The Downsides of Automated Income (What They Don't Tell You)

You often hear about the upside of automated sales and passive income, but rarely about the downsides. In this episode I'll share with you why you might want to consider a different approach that better aligns with your energy levels and work preferences.

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Hey Bo here.

I wanna talk about the downsides of
passive income and automated sales.

You hear people talk about the upsides,
but they don't talk about the downsides.

And even me, I've talked about this a
lot, like the benefits of automating your

business and having these systems set
up that sell your product for you 24 7.

And I think that's something
you can work towards.

However, I think a lot of people don't
understand the downsides of this,

and they don't see that it actually.

Creates more work for
them than they realize.

They think that this automated
business is gonna be less work

because it's automated, but it can
actually create more work for you.

And let me tell you why.

So first of all, let's say you have an
online course that you're selling and you

want to automate the sales, so you put
it inside of an automated sales funnel.

Well.

There's a couple things
they don't tell you.

First of all, if you put your course
in an automated sales funnel, it's

never going to sell as well as it
would sell during like a live launch.

There's always gonna be a decrease in
conversion rate when you're automating

something, so if your course isn't already
selling amazingly well in a live launch.

Then automating it is
probably not the best idea.

You wanna make sure that that
course is completely dialed in.

That that the sales page is amazing,
that the marketing around it is

amazing, that the product itself
is amazing, that it's getting

amazing results for your customers.

Like that thing needs to be dialed
in before you automate it, because if

you try to automate something that's
not working, you're just gonna create.

More work for yourself and it's
not going to be worth the effort.

So people don't tell you that.

People also don't tell you, like
when you have an automated sales

funnel, like you still have to
drive traffic into that funnel.

And that's a full-time job.

Like you have to be constantly driving
traffic into that sales funnel if you want

to keep making sales from it, you know?

And so I think.

People like people hate
on the live launch model.

You know, people talk about
how they hate launches, how

they're so stressful or whatever.

First of all, there's a way to make
launches much less stressful, but

I wanna talk about why you might
want to lean more towards a live

launch sort of business model.

Where you have like a signature course
or a coaching program and you just launch

it a few times a year, like two to four
times a year, and why that might actually

be a much better model for you than the
automated sort of business because I.

Like, like one thing, first of all, you
have to get used to though, if you're

gonna do a live launch model, is you
have to be okay with the fact that your

income is not going to be as stable
and as predictable as it would be with

a more automated type of business.

You, you will probably make more
money though with a live launch model.

You'll make more money overall,
but it won't be as consistent.

And it might be, it looks, it might look
like a lot of peaks in valleys, you know?

So if you're doing a live launch
model, let's say you launch

your product four times a year.

Let's say you launch in March.

Well, your income might look
like January and February.

You make $5,000.

And then March, you make $50,000.

You know, so January and February
you might look at it and be

like, oh, this is kind of scary,
like I'm not making much money.

And you might think your
business isn't working, but then

you make up for it in March.

You know?

So even though you only made 5,000
in January and February, overall,

if you average it out, you made
an average of $20,000 a month.

So you'll make more money most
likely doing this, but you just

have to be okay with the fact
that it won't be as consistent.

If you put that same course inside of
an automated sales funnel and you did

that, you might only make half of that.

You, you might only make
say, $10,000 a month.

It's $10,000 a month every month.

So it's more stable, it's
more predictable, but you only

make half the amount overall.

So you have to kind of weigh the pros
and cons and, and ask yourself like, do

you want to make more money or would you
rather have just more like stability?

Also, you have to ask yourself
like, how do you like to work?

Because I used to think that I
wanted that automated passive income

and like granted, it's great, but.

I realize now that it actually, it
actually doesn't really fit with

the way that I prefer to work.

So I'm the type of person who kind
of works in like short bursts.

So like I like to go very hard for
a couple weeks or a couple months

on a project, dive really deep
into something, and then I like

to completely step back and like.

Totally detach.

I, I like to go on vacation and
like, not even think about work

for a while, and then I come back
and then I go deep again, you know?

So I'm like on and off, on and off.

That's sort of how I work.

