# Passive Income Myth



## Black Dragon (Aug 1, 2011)

I've been seeing a great deal of talk about generating "passive incomes" across the internet.  This is the concept of setting up a web page, doing some promotion and letting the money roll in with little followup required.

I recently stumbled upon an article which makes some interesting points about this.  Here's an excerpt:



> What makes business work is creating value. If you’re going into the  business with the intention of not creating value, but of having it  magically provide money for you, then you often make really bad choices.  The business that you’re investing in or creating doesn’t tend to be  creating value for its customers or for anyone. So it doesn’t tend to  spit off the cash you’re hoping it will. So many times I’ve seen people  pursue passive income, and end up having active losses instead. They  just spend a lot of time and money trying to push responsibilities off  on other people and having it not work.



You can read the entire article here:

The Top 4 Reasons Why ‘Passive Income’ Is A Dangerous Fantasy - Michael Ellsberg - Need to Know - Forbes

Any thoughts?


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## Fnord (Aug 8, 2011)

It's pretty obvious when you think about simple mathematics (or even the First Law of Thermodynamics): outputs require inputs.  Income is the result of working in such a way that other people find useful.  You really can't sidestep that reliably or in the long-term; after all if passive income actually worked, why would any of *us* work?


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## Leuco (Aug 9, 2011)

I think that's the equivalent of begging people to buy your book.  

I've learned my lesson fast: You're not really selling your book, you're selling yourself. It takes some work, but creative work, to get some exposure. Unless you know someone-- and if you don't, better find creative ways to meet somebody.

By the way, I think I've read that article. Where'd you find it?


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## Argentum (Aug 9, 2011)

Wow, just the excerpt reminded me of most of the self-published books out there, not just ebooks or pamphlets, but the self published books in general. So many people (not all of them) write up crappy stories, don't bother editing, and hand it over to the publishers with money and let them do everything. And then they expect to be world famous authors, because, how could they not be? Then the publishing company offers those side deals that cost whatever amount of money.

I have to agree with the article and Fnord. You just can't get to the top without working hard to get there.


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