It’s been several years since I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I remember nodding my head and getting excited by the whole idea of creating something that brings in passive income instead of spending the rest of your life working 9-5 (or longer) 40 hours a week (or more) and still not having enough for retirement. If you’ve got a source of passive income, you don’t even need to worry about what you’ll do after retirement because that income will still be coming in, even when the big scary people in the white uniforms are trying to drag you off to The Home.
I walked away from that book excited, but I soon realized I had no idea how to create passive income for myself. The Rich Dad, Poor Dad book was big on ideas but small on practical, how-to advice. I had a vague notion that I was supposed to buy real estate and start a corporation.
Of course, I was living in my parents’ basement at the time (yup, I was one of those!) and going to school after a 4-year stint in the army. Most days I didn’t have enough money to buy a sandwich much less buy a bunch of real estate.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that while Robert Kiyosaki, the Rich Dad, Poor Dad author, was talking about making his money from real estate he was showing me an entirely different way of making money. He was publishing book after book in his Rich Dad series (not to mention a $200 educational board game). Even if you haven’t read any of the books, you’ve probably heard of them and seen them around. They’re incredibly popular.
How much do you want to bet that Robert Kiyosaki has made a lot more from his books than from his real estate?
Words have tremendous power. Long before we had apartment complexes and condominiums, we had stories. It wasn’t the ability to make fire that allowed man to excel as a species; it was his ability to teach others how to make fire.
Information is something everybody needs, and if you can write, you can bundle information in a way that it can be read and enjoyed by others years after you’ve put your pen down and moved onto another project. Remember how I started out talking about passive income?
Words can become a source of passive income, every bit as much as real estate can. In fact, words don’t have toilets that overflow, water heaters that leak, pipes that freeze, lawns that need to be mowed, and cranky tenants that don’t pay their rent on time.
No, I’m not telling you that you have to write a book to create passive income, though you could. I’m certainly not going to tell you that you need to find an agent and get published by a publishing house in order to make money. (Not only is that pretty darn tough with all the competition these days, but publishers take a huge cut of those book sales.)
Thanks to our new networked, computer age, it’s easier and easier to make money from your words. You can write a book, you can create a blog, you can build a whole website, or you can write a small how-to report. You can even do it all if it all excites you.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Opal @ Addicted to Writing // Jul 7, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I read the series a while ago and I found myself nodding along in agreement. I was doing a lot of the things he harped on like investing, real estate, but I wanted a way to make money online. Heck, I already had personal websites.
Yes, publishing houses seem to take a huge cut of the profits. I’ve always wondered how much the author makes per book? I’m currently working on a book but am seriously thinking of doing self-publishing it.
It’s great that you found a way to make money online. I started a little over a year ago, been blogging for much longer over three years I believe that helped me out tremendously. I’m still learning.
You’re definitely right that people can enjoy what you’ve written for years I have people contacting me on things I’ve written years ago. Find topic or topics you like, keep learning, and people will look to you as an expert and will come to you when they have questions.
How to reports, ebooks, tutorials, all great ways to market your abilities. I have free info, and presently I’m working on a paid ebook series.
I like your website I’ll definitely be back.
2 Lindsay // Jul 8, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Opal, I have an editor friend who told me the going rate for authors at major publishing houses was only 8% for paperback books. I’m sure once you become popular, you can negotiate for higher royalties, but eek, I get almost that much for selling that book as an Amazon affiliate. I put a link on my site… the author wrote the whole book. Who should make more, hmm.
Anyway, thanks for your great comments!
3 Monika Mundell // Jul 10, 2008 at 6:11 am
Hi Lindsay,
I’m glad you found me as I found you in return.
Your story sounds certainly very interesting and I will follow along with your blog.
I’m also in the process of building residual income with niche sites and am intrigued to see what you have done to do the same.
Since you have been doing this for some time I’m sure to be learning great things from you too.
You also have a lovely way with words. Off to subscribe. See you later.
4 Lindsay // Jul 10, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Thanks for stopping by, Monika, and thank you for the complements.
This blog is turning out to be a fun way to meet others with like interests. I have yet to run across another internet entrepreneurs while at the grocery store, walking the dog, going to the gym, etc. People usually give me a blank stare when I try to explain what I do for a living.
5 Drea // Jul 11, 2008 at 9:15 am
Lindsay, just wanted to throw in my compliments as well: Cool blog!
I’m a writer myself, and have found print to be way less lucrative–and, for the most part, fun–than blogging. I wrote a book last summer. It published this summer, but I swear to you, strategically, it was the polar opposite of what Kiyosaki accomplished. It’s a book on road trips in Colorado (Amazon: Backroads and Byways of Colorado). Not exactly masterful timing! But hey, live and learn. And blog.
Keep up the good work!
6 Lindsay // Jul 11, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Hey, Drea, I have several road trip books, so someone does buy them.
Perhaps not as many people who “How to Get Rich” books though, heh.
I’m thinking of trying my hand at a book myself. I suspect the key is to build an audience (and blogging is a great way!) and have a mailing list full of fans before you ever publish the book. Then you’ve got some folks who will be eager to buy it right away when it comes out.
7 The Family CEO // Jul 28, 2008 at 8:50 am
This is the single best post I have read on this topic. This sentence, in particular, really made me sit up and take notice:
Information is something everybody needs, and if you can write, you can bundle information in a way that it can be read and enjoyed by others years after you’ve put your pen down and moved onto another project.
Thanks so much for creating this blog. You’re getting right to the heart of what I want to do and I can’t wait for more posts!
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