Providing a Service? But That's Not Passive Income!

Because I love to see people get the most out of their online businesses and personal lives too, I always encourage business owners to create as much passive income as possible. That way, you'll have time for the more important things in your life. Still, when we are in need of money, the Internet is a GREAT place to start building an income by providing a service to others. If you decide to provide a service as a means of making money from home, always make sure you are making the most of your time and are working to create the easiest to manage service business as you possibly can.

Here are some tips for you if you would like to work a little less providing a service online:

1. Do Your Math - If you want to make $400 per week, calculate exactly how many service hours you would have to provide to reach that. If you charge $10 per hour, realize that you will have to work with clients for 40 hours per week. And that 40 hours doesn’t include administrative tasks for your own business, marketing and other things that just have to be done that you don’t get paid for. If it’s reasonable to increase your rate to $20 per hour, you would only have to work with clients for 20 hours per week.

==> Super Tip: Realize that it is likely much easier to find 20 hours of work per week at $20 per hour than it is to find 40 hours at $10 per hour. At $10 per hour, you have to work twice as hard to find work and then when you find that work you’ll have to work double the time.

2. Outsource - Just because you are a Virtual Assistant or another service-providing entrepreneur doesn’t mean you have to do all the work yourself. Find other people to subcontract your client work too or get help with some of your own administrative business tasks. This will help you reduce the possibility of overloading yourself with work. Again, do your math and see if you take on a few extra hours if you might hire a student or somebody else at a lower rate to give you a hand.

3. Make a Plan for Passive Income - As a service-provider, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Try to set aside a few hours per week to build up your passive income. You can create information products that teach people how to perform your specialized services (ex. a VA can teach others about bookkeeping, managing spreadsheets, etc if there is a market for it). Or you can venture out into creating your own websites that generate and affiliate income. The possibilities are endless. As long as you set aside a little time each week (or hire someone to help you), this will eventually start to grow.

Having an online business provides us with so much freedom we could never find elsewhere...if we do it right.

Alice Seba is a full-time online business owner that thrives on helping others say good-bye to their J-O-Bs forever. Sign up for her "Internet Marketing Prescriptions" to cure what ails your online business: http://www.AliceSeba.com