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My one goal in 2008 (or new years resolution if you’d like) was to get to $2,000 per month in passive income. There was hardly a day that went by in 2008 that I didn’t think about this goal actually. I was that obsessed with it.
By the way, in case you’re thinking “$2,000 doesn’t sound like very much income per month”, keep in mind that this is PASSIVE income - income that comes in whether I work or not. In other words, this income cannot come from any hourly or regular “job” type work. It comes from things like real estate rental income, businesses you’ve setup that are running on autopilot, investment income like dividends, royalties from books or products being sold, etc. I was also earning other income during this time from my existing business and consulting which DID require my time and wasn’t passive.
If you are curious why passive income is such a big goal of mine you can read this and this for some background, but essentially it boils down to this: if you no longer have to trade your time for money you have truly broken free and can start to accomplish great things in life.
People in Times Square new years eve reminiscing on their 2008 goals? Photo by amelungc
One cool thing I got to do over the break was meet with Erica Douglass. We met through a mutual friend and when she saw that I was heading to San Jose she asked if I wanted to meet up. I’m really glad she did because I always enjoy meeting more experienced entrepreneurs - and her story is pretty interesting.
She moved to San Jose from Indiana back in 1999 - and went through a series of internet businesses ultimately culminating in selling her web hosting business for $1.1 million.
One of the most interesting things she told me Read the rest of this entry »
Just moments ago I was sitting in an airport waiting to come home to San Jose, California for the holidays. Lo and behold - they came on the loudspeaker and announced that our flight had been cancelled. Not delayed, but CANCELLED cancelled, as in not going anywhere for at least a day.
Everyone immediately started complaining. A number of people start cursing loudly on their cell phones and yelling at the airline employees. It was truly incredible to see such a large group of adults totally lose it and overreact.
I happened to be sitting there in a zen like state eating a candy bar and listening to an audio book at the moment - and I can honestly say it didn’t bother me one bit. In fact, I was almost laughing to myself at how funny it was watching everyone. I mean sure, maybe it’s not what you were expecting - but would it really be the end of the world if you got there one day later? It reminded me of a popular article I wrote on this blog about why you shouldn’t let little things in piss you off.
Delayed/cancelled flights - photo by presta
I had a somewhat funny experience today discovering how computers figure out what is spam and what is not.
It started when I got an email from a new customer on my tutoring site (this is a passive income business I’ve been working on).
Brian,
This got marked as Spam, just so you know. I just happened to catch it while browsing for a FR33 D0NG-B00ST WITH M3XICAN V1AGRA!!!
Don’t know why this got blocked when none of the student contacts did, but you might wanna check it out. Meanwhile I’ll subscribe; I been clockin mad cheddar from this shit. Too bad any students who’ve wanted to catch me the past week would have missed me… but I was ready for a break anyway. Thanks for helping me make my car payments (just bought a Passat)![name removed]
After contemplating whether or not to add his quote “I been clockin mad cheddar from this shit” to my testimonial page, I decided to investigate why my email might be getting marked as spam.
After all, this was a pretty important email. It was the email where I ask tutors (with a free account) to subscribe and pay me money after their free trial has ended. It’s the moment of truth where I find out if people really think my service is worth paying for. This needed to be fixed ASAP!
For some reason at the gym last night I started thinking about tax brackets and how totally ridiculous they are.
Sure, I understand the idea that “people who make more should contribute more in taxes”, but do you realize this is already accomplished with a simple percentage? Let’s say everyone paid 20% of their income to the government and this was the only tax bracket. Well, 20% of $50,000 is half as much as 20% of $100,000. It’s simple, it’s fair - someone who earned twice as much would contribute twice as much in taxes.
Photo by Bird Eye
But instead, we have tax brackets. We are in effect telling people that if you work hard, start businesses, own real estate, break free, create jobs, stimulate the economy, and start to earn a lot of money - we (the government) will punish you by taking an even greater percentage of your money. Similarly, if aren’t doing anything currently which people are willing to highly compensate you for - you will be rewarded by the government taking less of your money! How is this any different than punishing success and rewarding failure?
The dirty little secret about tax brackets
Here’s a more subtle point that many people don’t realize. Due to tax brackets and inflation, the government will continually get more of your money even without raising taxes. Allow me to explain…
If you haven’t seen Eben Pagan’s stuff, it’s absolutely worth watching. Check out this free video he just put up. I’ve learned a TON from him over the years.
You can check out the video by clicking here.
Yesterday I attended the Web 2.0 Venture Forum at Rice University in Houston, TX. It was awesome!
I got to see about 54 new companies present their ideas to venture capitalists and try to get money. I took a bunch of pictures and video for you.
While I don’t believe in taking venture capital, especially for a Web 2.0 business, I did really enjoy seeing a whole bunch of new business ideas and meeting a bunch of entrepreneurs.
Brian Armstrong at the Web 2.0 Venture Forum
Disclaimer
Some of what I’m about to say might sound negative. I believe in encouraging people to pursue their ideas in business and take action, so the people who presented deserve a lot of credit. But in my opinion a lot of VC’s giving feedback at this conference were way too polite.
That isn’t what these entrepreneurs needed to hear and that’s not fair to them. They need to hear your real opinion even if it’s harsh. Some of the most valuable and time-saving business advice I’ve ever gotten was when somebody (the right kind of person) told me my idea sucked. So I’m not going to hold back here.
Anyway, here are some of the highlights for you…
It looks like this:
Try to notice today when you see someone who is frustrated. If you can solve their pain, you might be on to a great business idea.
A lot of entrepreneurs are freaked out about telling people their business ideas. They act like it’s a big secret that someone will steal!
Photo by Jill Greenseth
Usually there is no need for this. Great business ideas are abundant, it’s the execution of them that is really difficult.
For example, we all know that if someone could create a super fuel efficient car, or a machine that washed and dried your clothes in one step, or an operating system that never crashed - they’d be rich! Those aren’t secrets, they just happen to come with difficult execution.
You aren’t the only one with your business idea. Lot’s of people have had it. It’s just that 90% of them will never act on it, and of those that do, 90% of them won’t get it right. Maybe (hopefully) you will!
You probably hear good business ideas on a regular basis. But how do you know if they’ll be right for you?
Here is a quick checklist I like to go through to analyze a new business idea and decide if it’s right for me.
Photo by mistersnappy
Regarding #2, I usually just Google it to check out the competition. Keep in mind that people can become very comfortable with their old, regular way of doing something. There is a cost to them of switching to your new service. Even if yours is a little bit better they still have to spend their time and brain power learning a new system and taking the risk that it might not work for them. They might not even think to LOOK for an alternative if their current system is “good enough”.
So you can’t just be a little bit better - a prettier color scheme for example. You have to be “enough better” that it’s worth it for them to switch. The best situation you can find is one where most people hate the only available solution, and are actively searching for an alternative.
This is the case with accounting software like Quicken and Quickbooks, for example.
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