How to make money while you sleep

If you have ever heard people talking about how to make money while you sleep and was curious how it worked, (but not curious enough to buy their wonder program), here’s the low down!

Whilst there are stacks of books and seminars on this topic, the key information is all included in this post, right now, for free.

First the shocking part: The process does actually work, moreover, it’s used successfully by people you already know (including me).  However, although it’s possible to make money while you sleep, as you will see later in this post, there’s a major issue about the process that you need to take into consideration before you dive in.

So, let’s get started!

The traditional money making model

To make money while you sleep (or go to the gym or take your dog for a walk) you need to move away from the traditional idea of how to make money.  Most of us have learnt that to earn money, we need to physically ‘do’ something for each transaction.

So, we give the boss a week of our time and she pays us a weeks salary.  Or, we do 5 hours work for a client and charge him for each of those 5 hours etc.

The ‘make money while you sleep’ (or automatic-income) model is very different.

For example, this morning was a typical ‘workday’ morning for me.  I woke up, showered, went for a brisk walk around the village where I live and then played with my 4 year old son for an hour or so.

Then I checked my email to see how much money I made whilst I was asleep last night.  It turns out that once again, whilst I was in dreamland, I was making money.

Two types of income

The first idea I want to share with you is that there are two types of income.  One, is highly-effective and utilised by the most financially successful people in business.  The other is ineffective and is used by almost everyone else; causing the great majority of people to retire on a reduced income after a lifetime of hard work.

Firstly, there’s ‘linear-income.’

Linear-income is how the massive majority of people make money.  They basically exchange their time for money.  The primary problem here, is that we each have just 24 hours a day, so no matter how high your hourly rate is, your income will always be capped.  More worryingly, when you STOP working for any reason, linear income STOPS too!

Linear-income is the single least effective way to make money.  Even so, some really bright people still rely on it; lawyers, dentists, consultants, trainers, accountants, in fact anyone who exchanges their time for money or a fee.  Because linear-income has so little value, when a UK accountant sells their practice, for example, they typically get paid just one and a quarter times their annual fee income.  For an entire lifetime of long hours and hard, stressful work these highly intelligent professionals usually get just 18-months worth of fees.

Secondly, there’s ‘automatic-income.’

Automatic-income is how many of the world’s most financially successful people make their money. They develop something of value once, which people then keep paying them for.  With automatic-income, time is not a factor in your earning capacity, thus your monthly income is just as high when you are retired or taking a trip to Disneyland as it is when you are ‘working.’

Automatic-income not only offers unlimited earnings, it also gives you the best possible quality of life, all of your life.

Why I started using the automatic-income model

Until 2004, I relied exclusively on linear-income for 100% of my earnings.  I travelled around 70,000 miles a year delivering training seminars.  I was paid for each seminar I gave, so obviously, the more days I worked, the more money I made.  My seminars were very popular and my fees were among the highest, so I made a ‘nice living’ – providing your definition of a nice living is to spend little time with your family and friends; because you are always driving or flying to somewhere far from home.

So, I decided to develop a number of automatic-income streams and work exclusively from home.  Today, I make more money than ever before, I work far, far fewer hours and my quality of life is superb.  None of this would have been possible, had I been stuck relying in linear-income for 100% of my income.

Automatic-income currently accounts for around 60% of my annual earnings and that figure is rising.

How I make money while I sleep

My automatic-income today comes through 17 different sources; including the sale of licensed sales manuals, some affiliate income and a very popular audio program.  Let’s look at the audio program as an example.

I record an audio program and place it for sale on my site.  Then, people come to the site and they buy it.  So, I record the program just once, and new people come to the site and buy that same audio program over and over and over again – each time they do, I get paid.  Using the linear-income model, to train 10,000 businesses would mean either working with 10,000 businesses over 10,000 days (that’s 27 years working 7 days a week) or hiring a football stadium and investing tens of thousands on marketing, security, lighting, sound stages etc.

Today, 10,000 businesses can be enjoying my material simultaneously all over the world, whilst I am sat here writing my next blog post for you.

That’s because my motivation master class audio program, for example, can be purchased as a download from my marketing blog 24-hours a day, every day of the year and all transactions are handled safely, securely and promptly - without me being there.

Here’s the big challenge I mentioned earlier regarding this income model and why although anyone CAN do it – many people would be better to avoid it!

