I am going to tell you something super sad so if you think this will ruin your day, week or life, get out now!
There is NO passive income, no matter what guru you have been following has told you... sigh.
My Passive Income Bonafides
You would think after actively blogging since 2008 I would have "passive income" based on the hundreds of blog posts I have on my websites.
Nope, as blog posts get older they are no longer as relevant, the Internet and social media favor new content and things change in the world.
I also have Youtube channels with hundreds of videos on them that are slowly dying because I haven't been posting regularly.
What about my email lists? Can't I just set up an autoresponder for 104 emails a year and let that fly? Turns out… times change, and that just doesn’t work anymore!
Why I Am Writing This Post!
I was going to try to have a friend talk about this because she is much more diplomatic than I am, but I just have to get this out of my head and onto the page!
I am in a Facebook group where bloggers are lamenting that their Pinterest accounts aren't doing as well as they used to. Many times they start by saying, "well I stopped writing new posts a couple of years ago and now my stats are down"... wait, what?!?!
If you are not actively doing the things that got you past success, you can't be mad when you stop doing the things and your income drops.
Here is another "real world" example... When I was in real estate the dream was to grow a team of other Realtors who would do the actual work of helping people to buy and sell houses so you could go off and live your life.
A couple I like very much did that, moved up the food chain and licensed whole areas of real estate offices in my state to get income from and thought that they had achieved passive income... whoo whoo!
Until the main real estate company didn't renew their licenses and now they are right back down to have just a plain old real estate team... dang it!
I am sick of gurus charging huge sums of money to sell a dream of earning passive income to poor, unsuspecting business owners who just want a better life!
What Is Passive Income?
Passive income is the idea that you can do work up front and reap the rewards of that work forever.
AND not have to do anymore work... ever.
I have known that passive income doesn't exist since the first time I went to a real estate seminar for landlords. The concept was you buy a bunch of houses, throw renters into them and get appreciation of the value of the home AND monthly income from the renters.
That sounded GLORIOUS! Until I started talking to actual landlords. Come to find out you have to have a property management company that charges fees for doing work. That you have to pay for upgrades to the properties, pay property tax and sometimes do legal things like evict bad tenants. OR do all that work yourself.
While that is not manual labor like digging a ditch, that is is not passive income.
Okay, what about a HUGE Youtuber like Safia Nygard? She has 10 million plus Youtube subscribers that she has built up over years! Her videos now get between 2-4 millions views and she posts 1X per month.
Four years ago she was getting between 8-10 million views and she was posting on a weekly basis.
As someone who makes videos from time to time, I can tell you this: making videos isn’t hard. It’s time-consuming, yes… but not hard!
And let me tell you, if she made no videos anymore, her views would sink even further! So no passive income here either.
Who Does This Affect? EVERYONE!
I KNOW, when we get bad news we tend to think, "okay, that is how it works in that industry, but not in mine!"
So here are some thoughts about different industries!
Professional Services
I have a friend who is a financial planner. He sells products to help people gain more wealth.
Say Rich gets a number of people on board and has a certain amount of assets under management. He is set right?
Well, maybe not... sigh. His clients could pass away, they could move to other brokerages or even make bad financial decisions outside of his perview.
Real Estate Professionals
A while back I would have said that the real estate profession was one of the most stable ways to make money on a commission basis. A Realtor could grow a database of past clients and rely on referrals for most of their lead generation.
Now it feels like one of the more dicey occupations to be in. Home sales have stagnated because of market forces, regulations have changed the way commissions are paid and online companies are trying to take over the market.
Etsy or Ecommerce Sellers
Let's take out the fact that Etsy likes when sellers are in their stores actively working multiple times a week and just look at the market forces effecting Etsy sellers.
There are tariffs in the United States that make bringing supplies more expensive. Many more overseas sellers (China I am looking at you!) are stealing ideas and selling cheap knockoffs.
AND let's not even talk about the cost of shipping on products!
Online Content Creators
I feel like if I had to pick a time when online content creation was in it's heyday, I would go with 2018-2021.
If you had started a site, Youtube channel, membership group or other online business in 2018 and ran it through the pandemic, you probably made a good chunk of money.
But if you are anything like me, doing what you did in 2018 doesn't work as well anymore.
