понедельник, 16 февраля 2015 г.

Having passive income is like riding a bicycle

Originally, after quitting my job in August 2014 my plan was to learn iOS programming and become a freelancer. That would set me free, I thought, and I’d be able to travel the world and work from wherever I wanted. That was a nice dream. But now as I’m getting my first bucks from the AppStore I tend to think more about creating streams of passive income instead of working for someone else. To start freelancing now seems to me like robbing myself of a big opportunity. I have lots of ideas to work on. All I need is time. I live with my parents and I have enough money saved from my previous jobs to live like that for the next 2-3 years. I mean I don’t want to live with my parents for the next 2-3 years but I certainly could if I really needed to. So I have the time. Now the question I keep asking myself is do I really need to work for someone else when I can work for myself. The only thing that still keeps me looking for a job is that creating a passive income seems to be such a slow process. So, right now I don't really know what I should do.

Meanwhile I was thinking about passive income in general and came up with a good way to explain to myself what it really is. Many people have misconceptions about passive income. Mainly they think that passive income is all about laying around on some tropic beach while getting tons of money for nothing. When you think like this, creating passive income can’t seem to you an honourable goal.

Some people point out that passive income is a myth. You still need to work to keep the money coming. You can’t passively beat your competition, they say. You can’t passively maintain a community around your business. And so on. All that is true.

For me passive income is not about getting money for nothing. It’s not about not working at all. It’s not even about working hard now in order to not work later. For me passive income is all about work. It’s a way of working. A smarter way. That’s all it is. It’s not about not working, it’s about working smart.

And here is the analogy I came up with. Passive income is like riding a bicycle, while having a job is like running. Yes, you need to push the pedals while riding a bicycle. But it’s easier than running. And you can move faster and cover longer distances. Also you don’t need to push the pedals all the time. Sometimes you can just relax, and you are still moving. Of course, if you relax for too long you will stop. But you can’t say that bicycles are useless because of it.

So, bicycles are good. The only bad thing about them is that you have to learn how to ride them. And in the process of learning you are likely to fall many times. That’s the reason why many people are not working on creating streams of passive income. They prefer running. It seems safer to them. And you know what? I’m not in the position to say that they are wrong. As of today my only stream of passive income brings me pennies. And I don’t have a job. I’m not making money. Maybe I’m wasting my time, while my peers are working hard to buy houses, cars and other stuff. Maybe they are right and I’m chasing some stupid dreams, that will never come true. I don't know.

All I know is that I hated all the jobs that I had in my life. And if I find another job, it is very likely that I’ll be hating it too. Maybe it’s time for me to try something new.

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