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Old August 31, 2000, 08:21 AM
Michael Ross
 
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Default A JOB?! Stop Swearing!

Work was invented by a spaniard. His name was Manuel Labour. :o)

I love this stuff... and I'm actually quite surprised it didn't generate more discussion. Not so much on the principles - they're fairly basic to understand - but on the different forms of Passive Income.

I mean, sure there are stocks and rental income et al. But there are other more obscure forms which are a part of a larger form.

Royalties don't just have to be from books. They can be from a business that's franchised.

Rent doesn't have to come from real-estate, it can come from just about anything - canoes, trailers, etc., etc. Once your rental business is established and set up to run under management, then your income is passive.

Any type of business can be set up to run under management, if you plan it that way from the start.

I like to use a lawnmowing business whenever I'm explaining this to someone. It goes something like this...

First, get a job mowing lawns - if you can. This teaches you the inside skills - time taken for certain sized yards, quoting formulas, etc.

Then start your own business. Build it to the point where four of your work days are full. Once this stage is achieved hire someone to mow for you. If you have to give them half the money then so be it. The main aim is to NOT WORK.

Once this other person is mowing the lawns you are now free to use your system to get more clients.

When there's enough work for another four days hire another person.

You now have two people mowing four days a week and all you do is "work the marketing system".

IF a lawn is mowed for $30 and each worker does five a day, the total revenue for each day is $150 for each worker - $300 in total. If you give them two thrids of the money they get $100 a day each and you also get $100 a day for nothing.

Use the same system to add a couple more workers and you're up to $200 a day in your hand and not mowing any lawns.

Make sure that everything you do during your growth is documented so you can do the same thing all the time. You've got a written system and there's now no limit to your growth.

But the key is, you have to begin with this aim in mind. Otherwise you may find yourself mowing lawns seven days a week and have no time left to hire anyone else.

Okay, so you had to do a little bit of work in the beginning. But it's worth it, isn't it?

Apply the same overview to all kinds of business - learn the skills, build the system so you don't have to work. Begin again. Same thing or something different. Whatever turns you on.

Want to own a nightclub? Work in one for a while first. Speak to the owner. Ask them about their business, they'll love to tell you.

Another side thought... Someone was telling me they wanted to complete their Diver's Instructor's Certificate so they could open their own Learn To Dive School. They asked me what I thought.

My suggestion... you don't even need to know how to swin to own a Learn To Dive School. All you do is hire the qualified instructors. Simple. Apply this principle to all kinds of other businesses.

Passive Income... all space can have an ad on it. Sell the space for fixed time periods, like six months, and you have Passive Income for that period - just like rental real-estate. The difference though, much lower carrying costs.

I know a guy... one of the nine companies he owns sells landscaping supplies. He sells to landscapers and the DIY types. He gets his supplies from people who gather bark, rocks, dig dirt, etc. He's placed himself in a beautiful position... he's a middle man and does the least amount of work.

Other do the hard work of gathering the materials that he sells. Others do the hard work of using the materials he sells to them for their own business.

Middlemen are smart. Like someone who sells tools to the miners - they don't make the picks and shovels (hard work), they sell them to those who use them to do more hard work.

My friend works for this man. Has done for four years. I asked if he'd ever asked his boss how he was able to create nine very successful companies (all middleman based). His answer... No!?

And he still hasn't asked after me asking him. Nor is he interested in the slightest in asking, even though he wants to be more financially secure than he is now.

Oh well... I guess he doesn't want it hard enough. He'll spend two hours a day reading fiction but not anything that has more substantial uses. Go figure. Maybe one day he'll wake up. But by then he may be at retirement age.

Passive Income, middlemen, renting anything, selling directly, service businesses, joint ventures, import/export, the possibilities are literally endless.

But realize this... sit at home twiddling your thumbs and reading comics and you'll go nowhere. You've got to get up off your butt and DO SOMETHING and SEE IT THROUGH UNTIL THE END, whatever end that turns out to be.

And that's the whole point of the Pyramid of Accomplishment.

Thanks for reading my "jumpy" thoughts.

Michael Ross.