You are totally correct about the term ‘passive income’ – it’s been used by get-rich-quick marketers for so long that it immediately makes people think ’scam.’ In many, many cases they would be right too.

Most importantly, if someone wants to start using the automatic-income model, they don’t need to join anything or pay some self-appointed ‘guru.’

And FWIW, I much prefer the term ‘automatic income’ as opposed to ‘passive income.’ I find the latter is misconstrued and makes people think of get-rich-quick infomercials.

Keep ‘em coming!

Firstly, your quote “there’s lots of ‘free’ stuff out there and most of it is worth the price. In other words, free does not often equal value” is priceless. I’ve just retweeted it, as that is truly profound and incredibly overlooked.

I’m very familiar with ‘The Idea Virus’ and I see here the best action plan is to identify who they are, and also the hives that they will infect on your behalf.

This, again, illustrates the wonders of social media when correctly – and done with good content.

Thanks for the inspiration, and the example of iTunes. Rather than waiting, I’m going to charge ahead and start learning the lessons by doing!

Thanks for the feedback, as always.

Yes, there’s lots of ‘free’ stuff out there and most of it is worth the price. In other words, free does not often equal value. Also, much of the ‘free content’ out there is simply pre-selling something else.

There’s a stack of paid content out there – which people snap up like crazy. iTunes is a great example, where people said no one would buy music, when it’s so easy to get it for free via torrents.

If the product is right and the marketing is brilliant, automatic-income works extremely well.

In answer to your question about selling into a self-nurtured market, your assumption is almost perfect. Yes, selling a targeted offering, into a community you have carefully developed is a great way to proceed – but you ALSO need the people in that community to help you reach more people.

Seth Godin talks about ’sneezers’ – the name he gives to people who will love what you do and spread the word, like a virus. If you have the help of a number of committed sneezers, the potential is amazing.

Of course, when selling ideas one must realise that only certain people are in the market for buying them. And one must realise there are lots of ideas going around and therefore the task of being unique – not saying the same thing – appears to be a big part of this.

Do sustainable sales come from delivering a great product, with great, clear thinking, and then selling it to a community that you have nurtured (much like you have), and then sticking it out?

With so much being free these days, surely what you do must be exceedingly remarkable, and build upon trust that you have already built with your market?

Or are there other ways to market intellectual property?

This is simply the most useful article ive seen on automated income. If more people read this, fewer people will make mistakes.

Carly