4 Hour Workweek- Gospel or Fantasy?
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably also know about Timothy Ferriss’ s The Four Hour Workweek, a New York Times Bestseller on creating automated streams of income (aka passive income or residual income) so you can take more vacations, spend more time with your friends and family, or even quit your job completely.
But have you ever wondered if the lifestyle he paints might be too good to be true?
I mean, there are many real-life entrepreneurs out there who say that the 4 Hour Workweek lifestyle is complete baloney.
…And Even DANGEROUS to Pursue!
Before I reveal the cold truth about creating passive income, here are the claimed benefits of generating passive income:
- Freedom to work anywhere, at any time. Waking up and working whenever you want.
- Your income isn’t restricted to “normal business hours”. You make money around the clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Very little maintenance work to continue to receive cash in your bank account, even long after you set up your business.
- Increase your income by multiples, simple by creating more income streams. You are only limited by your imagination.
- You get to enjoy more free time with your friends and family. More vacations and traveling.
- You have full control over your business. No need impress or take orders from bosses.
Generating passive income sounds like the best thing since sliced bread!
But how easy is it to create real, long lasting passive income and is it really the path to full financial freedom?
As someone who doesn’t have to work a “real job” and makes a full-time income online (including a few passive income streams), I want to share a few insights to help you decide if putting in the all work to create passive income is really right for you.
First of all….
Passive Income is
NOT Totally Hands Free!
Some of you might find this shocking and exit this page right now. And some of you won’t don’t care.
The reality is, you don’t just set up your business then completely forget about it. There’s always little maintenance work here and there. But compared to the standard model of trading your TIME for money, the extra work every now and then is insignificant.
For example, I have several autopilot income websites that I have to check up on every once in a while. Little things like fixing broken links, building extra links, answering emails, etc. It’s annoying, but necessary part of the business.
Secondly, you need to have a certain personality type if you want to succeed in building a passive income lifestyle.
It goes without saying that you need to be willing to take massive action and make a strong initial effort when getting started. You may not even see results for a while, but you need to TRUST THE PROCESS and continue building your income streams anyways.
If you can deal with uncertainty and have faith in the process, then you’re a good fit. Your strong work ethic will pay off eventually and you can enjoy the fruits of your labor- more free time and cash flow.
But on the other hand, if you constantly crave security and instant gratification, then building passive income may not be right for you. Your fears, doubts and worries may get in the way of building a solid business.
The final thing is a weird little trait that I notice in myself and friends who also live this lifestyle.
In fact, it kind of reminds me of the character Sylar from the TV show, Heroes.
He had the ability to steal other Heroes’ superpowers after killing them. He kept wanting new abilities and could never get enough.
In the same way, you may find that when you do reach your passive income goals, you tend to have…
An Uncontrollable,
Constant Craving For MORE…
More streams of income, more money, more free time, etc.
I’m not saying this is a good or bad thing. It is what it is.
Here’s why that is: The same part of you that has the desire to create passive wealth and can handle the initial work, will want to keep working and create even more wealth, even after reaching your goals.
It’s kind of weird.
One of my first income goals after I discovered internet marketing was $3000 a month, or $100 per day. I reached this within a few months and even made over $3000 in a single WEEK!
Technically, I could have spent the rest of the month doing nothing but relaxing. This was what I had envisioned my life would be like once I reached my income goals.
But I honestly didn’t know what to do with all the free time I now had. Even after spending much more time with friends and on my hobbies that month, I still wanted to use most of my free time to build my business up even more.
When is enough really enough?
So all the time that I had allocated for relaxing, I ended up using to work.
I never felt like I had “made it.”
But since then, I’ve learned to chill out a lot more and enjoy the moment without stressing over whether or not I’m making the best use of my time.
The Final Verdict
On Building Passive Income:
All in all, I think passive income is pretty awesome. Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity live in several different cities in the US (I’m currently in southern Sal-i-for-ny-a), get into many adventures and meet tons of cool people.
No alarm clocks, bosses or worries!
If you’re someone who dares to be different from the majority of people who have to work a soul-sucking job they hate, then I want to challenge you to step up and actively create YOUR ideal lifestyle.
- Tony “Create Passive Income” Wang
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