430: You Need To Know This About Passive Income
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I'm just going to come out and say it. Everyone is trading time for money just in different ways. It's not about stopping that trade altogether. It's about finding ways to increase your leverage so you're getting more time from the time you invest. The real freedom doesn't come from eliminating work. It comes from designing your work in a way that fits your life.

The secret isn't to stop trading time for money. It is to design the trade in a way that supports your goals, lifestyle and desires. And the irony is the more intentional you are with how you design your work, the more freedom you'll create. Welcome back to the Boss Babe podcast. I'm Natalie Ellis. I'm dropping in with a solo episode this week.

I want to talk all about the myth of passive income. And before I do, I mean, life update, I have been traveling so much. Like, I don't even think I've been in the same place for more than a week right now. I have done so many cities in the space of a couple months.

between Dallas, Nashville, LA, Nashville again, Napa, you name it. I have been traveling so much. The way I see it for me, my Q1 and Q4 is always the biggest in business. So I have big launches in Q1 and Q4. I do a lot of speaking engagements, just like go really hard at the beginning and the end of the year, which generally ends up like six consecutive months

and six consecutive months soft and off, basically. Like soft girl CEO and then full-on CEO, whatever the balance is. But what's really beautiful is I've also been... Oh, I also did a trip to New York, which was a total fun trip. I've been balancing fun in all of the trips and bringing Noemi along to pretty much all of them as well, which has just felt so good, that full integration. But it's been full-on in all of the best ways. I feel like it has been...

I mean, Q4, it's just, it feels like a little bit of a dream come true right now or just a full on dream between getting our planners launched in every Walmart store across the country to having my face on billboards in New York and LA. I mean,

It's wild. Like, I can't even believe all of this stuff is real. We had a freaking amazing launch. We closed a $1.65 million launch. Having the biggest year Boss Babes ever had. I mean, so many things. Like, celebration after celebration after celebration, plus tons of fun travel. It just feels like life is really full right now. And I was just saying to Steven, wow, it feels like I'm, like, really doing it right now. Like, I'm really doing the quote-unquote balance. I feel balanced, which is...

So and I said to him, I'm going to say that right now while we're doing it, because in a few months time, I'm sure I feel the complete opposite. Like, I don't ever feel balanced all of the time. I think that's a total myth. But right now I really do. I feel like things are in flow, things are in balance. So yeah, we're doing it. And I'm going to just call it out when it happens, because it's not always a frequent thing. So there's that. But anyway, I wanted to do a solo episode. And I wanted to talk all about passive income. Because...

Something I hear pretty often from my audience, but just online in general is the notion that we need to stop trading time for money. Like hands up if you've heard that we need to stop trading time for money, or you've even said I want to stop trading my time for money. So the reason I bring this up is a lot of us have this notion

idea in our heads of what passive income is. And I just want to have a real direct conversation about it. Like maybe you've said it, I know I have in the past, and I've heard it hundreds of times from entrepreneurs, coaches, creatives. I've got to be honest, every time I hear it,

I do understand it. Like that wish to have more freedom, more ease, more space in your day-to-day life. Like we all want this. We all want that level of freedom. I think that's why you're here. We all are here because we have this desire to build freedom-based businesses. So every time I hear it, I really feel that desire. But not to mention, it seems everywhere we look,

everyone has it more figured out right like they've found the secret sauce to working less while or not working at all while their business is just making bank and like constantly being relaxed while money flows effortlessly but what i really want to share is the grass is not greener on the other side it is greener where you water it like this year we are having the biggest year we've ever had in business and i've got to be honest i've probably worked less this year than the last 10 years

And I feel like I'm doing it like, whoa, I have this harmony. I have this balance. Listen, every day is not perfect. There's ups and downs constantly. But this year is the year that I've said no to the most things. No to the collaborations, no to being invited in those peer masterminds, no to all of, just no to so many things. I have been so discerning with what I say yes to.

