A.
"The Fuel That Drives The Ultimate Lifestyle"
- By Bob Scheinfeld
In
the last issue, we talked about the 8 core components
that define "The Ultimate Lifestyle."
The
first component was income streams, and the
reason it was listed as #1 is because if you
want to live the ultimate lifestyle (as you
define it), you must:
-
Have total control over your time (i.e. you're
your own boss, not an employee)
-
Have numerous income streams flowing, with as
many of them as possible being "passive"
or requiring minimal time and effort from you.
To truly live the ultimate lifestyle, you must
have income that flows whether you "show
up for work" or not. These income streams
are the "fuel" that drives The Ultimate
Lifestyle.
In
this issue, I'm going to discuss the "Top
10" income streams you can setup. There
are actually many more than 10, but we don't
have we room to discuss them all here.
You
may be in a position to take advantage right
now of many or all of the streams I discuss,
or it may take some time and effort to get one
or more of them flowing. There's no hurry. Creating
the ultimate lifestyle takes vision, time, planning
and effort.
All
the streams I discuss may not interest you or
match your preferred lifestyle, and it isn't
necessary to have all of them flowing at once
(or at all) to live your own ultimate lifestyle.
I'm just giving you food for thought.
Here
are the "Top 10" best ways I've found
to generate the streams of income required to
truly live your ultimate lifestyle:
1.
Start/Run Your Own Business
We're
living at a fantastic time in history if your
goal is to start your own business and create
passive or "low effort" income streams
from it selling products or services.
With
the many benefits of the Internet, the power
of direct marketing (online and offline), and
the large number of top-notch contractors and
third party companies you can offload the day-to-day
"grunt work" to, today's entrepreneurial
environment a dream come true if you know how
to set things up to take maximum advantage of
the many tools and resources available.
In
addition, it has never been easier to set up
a strong flow of income doing something you
love or you're really passionate about - no
matter what it is or how "obscure"
it may be. Again, the Internet and direct marketing
create unprecedented levels of opportunity.
Finally,
there are numerous tax advantages to having
your own business which enable you to put much
more money in your own pocket -- if you know
how to set things up and take maximum advantage
of the many tools and systems available.
If
you want to live your ultimate lifestyle, your
own business will be at the core of it. It's
my #1 choice for creating the ultimate lifestyle.
2.
Royalties
If
you have a specific area of expertise and you
know how to turn it into a book, audio, video
or multi-media course, you can get other people
to manufacture it, sell it, manage all the details,
and send you a royalty check for a percentage
of the sales. This is a great stream of passive
income and one I'm currently pursuing aggressively.
You
can also generate passive royalty income from
inventions or other marketable ideas of various
kinds.
You
make less money "per piece" when you
go this route, but the fact that you don't have
daily responsibility for managing the production,
sales, accounting and other details has a lot
of value, and if you set it up right, the products
that generate royalties for you also cause people
to come back into your orbit to buy and do other
things that end up benefiting you in many other
ways in the long run.
Do
you feel this is a good idea but you don't think
you have the expertise that could translate
into a royalty stream? That *might* be true,
but I can almost guarantee that you have expertise
you don't know you have, you could easily create
it by following a passion and/or create a potential
royalty stream from knowledge you have or could
get if you got some the right kind help.
3.
Licensing Fees
This
income stream is similar to the royalty stream,
but has many notable differences. Licensing
involves charging a fee to allow others to sell
products you create (books, tapes, videos, etc.),
or to use your likeness, logo or other very
visible aspect of your work, business or "brand."
Licensing
can also take the form of allowing others to
present a seminar, workshop or talk you've designed
that provides many benefits to the audiences
receiving them. I have two friends, Charles
and Will, who've licensed the rights to one,
two and three day seminars with their material,
and they receive HUGE checks every month.
Will
actually has 5000 people licensed to present
his one day seminar, and tens of thousands of
people are getting the benefit of his work,
and he's getting big checks without lifting
a finger.
There
are other forms of licensing, however, that
don't require expertise on your part, just visibility
and a "brand."
One
example includes Disney who licenses their logo,
the likenesses of Disney characters, etc. Another
example includes Harry Potter merchandise. Another
example includes the use of the Coke or Pepsi
logo.
While
it's true that these examples center around
huge companies, there are a variety of licensing
opportunities for "little guys" like
you and me if you get creative and set it up
right.
