Why Is Passive Income Important Today?

This is how the month has been so far for me:

May 1st - A friend of mine was interested to see the farmland I had booked in Kolkata, as she was keen to buy for herself and her sister. So, the day was planned accordingly.

The road we walked to reach the plot

May 9th – There was a cultural function in our residential complex to mark Rabindranath Tagore’s birthday. This cultural thing is kind of routine here and quite rich, for which we residents feel immense pride.

Rabindranath Tagore
Image Credit: Google

May 14th – My sister has a cook however on the occasion of Mother’s day she personally prepared two of my mother’s favorite dishes for lunch. Voila. It was a sister day too, as I had my share too.

In return I did a nice herbal facial massage for her. I find facial massage very stress relieving, when I apply the techniques on others. I am not a professional. I am just YouTube qualified and self-learnt based on keen observations when the professionals apply the same strokes on me. My sister is the most readily available guinea pig for my practice sessions. She loves it. I love it.

Salon Concept shaped by an amateur
Run by professionals (Beta Stage)

May 21st – I went to Big Bazaar for some grocery shopping in the afternoon with a friend who stays in the same residential complex and her daughter . Finally, that evening we saw Bahubali – the conclusion. Even after a month of its release, the audience (including kids) were roaring and whistling for Prabhas.

Source: YouTube

May 24th – Went to a local theater to watch Posto with my neighbor. I am a fan of Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy’s films after I saw Prakton featuring Bengal's two leading stars Prosenjit Chatterjee and Rituparna Sengupta after a gap of 15 years. How can one not mention the unforgettable Aparajita Adhya's role in that film? 

I am glad even this movie on parenting and co-parenting met my expectations.

                                                                                              Source: YouTube

May 26th – I went to Calcutta Rowing Club to meet a friend from Bangalore and attend her brother’s wedding. The world is really small. I was taken off guard when I met two more friends there with whom I worked almost two decades back. It was such a pleasant surprise. Another good thing was, I found a new reliable driver and trust worthy car rental firm, close to my residence.

May 27th - My mother has to shop some gift for her grandson. I am her dedicated escort, keeping her seniority in view.

May 28th – Hopefully will see Fera, a play by the legend Soumitra Chatterjee in Sukanto Sadan – subject to ticket availability though

May 31st – Do we have plans for Jamai Sasthi? Sure we do.

Image Credit: http://www.anandabazar.com

The month really went quick. It was busy otherwise, not work wise. The only work I did this month was to create a startup checklist for a particular industry for a US Client.

What is the whole point now - Why would I capture these inputs here instead of my personal diary?

When you live on transaction based earnings by trading time for money, you have to be active all the time - If you do not work, you obviously do not get paid. The entity that transfers your salary  to your bank account buys your time, skills, loyalty, intellect with that pay check - month after month, year after year, decade after decade

The Beginner's Guide I launched roughly a year back to assist new comers establish online income is going through an enormous transformation now. I am seeking feedback from those who used it, asking for their expectations and suggestions so that this version is loaded with more actionable items to achieve outcomes faster.

The content is already over 100 pages now which was just half in its first version.

Why am I working of this?

• People buy when they are ready to establish an alternative income
• People use it in bits and pieces even when there is no immediate crisis or urgent need to get used to the self-learning model that the book strongly stands for
• Some got results within the first month while some are still in learning phase
• The future of work is virtual, remote, distributed and based on telecommuting. With robots, automation, artificial intelligence and mass layoff or up-skill initiative more and more people will feel the axes soon and understand the growing need - why passive earnings are so much more important than active income?

What has the guide got to do with my diary inputs? Though it seems like I had a long vacation this month, the point is while the world was busy with their regular active income, I was investing my efforts in a different stream - my passive income.

I will leave you with a few questions to ponder on:

• What are you doing today to build your passive income?
• How many hours do you invest to get started on your passive income?
• What are your learning gaps?
• How does your diary look like today - Is it all work and no play? Is is all about active income? 
• Are you still stuck with M&M (Managers and Meetings)?

Let the unlearning begin.

Write to advocating.outcomes to know more about how you can build your passive income, starting today.

Beware Of These When You Are Getting Ready For Online Income

I cannot remember any school goer telling me – When I grow up I want to be a freelancer. A very large population is conditioned to look for a job and they often stay there, till they are shaken.

Recently when I was checking with an Indian bank if they have additional fees apart from the conversion charges, he wanted to know what I do – When I specified the income is from my international clients as a freelancer. He immediately asked if I was a photographer. Sadly, that is where most of them are stuck, not realizing how widespread freelancing /work from home opportunities are today and has grown exponentially in the past decade.

Now what happens when someone new (and ignorant), say you - is trying to establish an alternative income – You are likely to get lured by mails like these:

1]  The email sender offers to share the secrets of Mr X, who he thinks is successful because he makes $300-a-day online freelance income and is generous to conduct a webinar for just $49/- instead of his usual $299. Even if six people agree to this on a daily basis, Mr X is definitely making his $300, not you! 

2]  Here is another sample where they try to make it look really easy - No skills required and yet they insist you will need a coach to teach you. That is so contradictory.

There are more..

 3]  Earn $60 an hour from your hobbies so that it does not feel like work 

4]  $2400 for tasting wine and shopping, as if life is one big festival

5]   A marketplace where you can earn just by speaking English

6]  Your overseas income solution is travelling and writing about your travels

Just in case you are not convinced yet, 

The Earn Anywhere Online is tagged with an image – a bare bodied hunk or happy looking Bella, with a lap top - on a beach, giving you the impression that it is so cool to work from there. Have you ever wondered why would he click himself and share? Can you really focus and do some serious work from such a locale?

The convincing copywriter makes you believe that you can and it is possible. That is exactly why copy writing as a service is so very high priced.

That is the trouble I wanted to save others from – dealing with a lot of useless sites, lengthy story-telling mails and using other’s success tales to inspire and encourage you to sign up.

Get real

Even if these are true claims but you have to go a long way to get there.

Mr X took years. So will you. There are no short cuts really. If you are focused, consistent, ready to self-learn and can absorb all the good free advice you get from online world, you are almost there.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - Wiki

Going by this pyramid, it depends what is of primary importance to you now? Is it

A] Physiological needs – requirements for human survival including food, shelter.

B] Safety – Job security, savings, insurance, financial security, personal security

C] Social belonging- Sense of acceptance and belonging to small/ large groups

D] Esteem – Need for self-respect lower version being status, recognition, fame, prestige, attention and the higher version is strength, competence, mastery, self-confidence, independence and freedom.

E] Self-actualization – A person’s full potential and its realization and to understand this, one has to achieve previous needs and master them.

G]  Self-transcendence –  Need to reach higher goal outside and beyond self – altruism, spirituality, holistic levels of human consciousness

There is fundamental shift in one's attitude, approach and skill sets based on where he stands today, his need today.

If your need to establish online/ secondary income gets triggered from years of neglect in your organisation or lack of recognition and you are happy to make just $50 a day to protect your self esteem why do you need a Mr X or his program in the first place?

You are Mr X in the making, and once you are in your new skin, you will say your story a little differently - if you know why you want to do it, you will figure out how to do it.

What is your "why" to get started?