Post: #1

I am just an ignorant fool when it comes to any sort of income.
I am in current attendance at a college that, in association with it's scholarship, only pays somewhere between $4-$6 an hour. And it's closer to the $4 side. Now I have heard taking the red pill is a movement toward business or passive incomes.

Now I like the sound of that but it's kinda sketch sounding. I mean a google search with the words "passive income" comes up with results such as "dangerous fantasy"

I pulled a recent article by Runsonmagic when he was blogging on dark enlightenment individuals and he said this:

"Taking the red pill has clear action steps. You stop supplicating to women. You start lifting. You shift your income from a traditional 9 to 5 to a business or passive income stream. You start approaching. You visit other cultures. You broaden your horizons."

Can you guys give me examples of this? I have been really interested lately in job ideas and jobs in general. I graduate potentially next spring so I really got to get on the grind of finding a job, or having an income of any means.

I am graduating with a bachelor of the arts in Biology. I think I could branch in many directions with the degree (much better than the dumbasses taking majoring in art or music) but at the same time it is a bachelor of the arts, had no choice since this education was free.

I have also been looking through articles especially on ROK and took an interest in getting some type of trade anything would be good I think. Always have a secondary fallback.

So what do you guys do for passive incomes?

Post: #2

Blogging - It generates revenue in the long run if your audience grows, you can sell ads or products.

Renting - My parents have an apartment complex in Mexico, every month they get money from the tenants. They have to do some upkeep but it's safe money every month.

Post: #3

(02-23-2014 10:24 PM)Jonathon Wrote:  I am just an ignorant fool when it comes to any sort of income.
I am in current attendance at a college that, in association with it's scholarship, only pays somewhere between $4-$6 an hour. And it's closer to the $4 side. Now I have heard taking the red pill is a movement toward business or passive incomes.

Now I like the sound of that but it's kinda sketch sounding. I mean a google search with the words "passive income" comes up with results such as "dangerous fantasy"

I pulled a recent article by Runsonmagic when he was blogging on dark enlightenment individuals and he said this:

"Taking the red pill has clear action steps. You stop supplicating to women. You start lifting. You shift your income from a traditional 9 to 5 to a business or passive income stream. You start approaching. You visit other cultures. You broaden your horizons."

Can you guys give me examples of this? I have been really interested lately in job ideas and jobs in general. I graduate potentially next spring so I really got to get on the grind of finding a job, or having an income of any means.

I am graduating with a bachelor of the arts in Biology. I think I could branch in many directions with the degree (much better than the dumbasses taking majoring in art or music) but at the same time it is a bachelor of the arts, had no choice since this education was free.

I have also been looking through articles especially on ROK and took an interest in getting some type of trade anything would be good I think. Always have a secondary fallback.

So what do you guys do for passive incomes?

Read the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris and then read his blogs that talk about "muse" examples. That'll answer 95% of your questions. The most basic example of passive income is being an author like Roosh--write a book, digitally publish it, and let the money continue to flood in years later without having to do anything, hence the income is passive.

Some here and in other red pill forums have been soured on the idea of passive income (I have). Yes, some people truly do make it, but a lot of what I see out there is basically a pyramid scheme. What I mean is that you will find a significant portion of bloggers whose primary topic is how to start a passive income business (yet they've never actually started a passive income business). They write a book about it, make up or steal some examples of passive income businesses, and make a small revenue stream, inspiring others to do the exact same thing. Boom--you have half the internet saying how awesome passive income is but such a small number of people have actually done it.

That being said, Roosh and others have actually made it, and more power to them. Yes, I work a shitty corporate job that pays $70k in a medium-sized city and I would rather make $40k passively. I'll get to it at some point, but I don't want to start another fake muscle-fuel drink or weight loss supplement to do it (or, in Ferris' case, some mental stimulant). I want to actually sell something of value.

Also I would check your attitude about the Biology degree. Yes, it's better than the fine arts degrees but it's still primarily a major composed of rote memorization, and memorization as a skill is not exactly a valuable one (besides at the bakery counter when you memorize the donut prices).

Post: #4

Everyone wants a passive income.

