The Edge on Passive Income: Success Physics

There are a lot of articles out there on how to build passive incomes. These articles seem to bounce between two extremes:

1. Passive incomes are easy to build and anyone can do it in a short period of time with little or no work.
2. Passive incomes are a lie told by Internet Guru’s selling magic beans and snake-oil.

The truth usually lies somewhere between the extremes. 

I’ve worked most of my life as a wage earner and contractor. Over the last few years I’ve been trying to build some passive income streams by writing and publishing eBooks and various eCommerce strategies. I’ve had varied success. So far, I can only report that it is a slow process and, unless you are already rich, it takes hard work, passion and dedication.  

In 2013 I published a short eBook titled “7 Simple Success Principles”. The 6^th principle is “Success Physics”. I have found this principle to be particularly useful in developing Passive Incomes so I adapted this article from the eBook

The laws of physics apply to our efforts to build passive income as they do to everything else in the universe. If we understand these basic principles and apply them to our professional and personal lives we cease fighting the universe and start working with it. I’ve taken five basic principles of physics and adapted them to building passive income streams

INERTIA

Inertia is a physics term that describes movement and matter. It is well defined by Sir Isaac Newton’s two laws of physics.

     1. That which is at rest tends to stay at rest

     2. That which is in motion tends to stay in motion.

When we start a new business or project it is at rest and it wants to stay at rest. We are going to expend more energy in the beginning than once it is in motion. This is why most businesses fail in the first two to five years – they cannot overcome the forces of inertia.  If we are going to be successful we have to be prepared to work hard and be persistent until we are able to set our project in motion. If we let up before momentum takes over it will return to its natural state - rest.

When a project is in motion it tends to stay in motion. This is good news if we have done thorough planning and preparation. If we have flaws in our planning, however, inertia can work against us. It will want to stay in motion even if it is in the wrong direction. The good news is changing direction is much less energy than starting from a state of rest. Getting our projects moving is the hardest and most important element of success. The more diligent we are in our planning and preparation the less energy we are going to have to expend in implementation and administration.

We have a finite amount of physical, emotional and financial resources. We cannot afford to waste them. When we use the principle of inertia to work for us, we conserve energy and become more effective. Before we make the decision to put the energy into moving a project from a state of rest to a state of motion we think long and hard, exploring all the options. We remember that “failing to plan s planning fail”. When we do commit the energy we understand the investment we have in motion. We are sure that when we set a project in motion we include strategies to keep it from returning to a resting state. Every project we set in motion has value and we must always be looking for opportunities to build from it.

MOMENTUM

Inertia is the tendency of matter to remain in the state of rest or motion. Momentum is the “quality of motion”. In other words, the harder something is to stop moving the greater the quality of motion, or momentum. This is another useful term for success. Once we have set our project in motion and have inertia working for us our objective is to maintain motion. We achieve this by creating a high quality of motion in our projects. 

We bring as many elements as we can into our project that will support and increase momentum. We want to create enough momentum that the project sustains movement independently or “passively”. It becomes self-sustaining. If it is a business that generates income we build passive income or revenue that continues to self generate under it’s own power after an initial investment of time and / or capital.

FRICTION

Friction is the resistance between objects. It impedes momentum. We want to reduce friction wherever possible. Frictions can be caused by: access to capital, decision-making support, external market conditions, customer behaviour and any other element that makes reaching our goals more difficult. The S.W.O.T. analysis is a good way to identify and mitigate or reduce frictions.

By reducing frictions we increase momentum. With better quality of motion we realize our goal of self-sufficiency and project sustainability that much quicker, spending less energy on building our passive incomes. We reduce friction with strategies such as: creating partnerships, loyal customers, team building, delegating tasks, decision-making, and increasing product visibility.

CRITICAL MASS & TIPPING POINT

Inertia, momentum and friction deal with quality of movement. The higher the quality of the movement, the more efficient our projects become and the more we are able to build passive income streams. Critical Mass and Tipping Point deal with quantity of users, groups, or consumers. Critical Mass is the amount of users / participants required to create initial project viability and ongoing project sustainability. The tipping point is the threshold at which sustainability occurs. The ultimate goal is the same - to get to a point where the project moves forward under its own momentum so we can enjoy passive incomes and use our energy on the next great project.

