The Best Thing About Making Passive Income

by Jeremy Schoemaker on February 21, 2008 · 77 comments

When I was just getting started making money online many many years ago it was also the same time got married. We took our honeymoon to Cancun and when we got back I was stunned to see that I had made more money sitting on a beach hanging out with my beautiful wife then we could spend. It was almost 2x as much. It was then I realized this was the life for me.

What is your favorite thing about passive income?

About the author...

– who has written 2415 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

Images provided by ShutterStock


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{ 75 comments… read them below or add one }

1 RacerX February 21, 2008 at 11:19 am

Having my money work harder then I do! :)

Side topic – It looks like Googles Feedfetcher Broke. It whacked 50% of my subs and looks like Shoe and John Chow lost 1/3 of their subs. Nothing posted from Google yet. Anyone know anything?

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2 MacBook Air February 21, 2008 at 11:19 am

Being able to travel the world, and knowing it’s all being paid for as we move from place to place.

I also feel very smug when sat in the pub, knowing that I’m making more than I’m spending, while everyone else has to trade hours for cash!!

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3 Rhys February 21, 2008 at 11:30 am

The fact that I’ve become every one of my dreams. Professional footballer (I earn money whilst playing football), Professional poker player (I earn money playing poker with my friends), professional beer drinker (I earn money whilst drinking beer) and porn star (I’ll leave you to work that out…)

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4 Paul February 21, 2008 at 11:31 am

When I get to that special place I will let you know how it feels for me. I am happy for all three of you! I would just be happier if it was happening for me, ya know. Shoe hope the retreat goes on with out a hitch. I wish I could go learn from and drink a beer with you. Have you ever had a contest, where someone could win a seat at the retreat?

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5 svakanda February 21, 2008 at 11:31 am

I wish I made passive income, sure sounds nice!

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6 Jeff - buzzmyblog.com February 21, 2008 at 11:36 am

What was your first form of passive income?

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7 Nathan February 21, 2008 at 11:42 am

I make about $3 a month…. heh

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8 Chad Frederiksen February 21, 2008 at 11:48 am

My favorite things about passive income:
1. It’s income
2. It’s passive

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9 Blogfeld February 21, 2008 at 12:00 pm

Because it does not rhyme with, “You haven’t met your quotation this month, you’ll have to work extra on the weekend to make up”

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10 Stephan Miller February 21, 2008 at 12:07 pm

Watching other people worry about getting their next raise when I created mine. And RacerX, thanks for the heads up on the feed thing. I thought I had a mass of people jump ship last night.

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11 Royal Radande February 21, 2008 at 12:07 pm

For me, It’s knowing that I make money while I sleep.

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12 Solo Programmer February 21, 2008 at 12:08 pm

When I was making the big bucks I used to love sleeping in late and checking the ad networks to see how much I had made while sleeping.

The downside of passive income? It can be hard to motivate yourself to add that new bit of content or new features when it’s not going to make a perceptible difference in how much you make.

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13 joe February 21, 2008 at 12:11 pm

1.making money while i sleep
2.making money while i party
3.making money while a my girl friend is playing with my anaconda
4.making money while watching porn.
5.making money while i’m working on making even more money.

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14 RacerX February 21, 2008 at 12:47 pm

Woke me up this morning thats for sure! Thought the same thing…How did I chap so many so quick!

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15 Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.com February 21, 2008 at 12:52 pm

Making passive income allows me to:
Spend more time with my daughter.
Sleep more ;-)
Appreciate life.

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16 mascix February 21, 2008 at 12:53 pm

its harder then I think and took all time about 2 year now and turn out its note bad :)

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17 Money Never Sleeps February 21, 2008 at 12:59 pm

Shoe…money never sleeps! I went to Cancun for my honeymoon too in 2003, I stayed at the Rui, it was wicked. I was racking up the dough on Ebay back than…cleaning house, 10,000 auctions going at the same time! I was doing arbitrage, buying on Amazon and flipping the item on Ebay…clear profit bro…I’m like you man, a hustler! Passive income allows you to make more money. You are not bound by the 24 hour clock, or silly union limitations on how much you can make! Be greedy!

