> that would generate passive income.
I am also a big fan of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". Coupled with "The Richest Man in Babylon", I think these two small books told me pretty much all I wanted to know about how to get rich.
Passive income is great. However recently I learned a new term - delayed income. Delayed income, or lack thereof, is what all my side projects have been about. I start with an idea that I'm gonna sell this product to 1000 people at $30/mo, it'll generate 30k monthly for me, and I dont' have to work for anyone. Then I either "gonna sell it to 30 000 ppl for a $1" or "gonna sell it to 300ppl for a $100" or "gonna sell it to 50 per $100" cause 5k monthly isn't at all bad... I'm only gonna work like 10/20 hours a week, but wherever I want, and not reporting to anyone...
Needless to say, it's all very stupid, but my point isn't about that.
My point is that I never took into consideration the time I need to spend upfront.
Assuming you need to work, say, 3 months. You're a software engineer, who makes "Reasonably good income".
That's what? 3 months * 4 weeks * 40 hours * say 40/hour ~ $20k.
So you work for 3 months in hopes to later make more than 20 grand later. So when later you finally, if you're very lucky, start making money, it's not really all that passive, it's delayed. You just weren't paid. And most of the time, unfortunately
- nobody is interested in your project
- or you didn't finish it
- or you just don't make back the money you invested.
- or something else.
Passive income is when you buy stock and don't do literally anything. Or something similar.
Maximizing your income is a different thing, getting paid 40/hour or 100/hour is a different conversation from passive income and feels like something you might want to think about.
So yeah,
> I know this isn't as easy as it sounds. Anybody who've gone down the same road that I'm about to take? Stuff that I should watch out for? Is this too silly?
Don't work for free, especially for yourself. Every hour you spend on your project must be accounted for. You could be doing contract work and getting paid during this time, so ask yourself: is it worth it?
Starting a new project is very easy, completing it is super hard. So if you want to do this, maybe try to do a simpler project, something you can be done with sooner, which would mean risking less. Ideally of course, do something you enjoy, in which case it won't be such a drag doing it as work, because if it's successful, it's nothing more than more work.