I finished reading The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris and it was clear: all I needed was passive income!

But how?

The book made it sound so simple: just start a business, delegate your responsibilites to others, and let the passive income roll in.

What business would I start?

Where would the idea come from?

I was stumped and put the book back on the shelf, where it sat taunting me for years.

Then I started talking to friends who were into real estate investing and the lightbulb went back on: maybe this was the business I could start to begin creating passive income in my life!

Fast forward about 6 years and YES, my real estate investment properties absolutely have become my main source of passive income.

Monthly. Passive. Income.

Annual. Passive. Returns.

Using. Other. People’s. Money.

Recently a friend called me to get some advice on how to generate more passive income in her life. She’s an energy industry executive with two homes in Oregon and a primary residence in Arizona. One Oregon property is rented below market because it was her beloved home before she moved to Arizona. The other Oregon mountain property is highly sentimental and has only recently become an occasional vacation rental that doesn’t cover the mortgage.

She was contemplating leaving her job to re-embark as a career and life coach, and wanted advice on how to begin to replace her six-plus-figure salary.

My advice?

• Buy your next profitable investment property before you leave your job, while you still have solid W2 income.

• See if you can detach emotionally from your Oregon properties so that you can rent them out at market price and begin to turn a profit from investment properties you already have.

• Do you plan to stay in Arizona? If not, consider keeping and renting out that property and benefit from an up-and-coming area you bought into early.

• Turn your side hustle (coaching) into your full-time gig and live simply during the transition.

Turns out there are TONS of ways to generate passive income. Some are more passive than others, and many of are deeply rewarding and fun experiences, like real estate investing.

Yet it’s important to remember the aspect that separates the Homeowner from the Investor: emotional detachment from the asset. The more we let go of our own personal opinions and instead make fact-based business decisions, the greater our ability to generate meaningful passive income in our lives.

Once we let go, the money will flow.

How have you created more passive income in your life? How were you able to let go of a home you once lived in as tenants moved in? What advice would you give to others looking to create passive income? Let us know in your comments!