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18 jim February 21, 2008 at 1:10 pm

It’s all about flexibility… being able to do what you want, when you want. :)

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19 Arejay February 21, 2008 at 1:27 pm

To only answer to myself (or the fiance)

To be able to just take 2 weeks off and go anywhere, or rent a RV and drive around all of the natural beauty that Nevada has just outside the city of Las Vegas.

To sleep in if I wish.

Work in my Pj’s

The ability to take advantage of Prop 215 while working.

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20 DJ at Fermentarium February 21, 2008 at 2:08 pm

Besides that is passes me by??

I’ll let you know as soon as I get there. Should be anyday now. ;)

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21 Erica DeWolf February 21, 2008 at 2:19 pm

Allows me to focus my time on my passions and joys in life!

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22 Joshua Wexelbaum February 21, 2008 at 2:30 pm

I traveled for 2.5 years across the world.. South America (apartment in Buenos Aires), Africa (south Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique), backpacking 5 months through India, 2 months Thailand.. Israel.. And throughout Europe (apartment in Spain), cruise through the Mediterranean! All while making passive income and working from my laptop or in cybercafe’s..

Check out http://www.positionleap.com/gallery2 for pics :)

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23 Vizion February 21, 2008 at 2:36 pm

I just enjoy doing what i always wanted to do and making the money is the bonus. I’m still not to the making ‘major’ money status but its still nice just to make a few bucks off it.

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24 Stephan Miller February 21, 2008 at 2:50 pm

It’s almost like, Why have stats if they aren’t going to be accurate? Feedburner has had some dips and bumps in the last few months.

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25 Jon Shaw February 21, 2008 at 2:50 pm

When you talk about passive income from an accountants standpoint you are not correct. Passive income is income that you derive from doing nothing (i.e. investing in stocks, bonds and receiving dividend income or interest income). You can also be a passive investor in a business where you actually do nothing. You have derived your income by doing something at least in the beginning to get your continual return on your initial investment. People in the finance world will get this. I have been around some affiliate marketers and done some of their taxes and know that they work a lot too. You can’t tell me that you never work late at night, constantly checking your e-mail and your stats for the day. It is an affiliate marketers life.

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26 Sean February 21, 2008 at 3:57 pm

Even though I’m new at this, I’ve made enough money the last couple of months to more that cover my son’s private school tuition.

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27 ZakShow February 21, 2008 at 4:13 pm

I make money only if i work hard !
No money earned while i having fun !
You have got to work to get $$$

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28 Adtoll Forums February 21, 2008 at 4:20 pm

i agree sometimes i make more money from my websites when im on vacation but still gotta work hard in the beging keep it up shoe !!

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29 jack February 21, 2008 at 4:52 pm

as William Wallace would say “fleedom!!!”

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30 Terry Tay February 21, 2008 at 5:10 pm

Making money while you sleep is a saying you hear quite a bit and that is basically what happens when you have a successful website. You can literally make money 24/7. When you’re eating, you could be making money. When you’re traveling, you could be making money. Think about everything you do in a day and at that point in time, someone could be going to your website and making you money. It’s a wonderful thought and passive income are wonderful words.

~Terry

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31 Syed Balkhi February 21, 2008 at 5:21 pm

my favorite part is freedom of choice. I work when i feel like it. I dont have to stand and work or consecutively work. I can listen to music, eat while i am working, and i get paid even when i am sleeping.

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32 Thomas February 21, 2008 at 5:33 pm

The best thing about passive income?

You can wake up in the morning and focus on living life instead of just surviving it ;)

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33 Edman February 21, 2008 at 5:41 pm

Affiliate marketers do need to work a lot, but a lot of website owners have their sites completely on autopilot. While its difficult to become a millionaire like this, it is easy to sustain a $10k+/mo income, which often is enough to let you do whatever you want to, like, for example, travel.

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34 big money February 21, 2008 at 5:51 pm

My favorite part is when things are getting tough and you are fatigued, you can take a break while passive income can serve as a safety net. Otherwise it’s a great bonus on top of regular work and pay.