For the most part, whatever passive income you end up generating, it starts out as VERY ACTIVE INCOME. It's much more active than any job that you're trying to escape from. (something i've discovered)

You're going to do some significant legwork to find a business model that works, make that business work, and make sure it's truly profitable.

The classic 4 hour work week actually talks about a guy who worked 80-100 hours a week for 2 years, losing his health, losing his social connections, before he learned how to optimize what he did. Getting to 5 figure a month profitability didn't happen in 4 hours, but with good systems, he could maintain his ~10,000 hours of blood, sweat, and tears business by only looking at 4 hours a week.

The classics
- Stocks and bonds - You need some coin to get started, and you spend a lot of time doing research. Either you research individual investments, or you research methods, or both

- Real Estate - Finding properties, analyzing, buying, renting, maintaining..lots of people make their money this way. It's not a 40 hour a week job, but it's running a business. You'll be going full steam before you get to the point where you can hire someone to do the day to day

The new stuff

- Affiliate marketing/adsense/advertising - basically you're creating content, and the content compels people to take some action that makes you money. You could be writing about widgets that are sold on Amazon. If you pick the right niche, and the right bundle of low competition key words, then you can build sites, and build links to those sites and you can profit handsomely. But it's a considerable amount upfront time and effort, and often money.

- Dropshipping/e-commerce - essentially the same thing. Finding a market, understanding those customers, attracting those customers, converting the customers, delivering the product, doing the customer service. Drop Shipping is selling stuff, and having the manufacturer/distributor ship it out. E-Commerce, for the purpose of this post, means that you are in charge of everything.

- Creating intellectual property - patents, writing books, making beats, art - You have to find a niche, a group of people buying that stuff, and market yourself, and make the stuff for them. This always seems appealing to people, because they think if they write it, record it, paint it - they can just put it on the internet and be drinking coconut cocktails on the beach somewhere. Dirty secret about IP is the real work is marketing, and that's not something you can readily hand off to someone else.

None of these opportunities are "plug and play". Every last one of them you have to work a whole bunch, and after it's profitable, then you can hand it off to someone/something to manage.

And when you finally create your passive income, income where you're not trading your own time for dollars, you now have to manage what you do.

With financial investments, the market changes.
With real estate, tenants move out (and tear your property up)
With affiliate/advertising income - search engine changes, social media changes, information changes, tons of competitors
With e-commerce/drop shipping - the consumer market changes

And if you have someone doing this for you - you've got to worry about the business, and the business of managing people.

In a sense, there's never a truly passive income, but there's definitely better ways to make money than trading your time for x amount of dollars

WIA

Post: #5

(02-23-2014 11:02 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  Everyone wants a passive income.

For the most part, whatever passive income you end up generating, it starts out as VERY ACTIVE INCOME. It's much more active than any job that you're trying to escape from. (something i've discovered)

You're going to do some significant legwork to find a business model that works, make that business work, and make sure it's truly profitable.

The classic 4 hour work week actually talks about a guy who worked 80-100 hours a week for 2 years, losing his health, losing his social connections, before he learned how to optimize what he did. Getting to 5 figure a month profitability didn't happen in 4 hours, but with good systems, he could maintain his ~10,000 hours of blood, sweat, and tears business by only looking at 4 hours a week.

The classics
- Stocks and bonds - You need some coin to get started, and you spend a lot of time doing research. Either you research individual investments, or you research methods, or both

- Real Estate - Finding properties, analyzing, buying, renting, maintaining..lots of people make their money this way. It's not a 40 hour a week job, but it's running a business. You'll be going full steam before you get to the point where you can hire someone to do the day to day

The new stuff

- Affiliate marketing/adsense/advertising - basically you're creating content, and the content compels people to take some action that makes you money. You could be writing about widgets that are sold on Amazon. If you pick the right niche, and the right bundle of low competition key words, then you can build sites, and build links to those sites and you can profit handsomely. But it's a considerable amount upfront time and effort, and often money.

- Dropshipping/e-commerce - essentially the same thing. Finding a market, understanding those customers, attracting those customers, converting the customers, delivering the product, doing the customer service. Drop Shipping is selling stuff, and having the manufacturer/distributor ship it out. E-Commerce, for the purpose of this post, means that you are in charge of everything.

