues lost their jobs. I survived for a while, so I began to think I might make it. I was wrong. With just a few months to go before my wedding, I was laid off too.
Pat Flynn, Founder of SPI
It's about finding your passion and letting go. It's about believing in yourself and learning to succeed or fail on your merits, not the whims of the economy or factors outside of your control. This is a great dose of inspiration, and if that is what you are looking for (or if you just want to know more about Pat's story), you won't be disappointed.”
Ryan, An Amazon.com Verified Purchase reader review
How SPI Began
A Little Story About a Big Dream
In the wake of losing my architecture job, I was lost and afraid. I started searching for answers and a new direction—and what I found blew my mind.
During my time at the firm, I'd built a popular blog that housed my study notes for a prestigious industry exam. As a test, I created a study guide as a simple PDF and put it on the site for sale. Overnight, people began to buy it in droves.
This surprise sales success blog suddenly turned my blog into a “niche site” that led me into the world of internet marketing, online business, and passive income.
As my journey continued, I met kind, talented, and generous people who helped me grow my business and my chops. I also realized early on that I wanted to help others take control of their professional and financial destinies, too—and this was the spark that launched Smart Passive Income (SPI).
The more I taught others, the more I learned myself, and the SPI community grew in a way that was thrilling and humbling. At the five year mark, I wrote my memoir, Let Go, which tells my origin story as an online entrepreneur.
The SPI community continues to evolve and mature, and our story is far from over. In many ways, it's only just begun.
Why and How We Exist
Our Mission, Vision, and Core Values
We're proud to be a purpose-driven company in the service of others. We're excited to share our mission, vision, and core values with you as a commitment to authenticity and a means of holding our work accountable to these high standards.
Mission
A mission is a company’s northstar. It establishes a reason for being—a “why” we exist. All of our work is guided by this simple, empowering, unifying statement.
Our Mission: To elevate entrepreneurs to within reach of their dreams
Vision
A vision is a direction, not a current-state reality; it's something we work to achieve. Our vision is informed by the mission and describes that mission in precise, actionable terms.
Our Vision: SPI is a trusted learning and development ecosystem that serves a worldwide community of online entrepreneurs. The community is alive with individuals and teams from all walks of life and at all stages of their entrepreneurial journeys bonded by a common cause—to build purpose-driven and profitable businesses they can be proud of. SPI empowers its community members to take action toward achieving their goals by providing best-in-class educational content, community-building opportunities, and training experiences. SPI also partners with other industry experts to develop and champion useful resources that further enable its mission.
Core Values
Core values are declarations of integrity not to be negotiated. They inform judgment and govern behaviors in a world where the quality of one’s choices defines who they truly are far more than their abilities.
Work with Purpose
The best, most valuable work we can do comes from focusing on priorities, reducing waste of resources, providing helpful feedback, and collaborating with positive intentions.
Share without Ego
We offer the complete picture of our experiences—to ourselves and to our audience—to enable authentic learning that promotes our values without compromise.
Take Care
We strive to care for our team and our community through being considerate of the needs, goals, and boundaries of all, weaving empathy and service into every action and intention.
Own Your Outcome
Embrace the privilege that responsibilities provide to do deep work that delivers meaningful results and makes a positive difference in the lives of others.
Embrace the Process
Be curious. Learn from failure and admit mistakes. Question assumptions and explore opportunities. Reduce chaos. Promote sustainability. And find as much joy in the work as in the success.
Choose Health
We embrace, without guilt, the flexibility of our work life that allows us to take care of ourselves first so that we can better serve others.
Our Awesome Team
Meet the People Who Make It All Possible
All things SPI are brought to you by an amazing team of talented professionals. Each member of our team has years of experience across a range of business-critical superpowers that we need to live out our mission.
Our Trusted Partners
We Could Not Do It Without Them
From our beloved Smart Bar platform partners to our inner circle of talented service specialists, our partners make our work better every step of the way.
Meet Our Partners
Our World-class Community
About Us? It’s About You.
You are our reason for being. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an accomplished one, we do what we do to serve you. Our work will never be done because entrepreneurial missions are big, visions are long, and needs are ever-changing. We appreciate you and are here for you for the long haul.
The SPI community of like-minded entrepreneurs comes together and comes alive most through our email subscription. We’d love to have you join if you haven’t already. It's forever free, filled with exclusive content, and always optional; you can easily unsubscribe anytime. See you on the inside!
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