Real talk about recurring revenue

In my last issue, I talked about how I’ve been able to travel my butt off this year. And the “secret” has been the design of my online business. Namely, the membership site model coupled with email automation.

But, is that it? Do you just do all the work to set that up and then it just goes off and makes money on automatic?

Not totally.

The Blog Marketing Academy has indeed seen a drop in revenue for the last month. Lead volume has dropped, sales have dropped. It isn’t to the degree that it’s alarming, but it is noticeable.

And, since we’ve been doing extended motorhome trips every summer for the last several years, I can tell you that this decline happens every single time.

Some of it is just the summer break. There’s always a little slowdown over the summertime because I think people are out on vacations and just not quite as engaged. But, there’s no doubt, much of it is internal.

Because here’s the truth about online business…

I don’t care how much people preach the virtues of “passive income”…. it is NOT PASSIVE.

There’s nothing passive about it.

A business is like a relationship. It will go strong if you’re putting energy into it… when you’re actively creating it. But, if you stop creating it and just let it coast, things go stale. Marriages can go stale if neither party  is doing anything to CREATE the relationship and is instead just taking it for granted. It works the exact same way with a business.

So, despite the recurring revenue and the automation, when I “check out” for this long, things begin to stale around here.

For the last couple months, I’ve been quite busy traveling. Plus, wifi hasn’t always been the best since we’re in different campgrounds all the time. So, my “work” has been primarily limited to answering emails, writing the Daily, and a few other random things. And even those things haven’t been taking place as often as I do it when I’m in the office.

So, things have been coasting. And… it shows.

Now, I could have probably done additional things to keep the fuel on the fire in an automated way. Perhaps utilize more Facebook Ads to attract new leads into the funnels on automatic. Or various other things. But, I haven’t done it. Because I’ve been the travelin’ family man… and not the business owner.

So, all this to say…

Your business… ANY business… can only “coast” for so long. You can’t just do bare minimum and maintain it and then expect it to expand. If you’re not actively CREATING it, then it will dwindle.

There is no such thing as 100% passive income. All passive income streams will eventually dwindle if you don’t pour on the energy.

I’m pouring on some energy on my business right now, from this campground in New Mexico (yes, I wrote this article in advance). But, it is more maintenance energy. I’m going to be really pouring on the gas when I get back into the office.

If I didn’t, BMA could eventually dwindle to zero. But, that ain’t gonna happen. As I drive back to Florida, I feel like an excited horse that just wants to bust out and run full blast, but is being kept at the starting line. 🙂

– David