Why did so many intelligent women get sucked in by the 'passive income' myth?

I was trying to explain to my mum & dad why so many intelligent, capable women bought into the whole ‘passive income' bull**t of the past decade.

And why some were prepared to leave well paid jobs/careers for the dream of making a living selling digital products online.

My parents are in their 70s and know nothing about online business. So I found myself telling them about Tim Ferris’s 2011 book: The Four Hour Work Week.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying this book is ‘bad’.

But it IS part of a 'canon’ of problematic books/podcasts… published in the last decade or so that promote the idea of the so-called 'freedom' business/lifestyle.

Which typically centre around building a location-independent business and earning tons of cash for doing very little work.

A message that’s clearly going to be attractive to people who are struggling to juggle work, caring responsibilities & rising childcare costs (i.e. intelligent, career-minded women).

The problem with aspirational content about 'freedom businesses'

The problem with aspirational content about building a ‘freedom’ business… is it rarely goes ‘deep’ on the practicalities. For example:

• How long it takes to build an audience (including an email list) of the size needed to replace the income from your day job/freelance gigs with digital product sales (i.e. YEARS for most people)
• The need for experience, credibility & social proof i.e. you can’t sell an online course on something you haven’t delivered successfully as a service. Well you can try… but you probably won’t sell many!
• You need marketing expertise. Because while selling online courses from your laptop (while your kids are sleeping) sounds great... you don’t know how to create a high-converting sales page, email marketing campaign or lead magnet

So you have to learn....along with a whole host of stuff you need to sell digital products online (some of which costs money e.g. tech subscriptions - and it all adds up).

Why passive income is not a level playing field (and never was)

Then there’s privilege. Because starting an online business is NOT a level playing field - even though the implication is often that 'anyone' can do it.

As a white, university-educated former journalist with a white, university-educated husband (who was in full time work) - I know I had a HUGE advantage in starting my online business. Others don't have the same advantages - and others have even more privilege.

And the notion of 'privilege' is far more nuanced than any of us recognise. For example (and this is something Stephen Bartlett frequently talks about in his Diary of a CEO podcast)... some of us are inherently privileged by natural determination and resilience i.e. we have the ability to bounce back more easily than others from criticism, disappointment or knock backs.

As Bartlett points out, for some individuals, this drive/resilience actually comes from adversity. So it follows that some may actually be disadvantaged by the lack of adversity they've experienced in life.

The 10,000 Hour Rule Vs The Four Hour Work Week (and why it's relevant)

Even if you haven’t heard of the Four Hour Work Week, you may have heard of the 10,000 hour rule - an idea popularised by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers.

According to Gladwell, 10,000 hours of practising (in the correct way) is necessary to achieve success - in any field.

And while I’m not convinced everyone needs 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery (some may even need more!)… this concept is WAY closer to the truth than the Four Hour Flippin’ Work Week (in my opinion, anyhow).

Yet 10,000 hours sounds like hard work compared to sitting on a beach with your laptop for a few hours a week, right?

The 'Four Hour Work Week' effect

Thankfully people ARE starting to wake up to reality. But for some, the damage has already been done...

And the most common ‘hangover’ I’m seeing from the ‘Four Hour Work Week’ decade is...business owners who don’t have the basics in place.

Because they were so busy trying to create a recurring revenue stream. Which means:

• They’re not clear on their offers and/or pricing
• They don’t have 'packages' for their services
• They don't have a sales process and/or a payment strategy

This means they’re lurching month to month (or launch to launch) with no business strategy. And while they may be creating content consistently, there's no strategy behind it. Which is why they frequently feel their content isn't 'working' - when the problem is actually their business strategy (or lack of).

The result is inconsistent income and/or feast and famine...

Just to be clear, I’m not saying creating a recurring income stream in your business isn’t possible in 2023... it absolutely is.

But you DO need the right foundations in place in your business first. First you need to build your business strategy. Then you can design a content strategy to support your business goals. Only then can you even think about creating a recurring revenue stream.

If you'd like to build (or rebuild) the foundations of YOUR business in 2023, make sure you book your place on my Virtual CEO Day on Monday 9 January. It's free to owners of my 2023 Courageous Content Planner & Content Kit. Save ￡20 with the code CEO20 until Sunday 8 January.