Leveraging the Desire of Employed Professionals to Create Passive Income to Both Your and their Benefit

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This post stems from one I wrote some time back on How a Working Professional Can Profit from Niche Content Websites.

As I promised, in this post I will discuss how I was able to leverage the desire of other successful and employed professionals to create passive income for both them and I.

Why Do I Say Leverage? I say this because the most time consuming part of establishing a successful income producing niche website is quality content creation.

When I say leverage, I mean that all content creation was done by my joint venture partners, while I focused strictly on strategy, facilitation and execution.

With the tools that I utilize to build and market niche websites, my part of the responsibility list is relatively easy and not so time consuming to manage.  This is why I can be involved in multiple projects at any given time.

How am I able to do this? I am able to do this because experience carries a lot of weight with it, especially past successes repeated multiple times over.  I am not special or any smarter from my joint venture partners.  It just so happens that I started in this endeavor long before they did. I am what you would call an “experienced veteran”.

Because I have been doing this for a long time, I have the experience, results, instinct and the ability to talk the talk and reasonably foresee the future of any endeavor before I jump into it full-fledge.

Can they not do the same? Of course they can, probably much better than I can in fact.  But they certainly can’t go from 0 to 60 miles in half a second.  Rome wasn’t built overnight either.  Like anything else in life, getting good at something takes time, effort and interest.

The Market Need, The Desire

Successful professionals are often busy in their careers, and are very good at what they do.  What they do however often times has nothing to do with what it takes to make passive income online from a niche content website.  Just think about your own situation for a minute.

Many successful professionals are intelligent, are relatively well off financially and otherwise, but want more out of life.  The “more” doesn’t necessarily refer to the financial aspect (it certainly could), but also flexibility, freedom and mobility in life.

Because of any one or more of these factors, or others, many successful professionals have a strong desire to create sustainable passive streams of income that do not take up all their time.  Time is something busy professionals have very little off.  They rather spend that time on activities that bring them pleasure rather than work more.

If they are going to spend time, it better be for a purpose that has long term benefits and not just a one-time impact.  Such is the establishment of an income generating niche content website.

If you can convince a successful and busy professional that they can establish a long term stream of passive income by putting in a solid 3 months of effort up front, do you think they will do it?

More likely than not the answer will be yes.  So why don’t more professionals start side businesses and establish passive streams of income in pursuit of freedom, flexibility and mobility?

Because they don’t have the “know how”.  Many wouldn’t know where to even begin, and the time and effort it takes to overcome the learning curve is psychologically intimidating, overwhelming and draining.

But what if you tell them that you can contribute all the “hard” work, while they focus on what any 5^th grader can do?  I am referring to writing content for the website.  What if in addition to that you tell them that their total out of pocket cost will be less than $300?  Will they make time for such a worthwhile endeavor? You bet.

Money is not a factor, especially this small of an amount, and time can be made now that they have found someone that has the “know how”.  The promise of financial freedom, flexibility and mobility is too enticing to say no to!

Do You Need to be a Guru?

What are you really promising when you say you will handle all the “hard” work? Hard is relative to your experience vs. theirs.  As someone who has been there and done that, you know what it takes, how long it takes and what work is involved to get the job done.

It is your experience and “know-how” that you are promising.  Like I mentioned above, I am not special or any smarter than my joint venture partners.  I have simply been doing this longer and was exposed to it earlier.  I could very well have been in their shoes and them in mine.

So what will it take for you to get there?  Read my free report on How to Go from $0 to $1,000 Monthly in Just 180 Days (on the top right hand side of my blog) or my post about niche content websites.

Implement what you learn and you are all set to replicate my success of leveraging the time and expertise of other professionals to establish multiple streams of passive income online.

The Value Proposition

The value proposition you are providing is pretty straightforward.  You are promising to assist in the development of a niche content website that will generate passive income online.

You are asking for time spent creating content for the website.  You offer to split profits 50/50, or however else you deem fair, execute a contract and get started.

You know there is a market out there with the desire, so why wouldn’t you be able to sell your value prop?

The Solicitation, Screening and Agreement

So how did I go about finding my joint venture partners and getting started?

Step 1 – I sent a newsletter out to the few thousand who are subscribed to my material.  I understand that you may not be in this position, in which case I recommend posting an ad on Craigslist.  This is an excellent platform to find folks with similar interests.

You are essentially advertising your desire to work together at this point, and you need to provide the value proposition and an offer that is enticing for your potential partner to sign up for.

What helped me tremendously is attaching images of checks and payments received from vendors showing the success of my endeavors.  Social proof speaks quite loudly, and gives people the comfort that you know what you are doing.

Step 2 – I was flooded with over 400 responses within a week, with a few more trickling in afterwards.  To narrow down the prospects, I drafted a set of pre screening questions and asked my VA (assistant) to screen each email response with and only filter to me ones that meet my selection criteria.

What kinds of questions did I have her ask? Questions about gender, age, web “savvy ness”, previous experience making money online, previous experience with websites, capacity to commit time, ability and willingness to commit time, whether they had a full or part time job, or if they were students, etc.

Basically anything that helped me get comfortable that I am selecting the best possible partner.  The more qualified and less distracted the person, the better fit for me and what I want to accomplish.

Step 3 – After narrowing down to the top 5, I scheduled a meeting with each.  As much as possible, I try to work with someone local within reach.  Meeting and developing a personal relationship goes a long way, especially if I am to work with someone establishing multiple websites over time.