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35 File Snatcher February 21, 2008 at 6:37 pm

Sadly, I’m not making much passive income yet, not enough at least. For now I’m still working 12 hours a day at my full time job, so that makes things a little more difficult for me. Most of the passive income that I do make goes straight back into my online projects.

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36 Affiliate Confession February 21, 2008 at 8:37 pm

I’d probably do better if I just left everything alone. The Adsense income is great though. I get to sleep in everyday and I still make money.

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37 G2R February 21, 2008 at 10:57 pm

My favorite thing would not having to work for it. Sure it takes time to setup, but once you get it all going, you can sit back and relax and let the money roll in.

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38 Andrea >> Become a consultant February 22, 2008 at 1:41 am

I started my passive income journey after a car accident followed my mat leave. I didn’t ever want to be in a situation again where not working meant no money.

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39 File Snatcher February 22, 2008 at 2:24 am

Now that sounds like some fun! I’m jealous.

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40 Scully February 22, 2008 at 7:16 am

Look, take that $50 you spend on porn every month, invest it automatically out of your paycheck instead, and you’ll have passive income too? It only took me 15 years to hit millionaire status by doing this (okay, so I socked away more than $50 a month), but ANYONE can do this and it’s a no brainer!

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41 Andy February 22, 2008 at 8:15 am

A lot of these people make it seem like it’s all champagne kisses and caviar dreams. I work my ass off. Far more than my 40 hour a week, salaried friends. I go through stretches where I work all day, have dinner with my wife and son and then work until 3 AM after they’ve gone to bed.

The difference is that, unlike my employee friends who get paid hourly or salary to create something that they have no ownership over, when I walk away from something I’ve created it keeps making me money while I work on new projects. It allows me the freedom from fear of failure to try new things.

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42 J.I. Hernandez February 22, 2008 at 9:32 am

Freeeeeeeeedom!!!

I can go to the beach for 3 days on any week and the money will still find a way to get in.
I can go to watch a movie early afternoon and avoid all the croud on the night
I can sleep laaate and wake up at 10 am and see that I have $100 more on my account already… (that happened today… and two days ago… and five days ago!)

Passive income is THE thing everyone should be working on.

Create something valuable for your market that allow you to receive money on and on.

It’s not a one day work. It took me more than two years to finally get it, but it’s all worth it.

Simply find your way.

J.I. Hernandez

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43 Start Blogging February 22, 2008 at 10:00 am

Being able to make money when you’re not there. It must be comforting knowing you are rolling in money every second while you are relaxing some place else.

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44 MMJ February 22, 2008 at 11:40 am

I will let you know when I am at that comfort point.

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45 Fitness Chapter February 22, 2008 at 12:04 pm

Passive income for me means working out in a gym knowing that I’m actually earning something.

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46 Ty Brown February 22, 2008 at 2:08 pm

I get about $10 a day of passive income so it doesn’t mean too much to me yet. I guess it means that my hosting and other costs are paid for.

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47 Dave King February 22, 2008 at 2:32 pm

Passive income is such a good thing.

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48 shamess February 22, 2008 at 3:39 pm

My TextLinksAds bring in around $20 a month, and I do pretty much nothing to encourage traffic to them. Still though, that pays for my VPS. xD

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49 Money Never Sleeps February 22, 2008 at 6:06 pm

this is true…work hard at first and than let the effects of compounding set in!

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50 aRo` February 23, 2008 at 3:37 am

depends of how much you earn, you could also be a very cheap pornstar :p

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51 andy February 23, 2008 at 5:09 am

that it keep on rolling in even when you’re beat – 24h working day!

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52 Simlock verwijderen February 23, 2008 at 6:05 am

I am unmarried. But coming home from school and see that I have made some bucks without working in the supermarket. It gives me a good feeling.

