And she didn’t stop there on her journey to passive streams of income. Read to the end to see what her best month looked like and how she continues to create more streams of income to this day.
“Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
“Easier said than done,” she always thought to herself.
In 2020, she was on maternity leave and dreading going back to work. She was burnt out of the same 9-5 schedule, the bureaucracy, the politics, and meetings that could’ve been an email.
“Could there be a less productive way to get things done around here?” she would sarcastically think to herself.
She loved the idea of an online business and making a lot of money, but all her attempts at online entrepreneurship had yet to be successful.
She felt stuck.
One day, however, a podcaster she listened to mentioned she was creating a few courses about making money online. As an avid listener and true fan, she knew the podcaster had success in making passive income online through blogging and digital products.
Having tried to start a successful blog alone for years without any success, she finally decided to invest in a course to help her move the needle and see her blind spots.
So, she DMed the course creator to explore the Etsy course and what it entailed.
After a short chat and a look at her bank account, she thought. “Eff it, let me just try both.”
Looking back now, that “eff it” moment was a pivotal inflection point in her life.
Today, Rachel Jimenez works for herself and fully supports her family by making money online doing what she loves. Here’s her advice on how she did it and how you can too.
Step 1: Test, Explore, and Fail
You’ve got to test ideas, explore opportunities, and whether you like it or not, you’ve got to fail.
“We all dream of being an overnight success,” she says. “However, the truth is that we’ve all got to put in the work upfront to get what we want in life. Our favorite athletes don’t just walk on a field one day with God-like talent. They cultivate it over time with hours of practice, time watching game tape, missed shots, and lost games.”
You’ve got to experience the hard parts and see them for what they truly are: growth opportunities, not useless defeats.
“My past failures weren’t useless time-wasters that led to no results. In the short term, they didn’t pay off financially. However, in the long run, they were the practice and training I needed to get to where I am today,” Rachel shares.
Step 2: Focus on Strengths
Next, she suggests doubling down on what you’re good at.
“I used to focus on fixing my weaknesses, but that was a mistake. While you can’t completely ignore your weak areas, your time and energy are much better spent in your unique zone of genius, focusing on what you do best.”
She learned this trick when she studied positive psychology in grad school. It’s not just a woo-woo self-help recommendation. Positive psych research backs it up.
“A great first step for figuring out your unique strengths is to take the free quiz from the Via Institute on Character, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the science of character strengths to the world.”
She also recommends you ask your closest friends and family what they think you’re good at and keep track of their answers.
“It also helps to journal an example of ‘you at your best’- an experience where you felt on top of the world based on the work you completed. These are all clues as to what your unique strengths and passions are that you can mine for business ideas,” she says.
Even though she wasn’t a graphic designer, she loved creating things in Canva. At her past jobs, she created flyers and graphics to market workshops and events. During her free time, she would create invitations to parties and logos for her friend’s businesses. It felt like play, so she could do it for hours, which meant her skills improved over time without much effort.
Step 3: Invest in Yourself
Finally, you’ve got to invest in yourself.
“Whether that’s buying a book or course from someone you trust that’s achieved what you want to achieve, becoming an apprentice or intern, or going back to school, you’ve got to invest the time, energy, and money to increase your knowledge and build up your confidence.”
For Rachel, the “eff it” moment when she bought the E-Printables course that taught her how to make and sell digital products on Etsy. While she had the strengths and skills to create products in Canva, she didn’t have the tactical tools she needed to sell on Etsy until she took the course.
“When I bought the course, I hoped it would at the very least teach me something interesting and pay for itself with the profits I would make. I never thought it would help me create a multiple six-figure passive income stream.”
Getting Started
If you’re ready to make passive income streams, Rachel has some amazing resources for you.
She created a free Ultimate Passive Income Startup Checklist because two of the biggest challenges people struggle with when it comes to making passive income streams are not knowing where to start and feeling overwhelmed. This checklist will solve both problems for you and help you create your first passive income stream in as little as a day.
And if you’re interested in learning more about Etsy, Rachel recommends this free workshop. Her friends Cody and Julie from Gold City Ventures created this to help aspiring e-printables entrepreneurs. Oh, and if you want to learn more about the Etsy course she took, you can see her full review of it here.
Remember, Anything is Possible
Passive income streams are possible and easier and cheaper than you think, especially when you leverage traffic and tools from websites like Etsy. In Rachel’s best month, she made over $17,000 selling digital products passively on Etsy. Remember, that never would’ve happened if she had given up when she was only making $42 a month.
My Etsy sales in December 2021
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P.S. This post contains an affiliate link to the Gold City Ventures E-Printables Course.
