At the request of @basilesamel I am writing about a topic of great interest to me. Alex Becker wrote a book called The 10 Pillars of Wealth, and Pillar #2 is Separating time from money.

Each person is limited by a finite amount of time in a day. This varies depending on your responsibilities, but ultimately available time is the cap to the amount of work one person can do, and in effect, the amount of money that a person can make. Alex suggests that we have two choices.

Choice 1: Increase the value of our time.

This is the route that highly-paid professionals (lawyers, pro athletes) take. In order for you to make this happen, you have to be absolutely AMAZING at what you do. This is hard work even with innate talent. Also, someone else still determines what your time is worth. A freelancer may lose work if a customer deems his or her expenses too costly. Take one look around during the coronavirus pandemic and look at all the people whose services have been suddenly de-valued.

Choice 2: Completely separate time from income

I really don’t like the traditional way of working and getting paid. I get paid based on the hours I’m in a chair sitting in front of a computer. Other people may not use a computer for work, but they still need to clock in or otherwise be present in order to get paid. The idea is to separate time from money by creating a machine (business) that works even when you are not working. Even while you are on vacation. Even while you are sleeping.

There is a fancy term for this type of income: passive income. It’s easier said than done.

Alex provides a list of questions to ask yourself when you are thinking of a potential business opportunity to see how well it fits within the paradigm of passive income.

1. Can this business make money while I am not present?
2. Can this moneymaking process be done by others or automated by machines?
3. If this business becomes successful, could I train someone else to run it?
4. Would it be possible to make the process of delivering on $100 in sales the same as delivering on $1 million in sales? Can I scale this business without having to increase my time involvement?

I have to admit, most of the opportunities I have looked at to generate income beyond the day job still require me to be present to make money. I need to start thinking more in terms of setting up a machine that can run on its own. It’s a daunting task, but I think the reward makes it worth a try.