For instance, if you are trying to build passive income streams through an online business, or eBusiness, you need to cross a threshold of visitors to support our market.  Until you reach critical mass you will be unable to sustain momentum. You have to support the project by investing energy in the form of capital or time. Understanding the critical mass required to reach project sustainability is a critical component to building your project to the point of sustainability where you can realize passive incomes.

Success Physics helps us identify our goals and develop options as we build passive incomes. Armed with this information we can make informed decisions based on universal principles of inertia, momentum, friction, critical mass and tipping point.

Best, Sam Edge 

Check out my new site The Edge on Strategy

The Edge on Muddling Through: Incremental Planning

Happy Easter weekend folks. 

I am doing some housecleaning on this site and I had to delete some old posts from when I started in 2012. If you've been following since then you may see some familiar writing coming back into the fold as I reintroduce some of my key themes and principles to this Blog and my new Strategy Website. 

I have written about the "Science of Muddling Through" before; however, it plays such an important role in my ongoing strategies and successes that I feel it is worth revisiting. Muddling through is also the second principle in my eBook "7 Simple Success Principles" - the post below is adapted from that chapter. 

The first principle is "Have a Plan", the Science of Muddling Through builds off that momentum. My free eBook "5 Steps to Planning Success" is a detailed look a the Rational Comprehensive Planning Model. 

I will provide a link at the end of this post.

Since writing this chapter, I discovered a new favourite word that I now use way too much - "iterate or iterative". It is not a common word but it is the root word or reiterate which means to repeat for emphasis. It is a perfect word for the point am making here because it means to "perform or utter repeatedly". 

Planning is an iterative process. 

Throughout the planning process we constantly repeat our previous steps as new information is uncovered. This allows us to remain open to the infinite potential and opportunity of life. 

The reason I am writing this today is I have been working on a new website: "The Edge on Strategy." I started off with a general idea of sharing my strategic planning experience. This takes a leap of faith and it is when to "boo birds" and "toxic people" usually smell blood and swarm, trying to shake your confidence - it takes a strong stomach to hold the course. Starting a new business is hard work and it takes sacrifices to succeed. 

That's why most businesses fail. 

Since September 2012 I have written and self-published four eBooks and produced over a million words of original content for three new websites. I have refined my strategic focus to where I am now starting to focus on eCommerce and commodity trading strategies. I will be coming out with new eBook this summer - a greatest hits of sorts. I am gathering momentum and building my new exciting life working from my home and doing what I love. 

I never would have guessed at the beginning that I would end up here. I find myself in a much better and much different position by following my own advice and ignoring the haters. Time and time again I have employed my Principles of Success and I come out far beyond my dreams. This is because I don't know how to dream properly - I will always sell my self short unless I let go of my old ideas and trust the power of attraction and manifestation.

This stuff really works!! 

So, enjoy this exert from my eBook "7 Simple Success Principles".

*******

“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” Jimmy Dean  

A [Rational Comprehensive] Plan sets a solid foundation for success; however, it does have limitations. It is rigid, inflexible and not well equipped to deal with constantly moving project targets. To compensate for this, an ongoing system for monitoring is required. One system is the feedback loop I have added to the model graphic shown above. A feedback loop allows us to return to our project options or visioning when we run into unforeseen challenges or opportunities.

INCREMENTAL PLANNING

Incremental Planning, also known as the Science of Muddling Through gives us flexibility to adapt to changing project conditions. Next to Rational Comprehensive Planning, Incremental Planning is the most widely accepted approach in the planning profession. Rational Comprehensive Planning combined with Incremental Planning creates a solid planning foundation with both structure and flexibility.

The path to success is riddled with forks, speed bumps and hazardous conditions that require flexibility and adaptation.  Incremental Planning allows for adjustment and adaptation to the ever-changing project landscape. We muddle through by moving forward with bite-sized ”increments”. As we hit certain decision points, or milestones, we review our project direction and adapt based on changing conditions.

