Most people who want to make more money ask the wrong question. They ask, “How can I make more money?” but a far more powerful question is, “How can I create recurring money?” How can you get paid over and over again for something you did once? That’s the kind of thinking that shifts your hour’s worth from $100 to $10,000.

Before you can effectively start a side hustle that grows, you have to tackle a huge time-waster most of us fall for: being busy. Have you ever ended a day exhausted from a flurry of tasks but with a nagging feeling you accomplished nothing meaningful? That’s the difference between being busy and being productive. Busyness is about getting more things done; productivity is about getting the right things done. And here’s a secret: you can be incredibly productive without being all that busy.

The key is consciously choosing your tasks based on whether they move you closer to your ultimate goal. Instead of getting lured back into your inbox or putting out the next fire, you focus on what truly matters. For me, that meant dedicating my most focused hours—from 9:00 a.m. to noon—to my most important project. Phone on airplane mode, a “Do Not Disturb” sign up, and relentless focus. After that, the rest of the day feels like a bonus.

Are You in the Right Vehicle?

Wealth is being created faster today than at any point in history. A century ago, it took Andrew Carnegie sixty years to become a billionaire. Today, people are reaching that milestone in just a few years. This isn’t just for billionaires; the opportunity to create wealth is accelerating for everyone. It all comes down to the vehicle you choose.

Imagine you need to get from New York to Los Angeles. This journey represents your path to financial freedom.

• Walking (The Minimum-Wage Job): You could try to walk it. With herculean effort, it’s possible, but there’s zero leverage. Every step relies 100% on your own effort. You’ll likely run out of life before you reach your destination.
• Biking (The Decent Job): A bike offers some leverage with its gears, making you five times faster than walking. This is like having a good, working-class job. You’re moving faster than the person walking, but you’re still relying entirely on your own power. Three out of four Americans die with no savings—this is why.
• Driving (The Traditional Career): A comfortable car seems like a great option. This is the 40-year plan most people buy into: get a degree, work a career, save a little from each paycheck, and retire one day. The problem? The car only moves if you’re the one driving it. If you stop, it stops.
• Flying (The Passivepreneur): Getting on a plane is a game-changer. You’re leveraging the massive resources of an entire airline—pilots, maintenance crews, air traffic controllers. You get to your destination exponentially faster, and while you’re in the air, you can relax or work on something else. This is what building a side hustle business, or what I call a Passive Income Vehicle (PIV), is like.

But it doesn't stop there. A commercial flight is fast, but a supersonic jet is faster. Suborbital flight will be even faster. The point is, there is always a faster vehicle. Your personal effort doesn't matter nearly as much as the vehicle you choose to build your wealth in. The goal of a side business to earn money shouldn't just be extra cash; it should be to get you into a faster vehicle.

Digital vs. Analog Opportunities

Historically, wealth was built with physical, or “analog,” assets—think laundromats, billboards, or brick-and-mortar stores. But today, a disproportionate amount of wealth is being created in the digital world. Look at the world’s most valuable companies: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon. They all operate in the digital space.

The best part about different types of side hustles in the digital realm is that they are accessible to almost anyone with an internet connection. When you figure out how to make money online, you can do it from anywhere.

Examples of Scalable Side Hustles

Here are a few passive income ideas that can get you on the fast track:

1. Templates and Spreadsheets: You can create simple tools in Google Sheets that solve a specific problem for people and sell them online. I once paid $49 for a spreadsheet that helped calculate business profitability. It saved me hours of work and was worth every penny. The creator has made over $472,000 from that one Google Sheet.
2. Digital Courses: Selling information is one of the best business models. There’s no inventory, no shipping, and the customer gets instant access. You can teach something you’re an expert in, or you can become an expert on a topic and then teach what you’ve learned. Digital courses are one of my most consistent and hands-off income streams.
3. White Label Products & Dropshipping: You don't have to create your own products. Companies like Luxottica manufacture over 90% of the world's sunglasses, which are then branded by names like Ray-Ban or Oakley. You can do the same by finding a manufacturer and selling their product under your own brand. With dropshipping, you don't even handle shipping; you just manage the marketing and sales.
4. Embedded Offers: This is where a product or service is offered within another one. When you download a paid app from the App Store on your iPhone, Apple gets a cut. I did this in one of my online courses by partnering with a company that helps set up LLCs. My students needed this service, my partner got new clients, and I earned a commission. It’s a win-win-win that generates passive income from a single setup.

Avoid These Common Traps on Your Journey

As you transition from a simple side gig to building real wealth, you'll encounter common pitfalls. Being aware of them is half the battle.

• The Planning Trap: It's easy to get stuck preparing forever. Researching, brainstorming, and planning feel productive, but they can be a form of procrastination fueled by a fear of failure. Planning should be 10% of your effort; the other 90% is execution. Set a firm deadline and get started.
• The "Squirrel" Trap: We live in an age of endless opportunities, making it easy to jump from one idea to the next without ever giving one enough time to succeed. This is shiny object syndrome. The cure? Decide on your goal, make sure there's a proven path, and commit to ignoring all other opportunities until you hit your target.
• The Scarcity Trap: Poor people focus on saving money; wealthy people focus on creating it. If you’re constantly thinking about stretching a dollar, you’re telling your brain there isn’t enough. Instead of asking how to save on groceries, ask how you can double your income. The right questions create wealth.
• The “I Don’t Know How” Trap: This is the easiest excuse. No one is born knowing how to do things; everything is learned. In the information age, you can learn almost anything online. And if you don't have time to learn a skill, you can hire an expert on sites like Upwork or Fiverr for a fraction of what it would cost to hire a full-time employee.

A Side Hustle Should Be More Than a Second Job

Let’s be honest: most side hustles are just second jobs. They are fully reliant on you, they aren't scalable side hustles, and they can't be automated. Driving for Uber or delivering food provides flexibility, but it’s still trading your time for money. Where does that ultimately take you?

A true side hustle business should be a stepping stone, not the destination. The goal is cash flow, not just more cash. It's about working less, not more. When you understand how to build and stack passive income ideas, you realize why just getting another gig isn't the answer.

The real opportunity lies in turning that initial effort into something that can eventually become a side hustle turned full time—or better yet, something that frees you from the need to work full-time at all. Ditch the gig mentality and start building a system that works for you.