
Check out our synthesized blog posts or listen to how successful online entrepreneurs got to where they are now on our podcast: ECHO RADIO
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You probably think that setting up a passive income business takes next to no time at all, has no associated risks, and needs no special skills...
Well, you’d be wrong on all counts — and that’s just the start of the truth about real passive income. Don’t believe everything you read online, and be aware of things that are frequently ‘hyped up’.
Below I outline 6 truths about real passive income. Read on, and not only will you find out how passive income really works, you’ll understand how you can make a living using this popular business model.
You've already spent a lifetime building your skillset. You're busy enough as it is. You've ALREADY done your part.
I can do EVERYTHING your business needs and MORE because that's MY JOB.
I cannot be any clearer: Your brain will try to persuade you that there is NO way for you to start an online business without tech knowledge. Listen closely.
I've done it!
You're not my first client. This isn't our first rodeo. Our system has been PROVEN time and time again!
Every single one of our clients has exponentially benefitted from Echo Studio, and you can too.
In today’s competitive business world, you need to be able to understand what it is that you do that is unique and why.
Being able to communicate that in a really short, clear, and engaging way to anyone will allow you to skip the small talk and make real authentic connections with people.
A lot of the people you’ll be connecting with may bring you opportunities you wouldn't have found otherwise.
BUT, in order to stand out, you need to know what it is that you—and only you—can do.
Imagine if everyone you’ve ever spoken to knew what you’re great at and passionate about?! Think of all the interesting stories and opportunities you would’ve been introduced to.
I never wanted to go to college.
What?! Why?! Those are the best years of your life! Be grateful of the opportunity! Education is important! You need a degree!
Seeing all the families that wanted nothing more than their children go to university made me feel like I needed to go too.
I forgot about my thoughts.
I ended up in a small town in Scotland, of all places, attending the University of St. Andrews.
I had a great time. I made some great friends. And, I was about as passionate for my studies as a sugar-crazed 5-year-old eating broccoli.
THE LATEST
Instead of courting Amazon, cities should court freelancers
Re-evaluating my content creation
The end of, "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" and other Memento Mori or Amor Fati
A simple 3-part argument for living a life doing what you care about
If I were on my deathbed, would I be satisfied with my life so far?
The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson
ECHO STUDIO NEEDS HELP
Wait But Why’s Tim Urban on Parsing and Transmitting Complex Ideas
When you need help, google the problem and "google" your network
Why does it take so much time/effort to ask for help?
The Power of Vulnerability with Brené Brown and Bear Grylls
Re-launching Echo Radio: The Best Podcast for Starting and Growing Your Online Business
Real Digital Nomads - For people who just want actionable strategies
How to Network Effectively Using Slack
Courage Over Comfort
How Do Ethereum Smart Contracts Work?
Getting to know 368 - A Revolutionary Nascent Startup
How Casey Neistat of YouTube, Jack Conte of Patreon, and Alexis Ohanian of Reddit are about to change the world
How to Create a World Class Network and Craft the Perfect Pitch
Getting Rid Of Our Biases at Scale
- Land of the Rising Blockchain by Mark Bivens
- How I Traveled Around the World for 5 Months and Made Money Doing It
- How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You) - The best blog post ever written
- The Only 6 Life Principles You'll Ever Need
- Self-Auditing Your Biases
- How to Sell When You Hate Selling
- Traveling through Beijing and Guangzhou
- FREE Giveaway of 5 Consulting Calls
- Relationship Therapy with Esther Perel
- How Not to Travel the World - Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
- Principles: Life & Work by Ray Dalio
- Travelling through Seoul, South Korea
- How to Connect with Anyone - Kevin Rose's Interview of Jordan Harbinger (founder of The Art of Charm)
- Shapers - How the Best Leaders Change the World
- How to Become a Shaper like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk
- A Geek in Japan by Hector Garcia
- Travelling through Japan
- Kevin Rose's Interview of Tim Urban (author of Wait But Why)
- Japan has taught me more than I could have hoped for.