But some people, they prefer like the
more consistent schedule, you know,

like they're just okay with like
that steady rhythm, you know, every

day, every week they're doing the
same things and they just like that

predictability and consistency in their
work schedule and also in their income.

So you have to ask yourself like
what type of person you, you are

like, are you the type of person
who just craves that stability and

predictability, or are you the person
that likes to go deep and then detach?

So I'm starting to realize that I,
like, I used to think that I don't,

I didn't like the live launch model.

However, I'm starting to see that maybe
it does fit more with my personality.

Because for example, like if, if you do
the live launch model, it actually can

give you more freedom and it can help you.

Like really recharge and, you know,
recharge your batteries so that you

can come back better every time.

You know, like if you're just always
working like consistently every week

and you can never really like take a
month off, then you can, you can burn

out doing that if you're not careful.

And so I'm starting to realize, like I
would actually prefer a, a business where

it's like I can work hard for two months
and then I can take a month off and then

come back, work, work hard for two months.

And then take a month off.

You know, I would really prefer that.

I think, and I'm starting to question
whether or not the automated type

of business is even best for me.

Now granted, I think you should have both.

I mean, you should have at least one
product that you sell that's in an

automated funnel, but, but that should be
like a low ticket product, most likely.

So it's hands off, so you don't
have to do a lot of maintenance.

It's not like your signature program,
it's just more of a low ticket

product that people can buy anytime.

So that's hands off, that's
automated, that's passive.

So you can bring in some revenue
in between your launches, but then

your main program, the main thing,
you sell your signature course or

your signature coaching program
that you sell through live launches.

And I think that is a better
model for a lot of people.

I think the, the whole like
predictable, steady, regular

sales thing is kind of overrated.

Actually.

It's overrated because what people
don't talk about is like if you have

that sort of model where your product
is always available for sale or.

You, it's in an automated
sales funnel even.

You still have to constantly be driving
traffic into the funnel or you have to

be constantly trying to sell the product
and trying to sell your coaching, getting

on sales calls or talking to people or
sending emails and trying to close people.

It's like you're always having to work.

But if you do the live launch model,
you can just focus that effort into

a shorter period of time and just
focus that work into like a, say

a 30 day period four times a year.

So you're only really.

Selling like four months out of the
year and then eight months out of

the year you're just creating content
or taking some time off and just

kind of going, taking it more easy.

You know, you don't have to think
about selling and I think I prefer

that, you know, I'm starting to
think that I really prefer that.

Like because, 'cause I don't
like to be always having to think

about sales and always thinking
about promotions and these.

Products and how I'm gonna
sell 'em and, and how I'm gonna

launch 'em and all this stuff.

Like, I would rather just have a more
focused effort a few times a year and

I can go into that knowing like, okay,
this is the month I gotta focus on

selling this thing, and then I can.

You know, after that I can just step back
and then I can be more of my creative

self and just focus on creating content
and, you know, brainstorming the, the

next thing I'm gonna do, you know,
so I, I kind of prefer that, I think.

So ask yourself what type
of person are you and which

model would be better for you?

Um, so I think we have
to be careful about.

You know, just looking at the
upsides of things, it's easy to

just see the, the shiny object
and see how great this thing is.

Like, uh, another example
is, uh, membership sites.

Like people talk about, oh,
create a membership site or a

subscription or something, because
then you got that stable monthly

income coming in every month.

But then they don't tell you like,
if you have a membership site, then

you gotta constantly be in that
membership site, keeping people happy.

You gotta be constantly creating content.

You gotta be constantly marketing
the site to get new people in and.

It creates a lot of work for yourself.

And people don't talk about the downsides.

They only talk about, oh, the
recurring income, the passive

income, blah, blah, blah.

It's like you have to be careful
'cause there's pros and cons

to every everything, you know?

So you just have to ask yourself,
which one would you prefer?

Really?

Like, which, what are you willing
to deal with and what are you not?

Um, so yeah, just, uh, something
that was on my mind today.

Hope this, uh, helps you in
some way and let me know if you

have any questions about it.

I'll talk to you soon.

Peace.