Passive Income in Affiliate Marketing. Really?!
Yesterday I was browsing and searching some ideas for the new content, new sales funnels etc. And then I have started reading an article about "passive income", which is so popular term in affiliate marketing. "Earn passive income" ... "Earn money when you sleep" ... "Your online business on autopilot" ... "Enjoy free time with your family" ... "Earn passive income from home" ... and so on and so on.
I have been in different online business for years now and I really haven`t experienced anything passive yet. Everything is needed to be built. By myself or by others, who I have to control or monitor one way or another.
Ok, I get it. After years, when you build your online empire and make millions, you can just relax, do nothing and the money will keep flying in. But also this isn`t the case. I see many very successful entrepreneurs, millionaires on Facebook ads on daily basis, who still run ads and sell things. They look everything but passive.
I also don`t see anything passive in the business model WE is teaching us. And yes, you can see many sites and video testimonials out there, where people are promoting WA as passive income. Ok, yes you can earn money when you sleep or having fun on holidays or with friends and family. But this is only the time dimension, which means you are not paid only when you are selling your "working time" which is the case in regular jobs.
So, maybe It`s just me, but I think that passive income in affiliate marketing is one big BS and big mislead. The only real passive income is investing in different assets (real estate, stocks, cryptocurrencies, businesses), where money is made by (invested) money, not by you.
This post is not a complaint about the affiliate marketing business model or WA, because I love them both and I love working and building stuff. It is just the critic that misleading people is not cool, even though the term is generally accepted among marketers.
I believe that many people gave up in the past and will also give up in the future due to wrong and unrealistic expectations. And those people are bad for business because they will troll and promote affiliate marketing or WA as a scam. Heh, I was that guy once, so I know. Oh, don`t worry, I didn`t troll or shout what scam this is ;) ... I rather jumped into e-commerce.
So folks, what do you think about that? Is the term "passive income" mislead in affiliate marketing or not?
Cheers!
Urban
Recent Comments
2
I think that passive income might be like free will, it probably doesn't really exist in the strong sense, but people who don't believe in behave/feel really bad ditto passive income. You can get some income which wasn't directly from your labour, selling a subscription, think of gym owners (that is some properly passive income, people pay so that don't have to go to the gym and not feel bad), being paid a dividend from a stock, writing a book and getting royalties etc but its tough to imagine all or even most of your income being truly passive, especially writing content on websites. I am quite prepared to be roundly contradicted by the next post, WA people are quite opti-mystical, me not so much.
Yes, everything is relative. It just depends on how each individual understands things. Many people understand "passive income" as do nothing and money will just roll in. How you understand things reflect into your expectations, which are many times wrong. And wrong expectations can destroy your business - disappointment, lack of motivation, confidence, frustrations, negativism etc.
I think it is very useful to be optimistic, but have realistic expectations helps a lot.
I like the community here, I like optimistical people ... It`s a great feeling to read positive and encouraging comments about the work you do. Big booster for motivation indeed. Totally different as here in Slovenia ... I guess Europeans feel more comfortable in a more negative atmosphere.