AP 0945: How Do I Keep My Website Alive after I Pass Away?

AskPat 945 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 945 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me today. As always, I'm here to help you by answering your online business questions five days a week.

All right, now here's today's question from Joey.

Joey: Hi Pat. This is Joey. This question is weird, but I would like to know how you think. My question is, how you want to keep your website alive after you pass away? As you know, web hosting and domain name needs to be renewed at least every few years. So would you ask your child to look after your website and keep it alive, or are you going to set up your own hosting server at home to make it easy for your child to look after your website? How about the next generation after your son and daughter? Or are you going to move your website to a free platform like Tumblr so that your website can last as long as the company lasts? The history of the internet isn't that long, so we haven't really faced this problem yet, but in the near future I guess more people will talk about this topic. I really want my website to last beyond my time on this planet, and I would like to know your view on this topic. Thank you. Bye.

Pat Flynn: Hey Joey. Thank you so much for the question. This is a really smart question because it's very forward thinking, not in a morbid kind of way but really a protection kind of way because when we build our websites, they are assets that can last us a very long time, especially when you have them on autopilot and they are building passive income for you and your family and your loved ones. Well, what happens if you pass? Well, this is something that I've actually been discussing with my attorney, because we're talking about estate planning, and your website can be, if it's producing an income for you, an amazing business asset that you have to somehow figure out what to do with after you have passed. When you do estate planning and you put it in your will, what do you want to happen to it? Because it's a website, it's a little bit different. You can't just package it up and hand it to somebody or bequeath it to those who you want to give it to. It's gonna take a little bit more thought.

My thoughts are, Joey, that it's not gonna be something that I'm going to just place on a free platform like Tumblr, like you mentioned. It would be actually trying to keep it going. Now, who knows when I pass, what will be available or if even websites will still be around. I mean, who knows? But what I do know is that if I were to pass anytime soon that it would be handed over to somebody who would know how to take care of it, somebody who would know how to get in there, how to get access to everything. So passwords, everything, even continuing to run the business. Getting them involved with who my teammates are and what their responsibilities are, and how things are run so that they can continue to run it if they choose to do that.

With a business like Smart Passive Income, it's very much driven by who I am, Pat Flynn. Pat Flynn is the brand of Smart Passive Income. So there would likely be a transition period of some kind if it were to keep going. It would be a lot harder to sell than say a product that wasn't so personally branded, one that would be a lot easier to sell off and just sell for a sum of money for example. But the best thing to do would be to just think ahead and consider who might be one who might be able to help take care of it.

For me right now it wouldn't be my kids because they're a little too young. It would be my wife or another friend of mine for example who, in my will, would have very clear instructions on what to do with that and certain rules and terms based on certain events. That's how I would go about it. I would definitely want to keep it alive because it's a way for my legacy to keep going and helping people even after I go. I mean, it's helped tens of thousands of people already, and I know that even if I weren't around it would still be able to do that with all the amazing content that is on there on the podcast, on the blog, on video.

More than that, I think for my kids especially it would be great to see something that their dad put together through a whole number of years to help inspire them to do something that . . . A lot of you know my story and the reason why I do what I do. It's because I got laid off and it helped me realize what was possible in my life and what I could eventually do. I want them to believe in themselves as well and have it be there as inspiration for them through tough times, like it was tough for me when I got let go back in 2008.

Joey, I hope that helps answer your question and gives a lot of you some food for thought. This may be a topic that isn't really one that ever comes up in conversation because it's not really something we like to talk about, but I think it's something that we need to talk about, much like how it's important to do estate planning, if you have kids especially—your will, all those kinds of things. Yeah, thank you Joey for the question. I appreciate it. I want to send you an AskPat t-shirt for having your question featured here on the show.

For those of you listening, if you have a question that you'd like potentially featured here on the show, all you have to do is head on over to AskPat.com and you can ask right there on that page.

Thanks so much. I appreciate you, and here's a quote to finish off the day by Cicero. “I have never admired another's fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own.” Thanks, take care, and I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat. Bye.