Understanding yourself:

When generating passive income, you need to first understand what do you like. Chances are your passion has monetary value if marketed properly. Once you understand that if you enjoy something, others might as well enjoy it.

Let's go through a few examples:

• John has been living in Whistler. His passion is skiing. He recently started a company providing back-country high-end experiences.
• Stefanie loves to cook. She works but is really passionate about cooking. She started a youtube channel.
• Derek is an engineer by day, really enjoys writing software. He wrote several iOS app and other enterprise SW he sells on different marketplaces.

Your goal should not to make money, but find something you enjoy doing and find fulfilling. You will find ways to make money out of it.

Goals:

No matter what you are trying to accomplish, you need a plan. Most likely, the plan won't work, but at least you need a direction.

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson.

Setting a goal post will help you find out what is your plan.

I find hope in the darkest days and focus in the brighest. I do not judge the universe. - Dalai Lama

For example, my short-term plan is to have a passive income of 100k$.
Once you set up your plan, you need to break it down into actionable tasks.
For example, I need to look at my current passive income:

Monthly passive income
Airbnb	$2,500.00
Interest	$333.33
401k Return	$1,013.33
iOS app	$20.00
Dividend	$550.00
Lending Club	$5.25
blog	$100.00

Out of those passive income, only a few can scale. For example, I'm doing Airbnb in 1 room, so this one can't scale easily (unless I buy another house).

Since my goal is to reach 100k$, I need an extra ~4000$/month to reach it. Here's an example of a few goals I can set myself to achieve:

• Double my 401k income within 5 years. With aggressive saving. This will provide another 1000$/month.
• Invest in my iOS app to increase the income to 1000$/month. This will take about 2 years.
• Invest in my blog to increase the revenues to 1000$/month. I am giving myself 1 year to achieve this.
• Find creative way to generate 1000$/month in extra income. Revisit this goal every 3 months.

So now, I have clear goals on what I'm looking to accomplish.

Set Dreams:

You also need to write down a list of dreams you have. Dreams you used. This will keep you motivated in your journey.

It's not about the destination but about the journey.

You could have simple dreams:

• Live with my family and spend as much time as I can with them.
• Live in Los Angeles on a hill overlooking the ocean.
• Travel 6 months a year in Europe

Goals are the wheels that will keep on the track and dreams are the fuel to propel you further.