And part of me felt like, oh shit, Natalie, it's like you're saying no to everything. You're just going to be this like hermit and your business is going to disappear. Like you're going to be totally irrelevant. I was like, you know what? I'm pretty, I'm fine with being a hermit or maybe irrelevant because I'm doing what feels good and authentic to me. And if that's what it means, then that's what it means. But what's really fascinating is actually my business is having the biggest year in terms of revenue and profit that it ever has. And in terms of my peace of mind, honestly, it's

And this comes back to the grass is not greener on the other side. It is greener where you water it because none of this has happened by chance. I can tell you now I have spent so much time watering my grass. Like all I have focused on is my grass. And I'm also going to be totally honest. This year has been quite challenging with some people. I'm just going to say it. Some people online that...

They just don't want to see me win, no matter what. And when I put certain content out there, they will record content as to like why my opinion on it is wrong. Or they, there's just been a lot of, in fact, not a lot, but a couple of people that have been loud in terms of just trying to, how do I be diplomatic about it? They don't want to see me win. Let's put it that way.

And what's so interesting is I just don't let it get to me. I just put my blinders up and does it hurt? Because I know those people, sure. I'm not going to bypass and say it doesn't hurt at all. I feel it and I let it go and I put my blinders on and I just realize, Natalie, they are not watering their grass because they're trying to throw shit on yours. They're so busy trying to reach over your fence and throw shit on your grass. They are not watering theirs and it shows. And that might sound really brutal, but that is the truth that I've had to realize is

my grass is green this year because I have not looked at anybody else's grass and I've just watered my grass and I've stayed on my grass. I have not popped over to everybody else's and looked at theirs and asked what kind of weed killer they're using or whatever. Like I have stayed on mine. I have not thrown shit onto anybody else's grass. I've just, just fully paid attention to mine. And so that's the first thing that I want to talk about. I know that's not super relevant to passive income yet, but just stick with it. Stick with me.

Because that has been a massive, massive learning. So on this thread of passive income, listen, I get it. It can feel like you're working hard on everyone else and you're just spinning your wheels. You're not getting those results. But here's what I have learned as so many years as an entrepreneur, right? We never really know the full story behind someone's success or their lifestyle. We just don't. When you're looking outside and when you're peeking over somebody's fence, you do not see the full story.

And what we do see just fully scratches the surface. Like all we see are their social media posts or hear about their business wins, but we do not get to witness the full spectrum of effort that's put in. The stressors, you know, the intentional design that has gone into that, the sacrifices that have been made,

And what I've come to realize is that the real question isn't, how do I stop trading time for money? Instead, there are actually three more productive and more empowering questions that we can ask ourselves. So what I'm going to do is walk you through a step-by-step process to reverse engineer your business so you can actually set it up to align with your goals. So the first time that I came to this realization around having this whole passive income thing wrong was

was when I was really sleep deprived, relying on very, very strong and copious coffee and spending any of that free time I had snuggled up with Noemi when she wasn't feeling so well. And any moms out there, I know you can relate to those weeks when your babies get sick and every schedule and every plan you had goes out the window, right?

So in that exhaustion, I remember just having an interesting thought. I thought, okay, Natalie, you've been at your business for a week now. Like you've literally been useless to your business and your paycheck has not changed. So does this mean you've achieved passive income? And from the outside looking in, you might be thinking, yeah, that sounds a whole lot like passive income to me. But I really want to challenge this thought. And here's why.

It's very easy to look at someone else's life or business and assume they have unlocked some kind of ultimate secret to success, one that you haven't figured out yet. But the truth is no one's life is as simple or as shiny as it seems from the outside. We've all done it. We all share the highlight reel. You scroll through social media and you see people posting about their business wins, a carefree lifestyle, their time spent by the pool or flying around the world. And it's so easy to think,

It must be so much easier for them to look at how chill their life is compared to mine. But here's what we rarely see, what's actually happening behind the scenes. We don't get to see the team they manage, the systems they've built over the years, the struggles they've faced to get here. We don't see the late nights spent refining the strategy, the tough conversations with clients or partners, the relentless work that happened before they had that poolside freedom moment to share.

No, what we see is a highlight reel, which let's be honest, is the end result of a process that is often far from passive. So let me give you an example from my own business.

From the outside, Boss Babe might look like I've fully cracked the code to passive income, right? I spend a couple of hours a month coaching live and most of our education is pre-recorded and delivered through automated systems. But it doesn't mean that I'm not working. I am still deeply involved in my business. And for many years, I did manage a team. More recently, I've passed that off to my COO. But for most of the years while building Boss Babe, I was managing our team.

