#060 - Why passive IMPACT trumps passive INCOME every time. How to maximize your message, even while you sleep.

You've probably heard of passive income—right?

Passive Income is INCOME from a venture in which an individual does not directly participate.

There are plenty of advantages to this type of income. In this structure customers and clients pay you repeatedly for work you only did once. This income is recurring because it’s not limited to your presence, your focus, or your schedule.

Obviously, passive income factors scalability. You can serve five orders just as simply as five thousand. Although your product or service initially takes time to create, you’ll repeatedly get paid for the original time, effort, and energy you invested. Passive income works even when you don’t. It knows few limits because it’s not finite like you.

Passive income is cool, BUT HAVE YOU ALSO HEARD ABOUT PASSIVE IMPACT?

Passive Impact is IMPACT from a venture in which an individual does not directly participate.

I think passive impact trumps passive income. I share why on the episode, but I'll tell a quick story that will fill in some blanks.

My fourth book (Your Secret Name) released in September, 2010. In a matter of weeks we realized this book was special without much of our own doing. The book touched on an issue common to many adults and teens alike—identity. I blended my story overcoming self-injury with the reader’s journey of discovering who they were created to be.

My friend Gabe created an interactive website that combined free tools with support from our growing community. My friend Josh produced a beautiful book trailer, and we began getting emails from people of various backgrounds and struggles. They told us about their newfound freedom and how they discovered a connection with their Creator, their community, and their core.

Stories of victory over suicidal thoughts, depression, prostitution, workaholism, anorexia, and low self-esteem poured in. We continued sharing the message as best we could, but we’d clearly reached our capacity. My day job brought its own set of challenges and commitments. And although I entertained thoughts of jumping into my dream job full-time, book sales alone didn’t come close to paying the bills.

Then it happened.

I received an email from Desiree Arney, a stranger in New Jersey touched by the message. Long story short, after a couple chats David and I asked her to join our “team.”

The word team was a bit presumptuous. Although we wanted to change the world, we didn’t have a plan, a platform, or a paycheck. We figured passion was enough so we kept moving forward. A few months later we decided to have a conference and over one hundred people showed up. Toward the end of the conference we blocked off an open mic time for participants to share their thoughts about the day. The stories of transformation people shared blew us away. Feeling momentum and divine favor, we created the Your Secret Name Team. Clearly we needed a way to multiply our impact and fund our efforts. I knew I couldn’t accept every gig, and although I felt a little guilty turning down some opportunities, my family and day job took precedence.

We priced the Team at a modest $997 and in no time we added a dozen members from all over the world, including Europe and New Zealand. Additional team members trickled in, and our impact and income increased slowly but steadily. Because of our desire to alleviate suffering and pain in impoverished areas, we gifted a few slots to nonprofits in Uganda and Honduras. (We felt their lack of resources shouldn’t prevent them from helping those in need.)

Even better than the passive income was the passive impact. I remember one chilly Ohio afternoon playing with my three children on the living room floor. I think Isabel won out with her game choice—sleeping giant. Our stomachs were full from a scrumptious Sunday lunch and the wood in the fireplace crackled and popped. Snowflakes fell softly outside and my wife and I smiled at each other as we tried to keep up with three active kids.

Later that evening I checked our Secret Name Facebook group. Thrilled to read the posts, I learned how that weekend three separate team members had conducted Your Secret Name events in their own cities.

I smiled. While I enjoyed my loved ones in the comfort of my home, our passive impact business was igniting. Our team was communicating this message of hope to people who needed healing. It hasn’t stopped since.

In episode 60, I teach you how to create your first product (for ZERO start-up costs). In the process you'll also create something else—passive income AND passive impact.