When we combine Incremental Planning and Rational Comprehensive Planning, we make the impossible possible.

We begin a project by determining what we want. We set our vision and goals in place for decision-making. We set up a workable process with clear direction and support. By starting our project off in this way we have set a foundation for success.

The problem is it is limited and inflexible. We risk missing benefits that present themselves along the way. When we Muddle Through we are alert and nimble. It also takes the pressure off – we don’t have to be perfect the first time. It is a work in progress. When new information arises, we stop, review, adapt and move on. By implementing our plans in increments we have created a dynamic and intuitive process - a plan that morphs and evolves with ever changing project opportunities. 

We have created our Plan. Now, we make minor adjustments and realize incredible rewards with little risk. Often we end up with a better outcome‚”Project 2.0‚” Other times we end up with spin-off projects that we were able to accomplish by putting the data already created to work on another related set of goals ”Project A, B, C”

Incremental Planning purists claim that we should not have any predetermined outcomes at all and that the very use of Rational Comprehensive Planning at all corrupts the process. Poppycock!!! (Pardon my Irish) We always need to focus our sights on a target so we know where we are going. Muddling without Rational Comprehensive Planning is chaos. Rational Comprehensive Planning without Incremental Planning is stiff and limited.

Without a structural base we lack focus and direction. We cannot be successful if we don’t have defined outcomes. However, we have to be sure to remain open minded and let go of old ideas when new and better ones come into play. This is precisely why the two methods complement each other so well.

Some people struggle with flexibility and change. For them working in increments is challenging. However, successful people identify their shortcomings and take steps to overcome them. If you know you have an extreme personality that would interfere - it is your responsibility to find creative ways to make it work in your favor. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Successful people don’t waste time on things they don’t do well. They delegate, or subcontract, these tasks and concentrate on their strengths.

Surround yourself with people who have strengths that complement your weaknesses.

Implementing plans using Incremental Planning is like steering a boat. When navigating a boat, you choose a prominent geographical feature in the distance and point the bow in that direction.  If you simply locked the wheel to go straight ahead you will drift off course. In order to stay on course, you have to adjust slightly from time to time to account for wind, current and other variables. 

Incremental Planning is just like that.

*******

Please check my new site and links to my Free eBook and Author Page!!

Best Sam Edge
Edge on Strategy

The Edge on Success: From Success to Significance

" Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no lack of enthusiasm". Winston Churchill

I have certainly had my share of successes and failures in my life. In fact, failure seems to be a rite of passage to success. I wouldn't want to give the young people the wrong idea - if you can go straight to success and skip the failures by all means ... do that. The point is - don't fear the failures, embrace them, because they make the successes all that much sweeter.

2011 WCK Canadian National Kickboxing Champions

I took a management seminar early in my career where the speaker referred to a progression we move through in our professional lives: from Survival to Stability to Success to Significance.

The idea of a progressive movement through these stages of existence identifies, not only the growth we experience as Humans, but also that success is not an end in itself but a step towards Significance. We all move though this process in our lives with varying speed and efficiency. Significance is where we use lessons learned in Survival and Stability and the resources we acquired through our Successes to give back and help others.

Significance will mean something different to each of us - and it will mean different thing at different times in our lives. For the most part it has to do with giving back that which we have received so abundantly. The metric by which we will gage our Significance will be based on our internal moral compass. The critical point here is that we ought to always move through our lives with the understanding that we are capable of Significance. By acknowledging this we save ourselves from falling into the mediocracy of Stability or the indulgence of Success - both comfortable states in their own right.

Even though we know that we are headed towards Significance, most of us have little or no idea of how this will manifest itself in our lives. An orientation toward goals or a vision based on our internal compass is important. If we narrow it down much more than that we run the risk of selling ourselves short or missing it altogether. It has been my experience that I really don't know what's good for me. My successes have mostly involved me getting out of the way and working hard.