- How can you use First Principles to think like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Marie Curie
- Lead Generation - Nearly Everything You Need to Know
- Deeply Falling in Love with Tokyo
- Trauma Psychology with Dr. Gabor Maté
- Building Startups in Tokyo
- When is it ok to settle?
BITE-SIZED KNOWLEDGE
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RECENT EPISODES
The Law of Category - How to rise to the top despite competition (01:19:42)
Why engagement is more important than quantity (01:21:32)
ICOs, Token Sales, and Pre-Selling - How to fund your startup without trading equity (01:23:20)
How to pick the right investors for you (01:29:52)
How to communicate effectively and inspire people with narrative (01:32:48)
Adam's proposed 12 week mentorship program - The most important things to start with (01:40:21)
How to avoid burnout - Introducing the concept of play (01:41:11)
How to vet potential hires (01:45:36)
Bad advice for getting started and how to avoid it (01:47:04)
Common mistakes to avoid when starting a software company (01:49:07)
What is lacking in tech entrepreneurship? - And how to add value by filling those gaps (01:52:40)
Don't be the stereotypical stoic (01:57:01)
The leaders of the blockchain movement - Adam's biggest influences in tech entrepreneurship (01:59:17)
Adam's definition of success (02:04:29)
All meat diets, microdosing LSD, and not answering your text messages (02:05:11)
The blank billboard - a moment of pause from advertising (02:07:14)
Follow up with: Matryx.ai and @matryx_ai, Adam's work on Medium, Twitter, his blog, his site, and his most recent project Roll with Alice (coming soon) (02:08:08)
Things to think about: reading, meditation, and minimalism (02:09:27)
Introducing Adam Simon, Nanome.ai and Matryx.ai (5:15)
Explaining: "What is Blockchain?" (6:46)
Getting Introduced to the Top - How Adam got involved with Keita Funakawa, Steve McCloskey, and Nanome.ai (8:56)
Why you should work for free when starting out (15:26)
How to add value to companies much bigger than you (19:03)
Why you should be using LinkedIn (28:49)
Why it's important to take a break (34:46)
How to land the best internships (35:58)
How to learn from the executives at your job (42:06)
Adam's best resources for getting started (43:45)
How to learn to LOVE reading (44:28)
How to get involved in tech entrepreneurship or your field of choice (45:58)
How to master the basics first so that everything becomes easier (48:54)
Why no one knows what they're doing when starting out and why that's a good thing (52:56)
How to overcome any tough decision using two Stoic exercises (55:18)
How to create a team working environment that works for you, even when you have "less experience" than your employees (57:41)
3 crucial qualities for getting hired by the best companies (01:03:22)
Mark Zuckerberg's hiring rule (01:06:48)
What activity bears the highest return on investment? - See Market Research, Immersion, and Validation (01:08:13)
Create quality content - How to audit your strengths and personality type to figure out what kind of content creation is right for you (01:12:47)
How to validate your idea - Idea Generation (19:21)
How to convince yourself to get started: How Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, pushed herself (24:37)
How to build a following for your startup - Market Immersion & Product Development (15:25)
What to do when you're torn between different projects (36:36)
How to overcome F.U.D: Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt (38:28)
Radical Candor - The under-used method for being the best boss (56:39)
Phil's Role Model: Tupac Shakur (59:02)
The benefits of sleeping twice a day (01:01:08)
What real hustling looks like (10:41)
Should you start a business with your friends? (12:50)
How to start a creative business AND WIN (15:59)
Bad advice and common mistakes to avoid when getting started (18:01)
The BEST advice for students who want to start their own creative business (19:49)
How to build a team by auditing your strengths (24:01)
The best resource I use to manage my team effectively (26:04)
Where does DRIVE stem from? (35:23)
SCHOOL: The Good & The BAD. How to take advantage of education (37:43)
The MOST important thing to learn before starting a social company (43:52)
- Getting introduced to the freedoms of Online Business (2:49)
- Dropping out of college (3:00)
- Finding the "right school" for you (7:30)
- A better alternative to the usual college model (8:20)
- How to find your passion "Defining your Ultimate Self" (8:30)
- How to find your passion (continued) "The Tim Ferriss Show" (12:18)
- How to educate yourself through digital role-models (13:09)
- How to convince your parents to let you take a Gap Year (18:02)
- Making a plan for your Gap Year (21:05)
- The best way to land your Dream Job "Free Work" (23:05)
- Why Echo Studio is better than just going on your own (25:25)
- How to get in contact and have all of your questions answered (27:55)
- Become an Echo Studio Intern, learn everything I teach my clients for tens of thousands of dollars, absolutely FREE (28:18)
I couldn't run My Business
Without these tools.
