Home Business Wins

If you like this article, please Digg it by clicking the "Digg" icon above. Thanks!

I took the entire summer off and still received a check every month for doing nothing. That is the power of residual income. If you want the freedom to take time off from your work or business to be with your family (or travel or whatever you want to do), then you have to look at the type of income you're earning. The key is to earn both passive income AND multiple streams of income. Passive or residual income gives you an ongoing source of revenue, so you can take time off. And creating multiple streams of income allows you to leverage your efforts and turn on several income taps at the same time. By creating both residual income and multiple income streams, you will be able enjoy what too few people have – both time and money.

Cash Flow for your Business

Passive income is money received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it. Multiple streams of income means that you have money coming in from various sources. And if you’re really smart you’ll create both. Let’s look at some examples of how you can do that.

There are lots of ways to earn passive income including property rentals, financial investments and pensions. But to be honest, those carry too much risk and investment for me.

Working with an MLM or network marketing company can be a great source of residual income. That means you get paid over and over again by having a customer buy your service or product from you on a repeated basis. Top financial gurus like Robert Kiyosaki hRobert Kiyosakiave identified network marketing as an excellent business opportunity. Watch this video by Robert Kiyosaki to understand exactly why that is.

There are a number of key things to look for when selecting a network marketing company, such as the products, compensation plan, company track record, training, retention rate, and systems of marketing and duplication. More and more people are using the Internet to build their network marketing business, using the principles of attraction marketing. Look for a mentor who understands what this is all about and will help teach you these methods.

The Internet has created a whole new realm of possibilities for how to earn passive income, including web hosting, software products, internet marketing services, and custom web design services.

One of the more popular ways is through advertising commissions. If you have a website, you can put a banner or link on your site and collect a monthly fee for doing so. You can also offer advertising space in your ezine or ebook. You can also put Google Ads on your website. When someone clicks on the ad, you get a commission. Of course, all these advertising methods depend on you getting people to your website in the first place.

Another method that has become increasingly popular and allows you to create both passive income and multiple streams of income is affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing, you make money by promoting products and services for companies and by recruiting other affiliates. It’s a good idea to diversify and choose multiple services and products so you don’t put all your eggs in one basket and so that you create multiple income streams. When you’re choosing an affiliate program make sure that it meets your target market’s needs and provides value. And choose affiliates that match your own interests and knowledge base, so you’ll know how to promote them effectively. Also look at the amount of commission the affiliates pay and how long they track clients for you (ideally forever). And make sure they pay commissions on multiple tiers for sales, e.g. you also get paid when one of your affiliates makes a sale.

I think you’ll find that affiliate marketing is pretty easy to do. You don’t have to invest anything (most affiliate programs are free), and the companies do most of the work for you. They provide the products, track the sales and give you a commission for each sale. Many programs even give you training and marketing materials to help you along.

Another great way to use the web to create passive income is to sell an ebook. You can write an ebook about any subject on which you can add value, whether its how to build an online business, travel tips or raising healthy children. The point is to create content that is valuable for your target market. Ebooks are not expensive to produce and can generate ongoing income for years to come.

You can even add an affiliate program by getting other people to sell it for a commission. This is a great way to increase your passive income. I’d also recommend pre-selling by giving people a free e-book or other valuable content before selling them your ebook.

That’s what Ann Sieg has done with her free The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing, followed by the The Renegade Network Marketer.Ann Sieg

In fact, let’s take a look at what Ann Sieg has done because it’s an excellent example of how to make passive income online as well as create multiple streams of income. Ann has created an enormously popular ebook called The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing. That book is free and it offers tremendous insights into why most people fail at network marketing and how they can succeed. Once people read that, they want to get her ebook The Renegade Network Marketer because it goes into much more detail about solutions for overcoming the challenges faced by most network marketers. For instance, Ann shares what she calls the greatest sales secret of all time (here’s a hint – it has to do with attracting people to you vs. chasing after them).

Now here is where her system is extremely clever. Anyone who purchases The Renegade Network Marketer (it costs $67) becomes an affiliate and will earn $33.50 every time they sell a copy of the ebook. Not only that, but anyone who buys The Renegade Network Marketer gets access to an enormous back-end system with tons of training and marketing tools, plus they automatically get to become affiliates with around 40 products and services geared to online marketing. So not only does Ann create multiple streams of income for herself, she makes that available for everyone who buys her ebook. Brilliant.

Don’t get me wrong. You can’t sit down at your computer and start generating thousands overnight. Like anything else, creating income online takes effort and persistence. Education is essential and there are great resources to help you. But if you commit to educating yourself and sticking with it, you can have great success. And once you have cash flow coming in on a residual basis and from different sources, you will be able to take time off and achieve greater balance between work and family.

For advice and tips on having a successful home business, get a free copy of Home Business Wins