In 2007, I dropped out of college despite nearly $50,000 in student loan debt. Believe it or not, it was the smart choice for me at the time.
None of my friends who had graduated had jobs. I knew I would have to go even further into debt to finish my degree. And I had already achieved a great position as a public policy assistant.
However, starting out on such shaky financial ground was far from ideal.
Feeling anxious about leaving school, I thought all I could do was sort out my job. But I found a passion that excited me outside of work: making videos, which included capturing moments and telling stories. I was excited when I discovered this site called YouTube where I could upload my videos for free and share the links with friends.
At the same time, social media platforms like Facebook and then Twitter were becoming popular – and I realized I was pretty good at figuring out how to use them.
I had no idea how game-changing these revelations would be. Fifteen years later, my fun hobby has become my career: It allows me to earn about $18,000 a month in passive income, according to my calculations from the last month’s deposits, and I only work four hours a day.
‘The aha moment that changed everything’: I realized I had the required skills
A few years after I left college, a friend pointed out that I had a knack for understanding video content and social media platforms. She suggested I could do it professionally.
It was the aha moment that changed everything. My side projects weren’t just fun. They were teaching me valuable skills that were increasingly in demand.
This led me to take the content and social media strategies I was learning and start a side hustle. I was basically a one woman show posting on Facebook and Twitter for small businesses to help them build brand awareness.
I worked evenings and weekends for over a year before leaving my full-time job in 2010 to start my own agency.
To market my new business, I used my video editing skills to share tips and tricks about social media marketing, including how-to, resource recommendations, and content strategies.
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During a particularly difficult month with almost no income for the agency, I decided to try something new: sell a course that teaches businesses how to create their own videos. I put the course on my modest email list of a few hundred people, offering a special pre-launch price for early registrations.
This was my first taste of passive income – as I recall, I did $1000 in income in a single day from one email.
Early validation and growth in my bank account was all the momentum I needed to create the content, which I delivered via one-hour live webinars once a week for six weeks.
Fifteen years later, my fun hobby has become my career.
It took me a total of about 30 hours to create and deliver the course. But once the course was created, it became an easy source of passive income as I made it available for purchase on my website and social media channels from that point on.
Over a decade later, my passive income portfolio has evolved significantly.
How I grew my passive income to around $18,000 per month
I worked evenings and weekends for over a year before quitting my full-time job in 2010 to go full-time.
I self-published through Amazon’s print-on-demand and audiobook creation platforms. Each book took an average of three weeks to write, followed by several months of design to get it ready for print and e-book formats. As of 2017, the three books have sold around 40,000 copies.
Good Morning, Good Life inspired my first non-book product: a paper planner that helps people improve their morning routines and be more productive. This has brought in over $140,000 in sales.
On average, my personal brand brings in about $18,000 a month in passive income between YouTube ads, affiliate income, brand deals, and books and other products sold.
I’ve learned that when you put yourself out there in service to others, amazing things can happen – including making more money for a better life.
Amy Landino is a personal branding coach and the award-winning creator of AmyTV on to YouTube. Follow him Instagram.
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