- Creating intellectual property - patents, writing books, making beats, art - You have to find a niche, a group of people buying that stuff, and market yourself, and make the stuff for them. This always seems appealing to people, because they think if they write it, record it, paint it - they can just put it on the internet and be drinking coconut cocktails on the beach somewhere. Dirty secret about IP is the real work is marketing, and that's not something you can readily hand off to someone else.

None of these opportunities are "plug and play". Every last one of them you have to work a whole bunch, and after it's profitable, then you can hand it off to someone/something to manage.

And when you finally create your passive income, income where you're not trading your own time for dollars, you now have to manage what you do.

With financial investments, the market changes.
With real estate, tenants move out (and tear your property up)
With affiliate/advertising income - search engine changes, social media changes, information changes, tons of competitors
With e-commerce/drop shipping - the consumer market changes

And if you have someone doing this for you - you've got to worry about the business, and the business of managing people.

In a sense, there's never a truly passive income, but there's definitely better ways to make money than trading your time for x amount of dollars

WIA

Post: #6

Get a niche blog going. Something that you're good at or would like to get good at. Because that field would interest you, and take care of one of the most crucial factors that can determine the success of a blog - SUSTAINABILITY.

Don't quit your job till the time your blog really gets going and you're making minimum wage like money off it. As far as monetization of the blog is concerned, there are way too many ways - affiliate marketing, e-commerce, drop shipping, product creation, lead generation (the best if the product is quality), services, advertisements.

The key is to keep building slowly. Expecting something to happen immediately can be a recipe for failure. Just start, and keep adding content when something comes to you naturally, not for the sake of it. But when you start something, make sure you do it like a pro. Designing, marketing and the content quality has to be the best you can achieve with the resources you have. Online business is to be treated the same way as you would a brick and mortar one.

Post: #7

(02-24-2014 10:24 AM)testos111 Wrote:  Get a niche blog going. Something that you're good at or would like to get good at. Because that field would interest you, and take care of one of the most crucial factors that can determine the success of a blog - SUSTAINABILITY.

Don't quit your job till the time your blog really gets going and you're making minimum wage like money off it. As far as monetization of the blog is concerned, there are way too many ways - affiliate marketing, e-commerce, drop shipping, product creation, lead generation (the best if the product is quality), services, advertisements.

The key is to keep building slowly. Expecting something to happen immediately can be a recipe for failure. Just start, and keep adding content when something comes to you naturally, not for the sake of it. But when you start something, make sure you do it like a pro. Designing, marketing and the content quality has to be the best you can achieve with the resources you have. Online business is to be treated the same way as you would a brick and mortar one.

Any idea on the $$$ that a blog could generate? I am a bit more interested in those sites that have static/somewhat updated info about a particular subject. Some guy I met did something on a specific type of pet turtle and got income from pass thru sales onto amazon.

Post: #8

There is literally only one form of 100% passive income.

A heavy bank account.

It's hilarious that anyone would call blogging or Internet marking "passive" you are still spending your time to do it. That is not passive at all that is called a hobby/business. WIAs post is "location independent jobs" but they are jobs.

That is like me saying I run a $100M corporation so that is passive income... Not at all.

If you have a couple million that is literally passive income because you sit there and jerk off as money hits your account on a monthly basis (bonds) or quarterly basis (dividends). Even if a massive recession hits and your dividends and bonds are cut in half you are still spitting out 50% of whatever cash flow you had before.

Post: #9

samsamsam Wrote:  Any idea on the $$$ that a blog could generate? I am a bit more interested in those sites that have static/somewhat updated info about a particular subject. Some guy I met did something on a specific type of pet turtle and got income from pass thru sales onto amazon.

An Amazon affiliate site getting 1,000 views per day (30,000 uniques per month), with 20-30 pieces of "high quality" content, ranking on the first page of Google for multiple low competition terms can generate 600-1300 dollars from affiliate income per month.

Right now the popular formula involves using links from your own private blog network of sites with good page and domain authority. So you manage to find 25+ sites with good link profiles, and then link those sites to your money site.


At least that is what the gurus teach. Everything about the space can be faked.

Doing this yourself means brainstorming niches, using a tool to generate keywords (usually in the hundreds), then analyzing the top ten results in Google for each keyword. Which means evaluating thousands of other websites.

