My YouTbe algorithm needs a reset. Since I’ve been taking care of a newborn, I’ve been watching a lot of youtube. Consequently, I got sucked into the self-improvement, side hustle, and passive income black hole. And while I know there are a lot of high quality channels on there, I’m starting to see the matrix when it comes to financial freedom, or the American dream. That dream is obtained from not doing, but in teaching others how to do; It is in selling the dream. Pay real close attention to the channels whose top-watched videos are lists of passive income ideas. One, there’s no such thing as easy passive income. Passive income is front-loaded work that pays off over time. And two, the real passive income comes from making videos about passive income.

There is a formula for this that is rooted in human psychology, latching on to human nature: the universal desire for financial freedom. The formula seems to be: create content about financial freedom and passive income, start generating more revenue, create a course that people pay for or more content that feeds off of the same nature, and then it snowballs from there.

Is that the formula? The secret to being rich? Should you just join the game? I mean sure. I only write this to warn you to not get sucked into running off and doing all of the things they recommend in the videos. Most of these people are not doing the things that they list. They’re only telling you things you **could** do. For example, I saw a video that touted making ambient videos and easily make $5k-10k per month. The real question comes up when you realize is, if this is so easy, how come they aren’t doing this? Because it’s not that easy to actually monetize and it’s easier to monetize telling people how they can monetize instead. These are smart people and they are working hard and have figured out this game. Either way, don’t fool yourself: it will be hard. All of this takes hard work. Creating a high-quality course that people actually pay for? Hard. Making high-quality videos consistently? Hard. There is no effortless way to get rich. Getting rich can be easy, but it’s not absent of work. However, if there’s that much money to be made, they would be doing that thing, instead of telling you how to do the thing. Your eyeballs are the passive income, the key to their dreams.

“**Opportunity is missed because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work” - Thomas Edison?**

“Buy my course about living the dream so I can live the dream”

“How to make x dollars on y platform”

“How I made $100,000 doing xyz”

All examples of how YouTubers are making money on selling you the idea of financial freedom and they get financial freedom in return.

Watch out for scams out there.