Summary

The article challenges the notion of passive income as truly effortless, emphasizing the initial effort and ongoing maintenance required to sustain such income streams.

Abstract

The concept of passive income is widely discussed in the context of side hustles and is often misconstrued as entirely effort-free. The author argues that while passive income can eventually require less time than a full-time job, it is not devoid of effort. The 'passive' aspect is misleading, as significant upfront work is needed to establish these income sources, and ongoing maintenance is essential to prevent decline. The author defines passive income as an income stream that does not increase proportionally with time invested after setup and cautions against the risk of falling for 'get-rich-quick' schemes due to the misconception of passivity. Instead, the article suggests viewing passive income as a habit that, over time, becomes second nature, thus appearing passive to the observer.

Opinions

The author is skeptical of the term 'passive' in passive income, believing it to be a misnomer that can lead to unrealistic expectations.
There is a concern that the passive income mentality can make individuals vulnerable to scams and impractical schemes.
The author believes that passive income requires a significant initial investment of time and effort to create and establish.
Ongoing maintenance is seen as a necessary component of sustaining passive income, whether it's monitoring economic trends for investments or adapting business strategies.
The article suggests that true passive income, where income is sustained without any activity, is rare and often requires some level of ongoing engagement or luck.
The author encourages a realistic approach to passive income, viewing it as a long-term habit rather than a short-term, effortless solution.

The Impassiveness of Passive Income

Is passive income really passive?

Passive income is a term that would certainly pop up in your suggestions if you stayed in the social media world long enough.

It is indeed a popular topic, as side hustles have certainly become more accessible in recent years, allowing people or communities to share with each other.

However, the main reason why I would want to write an article about it is because of the name. Passive. I always think twice when I see this word appear.

But, is it really passive?

Well, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, so it’s obvious that it’s certainly not passive.

I believe many of you think so too, but currently, from what I observe, a lot of newcomers really treat passive income as something that is passive, and does not require a lot of effort to do it.

Thus, at the end, they will just blindly search for the next passive income, and repeat if it does not work well after a few tries. From the word itself, I would certainly expect it to be passive too.

This is actually quite risky, because once our brain falls into this ‘passive’ mentality, we might just accept it as the norm, and could easily be a victim of some scams or get-rich-quick schemes.

The passiveness of a passive income comes from the impassiveness of creating it in the first place.

How to define Passive Income?

In my own definition, passive income should be an income that does not scale proportionally with the time spent on it. For example, compared to your full-time job, in which you would need to work 40 hours per week, your passive income may only require you to spend a single digit of hours per week, after you have set up everything.

Thus, in the end, this may sound just like the definition of a side hustle, but it is one side hustle that you can spend less time on, once you have everything set up and ongoing.

But, I still wouldn’t consider it passive, though.

Technically, even passive income needs some kind of maintenance. For example, if the passive income is investment-related, you probably still need to monitor the overall global economic trends.

If it’s business-related, you for sure need to continue adapting so that it does not fall off. Furthermore, if it’s content-related like YouTube or blogging, you might also need to check in occasionally.

Nonetheless, a lot of the income from these hustles may decline after a long time of inactivity, unless you are one of the lucky ones.

Final Thoughts

Anyway, side hustles and passive income will still be a rather hot topic that we will see in the future. This should be the trend, so we should also set realistic expectations.

Basically, rather than thinking of passive income as something truly passive, let’s start to think of it as building a good habit. After a long time, your muscle memory will just kick in, and it will indeed be passive in the look of your eyes.