You will do this for hours on end, and when you finally have a decent list, you must then create sites, write the content, find the pictures, format, add monetization links, and post.

After that, you then link to your money site from your pbn. At that point some of your sites may.rank, but some won't. If you knock someone out of position, they.might retaliate with a campaign to push you down the rankings.

More than a month later if all goes.well, you'll get money.from Amazon. Hopefully Amazon doesn't change their fee structure, or Google doesn't change its algorithm.

Post: #10

WIA thanks for the info. Sounds like a good amount of effort. The turtle guy's site - this was a few years ago - was static. It didn't have news articles or anything like that. Just a few pages covering most everything and the links.

To spend hours evaluating etc starts making it a real job!

Post: #11

I recommend Amazon Affiliates for those starting out.

It's extremely easy to setup and converts very well. You can also use it as a testing ground for demand.

If your niche site does well with Amazon then you know there is a demand AND you are already having customers buy stuff. You can then produce your own products and take a much bigger cut. Just one idea.

(02-24-2014 12:02 PM)WestCoast Wrote:  It's hilarious that anyone would call blogging or Internet marking "passive" you are still spending your time to do it. That is not passive at all that is called a hobby/business.

Not exactly. Some genres never change. Good content is good content.

I make a decent amount of cash from affiliate income from sites I've barely touched in years. This is the definition of passive income.

(02-24-2014 12:02 PM)WestCoast Wrote:  There is literally only one form of 100% passive income.

A heavy bank account.

If you have a couple million that is literally passive income because you sit there and jerk off as money hits your account on a monthly basis (bonds) or quarterly basis (dividends). Even if a massive recession hits and your dividends and bonds are cut in half you are still spitting out 50% of whatever cash flow you had before.

You are right but this is like saying 1+1=2. Not everyone can be an investment banker or a doctor. Saving this kind of cash isn't possible for most guys.

For many, starting a blog, writing a book or launching a small business provides a much better chance of making passive income than chasing the corporate dream.

Post: #12

(02-25-2014 01:38 AM)dreambig Wrote:  

(02-24-2014 12:02 PM)WestCoast Wrote:  There is literally only one form of 100% passive income.

A heavy bank account.

If you have a couple million that is literally passive income because you sit there and jerk off as money hits your account on a monthly basis (bonds) or quarterly basis (dividends). Even if a massive recession hits and your dividends and bonds are cut in half you are still spitting out 50% of whatever cash flow you had before.

You are right but this is like saying 1+1=2. Not everyone can be an investment banker or a doctor. Saving this kind of cash isn't possible for most guys.

For many, starting a blog, writing a book or launching a small business provides a much better chance of making passive income than chasing the corporate dream.

I did not understand his point either. Unless you inherited wealth, you must earn that investment wealth (which now provides a passive income) through hard work -- just as you may need to work hard for years to develop an eventual passive income from an internet business. In either case, years of hard work is involved to develop that passive income stream.

Post: #13

(02-25-2014 01:59 AM)Tail Gunner Wrote:  

(02-25-2014 01:38 AM)dreambig Wrote:  

(02-24-2014 12:02 PM)WestCoast Wrote:  There is literally only one form of 100% passive income.

A heavy bank account.

If you have a couple million that is literally passive income because you sit there and jerk off as money hits your account on a monthly basis (bonds) or quarterly basis (dividends). Even if a massive recession hits and your dividends and bonds are cut in half you are still spitting out 50% of whatever cash flow you had before.

You are right but this is like saying 1+1=2. Not everyone can be an investment banker or a doctor. Saving this kind of cash isn't possible for most guys.

For many, starting a blog, writing a book or launching a small business provides a much better chance of making passive income than chasing the corporate dream.

I did not understand his point either. Unless you inherited wealth, you must earn that investment wealth (which now provides a passive income) through hard work -- just as you may need to work hard for years to develop an eventual passive income from an internet business. In either case, years of hard work is involved to develop that passive income stream.

That's the point. There are almost no true passive incomes. Writing a blog, writing books is still work. The only non-work method is investing in index funds but it takes active income and a lot of it to make enough to survive on this alone.