Business Operations:
GSuite - For organizing digital files. Use promo code: EAGNFVGM4UQYCMM for 20% off
Evernote - For saving articles and annotating notes. It's like your second brain. Absolute must-have.
ConvertKit - For automating email campaigns, email lists, and newsletters
Drip - Also for automating email campaigns, email lists, and newsletters
Calendly - For scheduling meetings with clients, students, and podcast guests
Hover - For buying domains. Free WHOIS privacy and easily transferable
KingSumo - For viral giveaways. Use promo code: AHKINGSUMO20
Sumo - For web optimization
Asana - For project management
Slack - For team communication ($100 credit)
Squarespace - For the website and landing pages. Shoot me an email before you register if you'd like 20% off your first year!
Canva - For super easy and free graphic design
Namecheap - For buying secondary domains at a good price
Buffer - For social media marketing
Screenflow - For recording video on my laptop and editing videos
Productivity:
Headspace - For meditation and calm
The Great Suspender - Have 30 tabs open at once? Get this now. It's a lifesaver.
Boomerang - Take care of the daily email struggle like an inbox GOD + get 1 month free
Momentum - For less distraction and more motivation
AutoPatchWork - For faster web browsing
Eye Dropper - To pick and use any color on any webpage
F.lux - Prevents laptop insomnia by dimming screen in accordance with your local sunset
Learning:
The Tim Ferriss Show - Listen to how the world's top performers got to where they are. In my opinion, it's also the best way to figure out what you want to do in life
Masters of Scale - Dissects how tech companies grow from zero to a gazillion
First Round - My go to resource on the state of tech startups today
Farnam Street Blog - To keep my mind sharp and make sure I'm making the best decisions I can be
The Journal by Kevin Rose - Super cool, interesting, and valuable info delivered monthly
The Kevin Rose Show - New ways to reach peak personal and professional performance
The Kevin & Ryan Show - Tech, health, and productivity from two of the top dogs... (yes, I like Kevin 😘)
The James Altucher Show - Like the Tim Ferriss Show, just hosted by James... (I like Tim more... sorry James!)
Wait But Why - My most entertaining way of gathering deep insight
Brain.fm - Music for the Brain. Focus. Relax. Meditate. Sleep
Duolingo - Best language learning app the world has ever seen. Period. And, it's totally free
Email marketing is the engine to your business.
This is why you need the best possible tool to help you reach the right people at the right time to boost your revenue.
Ever since I started using Convertkit I have saved time and driven more revenue to my business.
Once you start to use it, Evernote basically becomes your second brain! You can retrieve ANY information you have saved on ANY device at ANY time.
Evernote has made my life so much easier (both at work and in my private life), and it helped me double the size of my business. It’s so much more than a note-taking app.
*Some of these links are affiliate links, which means that, for some, you'll be offered a discounted price, and I’ll receive a small commission. Win-win 😉 This helps support the blog and allows me to continue to make free content. I only recommend products that I use and love. Enjoy the deals! And thank you for your support!
The number of people who say they’ve quit a job due to lack of flexibility has nearly doubled from 17% in 2014 to 32% in 2017
The paradox of entrepreneurs is that you strike out on your own to have more control of your time only to discover that the demands of your job take up all of your time, including any opportunity to travel. How can entrepreneurs become true digital nomads while enjoying the lifestyle that originally drew them to start their own business?
The first step in creating this lifestyle is to define what success means for you.