AI slop is overrunning the internet, Google hates little websites now and social media is not a great place to grow a business anymore... sigh.
Attrition... Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime
Okay, taking out market forces that are beyond our control, raging technological changes and the normal problems of finding a true "passive business model"... there is one force that will mean that passive business is never passive!
I found this out last year... attrition will get you EVERY time!
I had been that blogger who was like... there are lots of posts they can read, maybe I can just skate now on this site. And guess what? My views kept going down, down, down. My email list size kept going down, down, down. And my income... samsies!
No matter how big a business you build, if you switch off progress and just go passive, attrition will sink you. Attrition doesn’t care how successful you used to be!
What Can You Do About It? (If Passive Income Is a Lie)
I am not the kind of gal to write a doom-and-gloom post and then leave you sitting on the floor staring at the wall like, “Well… guess I’ll just perish.”
So if passive income is a lie (IT IS), what can you actually do instead?
Here’s the reframe that doesn’t involve buying another $2,997 course!
1. Stop Chasing Passive Income and Start Chasing Resilient Income
Passive income promises you’ll never have to touch your business again.
Resilient income accepts reality and says,
“Okay, things WILL change… so how do I not die when they do?”
Resilient income survives:
- Algorithm changes
- Market shifts
- Burnout
- Life being rude
That’s the real goal!
2. Build Systems So You’re Not Re-Inventing the Wheel Every Time
This applies to EVERY business.
Realtors. Etsy sellers. Financial planners. Service providers. Brick-and-mortar shops.
Systems aren’t sexy, but they are the difference between:
- “I can’t take a week off”
and - “I can step away without everything catching on fire.”
Checklists. Processes. Templates. SOPs.
Not passive… just sanity-preserving!
3. Assume Attrition Is Coming (Because It Is)
People will leave.
Customers will stop buying.
Clients will move on.
Platforms will shift.
This is not failure. This is business.
The mistake is acting shocked every time it happens and calling it “burnout” or “the algorithm hates me.”
Plan for attrition the way grown-ups plan for taxes!
4. Keep ONE Thing Gently Warm at All Times
Not ten things. Not everything. ONE.
One thing that still works even if you’re tired:
- Past clients
- Repeat buyers
- Referrals
- An existing offer
You don’t have to push it constantly.
You just can’t abandon it for two years and then scream when it’s dead.
(Ask me how I know.)
5. Diversify Your Effort, Not Just Your Income
Ten income streams that all rely on the same platform is not diversification.
That’s just panic with extra steps.
A healthier mix looks like:
- Something relationship-based
- Something skill-based
- Something platform-dependent
- Something you control
When one gets weird, the others carry you!
6. Accept That Everything Has a Maintenance Cost
Every “passive” thing has upkeep.
- Rentals need management
- Products need updates
- Client lists need nurturing
- Audiences need attention
If you don’t want to pay the maintenance cost, don’t build the thing.
No amount of wishful thinking changes this.... sigh.
7. Build a Business You Can Step Back Into
Life will happen.
Health issues. Family stuff. Burnout. Pandemics. Midlife crises. All of it.
The real flex is not “I never stop working.”
It’s “I can step away and come back without starting from zero.”
That’s sustainable income!
8. Invest in Skills, Not Just Assets
Products age.
Platforms decay.
Trends die.
Skills follow you forever.
People who can adapt outlast people who try to freeze time at their peak year and live there indefinitely.
(2019 is not coming back. I’m sorry.)
9. Price for Reality, Not the Dream Version of Yourself
If something only works when:
- You answer no emails
- You never update anything
- You ignore customer support
…it is not passive.
It’s underpriced.
Charge like a human who knows they’ll still be involved.
10. Redefine “Success” Before a Guru Does It for You
The dream isn’t passive income.
The dream is:
- Income that doesn’t collapse the minute you rest
- Work that adapts instead of punishing you
- A business that understands you are, in fact, mortal
Anyone selling you “do it once and get paid forever” is selling fantasy… not strategy.
The Uncomfortable Truth (And Then I’ll Shut Up)
If you stop doing the things that made your business work, your business will stop working.
That’s not failure.
That’s physics.
The goal isn’t passive income.
It’s income that survives reality.
And honestly?
That’s way more powerful anyway!