Post: #14

(02-25-2014 02:06 AM)lavidaloca Wrote:  

(02-25-2014 01:59 AM)Tail Gunner Wrote:  

(02-25-2014 01:38 AM)dreambig Wrote:  

(02-24-2014 12:02 PM)WestCoast Wrote:  There is literally only one form of 100% passive income.

A heavy bank account.

If you have a couple million that is literally passive income because you sit there and jerk off as money hits your account on a monthly basis (bonds) or quarterly basis (dividends). Even if a massive recession hits and your dividends and bonds are cut in half you are still spitting out 50% of whatever cash flow you had before.

You are right but this is like saying 1+1=2. Not everyone can be an investment banker or a doctor. Saving this kind of cash isn't possible for most guys.

For many, starting a blog, writing a book or launching a small business provides a much better chance of making passive income than chasing the corporate dream.

I did not understand his point either. Unless you inherited wealth, you must earn that investment wealth (which now provides a passive income) through hard work -- just as you may need to work hard for years to develop an eventual passive income from an internet business. In either case, years of hard work is involved to develop that passive income stream.

That's the point. There are almost no true passive incomes. Writing a blog, writing books is still work. The only non-work method is investing in index funds but it takes active income and a lot of it to make enough to survive on this alone.

Not true. There are plenty of ways to create a passive income. My only point is that you must put in years of hard work before reaping the benefit of a passive income. The first rule of economics: there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Pay your dues with a well-planned and well-executed game plan and you will eventually reap the rewards. Hell, social security is a passive income -- after a lifetime of work. Anything that the government can accomplish, the private citizen can do much faster through hard work and ingenuity.

Post: #15

(02-25-2014 02:06 AM)lavidaloca Wrote:  That's the point. There are almost no true passive incomes. Writing a blog, writing books is still work. The only non-work method is investing in index funds but it takes active income and a lot of it to make enough to survive on this alone.

Well there's obviously going to be some work involved!

The cool thing about passive income is you only need to invest your time once.

Let's just say I write an article for my blog. It takes me 3 hours to create, edit and upload. This article is a hit and goes on to produce $100/month. I never touch the article ever again but it continues to bring me income indefinitely. For all intents and purposes, that's passive income.

Post: #16

Ive started to do this, I recently wrote an ebook and its doing pretty well.

Post: #17

I know billionaires and even them managing their investments is work if you really wanna label it. They are grateful to be in their positions but there are headaches at that level, at all levels.

But many of their investments are passive in terms of making money off of resources and not being dependent on their actual work.

No one can just do nothing even with a 7+ figure net worth. You still have to make sure it stays at that level of value. Better yet, make it grow. Think about the schmoes that bet a bunch of their $$$ on Enron, Global Crossing as examples. Granted they were not dividend plays, but my point is you still need to manage.

If you don't look after your investments, no one else will. Yes, you can have money managers or family investment offices, you still need to look over them. Plenty of people get money get raped through fees, etc. Worse yet embezzlement.

Nothing is truly passive as in do absolutely nothing. I have some investments that very passive, but I still have to do a little work with them. Taxes, depositing checks, etc. Occasionally speaking to the general partner, re-allocating capital. It is not fire and forget. Same with some RE, though I have professional management, I still am contacted to deal with matters that arise.

Just some things are much much easier to manage, like collecting dividends/coupon payments. But you still have to think about what is going on and re-evaluate your holdings regularly. Fortunately, you don't have to listen to a boss when you have that much wealth.

Post: #18

My $.02:

- I think apoclater summed it up nicely. The 4-hr workweek concept really just creates a "brass ring" mentality

- Although a different approach, WIA gets back to the same key point...this is a dangerous approach to adopt because Ferris is really mining in two ways: 1) coasting off past performance, and 2) selling "self help" books...not too different from "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"...most of everything this guy made was from selling books...

So, don't bank on starting and monetizing a blog. This is like banking on being a rapper. Knock yourself out, but don't let the success of people that pulled it off get you sucked into "chasing the brass ring", you should know in your gut if this is your calling or not...

For a book, best book I've read about business hands down is:
- "How to Get Rich", by Felix Dennis (don't judge a book by its title). After reading way too much, finally a book not written by a charlatan nor a disconnected academic.

