March is starting out to be a profitable month:

• Just when I thought the fragrance business was going kaput, I got a few orders this week.
• I had a real estate settlement yesterday, I have a rental commission check coming in the mail, and I’ll be receiving a referral commission next week. I also got a new buyer approved who appears to be very serious.
• A new notary service customer requested their third appointment in less than two weeks yesterday.

I like having inflows (money coming in).  My challenge for this month is to automate those inflows as much as possible. I’m not sure how automated the real estate and notary businesses can get, but I know I can automate the products I sell. I woke up early today just to start making notes about what I can change.

Since I’m streamlining and committing to keeping better records, I finally downloaded GNUCash to maintain my books. It’s a free accounting program (very similar to Quickbooks), and it’s awesome. Thank God for open source software.

accounting · automation · Notary business · open source software · pefume business · Real estate business

Even though I’m holding down a 9-5 job and an active real estate agent business, I recognize the importance of having passive income streams. I want to work at stuff I enjoy, and I want to have more time, money and freedom to do what I want (like travel to every possible food festival, but that’s another dream). So I’ve made a list of things that I could create to bring in passive income, and I believe I can make it happen. Here’s the list:

• Creating programs for mobile devices: Since I’m a programmer just three classes shy of a degree, I might as well use the skills I’ve got. I’ve resisted it for a while, but what’s the point of paying all those student loans if I’m not going to use the skills I paid to learn? It’s akin to graduating from law school and never practicing law. I don’t want to be wasteful of my talents. If I can teach myself PHP, I’m sue I can figure out the Blackberry and iPhone. I have two ideas for programs already: one to improve an existing program that’s pretty horrible, and the other is a utility that I believe lots of people will use. I have a Blackberry myself, so I already have a platform to test on. I can’t talk about the ideas until I do some more research.
• Writing articles that bring in money over time: I’m starting to experiment with eHow.com and other sites ever since I found this post at the Smart Passive Income blog. I’ve written two articles so far. I’ll be writing articles for the rest of the month and provide an update during the first week of April.
• ATMs: I connected with another agent who swears by her machines. She’s always looking to place more machines, and I think I can duplicate her success. I’ve already found quite a few places that would benefit from an ATM. I may partner with her on my first machine.  This will require some capital unless I decide to lease, so I have to make a decision quickly and get on it.
• Creating ebooks: this is an idea that I wanted to pursue for a long time. I’d written down in an idea book that I lost, but I never forgot the name I created for it. I’ve already reserved the domain name and will have my first item created by the end of April. This will be connected to the eHow business.
• Real estate rentals: I want to acquire as many condos as possible and rent them out. I don’t want houses because I don’t want to deal with fixing roofs, damp basements, etc. The properties can be acquired with a loan or sub2. This is my least favorite idea however, since it requires the most upfront investment.

This is my short list of passive income ideas to pursue. Time to get crackin’!

ATMs · automation · business ideas · computer programming · ebooks · passive income · real estate rentals · writing good articles