Nowadays, I'm overseeing strategy, I'm tweaking sales funnels, creating content, and ensuring the business continues to grow, which I've got to be honest, I don't think that we ever stop doing as entrepreneurs. So it's not that I'm not trading time for money.

but it's instead that I've shifted how I trade that time. So I might not be working 40 hours a week per se, but I'm also not sitting around doing nothing while the business just makes money without me. I do believe that your business should work when you're not working, but I don't think that's passive income.

And what you see when you're looking at someone else's success is very much just surface level because you don't get a look under the hood at the work, the time, the energy that they have put in to maintaining that success. In fact, I'm just going to come out and say it. Everyone is trading time for money just in different ways. So here's what I've realized.

It's not about stopping that trade altogether. It's about finding ways to increase your leverage so you're getting more value from the time that you invest. So here's what I mean. Let's say you offer one-on-one coaching. If you're doing one-on-one coaching, your income is directly tied to the hours you put in, right? That's pretty clear and obvious time for money trade scenario.

Let's say you sell online courses. You might think selling pre-recorded courses is more passive, but if you're a course creator, you know that behind the scenes, there is plenty of time being spent on things like managing marketing, tweaking the sales funnel, responding to customer inquiries, creating webinars, making sure your content stays relevant. Or let's say you're a podcaster who gets podcast sponsorships.

Even if you're monetizing a podcast, you're still recording episodes, negotiating deals and growing your audience. So if you notice, time is spent differently, but it's still being traded. So just think about for you, how do you want to trade your time? How could you just leverage your time a little more? But how do you want to actually trade it? And here's the thing. Maybe this is going to be a little bit of tough love.

If you're constantly chasing the fantasy of passive income or thinking that someone else has a much easier life, you are going to end up stuck in a loop. I don't know about you, but that is not a loop that I personally want to be stuck in. And what I've realized and what I really want you to hear is that the real freedom doesn't come from eliminating work. It comes from designing your work in a way that fits your life.

The secret isn't to stop trading time for money. It is to design the trade in a way that supports your goals, lifestyle, and desires. And the irony is the more intentional you are with how you design your work, the more freedom you'll create. So maybe you want to work 20 hours a week and spend the rest of your time with your family or hobbies. Maybe you want to scale your business to a million dollars or more while focusing on creative strategy rather than execution. The point is,

It's about how you want to trade your time for income. And here's where I think we're falling short. I think we all want to believe that once you hit a certain milestone, whether it's a certain income level, a number of followers, a particular business achievement, fill in the blank, life will suddenly become simpler because we've seen others doing it. The truth is that what's really happening here is passive versus predictable income.

The others that we've seen build businesses that seem passive have actually done the work to set up a business with predictable income. I believe what we really mean when we say we want passive income is that we want predictable income since that is the real ticket to freedom. And to be honest, there is no such thing as passive anyway other than your investments that you have no role in. Like that is a total myth. The freedom is in the design.

I repeat, the freedom is in the design. And how empowering is it to believe you can achieve freedom by not some pie-in-the-sky theory about passive income, and instead it's something you can create, something you can design, something that you can control. And I don't know about you, but that is the kind of freedom that I want to experience in my life and business personally. Let's take a quick pause to talk about my new favorite all-in-one platform, Kajabi.

You know I've been singing their praises lately because they have helped our business run so much smoother and with way less complexity, which I love. Not to mention our team couldn't be happier because now everything is in one place. So it makes collecting data, creating pages, collecting payment, all the things easier.

so much simpler. One of our mottos at Boss Babe is simplify to amplify and Kajabi has really helped us do that this year. So of course I needed to share it here with you. It's the perfect time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your business, you know, get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and making things as smooth as possible. I definitely recommend Kajabi to all of my clients and students. So if you're listening and haven't checked out Kajabi yet,

now is the perfect time to do so because they are offering Boss Babe listeners a 30-day free trial. Go to kajabi.com slash boss babe to claim your 30-day free trial. That's kajabi.com slash boss babe. So, okay, pulling it all together. Remember when I said the questions shouldn't be, how do I stop trading my time for money? Here's what you should be asking yourself instead. Number one, how do I want to spend my time?