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53 Simlock verwijderen February 23, 2008 at 6:06 am

Coming home from school and I see that I have made some bucks, gives me an very good feeling…

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54 AskBrent February 23, 2008 at 9:30 pm

Passive income is the only way to go. There are only so many hours in a day, so when you get paid by the hour, your total income is limited. I just need to get to your level…
Ask Brent

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55 AskBrent February 23, 2008 at 9:31 pm

I like making money while I sleep…

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56 oakling February 23, 2008 at 9:40 pm

Personally, I just love seeing that people are actually doing this and hearing about how much they get as I start out!

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57 domprofesor February 24, 2008 at 3:21 am

You gotta be big to have passive income. If you’re small you’ll have to work hard.

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58 Affiliate Confession February 24, 2008 at 9:41 pm

Ownership is the keyword here. I’ll never again work my tail off for the boss or shareholders who end up benefitting more than I do.

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59 John_loch February 25, 2008 at 5:00 am

Fav thing about passive income ?

Passive commitments. :)

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60 diverdown February 25, 2008 at 4:29 pm

You can be earning without being “on” all the time.

But doing it with the internet, means an income that will not only run you through retirement, but keep pace with inflation

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61 Javier February 25, 2008 at 5:41 pm

Having passive online income has allowed me to live in different places. Madrid, London, Paris and we’re now on our way to Rome to spend next year.

Our future goals include buying our own flats in all the places we have lived. :)

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62 web design February 26, 2008 at 12:29 am

Very inspiring post ;)

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63 Gerri February 26, 2008 at 4:10 am

I have a small blog going at the moment that earns a bit of money. Most of what I make goes to my 9 month old daughter’s account. The nice thing about it is that for writing a bit now and then, I am investing in my daughters future. Here I am talking about a college fund (if she chooses to go to college) or for a rainy day. It is just money in the bank that will hopefully come to good use one day.

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64 Kaya February 27, 2008 at 5:50 am

Hi there,

i am making money with some niche product and this is one of the best way to make money online. Go for a niche market and i don’t focus on the English speaking market. It’s too populated with products and competition is too high.
Example of my site is here http://www.kayarabak.com

Hope this will help others who wants to make money online.

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65 eMarketing Chat February 27, 2008 at 7:15 am

I still have websites that I didn’t look at for several years but still making money from it. It’s great feeling to make money without doing something for it!

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66 Kaya Rabak February 27, 2008 at 10:14 am

Hey, that the coolest thing to do mate. I wish to have site like that too.

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67 Keith Cash February 27, 2008 at 8:20 pm

The Getting :)

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68 Giorgio @ conferenzastampa.com February 28, 2008 at 8:21 am

This is the life for all.. not only for you!! I have a question for you Jeremy and for all the readers.. What do you think about the italian market on line?

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69 Dot February 28, 2008 at 9:09 am

A really inspiring post. Thanks a lot. I’m on my way for the last 12 months. Actually, my current split is $100/year of “active” income vs. $0 of passive one… But I’m trying to change the proportion ;-) Half a year ago I started a nieche blog (for guys who’re responsible for negotiating with retail chains), currently there’re 500 visits per month and 30 subscribers. I sell nothing yet. But could you, please share your opinion on the following topic: how should I monetize this community? Thanks a lot)

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70 Paul February 29, 2008 at 1:08 pm

Great post, makes you want to get up and “do” (rather than just think about “doing”

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71 Paid Surveys Reviewed March 3, 2008 at 8:42 am

We are taking out Honeymoon in May 2008 to Riviera Maya, near Cancun! If I can make a bunch of cash while we are there it will be great!

Jim

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72 Paid Surveys Reviewed March 3, 2008 at 8:44 am

Sorry, forgot to say the best thing about passive income is when you don’t pay any advertising costs, i.e. organic traffic buys. So much better than paying Google for it!

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73 HustlersBlog.com March 6, 2008 at 11:54 am

Best part of passive income – it allowed me to quit my day job and is allowing me to build my dream business – without thinking if it will fail or not.

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74 HardGeek March 11, 2008 at 8:32 pm

Making passive income is the dream of every man.

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75 Chip March 13, 2008 at 3:43 am

It pays my hosting company, and a few other expenses. I wish this passive income would pay my house bills, my car, my house, my apartment, my trips, and so on.

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