When I was about nine years old, my family’s life changed drastically. My mother lost her job as a Secretary for a prominent artist management company (they managed some of the most famous opera singers and classical musicians in the world). Shortly thereafter, my father was laid off from his job as a Peace Officer in New York City.
We went from a comfortable middle-class status to low-income and, for certain periods, poverty. It’s as if I had two childhoods. Before my parents got laid off, I was used to going to Broadway shows with my mother and aunts all the time. I remember my mom, sister and I used to go to Macy’s at Queens Center Mall in NYC every Saturday, for new shoes and dresses. We lived in a nice condo in Flushing, NY and went on family vacations every year.
After my parents both lost their jobs, we had to sell the condo, get rid of our nice car (Daddy’s “Silver Bullet”) and replace it with a clunker. Money was extremely tight and financial stress was a daily part of life. They were both unemployed for quite a while, and once they did replace their jobs, their income had taken such a hit that the challenges we faced continued until I was eighteen and leaving the nest.
What would happen to your lifestyle if you were laid off, or fired tomorrow? What if your biggest client canceled their contract?
Even if you aren’t laid off, just getting by anywhere today requires an enormous amount of income. I have friends who live in Silicon Valley and make $150,000 per year yet still can’t afford to buy a house in a nice neighborhood. I have another friend who is a top NY editor and has worked for all of the big publishing houses, and he lives in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn with his wife and kids.
Being able to live in a nice apartment or house in a nice neighborhood, sending your kids to extracurricular activities and great summer camps, having reliable transportation and buying healthy food instead of the crappy cheap stuff, these are all things that many working professionals can’t fit into their monthly budget comfortably, even when you have a good job. And if you want to pay off your student loans before your 80? Well, good luck to you.
That’s why having a passive source of income is no longer optional.
It is the only true financial security. Having multiple sources of income enables you to build true wealth and if one falls apart well you have others to rely on, while you rebuild.
So what are your options when it comes to creating a passive source of income?
- You can buy an investment property. Buying an investment property is a common way to generate additional income. The rental income can be a great passive source of income. But here’s the deal: the barrier to entry is massive. You have to have capital to put up for the deposit, and you have to have great credit. Otherwise, you get stuck with a mortgage so high that the rental income barely covers it, let alone delivering a profit. So unfortunately, this is not an option for most of us.
- You can get a second job. Maybe something part-time like tutoring, bartending, or delivering other services on the side. However, do you really have the time to work a second job? And even if you do, the time you have to put into it is so minimal and your energy level so finite, that it is unlikely to produce enough additional income to provide any kind of security.
Luckily there is a third option that doesn’t require a ton of your money nor a ton of your time, and that option is creating a digital product.
What the hell is a digital product and how is it supposed to make me money? A digital product is a resource that provides education and/or entertainment on a particular topic. It’s accessible via the internet and anyone with internet access can purchase a digital product and get the benefits of the training it provides.
A digital product provides an opportunity for you to take all that higher education you paid for, your work experience and your life experience and package it into an online program that can solve a problem for others. The best part? You don't have to show up live somewhere to make money from it. And people will happily pay you for such a service.
How do I know? Well because the online education industry is poised to become a $255 billion industry by the end of this year. That’s up from $107 billion in 2015. If you want real financial security, creating a digital product is the best way I know of for professional women (and men) to get there.
Examples of digital products include a product teaching women who are caregivers of elderly parents and special needs children how to access the government resources available to them so they can avoid a financial crisis. A product for folks who want to get back in touch with their creative side and learn how to paint. A product for entrepreneurs who want to get better at sales. (These are all products that are currently being developed by members of my Multiply course + community).
If you want financial security, add a passive source of revenue to your income by creating a digital product. So if you ever lose your job or experience other financial setbacks, you don’t have to experience the discomfort that my family experienced when my parents were laid off.
To your success,
Multiply is open for enrollment! Multiply is my course + community for professional women (and a few men, too!) who want to create a profitable product. In Multiply you will learn everything you need to know to create, launch and profit from your digital product. Enrollment closes on Thursday, May 18th at 11:59 pm PST. Learn more about how I can help you create a digital product over the next few months.
Not sure if creating a digital product is right for you? Join me for my FREE masterclass, Multiply Your Profits: Get Paid to Create Your Flagship Product Before It Even Launches, this Tuesday, May 16th at 8 pm EST. We already have over 1,000 people registered, and space is limited. Grab your spot here.