Number two, what parts of my work feel fulfilling? And number three, how much do I want to earn in exchange for that time? So go ahead, grab a pen and paper or type these questions out onto your phone and come back to them later. But I really want you to sit down with these questions and get clear on each one. So let's just go through them again, right?

Number one, how much do I want to work? That means you have to be clear about your boundaries. Is your ideal week 20 hours of work or do you thrive working in sprints? So intense periods of work followed by time off. So for me personally, I like to have say two or three hours on my calendar blocked off a week. That feels ideal to me.

And it doesn't mean the rest of the time I won't spend working, but I want that flexibility. And it means if life, life's, I have the flexibility. It also means I can work on the things that I want to work on, but I don't like my calendar being completely stacked. And then number two, what do I enjoy working on? So think about what lights you up instead of focusing on what you want to avoid, focus on the tasks that bring you fulfillment and energy. How can you fill your schedule with more of that?

For me, I've gotten very, very clear and I'm in the midst of making this possible with my team, but I only want to spend my time in my creative genius right now. That means I'm not working on the day-to-day tasks. I'm only focusing on a handful of creative things that actually move the needle in my business.

And for me, that's social media, viral content, podcasting, topic titles, recording content, creating and hosting masterclasses, coaching. That's what really moves the needle for me. And then lastly, number three is how much do I want to earn? Get clear on your financial goals. How much income do you need to feel secure, free, abundant? Once you know the number, you can reverse engineer your time to match that.

So what you want to do is reverse engineer your business based on your answers. And I just want to remind you, this is not about chasing someone else's dream or trying to fully copy their business model. It is about designing your own. Maybe you want a million dollar business where you're hands-on with clients every day. Or maybe you want a million dollar business where you're managing a team and focusing more on strategy than delivery. It could even be a hybrid model that gives you the best of both worlds.

The point is there is no one size fits all formula for success. The right model is one that fits your life and goals. I cannot emphasize this enough.

You know, for me, answering these questions allowed me to build businesses that not only meet my financial goals, but also align with the life that I want to live. Yes, I still work. Yes, I'm still trading time for money, but I'm doing it in ways that feel aligned with my values, my creativity, my desire for freedom. And that's the ultimate goal, not to stop working, but to build a life where work and income are balanced in a way that serves your purpose, your happiness, what you really want to get out of life.

So again, when I really went on that rant about watering your own grass, it is so easy to look at others and think they've got it figured out, that their business is easier, that their life is more relaxed. But the truth is you have the power to design your own success, but it starts with being intentional about your time, your work, your financial goals. The grass is

always going to be greener where you water it. And so instead of chasing the illusion of passive income, start nurturing that business and that life that you really want.

Because real freedom doesn't come from passive income. It comes from intentional, predictable income. And so my challenge for you and for myself is to keep our focus on our business and our goals and avoid getting pulled into the trap of what other people are doing, continually looking for the ways to water grass in our own business. So I hope this was helpful.

I felt like I just needed to do a full run. Every time I see you stop trading your time for money, I just feel like I want to jump in and clear the air because we're all trading time. But I want you to be doing it in a way that feels really good and feels like a fair trade.

For me, I love to work, right? And there are days where I'm like, yeah, I really do want, you know, want me to spend these few hours with her nanny. And I work on things that really lights me up. That feels really good to me. And so just get clear on what that is for you and start building your business in that way. Because trust me, it is so freaking possible.

All right, I hope you loved this episode. I would love if you did, if you could just leave me a review and just let me know if you like the solo episodes, this kind of masterclass style. If there's any topics I haven't covered that you'd love me to cover, it would mean the absolute world to me and it really, really supports the podcast. So with that, I will see you next week.

Wait, wait, wait, before you go, I would love to send you my seven-figure CEO operating system completely free as a gift. All you've got to do is leave us a review on this podcast because it really supports the growth of this show. This is my digital masterclass where I'll show you what my freedom-based daily, weekly, and monthly schedule looks like as an eight-figure CEO, mama, and high performer. And I'll walk you through step-by-step how to create this for yourself. It includes a full video training from me,

and a plug and play spreadsheet to literally create your own operating system. It's one of our best trainings and it's worth $1,997, but I will unlock access for you for free when you leave us a review. I know, wild, right? All you have to do is leave your review on the podcast, take a screenshot of it, and then head over to bossbabe.com slash review to upload it. And then you'll get

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