The myth of Passive Income

When I ask aspiring entrepreneurs what the goal for their business is, an answer that often comes up is: “passive income” (ie. earning recurring income so you don’t have to work) .

Passive income is not a goal – its a fruit.

If you want to earn passive income, the goal, then is to deliver passive value.

The only problem here is that this concept is an Industrial Age concept where automation, technology, production and delivery was hard, expensive and scarce. In such a world, there was value in creating such ‘passive’ systems – since it was so inaccessible to the masses.

In today’s abundant, digital, freemium, scalable Connection Economy, the above are a *given* and are *cheap*. The value contained in today’s passive Industrial Age systems will continue to erode (or be disrupted) by creative, web-enabled but human alternatives over time.

Value in the Connection Economy increasingly comes from art, which by definition, cannot be passive.

If you figure out how to create passive art, you’ll have passive income.

Until then, practise delivering active value/art.

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