4.
Real Estate
I've
only dabbled in real estate over the years,
but I'm gearing up with my wife to get very
involved with Real Estate in 2004 and beyond.
Passive
income streams can flow out of Real Estate in
many ways, including:
Real
Estate does require that someone "shows
up" to do various things, but you can set
it up so you aren't that "someone."
That's my goal and plan with my wife.
There
are many people out there who teach powerful
systems for setting up passive income streams
with Real Estate.
5.
Investments
You
can setup passive or "low effort"
income streams from having cash you invest in
"vehicles" that generate dividends,
interest, or other forms income.
You
can also generate an income stream, although
it's not completely passive (but might suit
your lifestyle preferences) by trading stocks,
options, or commodities.
There's
an art to generating income from investments.
You
do not want to choose this option without exercising
great caution and/or finding an advisor or partner
that can do it for you.
6.
Life Insurance
This
is a longer term strategy and one designed more
for your retirement years, but there are forms
of life insurance that allow you to fund the
policy in earlier years and then receive guaranteed
income in later years. I'm putting a program
like this in place as we speak.
7.
Sale/Payout Of A Business
If
you have your own business, you can sell it
one day (maybe even soon) and use the cash you
receive to fund your ultimate lifestyle -- and/or
to pursue the other passive income streams discussed
here.
My
father did this. He bought a small chain of
travel agencies, built it up, then sold it.
He got cash at the time of sale, but also had
an "earn out" that sent a strong income
stream to him for 15 years. My
friend randy did the same thing when he sold
his business.
8.
Network Marketing
Network
Marketing (or "MLM") gets a bad rap
from many people and in many circles, yet it's
one of the best ways to create passive, or reasonably
passive income streams, if you pick the right
company and work the system correctly.
9.
Other Partnerships
In
addition to the options listed above, there
are a variety of other partnerships and relationships
you can create where you help other people to
achieve their goals, get something they really
want, or give them something to sell, and they
compensate you for it.
10.
Information Products
This
is a subset of having your own business, but
I'm breaking it out separately because it's
an ultimate lifestyle creation tool you should
consider even if you already have your own business
right now.
When
I say "information products," I mean
books, tapes, courses, seminars, coaching programs,
etc.
There
are many people who already have a business
doing something (like being a doctor, dentist,
real estate broker), and through having that
business, they've developed a strong expertise
that can help other people in the same business
enhance their success.
For
example, I know one dentist who's so skilled
at a particular kind of reconstructive dentistry,
that other dentists flock to him and he's created
additional income streams from sharing his expertise
through a newsletter, seminars and "look
over my shoulder" events. He generates
$1 million a year from his information products
business and could stop practicing dentistry
at any time if he wanted to.
I
know of another man who's in the lumber business
who developed a revolutionary process for drying
lumber faster. He started teaching that process
to other people in the lumber business through
just 2-3 weekend seminars a year and created
a $250,000 a year income stream from it.
I
know of a very successful real estate broker
who created a variety of information products
(courses, seminars, and coaching) to teach other
real estate brokers how to use his system to
make a lot more money with a lot less effort.
While he's still working as a real estate broker
every day, his information products business
generates a huge income stream for him and he
could also stop working as a broker at any time
if he wanted to.
I
know of a very successful carpet cleaner who
is now living his ultimate lifestyle teaching
other carpet cleaners how to increase their
sales and profits using his unique approach.
I
also know a very successful orthopedic surgeon
and mortgage broker who want to stop working
so hard in their chosen field and are currently
seeking ways to create information products
businesses to replace their current incomes
while making dramatic shifts in their lifestyles.
Do
you have your own business and have developed
a unique expertise or approach that could be
converted into an information products business?
The
Next Steps ...
Depending
on where you are right now in your career, you
may be thinking to yourself, "This all
sounds great, but I have absolutely no idea
what income streams I might be able to setup
or how to do it."
If
that thought (or one like it) crossed your mind,
stay tuned. I'll be discussing some "what
to do" and "how to do it" ideas
in future issues.
In
addition, as you might know, I'm going to be
launching my "Ultimate Lifestyle Academy"
in January, and through that educational facility,
I'll be offering detailed information, systems,
resources, coaching, and lots of help for setting
up the income streams of your choice, and building
on them to live your own ultimate lifestyle.
