Hi friend,
Between 2022-24 I made more passive income than active income.
Sounds lovely, I know.
But for a late 20-something-year-old, I was getting complacent.
It's like I found a hack that I kept using and printing money. Sounds like a REALLY good problem, I know, but hear me out.
See now, those things don't work anymore.
Imagine if I stuck only to passive income, I would've had no income in the past 18 months or so 😁 Because Twitter was my main funnel and the algo changed dramatically since it became X.
Here's how I saved myself from that.
First - I diversified my income streams early on.
If we go back 4 years, I had income from
- writing on Medium
- freelance projects
- running Summit 21 cohort-based-course
- LinkedIn course
- LinkedIn playbook
- Medium playbook
Today, I only have
And I give preference to active income via Authentic Influence more than passive income.
I barely sell my LinkedIn Growth Toolkit!
My entire business is two offers because of two reasons - simplicity and belief.
I think anyone can learn the LinkedIn stuff on YouTube.
But what I teach in Authentic Influence, which is marketed as a 'LinkedIn personal branding course', is so much more than LinkedIn. I've seen it helps people like nothing else I've ever created!
Sometimes a client will make a thousand dollars when they're with me and the cohort. I've seen mindsets shift, everything change.
So I prefer doing this 2-4 times a year over selling a LinkedIn course that promises followers or likes.
I don't believe in followers and likes as metrics to track because they don't ensure the strength of your personal brand or bank balance. So to me, it feels wrong selling it 100% of the time.
The second, brand collaborations, is consequential.
I reject brand collaborations of $2200+ nearly every month because brands in India don't want to pay in advance or have irrelevant campaigns. Yesterday a shipping company reached out because they've partnered with a leading cricketer. This is absolutely irrelevant to my audience! Why would I talk about them?
I'm a pro at saying no when ethics don't align with my values.
I also don't align with all offers that come my way. I don't promote anything related to gambling, random TV shows, and 90% of offers because if I don't talk about it for the past few years why should i suddenly talk about it?
Audience trust is more important because once you lose your reputation, there's no coming back.
If you're thinking what your offer stack should be, do this:
- Build an audience before anything else. Nobody will put their money on you before they trust you. Nothing will work, no business idea, unless you do this. So start creating content!
- Study other creators' offer stacks and see what you resonate with.
- Do it for free first, take feedback and gather social proof, then charge for it.
- Refine everything you do periodically.
The first step itself should be focussed on 100% for a year before other things. So focus on that!
All the best!
Love,
N