October 15, 2012 was the day before my daughter’s first birthday. I was planning a little celebration for her and was a little sad that it wouldn’t be a big celebration, given that we had no friends or family nearby. (We were living in Rapid City, South Dakota at the time — which is rather far from our hometowns of Brooklyn and Queens, New York). I remember this day well because it was the day that I got some very exciting and totally unexpected news:
I was pregnant.
Again.
Did I mention my daughter was TURNING ONE the next day? Or the fact that this was our second surprise baby? And that we literally suck at family planning?!
But I digress … so Baby #2 was on the way and Baby #1 was turning only 1 years old and there was no childcare in sight. I was already busy as hell because my business was starting to see some real traction (funny how having a kid will really kick your ass into gear). And I had absolutely no idea how I was going to manage parenting (and supporting) two babies and running my business. I was already working well over 40 hours per week. I saw very little sleep in my future and it terrified me.
So much so that I sat on the news that I was pregnant for a full 24 hours. I needed to process, my husband didn’t need to know.
Okay, you’re right, he did need to know. But not until after I spent several hours whispering goodbye to my hard-earned, looked-even-better-than-before-I-had-the-baby body in the full-length mirror in the bathroom.
I eventually told my husband, and my daughter’s birthday celebration passed, but I still had questions, mainly:
HOW THE HELL IS THIS GOING TO WORK OMG IT’S ALL OVER FOR ME ISN’T IT?
And here was the profound answer that came to me: make that thing that you have been thinking about making. You know the one you tried last year but it sucked? Do it again, only this time, do it better.
That thing was Small Business Bodyguard and I got to work. I was only halfway through writing it when my beautiful baby boy was born a month early. But I finished it, with a newborn on my boob and a 19-month old at my feet (making a huge mess, no doubt).
Small Business Bodyguard launched in July 2013 and it changed my life. The initial launch generated $80,000, and much to my surprise, people kept buying it even after I stopped promoting it.
It has never failed to generate several thousand dollars in revenue every single month since it launched. Let me say that again: there has never been a month since July 2013, that SBB did not generate at least $2,000 – $3,000 in revenue (most months it’s been much more).
It enabled me to raise my prices, because clients who had paid my lower prices could now handle their own legal needs with SBB.
It enabled me to hire my first employee, because I now had the cash to pay an attorney’s salary.
It attracted new opportunities — like speaking gigs at MIT’s business school, InfusionCon and CreativeLive. (And a book deal that I rejected — SBB makes me way more money than a book ever could.)
It attracted higher caliber clients, because by launching SBB I became more well-known as an expert in business law and intellectual property.
It allowed me to work less because it generated revenue that didn’t require a ton of my time (like client work did).
It allowed me to end the feast or famine cycle, and have consistent revenue coming in, cause I was still making money even if a client payment was late or if I was on vacation.
And so much more.
Small Business Bodyguard is intellectual property that I have leveraged again and again. Creating new products and new opportunities consistently, without creating an immense amount of additional work for myself.
The moral of this story? Passive income rocks.
It is a real thing and can generate real money. The kinds of money that pays mortgages and preschool tuition. It’s not just for the big internet marketers. It’s for you, if you want it.
So many of my peeps have asked me how they could work with me to create a product without having to travel to France for my MADE: IN FRANCE program. Well, I have listened to your requests and redesigned two different programs so that you now have two ways to work with me to create your flagship product. Weeeeee!!!
