Week 3 — Day 4
How To Get Paid Passively
Today I want to talk with you about something simple that took me far too long to really understand — how you actually get paid.
Think back to your very first job. Somebody told you what to do — a boss, a supervisor. They handed you a task list and a timeframe. You did the work, you waited for payday, and then you got paid. Simple, right? Life was simple back then.
Here's the thing. Most of us never stopped using that formula. We're still trading our hours for dollars, exactly the way we did on day one. And I'll say this as gently as I can, because I lived it too: in today's economy, you'll never get ahead if trading hours for dollars is the only tool you own. That's not a knock on you. It's just the math — and once you see it, it becomes personal.
Let me show you what I mean on a bigger scale.
9 Minute Video
Picture any large company. Its lifeblood is its employees — without them, nothing happens. If one calls out, someone fills in. If one quits, they hire the next person. Companies pay employees just enough that they don't quit, and employees work just hard enough that they don't get fired. That's the rat race. Above the employees sit the supervisors, who earn a little more. Above them, the managers, who earn a little more than that. Above them, senior management, then the vice presidents, and finally the CEO, the president, and the board at the very top. More responsibility, a bigger paycheck — you know how it goes.
I don't know about you, but that sure looks like one of those "pyramid things" people are always warning each other about — the few at the top earning most of the money, and the folks at the bottom working as hard as they possibly can and still not getting ahead. And here's the part that stings: whether you like it or not, if you're still trading hours for dollars, you're standing somewhere on that pyramid right now.
The old promise — go to school, get a good job, retire happily ever after — is over. Between corporate greed, a squeezed middle class, and a dollar that keeps losing value, a comfortable retirement isn't even on the table for a lot of good people. So where's the solution? What's the first step?
The first step is simple. You change your mind. Because YOU are the only one in control of your future.
Let me hand you a few clues. The most successful people didn't reinvent the wheel — they found someone who already had the results they wanted, and they copied what that person did. Here's one I've never forgotten: "The richest people in the world look for and build networks; everyone else looks for work." — Robert Kiyosaki. And one more: "Formal education will make you a living, but self-education will make you a fortune." — Jim Rohn.
That clue about networks? I'll be honest — I didn't get it at first. I thought that by building a big library and following smart leaders, I was building a network. I was really just building a network of knowledge. Good, but not enough.
Here's what finally clicked. You have to become the CEO of your own life — the CEO of your own little network — even if you're the only person in it today. Then you start looking for other people who think the way you do, people with that same spark who want to build something of their own, and you lift each other up instead of waiting for permission from the top of someone else's pyramid. When you find those people — and they find you — everybody's self-esteem goes through the roof, because for once the conversation isn't only flowing one direction.
If some of this feels a little deep, or you're not sure you've got it all yet — don't worry. That's okay. This is a mindset, and a mindset settles in over time.
I'll leave you with one more line, and it's the one I live by: “You are only looking for people who are looking for you.” That's the whole secret to getting paid passively — and to building something that lasts.
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Until my next post,
Steve