If you have an internet connection, you’re powerful. Most people don’t see it that way. They use their internet connection to go backwards in life rather than forwards. That’s okay. We all start out that way. I believe every person can start a passive income machine from their bedroom. The image of a bedroom is useful because it highlights that imperfection, not perfection, is the way to crush it. Let’s explore how.
A side hustle starts with a feeling. There’s something inside of you that quietly says you’re meant for more. We all get this feeling throughout our lives. Most don’t act on it. They put it off to the holidays or when they magically have free time (never). Then one day in retirement they have massive regrets that are too late to act on. The start of an online empire is to act on the feeling you could do and be more. Not with massive action. With tiny action. An action so small that it doesn’t even feel like progress.
You need a side hustle to generate passive income. The hard part for a lot of people is choosing one. The options are endless. I’m not going to list them all and treat you like a dummy. You know about books, websites, eCommerce, and newsletters already. But which one is right for you. Enter Gary Vee. “You need to love your work first, because hard work isn’t sustainable without love and passion.” It’s difficult to work hard at something you hate. Look at the modern-day 9–5 job for evidence. Mondays literally make people vomit out of fear. I chose writing online as my side hustle because I could do it forever, even if I only got paid in bananas. I’m a basic b*tch. Give me a keyboard and a screen. That’s it. The easiest way to find the right side hustle: try many things.
A side hustle is an act of courage. That’s why I recommend you do it in silence. Tell no one in the beginning. They’re too likely to throw you off your game. It all sounds easy at the start. It’s not. Every step of my journey has required courage. Quitting a job takes courage. Writing online with vulnerability takes courage. Giving up your time to pursue a side hustle dream instead of Netflix and Chill takes courage. Passive income takes courage. Because at the start, nothing is going to happen. Tumbleweeds will roll across your bedroom. You’ll feel stupid and alone. That’s how it starts for all of us. These aren’t signs to give up. These are signs to keep going. Pro tip: think about all the quitters before you give up. Anytime something gets hard…I always like to think, ‘how many people would quit right now?’ That’s the first thing I think about. Then I keep going — @chrisbosh
A side hustle requires you to use existing skills or develop new ones. In my case, I had to learn how to take basic writing skills I got in high school and apply them to online writing (radically different). To attract the right side hustle skills you need one thing: curiosity. Curiosity is a magnet that helps you find the right skills. Curiosity and a passion for something is a beautiful marriage made in heaven. What are you curious about? Follow it down the rabbit hole as if you’re Alice in Wonderland.
(Sahil Lavingia) Preparation is the enemy of a side hustle. Read that again. I meet people all the time online who want to start a side hustle and access passive income. They spend months (even years) collecting data and trying to figure out how the game works. By the time they’ve figured it out the market has moved. Twitter changed their algorithm PayPal doesn’t pay in advance anymore to fund eCommerce stock purchases Amazon changed their rules Google SEO pivoted for the 100th time A new Wordpress competitor changed blogging Substack newsletters abolished blogs Every minute of the day another change is coming. I think of it like a runaway train. I just wanna get my skinny ass on the train. I know once I’m on board that the answers will appear with action. Dirty secret: most of us have no idea what we’re doing when we start. Good. College taught us to do research and seek permission. A side hustle is the opposite. The point is to give yourself permission. Treat it like a kid would who gets a new toy. There are no rules. They smash the shit out of that dump truck you gave them until you buy them another toy. That’s how it works with side hustles. Get in the ring. Throw some punches. Ignore the critics in the crowd who never take action. There’s no proper side hustle education. It’s counter-intuitive: you learn as you go, not before you get started. Procrastination is the kiss of death for side hustles. If you pay close attention, you see everyone is just making it up as they go — Drew Carr
My tradie friend used to say, “Opinions are like buttholes. Everyone’s got one.” Along the way you will encounter tonnes of advice. Most of it comes from a good place. People are simply sharing what works for them. Side hustler Dan Koe says “Your job is to test everything, see what sticks, and discard the rest.” Growth comes from experiments you try with other people’s advice. In the end you’ll end up with a mashup of lots of people’s advice, and you’ll add your experience to it to form your unique side hustle blueprint.
Passive income from a side hustle doesn’t happen on day one. It takes time. So what happens is people throw their side hustle baby in the river to drown by accident. Side hustler Nicolas Cole says it’s not a talent problem. It’s a consistency problem. Habits power side hustles. If the side hustle work you do isn’t a habit then you won’t be consistent. Without consistency you won’t be in the side hustle game long enough to unlock passive income. Make consistency your goal above all else. Doing it daily is the only way.
With consistency comes boredom. Here’s what nobody tells you. When you do something you love, you won’t love it every day and have love hearts in your eyeballs. Nope. Billy Oppenheimer says, “At some point it comes down to who can handle the boredom…doing the same things over and over and over.” Let’s admit one thing: some days I freaking hate writing. It’s not always a joy, especially after some rando chucks my name in a headline to get likes, and quietly (and stupidly) destroys their side hustle in the process. If you can get through the boring days, you can get through the inevitable bad days. But if all it takes is a tiny bit of wind to tip over your side hustle sailboat and cause it to crash into the rocks and kill everybody on board, you’re screwed. Boredom is the side hustle way.
Creating passive income online is just having the right mindset in disguise. If you learn how other side hustlers think, you can adapt your psychology to achieve the same or bigger results. Excuse me while I get back to my back-of-the-napkin business plan of never going back to a 9–5 job ever again.