If we are true to our beliefs and put 100% of our attention into doing "the next right thing" in our day to day lives we will move through this process in the most effortless and efficient manner. Conversely the harder we try to project and force this to happen the harder we will work and the end result will be watered down.

As you move though the rest of the day, week, month, year and so on apply 100% of your attention and energy on the task at hand. Focus on those things that support you in your efforts to get more of the things you want in your life. If you find yourself doing something that is working against this end - STOP. Regroup quickly and do something else.

As you look back and take inventory you will see that Significance has manifested in ways far more fulfilling and substantial than you could have ever engineered. This is my experience and has worked for me in a all circumstance over the last thirty years.

Best, Sam Edge

The Edge on Othering

Othering is the phenomenon of one group, usually more dominant, is able to dehumanize another group based on race, gender, religion and political orientation. This process of othering grew from a widely accepted european philosophy Dualism.

Simply put Dualism is the world view that man is separate from his surroundings - and separate from other men (or women) who are different that the dominant group. 

Dualism, in the modern context, comes from sixteenth century French philosopher; Rene Descartes. Cartesian Dualism places doubt onto all that can be doubted and reduces a thing to that which can no longer be doubted. According to Rene, we are supposed to arrive at a cardinal, or undeniable, truth through this process.

From this came existentialism and:  "Cogito ergo sum" or  "I think, therefore I am".  

At the centre of Cartesian Dualism is the mind - which is different from the brain. The mind encompasses the entire person. Descartes could doubt the existence of the physical world, but he could not doubt the idea that his mind existed because the very act of doubting one's existence proves that one actually exists; otherwise, who is doing the doubting? The only thing that Descartes was sure existed was his mind; therefore, the farther away from his mind he got the more doubt as to its existence. (confused?)

Cartesian Dualism influences both religious and secular thinking. It became the root of scientific and legal thought - where nothing is tangible or real until proven to be so. This new thinking took hold during European Colonization and the quest for the New World. Cultures and races that were much different from what had become the ideal human - the caucasian, heterosexual male - were seen as "the Other". The farther from this ideal, the easier it was to dismiss their suffering. By this reasoning, subduing and dominating entire cultures with opposing beliefs, and complexions, was both logical and morally correct. 

The dualist world view clashed with most tribal cultures, who see the world as a web of interconnected systems, and allowed the Colonists to disregard their suffering and even engage in cultural genocide. It is this dualist thinking that lead to mistreatment of indigenous people in the Americas - from the atrocities of Pizarro and Cortez in South America to the annihilation of whole tribes in the U.S. and the legislative and religious abuses in Canada. Parallels can be drawn in Ireland, the Gaza strip, Apartheid and the War on Terrorism. In all of these instances there are elements of the dualist mindset at the heart of the dispute.

To some extent we all have groups we identify with, "Us", and groups we consider to be separate, "Them". This dualist world view feeds off of polarizing views and cultures and breeds contempt and unrest. The effect of dualism over the centuries has given way to a cultural predisposition in humans to what anthropologists call "othering". If we’re feeling guilty about the way we've treated a person, or group of people, and we're having trouble reconciling that guilt with our own moral and ethical code, we resolve these feelings by othering people. When we dehumanize people, we are able to deflect our empathy and justify, or at least tolerate, their mistreatment.  

So, from a Cafe in France to our foreign policy, to our workplace, to our marriage, to our family of origin - we find ways, often subconsciously, to put distance between us and the Other to allow us to conduct ourselves in ways that would be unacceptable to a human of equal standing. We do this as individuals, social groups and societies. 

An extreme example is the mistreatment of people during a war by othering them based on race, religion and political beliefs - think McCarthy inquests or prisoner of war camps. A more common example is the social outcast or black sheep. We are able to subject them to harsher treatment, ridicule and punishment by othering them.

This has been true in my life - I have othered and I have been othered. The great thing about being a human is we can use new information to become better people. Moving forward, I will be alert to the phenomenon of othering - and where I can I will effect positive change.

I found this to be a useful piece of information that helped me make sense of my life - I hope it does the same for you.

Best Sam