Post: #19

Actually I have a passive income that I literally have not spent 5 minutes a year maintaining. And there is upward inflation adjustment each year. Not something I would recommend unless you're a financial idiot like I am . It's not what's considered "cool" or "red pill" here.

Gubmint pension.

I'm sure some of you think it'll fall apart. I'm offering 2-1 odds they won't miss a single dollar on that for a 5 year time horizon if you'll put your money where your mouth is here in public.

Of course, you can't get it while young, so I'd recommend instead creating your own income stream in your 30s if you have biz ability, which I really don't that I can see.

I just kept going to work, and eventually I realized they'd keep paying me if I quit, so I did. It's a lot better than nothing, a lot lot better.

Post: #20

I run a popular blog, a lot of you probably read it (I've gotten several PM's on here from guys about it): I make enough to pay for hosting and that's about it. A popular blog doesn't automatically equate to money.

Here are a few easy suggestions for you:

Freelancing - You're going to college, put those skills to use. Go on oDesk and find some work in your "field of expertise." I have one client who pays $30 an hour.

Make some books - This is way easier than you might think. Do you like drinking? Write a book of drink recipes and put it on Amazon. Call it cocktails for college kids or something, market it in a unique way and people will buy it. Make a whole series, name it cooking for college kids. Write up the stories that you'd typically post on the "Would You Hit It" thread here and publish them as Kindle erotica. I do that quite a bit and it makes me a decent profit.

Basically be creative, don't just fall back on blogging and hope to get rich.

Post: #21

Step 1: open a brokerage account charging low commission fees.

Step 2: put 10-30% of your spare cash from hustles into the account and buy index funds. Create another bank acc to store 10-20% into it as your rainy day fund.

Step 3: repeat step 2 once every 3-4 months. For as long as possible.

Step 4: when u see blood on the streets (typically occurs once around 7-10 years), calmly withdraw half of your cash from rainy day fund and pile on your discounted index fund.

Step 5: repeat all of the above while looking for bonds that you prefer that yields between 3-6% easy.

Work out exactly how much passive income u want:

100/3 x (yearly passive income desired) = max target for your index fund

Cash out and enjoy life.

Post: #22

(02-26-2014 02:07 AM)RXB Wrote:  I run a popular blog, a lot of you probably read it (I've gotten several PM's on here from guys about it): I make enough to pay for hosting and that's about it. A popular blog doesn't automatically equate to money.

I own several profitable niche sites and I try to not leave any money on the table. I'd be happy to take a look at your blog and see if I could offer any suggestions to improve monetization.

Post: #23

(02-26-2014 12:05 AM)anonymous123 Wrote:  - Although a different approach, WIA gets back to the same key point...this is a dangerous approach to adopt because Ferris is really mining in two ways: 1) coasting off past performance, and 2) selling "self help" books...not too different from "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"...most of everything this guy made was from selling books...

Yeah I'm always skeptical of these people selling books about how to make money. If they made so much money, why are they selling books?

I had $100 mln in the bank and I wanted to share the knowledge, I'd write a book and give it away for free. Why would I care about earning $200k in royalties if I already have $100mln?

Post: #24

(02-26-2014 11:15 PM)paninaro Wrote:  Yeah I'm always skeptical of these people selling books about how to make money. If they made so much money, why are they selling books?

Yeah, Donald Trump should be giving away free rent because he is rich now. No reason for him to continue making money. People deserve free stuff because they just do. Besides, people actually value free stuff far more than when they pay for it. Hell, college should be free.

That is an entitlement mentality right there. You expect successful people to just hand over information for free simply because they are more successful than you. That type of thinking will not help you in real life.

Quote:I had $100 mln in the bank and I wanted to share the knowledge, I'd write a book and give it away for free. Why would I care about earning $200k in royalties if I already have $100mln?

Many have charities. Nothing new there.

Post: #25

The idea that specialized information should be free and one has entitlement to it, is the exact attitude that causes one to be broke.

It's a brokeass man's mindset.

Many of these cats who still sell books/programs continue to do so and that's why they are wealthy. They didn't wake up one day and jerk the rug out from under their brand by giving it away.

I've paid top dollar for well-known consultants etc, because their information is worth it and it was worth every penny.

There are some things in life where you truly get what you pay for.