Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The "Passive Income" trap ate a generation of entrepreneurs

joanwestenberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 300 posts

Re: The "Passive Income" trap ate a generation of entrepreneurs

#291

Post by pdonis »

mikestew wrote: post #290
pdonis wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I imagine those three companies have minted quite a few IC millionaires How would that compare with, say, the average IC (not management) employee of an investment bank or a hedge fund?

It's not a comparison, people either got "really rich" working for a big tech company, or they didn't.

> It's not a comparison

Trying to set a threshold for what counts as "really rich" is the reason for the comparison I was asking about. My sense is that the average employee of an investment bank or hedge fund is a lot richer than the average employee of Apple, Facebook, or Google.

Re: The "Passive Income" trap ate a generation of entrepreneurs

#292

Post by mikestew »

pdonis wrote: post #291
mikestew wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a comparison, people either got "really rich" working for a big tech company, or they didn't.

> It's not a comparison Trying to set a threshold for what counts as "really rich" is the reason for the comparison I was asking about. My sense is that the average employee of an investment bank or hedge fund is a lot richer than the average employee of Apple, Facebook, or Google.

Okay, point taken.

Re: The "Passive Income" trap ate a generation of entrepreneurs

#293

Post by jemmyw »

encoderer wrote: post #250
jemmyw wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know any. I know a couple of people who had ideas that became bigger startups, but only 1 who was a friend rather than via networking. And I know a few people who did try the small saas or other small software based business but they all failed and now have jobs.

There’s one on the front page right now - healthchecks.io

Ok? My point wasn't that they don't exist, I was just pointing out that anecdata from one person who is deeply into a group where it's a thing has large counter points. And I thought my example worth mentioning because my group is into it but nobody amongst it has made a success of it.

Re: The "Passive Income" trap ate a generation of entrepreneurs

#294

Post by ggm »

greensh wrote: post #288
ggm wrote: post #129

Back when I was young and motivated about being left wing instead of being old and jaded but still left wing, we called people who lived off other people's work or by profits without effort "rent seeking social parasites" I like the sound of a "rent seeking social parasite" trap. As the Mikado says in the eponymous Gilbert & Sullivan opera: "something humorous, but lingering, with either boiling oil or melted lead."…

Back then it was parasites, now they are called bluntly capitalists.

My mum was born in 1926 and had a particular way of saying ca-pittle-ists which somehow embodied a degree of contempt I can't capture.

Re: The "Passive Income" trap ate a generation of entrepreneurs

#295

Post by hunter-gatherer »

nyantaro1 wrote: post #255
hunter-gatherer wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't feel like a misdiagnosis to me. My spouse around 2017 was one of those that got sucked into a course to earn income with an Amazon store. As I read the article basically every point resonated with my experience. The dog walking business example was also appropriate in my mind. My spouse fortunately broke even, minus time, on her attempt with drop shipping garbage nobody really needs. Now she makes decent money…

Would you mind sharing a little about how your wife does business? Like, are her clients regular people or art shops? How does she put a price on her work?

I'm the least interested person in art you'll ever know, so how she prices her work I'm not sure. I know she doesn't go by time spent on a piece, but instead how good it turns out. I think she just casually looks at other art for sale that is around the same quality and prices accordingly. After so many rounds of that I think you just get a good intuition for it.

She also has a few art shows she applies to and goes presents at those. I think this is where most of her recurring customers come from honestly, and not Instagram. Though she has had a few commissions from Instagram.

A side note on those looking to buy art, you might refrain from asking for a custom piece. If you see something you like, there's a good chance you don't know why you like it even if you think you do. So when you give the artist a picture you want them to translate into something like oil, it'll probably disappoint. The frustrations I've seen my wife go through trying to get a commission right is tiring.

Re: The "Passive Income" trap ate a generation of entrepreneurs

#296

Post by badestrand »

bawolff wrote: post #92
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #74

This article really felt like a misdiagnosis to me. Sure, a lot of these people were just buying hype from these "get rich from drop shipping!" influencers, just like a million other suckers who got dollar signs in their eyes with real estate schemes, pyramid sale schemes, yada yada, a tale as old as time. I don't think this "passive income" trap is really anything new, and I don't think it was some unique thing that…

I don't think there was ever a time where a solo-entrepenur could make real money without putting in lots of effort and taking lots of risks. We remember the success stories, we don't remember the bankruptcies.

There was always lots of "normal" entrepreneurship, where people opened a small shop and sold something. You didn't need to do a 0.1% job to succeed, success was mostly normal-distributed.

Internet businesses by contrast have a power law distribution. Meaning if you perform average you will end up with just $100 per month. The potential upside is infitite though.

The outcome of the average business person is very different between physical and online business.

Re: The "Passive Income" trap ate a generation of entrepreneurs

#297

Post by badestrand »

icedchai wrote: post #232
phil21 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not what people mean by passive income. Yeah, if you have a few million dollars of capital already you can easily just toss it in the market and collect 4% every year indefinitely. Pretty much one of the only truly passive income streams there is. The problem is how long and what you have to do to get that 3-5 million number. No one who is drawn to the “passive income” hustle is thinking “work a normal job fo…

It may be "not what they mean", but they're wrong. No business that actually adds value is ever truly passive.

As a counterpoint, I have a website that generates a few thousand dollars per month and sometimes I improve bits about it but sometimes I also don't touch it (or its emails or anything) for a year.

Re: The "Passive Income" trap ate a generation of entrepreneurs

#298

Post by encoderer »

jemmyw wrote: post #293
encoderer wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s one on the front page right now - healthchecks.io

Ok? My point wasn't that they don't exist, I was just pointing out that anecdata from one person who is deeply into a group where it's a thing has large counter points. And I thought my example worth mentioning because my group is into it but nobody amongst it has made a success of it.

Just an fyi

Re: The "Passive Income" trap ate a generation of entrepreneurs

#299

Post by icedchai »

badestrand wrote: post #297
icedchai wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be "not what they mean", but they're wrong. No business that actually adds value is ever truly passive.

As a counterpoint, I have a website that generates a few thousand dollars per month and sometimes I improve bits about it but sometimes I also don't touch it (or its emails or anything) for a year.

You've found a niche! That's awesome, actually. I shouldn't have said "no business", just that it's very rare...
Post reply on HN