Passive Revenue. The words jumped off the website page and hit me like a thunderbolt! I thought I even heard angels singing. It was the golden idol; the Holy Grail. My heart skipped a beat and went ka-ching!

As a freshly-minted solo entrepreneur, I had never heard two sweeter words. Passive Revenue. Just seeing that glorious expression instantly conjured up images of dollars magically dropping down out of the sky. Like some kind of gift from the Internet gods. Imagine, making money while you sleep! Why didn’t I think of this sooner? It all sounded too good to be true.

So, being a hard-nosed, cynical New Englander with a solid, Protestant Work Ethic, I felt compelled to do the due diligence. I took e-courses, attended teleseminars and read “Multiple Streams of Coaching Income.” I spent thousands (yes, 5 figures!) on coaching, classes, marketing materials and websites. I started building an opt-in list, began a blog, created information products, sent out ezines, wrote articles, and launched joint ventures. I listened to and learned from the finest online marketing gurus. Soon I became an Internet junkie, totally addicted to the concept of passive revenue, and its seductive cousin, multiple streams of income. I was hooked, and there was no turning back.

After a year of education, edification and execution, I felt I had most – if not all – of the puzzle pieces in place: Online shopping cart: Check. Autoresponders: Check. PayPal set up: Check. Squeeze Page: Check. Free offer: Check. Then, I finally went to bed one night thinking, “Well, I’m going to sleep now. Time to make some money!”

So this is the part of the story when I’m supposed to wake up to an in-box full of orders, right? Well, not quite. Sure, there were a few orders, but I was a long way from crashing any servers. While all the pieces may have been in place, this life-long career marketer had forgotten one key ingredient: Marketing. Duh! You would think a former television network marketing and promotion exec would remember that, passive or not, you gotta sell it, baby!

Where’s my passive revenue? What? You mean I need to market these products? I have to promote? I’ve got to make offers, and send out e-mail blasts, and work my list? I gave them a freebie, so why aren’t they pouring into my funnel? Huh? You want me to do teleseminars now? Speaking gigs? Radio interviews? What’s passive about that? That’s not passive. That’s downright…active! What happened to “if you build it, they will come?” Is this “Field of Dreams” or Field of Schemes?

As a newbie entrepreneur, I guess I didn’t know the secret handshake. But I get it now. You didn’t really mean passive revenue, right? Let’s face it. There’s nothing passive about it. Maybe we should call it Work Your Ass Off and Market Relentlessly Income.

I think I understand the concept now. If you want to make money on the Internet, you need to be active. Better yet, make that proactive. If you want those elusive multiple streams of revenue, you’re gonna have to hustle. Every day, in dozens of ways. Be smart. Get creative. Market like you mean it. Don’t “work” your list, build connections. Develop relationships. Sweeten your offers. Give more value. But, above all, get to work! Call it passive revenue if you want. It still sounds pretty cool. But we know what it really takes!

Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.

• 2 Comments

  

Comments

excellent! I hope many people read this, i am glad I have!

 Posted by: shoo at March 15, 2008 11:34 PM

Everyone loves the concept of passive income, but few understand how much work it takes to really see success. I think people hear the stories of others getting rich on the internet and conclude that it must be easy, a no-lose situation. That's, of course, not the case.

On the plus side, thanks to the Internet, you can market that new business much more affordably than using traditional methods.

Great article!

Susan Greene

 Posted by: Susan Greene at March 17, 2008 5:32 PM

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