The Truth About Passive Income
(That Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud)
The Truth About Passive Income
You’ve Been Sold a Nap with a Side of Profits
Passive income sounds like a dream, right?
Money while you sleep. While you sip your turmeric latte. While you wander through a weekend farmer’s market in soft linen pants.
Here’s the deal:
Most of what you’ve heard is either oversimplified, overhyped, or straight-up fantasy.
Don’t get me wrong, passive income is real. But not the way it’s marketed.
Not unless your definition of “passive” includes work upfront, work in the middle, and sometimes work after.
Let me walk you through it. No fluff. No funnel dreams. Just the honest, hammer-swinging truth.
Let Me Tell You About the Time I Tried “True Passive Income”
Back in 2017, I bought into a “done-for-you affiliate funnel” that promised money on autopilot.
I paid $997 for a fancy template, slapped on my affiliate links, connected my email list, and…
Nothing.
Tumbleweeds. Crickets. A lonely inbox.
So I did what most people do when they don’t see results.
I blamed myself.
Maybe I didn’t “believe hard enough.” Maybe my mindset wasn’t “abundant” enough. 🙄
Here’s what I now know:
That funnel wasn’t passive. It was just pre-built… and pre-broken.
If I wanted it to work, I had to:
Fix the emails
Rewrite the landing page
Understand my audience
Build trust first
The so-called “passive” part?
That came months later, after a heap of setup and testing.
What Actually Makes Passive Income Work
If you want passive income that doesn’t die in the water, here’s what it really takes:
1. A system that earns without constant attention
That means:
Evergreen emails
Funnels that convert cold people
Offers people want even if you’re not live
2. Traffic that doesn’t rely on hustle
You’ve got two routes here:
Organic (SEO, Pinterest, content that ranks)
Paid (ads that work without constant fiddling)
Spoiler: Organic takes time. Paid takes testing.
Pick one. Master it. Then move to the next.
3. An offer that solves a real problem
The more urgent the problem, the more passive the income, because people want the fix.
You can’t create “passive income” with a product nobody’s looking for.
4. Trust built before the sell
People buy from folks they trust. That means:
Helpful content
Regular emails
Being honest (even when it's not sexy)
You can’t automate trust. But you can automate how you show up after you’ve built it.
So... Is Passive Income a Lie?
No. But it’s not what the guru in the rented Lamborghini made it look like.
It’s more like a wood stove than a gas fireplace:
You’ve got to chop the wood
Stack it right
Light it manually
Then maybe you get hours of heat with minimal tending
But someone’s always got to chop the wood. 🔥
If you want that heat later, you do the work now.
And you do it with systems, not speed. With clarity, not chaos.
The Big Lesson
Passive income isn’t built by doing less. It’s built by doing smarter.
If you’re drowning in “launch energy” and you’re tired of dancing for pennies, here’s the truth:
Passive income isn’t the first step.
It’s the result of doing the hard stuff right the first time.
Write the emails.
Build the funnel.
Set up the system.
Track what works.
Then automate that.
Then, and only then, can you sleep while your Stripe pings. 💸
Repeat After Me:
“Passive income is built like a crockpot, not a microwave.”
Now it’s your turn:
What’s your passive income myth? Got burned by a dream that didn’t deliver? Or did you finally get it to work?
Hit reply and tell me, I read every one.
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Subject Lines (Daniel Throssell-style):
"Passive Income" Is the Tooth Fairy for Grown-Ups
Pre-header: And here’s the part nobody wants to admit out loud…The crockpot method for making real online income
Pre-header: Set it up once. Let it cook. But yeah, you still have to chop the onions.Why your passive income isn’t working (and how to fix it)
Pre-header: No fluff. No funnels. Just the straight truth.
🎩 Fun Fact: The term “passive income” was first popularized in tax law, not online business.
Back in the 1980s, the IRS coined “passive income” to describe money earned from ventures in which the earner is not materially involved, like rental properties or silent partnerships.
Online marketers later hijacked the term and… well, here we are. 😅
So technically? That TikTok course that needs weekly updates?
Not passive. Just part-time with a marketing problem.
Till next time,