I had one candidate that I was so impressed with, I flew to meet him.  Similarly, I had 2 fly in to visit me. I spoke over phone with the rest of them. The competition was tough and I ended up selecting 2 to work with the first go around.

Step 4 – We executed a contract with language that protected each one of us in the event the other drops out of the venture, rights and ownership to the material, profit sharing parameters, and all kinds of other formalities and legalities.

Because I know what I am doing, the contract means much less to me than it does to my partner.  The contract is critical to giving your partner comfort that you both are in this together, fully vested and committed.

Step 5 – The next step was a detailed documentation I drafted with specific instructions on how to write the content, what keywords to focus on, etc.  I came up with this information from my experience and using the tools I purchased when I first got started.

Along with the instructions, I developed a deliverables spreadsheet that detailed all the tasks to be completed and target completion timelines.  I uploaded this material to Google Docs and provided my partner with access.  I love Google Docs for project collaboration and co-sharing material.

Step 6 – We agreed to a meeting schedule to discuss progress, address any questions and concerns and generally to catch up.  It’s good to get face time once in a while even when all is going smooth and well.

Because I am working with individuals across all states and counties, I frequently do update meetings on Skype if I am not meeting them personally.

Step 7 – I am not completely there yet, but I have been exploring opportunities to outsource as much of the day to day tasks.  Right now I am working on outsourcing the development and project management aspect of what I do completely.

I will have a designated programmer who will turn partner provided content to webpages as per instructions and training provided by me.  I will also have a dedicated project manager to run status updates and liaise between my partners, programmer and myself.

By doing this, I plan on focusing more on recruiting quality candidates and building more websites over time that generate passive income, similar to what Adam has been able to do.

I am in the process of developing a reporting structure and drafting some governance and oversight procedures through which I can manage my project manager and gain visibility into my businesses.

Current State of Affairs

So how are these ventures doing? Very well to provide a short answer.  But stay tuned because I plan on discussing some of these as individual case studies in the future.

I also plan on sharing the actual material I used such as the advertisement notice through my newsletter or Craigslist, the contract template, the discussion points, value pitch, etc. sometime in the future.

Hopefully you will be able to gather enough information to be able to replicate my success if you want to.  Let’s start walking before we run however.

If this sounds like your cup of coffee, even if you want to do it solely on a small scale and not team up with others, I highly encourage you to start looking into niche content websites more.  You can also read my discussion on the best business model for a professional who is busy travelling, which can apply to any busy professional.

There are so many professionals out there who have everything but the capability or the “know-how”.  By starting today, you can position yourself to do what I have been able to do for myself.  At the least, you will be able to run your own website or two equally as successfully.  The point is that you will have options, and the choice is yours.

What Tools Do You Need to Execute

I have summarized two very good tools and my use of each in my discussion about niche content websites.

However, here is a more comprehensive list of resources and tools that I use, am most comfortable with and recommend strongly if you want to run a successful venture on the internet that generates passive income.

Would you like to be my next joint venture partner?

Sunil
Leveraging

5 Responses to “Leveraging the Desire of Employed Professionals to Create Passive Income to Both Your and their Benefit”

1. Romeo says:

   December 6, 2010 at 9:10 am

   I think that I’m going to continue to leverage off of your knowledge 😉

   If you keep providing these informative and interesting tried and true methods in blog building, soon my feed reader sites that teaches online marketing will consist only of The Extra Money Blog 🙂

   Consider me a dedicated reader.

   Romeo

   Reply
2. Romeo says:

   December 6, 2010 at 9:12 am

   Sunil,

   The “tools that I utlize…” link is broken in this post.

   Romeo

   Reply
3. Sunil says:

   December 6, 2010 at 2:55 pm

   Appreciate the encouragement Romeo – and I welcome the opportunity to continue to provide information that is acceptable, useful and helpful.

   As for the link, the reason is that I have a post I am currently writing and will be releasing shortly. Once it is released, the link will be active. I know it’s a pain, but if you are subscribed you should have no issues staying abreast of recent developments and discussions.

   All the best to you – and feel free to express your views / requests on anything you’d like to hear more about. I want to gear my discussions toward what the readers truly want to hear about.

   It also helps to learn about my readers. So if you are willing to put yourself out there – let’s hear a bit more about you, your background, what you are into, your goals and objectives?

   Reply
   • Romeo says:

     December 6, 2010 at 3:30 pm

     I’m definitely willing to “put myself out there” and this can be seen by the contents of my stories on my own site. I have nothing to hide.

     My “niche”, so to speak, is personal finance. I’m 30 years old and my blog is centered around the realization that I should have much more money saved than I currently do, however, like many of us commonly do, I have prevented my own wealth. So in other words, I’m taking a turn for a better future while writing about all the things, products, and ideas that prevents wealth.

     My goal, in terms of my site, is to simply educate my readers. My objectives are to grow the site into a powerful resource where readers can reliably consult for information. So I suppose that I am working to build a conduit of personal finance information. Think money.cnn.com, but with a personal finance spend to it.

     An interim goal is to gather exposure for my in-process book. In the end, I would like readers of my book to visit my site, find relevant information, and share their own stories about how they have prevented wealth, but are determined to change.

     Romeo

     Reply
     • Sunil says:

       December 6, 2010 at 3:44 pm

       Congratulations on the realization, and all the best with your intentions and objectives.

       Welcome again – looking forward to interacting more as things unfold.

       Reply