It’s tough to know when to stop when it comes to passive income. Your gratification is so delayed that you won’t even you’ve put in enough effort to reach a goal until a few months later. I’ve decided to write this post because I achieved my goal of £1000 a month passively, and I’m looking for where to go next.
I don’t really expect anybody to read this to be honest, for me it’s just good to write my thoughts down so I can read them later, but feel free to enjoy these ramblings.
Defining an end goal?
Reaching £1000 a month passively happened quicker than I thought, and it’s all down to taking in a lodger. While my online income is growing, I really boosted my income by letting out a room in my house. It’s no effort, I barely know if he’s in or not anyway!
I have an idyllic and hopeful view of my future. At one point I decided I didn’t want to work for somebody else. There seems to be no benefit to it other than security, and even that is a myth. For the most part, you do what somebody else tells you, when they tell you to, until you get promoted and you can boss other people around. You learn skills you don’t want to learn simply so you can be more employable later.
Of course this doesn’t apply to every job, but I would argue that it applies to most. Most people are probably not happy with their job.
Despite this I have worked quite a few jobs, it’s only recently, after being made redundant for the second time, that I think I’m going to fully pack in the idea of being an employee. My last job paid very well, but it just isn’t for me. I’m much happier right now, earning just what I need to get by, and being able to save a little each month.
My end goal is more of an ongoing idea; I want to be able to wake up, work on my own projects and ideas when I want, and not want to worry about an income. I want to be able to travel without having to book time off. I want to just have the freedom to leave my house, get in my car, and literally fuck off to wherever I want, whenever I want. Seems like a dream, but why should you aim for anything less?
Despite my younger years dabbling with work of the likes of Alan Watts, I think it’s important to have a goal to aim towards. If we don’t have a goal, then there’s no push or motivation to move anywhere.
Knowing when to stop
The problem with passive income is that it’s somewhat addictive, and the gratification is delayed. As your work needs time to mature and grow, its tempting to work hard and fast as soon as you can. Any time you spend not working feels like time you’re completely wasting. It’s best to define to yourself what passive income is an what it isn’t.
Passive income is a lot of work and it is difficult. Passive income isn’t free money for doing nothing. Passive income requires a lot of effort to start up, but it shouldn’t take a lot of effort to maintain.
But should there be an end point? Realistically, am I ever going to stop? If I’m not, then what makes this different from any other real job?
One part of passive income is that it gets much less fun as time goes on. The novelty does wear off. I remember getting excited at 50p a day. It was like a milestone. Now £5 a day doesn’t even phase me. As things move on, it’s easy to lose perspective. This is still free money, essentially..
So what next?
It’s quite easy to get lost in the swing of things. “Great, I made £500 this month, can’t wait for next month!”. I think this is something to think about.
Do I want to do this kind of thing forever? Probably not. It’s likely that Redbubble and other platforms will cease to exist, or change in such a way that it’ll be difficult to make a full-time income from. That’s always the danger with other peoples platforms. I should look to take my main niche and turn that into a large store, but not right now, that’ll come in time.
For now I’m quite happy with the upward growth considering everything going on in the world. It’s giving me time to focus on other things and set some real life, non-passive income goals, although I’m considering a new niche site, and a new Redbubble store.
In summary:
It’s good to have an end in sight when it comes to passive income. I’ve previously mentioned having short terms goals and long term goals. I’m not sure if passive income should be an aim, or just something you do to supplement your lifestyle. Both are probably fine, it just depends what you’re after.
A plateau can be good but its important not to stop. Take a look at how far you’ve come.