To generate the income required to replace (or exceed) a good salary, you will need to constantly find new prospective customers and then know how to convert them into paying customers.

This was not a problem for me, as I have worked in marketing all my adult life and run a successful international marketing business.  However, it’s a major stumbling block for many people; because they don’t learn how to market their products correctly and refuse to pay someone to do it for them.

Net result: They find themselves working 14 hours a day – So they can make money while they sleep. This pretty-much defeats the whole point!

Making automatic-income from your expertise

Providing you know how to successfully market a product, are prepared to learn how to do it or will pay someone to do it for you; anyone can create automatic-income.  Automatic-income models include:

• Book royalties
• Music royalties
• Software licenses
• Actors repeat fees & income from sales of DVD’s etc
• Sale of exclusive content, via a paid area of a website
• Affiliate programs
• Sale of downloadable information products (ebooks, audio programs etc)
• Business handbooks or training programs, sold via annual licenses
• Image licenses, as seen on photographic libraries

A superb and simple way to generate automatic-income, is through the sale of information-based products.  This is what I am going to focus on in the following examples.  This is where you put your knowledge into a book, ebook or an audio / video program etc; so that others can learn from your experience and specialisation.

Developing your own products means you can get yourself started earning automatic-income, without having to buy your way into someone’s scheme or automatic-income plan.

What follows are a few ideas of what people from different professions might want to consider.  Obviously, you can adapt the information here or mix and match it – Depending on what feels right for you.  It’s just designed to give you some ideas.

Are you in recruitment?
If so, what knowledge could you put into a book, ebook or audio program, which candidates or employers might benefit from?  How can an employer improve their interview technique?  What is the best way to secure the job of your dreams?  These are just some ideas to consider.  However, if you have already established a successful recruitment business, why not put a guide together for those who are just coming into the profession or whose business is struggling?

Are you in insurance?
What are the 10 most valuable things you have learnt about selling insurance products, which someone new to the profession would benefit from?  Why not write a book or ebook about the way your profession has changed since the ‘crazy’ days of the eighties (and send me a copy)?  The Insurance profession is one of the most competitive there is – Anything that you can provide, which will help another professional gain an advantage will be of supreme value.

Are you in accountancy?
What are the most powerful things a small business can do to boost its profits?  That would make a great ebook or audio program.  What is YOUR practice doing that has made you money, which OTHER practices could really benefit from?  What are the qualities that the owner of a practice should be looking for in a potential practice partner and should he or she ‘give’ a partnership to their senior employees or sell it to them? A paid, member-only site containing these answers with various video presentations might be worth considering.

Are you in sales?
What are the 20 most important things a salesperson needs to do in order to succeed?  Do you have a secret to sales success or an effective negotiating technique that others could use – share it and make a million!  The sales industry spends multi-millions each year on information products. Go and grab your share and help others make more sales.

Do you run a small business?
What are the most valuable lessons you have learnt, which a start-up business would find of real value?  What are your tips for dealing with the bank or investors?  How did you cope with finances during the early years?  A real-life guide to starting a small business would make a great book, ebook or audio program and have hundreds of thousands of new potential buyers each year!  You write it once – it sells year after year after year to an endless stream of new people.

Are you in web design?
What does someone need to do in order to make their web site as effective as possible?  What’s the benefit to a business of a professionally designed site, as opposed to a hard to navigate, ugly site?  A book, ebook or an audio program that explains this kind of thing along with the role of web design and the Internet to small businesses, is something you might consider developing.

Are you in PR?
What is the secret to running a successful PR consultancy?  What does a new freelance PR consultant need to know, in order to succeed?  How can a non-PR person write a release that will get published?  What should a person look for when trying to find a really good marketing or PR company?  The marketing and PR professions are exciting and their services are required by EVERYONE – so get your knowledge ‘out there’ in your very own books, ebooks or audio programs.

These are just some ideas, to stimulate your thinking. The kind of ideas above can be applied to pretty-much every industry or profession.  Whichever profession or industry you are in, I suggest you at least consider the potential for getting your unique knowledge into a digital format, then either learn how to market it or get it marketed and make it available to the world.

The key point about automatic-income, is that it genuinely does work.  I know it works because it’s a growing percentage of my income every year.  Don’t let the scammers selling their ‘money for nothing’ schemes stop you researching how to develop your own automatic-income streams.