One of my favorite authors and one of the books that has changed my outlook on work and life is Tim Ferris and The Four Hour Work Week. In the book he presents some amazing ideas not the least of which is the idea of a muse to finance one’s lifestyle while eliminating the need to be physically present. To most this idea immediately conjures thoughts of sunny beaches and margaritas void of the financial stress that our Jones chasing neighbors struggle through. All you need is to find that great “Muse” and life’s problems go away, right? Well, in theory if one can generate a system that generates income without the need to be present one can begin trading assets for income instead of employment for income. All financial pressure then goes away. Although being debt free will do more for financial peace of mind then anything else, but that is for another post. The idea literally rings in the ears of those that come across it. It’s a breakthrough in one’s financial intelligence that could allow them to be more free than ever before. The only problem is finding that “Muse”. The muse is simply a passive income producing vehicle that is a well run system independent of your time. Finding the muse is a difficult endeavor and one that must be on the minds of most of the readers of the 4HWW so I want to devote some posts to muse finding that I hope will be helpful. This endeavor is initially a right brain process of creativity and one that will look differently for everyone, but feel free to emulate others who have found theirs. It’s important to take knowledge from a number of different sources as I have taken it from Ferris as well as Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad and others to come to higher financial intelligence. Your muse may not be a single entity but may be through multiple sources of income and hence be a set of systems that needs to managed with a different set of skills. The principle is the same though and that is income with out physical presence. Let me know what you guys think and I would love to hear some ideas.
Muse idea of the week: Vending
I initially came across the idea of vending as a muse for passive income from geniustype who used bulk candy vending as the vehicle. I then came across the ren men who uses knock out vending - those punching bag games seen in bars - as a source. Both have their upsides and down sides so lets go over a few that concern us.
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Bulk Candy Vending:
- Pros: low start up cost. Low maintenance. Locator services.
- Cons: Diminishing returns in terms of passivity. This would be a case of managing multiple streams of income. Max out the income generating potential of this muse and start another.
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Knock Out Vending:
- Pros: more passive than bulk candy vending. More income potential than Bulk candy vending. Locator service.
- Cons: a little more pricy than Bulk candy. Could require some tech skills to fix if machines malfunction.
Super cheap to get into. I found machines for as low as 25 dollars a piece. From what I can gather it takes about 40 machines to average $1000. While it only takes a couple of days a month to service the machines, diminishing returns can be seen with regards to ones time. The more machines the more money and the more time to service those machines. Although, the simplicity of these vending machines makes maintenance on the mechanism itself very low. There are also locator services to aid in finding high quality locations.
A little more costly to get into but not crazy. Packages range from $4000 for one machine to $36,000 for 10. Not to bad considering these machines can bring in close to $600 a machine. A plus side is no filling the machines with product - all profit. The mechanisms in these machine could potentially require more technical expertise to maintain though. Knockout vending has a locator service that could be a great tool if one wants to buy more machines. With fewer machines required to make the same as a bulk candy vending route this options starts to look good in terms of time. Check out this ren men show post to see how actual owners do.
