#96: Obstacles That Prevent You From Succeeding

Welcome to the Passive Income MD Podcast, where we talk about creating your ideal life through multiple streams of income. I'm your host, Peter Kim. If you enjoy hearing about this stuff, make sure to hit subscribe so I can bring it to you every week. Now let's get on with the show. Hey, everyone. Hope you're having another great week. Before we start this week's episode, I want to take some time to just thank you and acknowledge and honor the person listening to this. That's you. Whether you're in your car, whether you're in between cases, or walking your dogs. I mean, these are all things that you told me when I met you at the White Coat Investor. Oh, I met many of you at the White Coat Investor Conference. You let me know where you were listening to these things. Right. Whether you're in Northeast, the Northwest, the Southwest. I mean, there's just so many different places people are coming from. And it's really cool to hear your stories. Whether we were sitting at lunch together, you know, you know, talking face to face, sharing great stories, or even just in the hallways talking about life in real estate, it was just really, really cool. Just meet so many of you, and I want to thank you for letting me know how much value this has brought to you. It continues to encourage me to keep going and try to make great content for you. So again, just want to thank and acknowledge you and thank you so much. Now, before we get to these episodes, I also want to mention that we have an upcoming virtual summit. This is one of my favorite events of the year. It's the Leverage and Growth Virtual Summit for Physicians takes place on March 9th through 13th. It all takes place online, so you can watch it at your own convenience. It's absolutely free. What we do at this conference is we share stories, stories of physicians who have done some pretty phenomenal things to create their ideal lives, really, both in and out of medicine. Many of them have created businesses, started new ventures, found ways to create other streams of income to really shape their career. Right. And the way they spend their time and who they spend their time with. And so I think it's really cool to share these stories, and I'm excited to bring them to you. But March 9th through 13th, just go to www.levageandgrowth.com. you'll be able to register for free there. If you want more recordings, you can go ahead and get that, but either way, we'd love to have you as part of the community, and it's gonna be a lot of fun, and hopefully we'll get to know you there. Now, for this week's episode, we're gonna be talking about surprise, passive income, right? But this time we're gonna be talking about why you're not creating passive income. Obviously, whenever you look around online, if you type this into your search engine, probably things are gonna come up on your Facebook, you know, ad that everyone's talking about passive income streams. I mean, back then, it didn't seem like a lot of people were when I first started this blog. But now people talk about why you should start them, which ones you could start, how can they can change your life, how much money you can make from them. And I found that now it's a lot more accepted, right, for doctors to think about this. I mean, they commonly look for ways to create passive income. Why? Just so they can work less while they can still maintain their current lifestyle. Or honestly, many of them want to leave medicine altogether. I mean, this happens. However, many of these same doctors also find that passive income, it's not as easy to come by as everyone makes it sound. And I'm here to tell you, it's not always easy. I mean, otherwise everyone would have achieved really massive amounts of passive income. I mean, despite really having the highest of aspirations, really wanting to do this, I don't know, good number fail to reach their goals. And I hate seeing that. And I'm going to tell you the wide variety of reasons why that might be. My hope is that this is not you. This is, you know, by knowing about these things, you're gonna be able to get past these things. And obviously we're here to support you and get you past that. So let's talk about these reasons why, you know, maybe you, and maybe it's not you, but somewhat other people are not creating the passive income that you or they want. So number one, failure to start. And this one's pretty obvious, but it's a number one reason doctors fail to find financial freedom through passive income. They just never get started. I mean, they come up with all sorts of reasons, right? Lack of time, lack of knowledge, experience. Does that sound familiar to any of you? And it makes sense. I mean, as doctors, we're, you know, we're short on time. You know, whether it's during your training or whether it's trying to build your practice. We have families as well. I mean, we're trying to juggle all of these things. I mean, where do we find the time? But when you actually ask physicians, and you know, again, part of this summit, we will be asking physicians for those who have started side hustles, you ask them, you know, where did you find the free time? I mean, honestly, they're all busy as well. They're gonna say they're extremely busy. But they also realized that they didn't want the rest of their lives to look like what it looked like at that time, right? And they knew something had to change, so they found ways to really carve out time in their day. And everyone has the same 24 hours to pursue other ways to make passive income. Maybe they woke up an hour earlier every day. Maybe they found time in between the day when they were doing other things, like, well, you know, driving the car, you know, whatever it might be. And they found time where maybe they weren't being as productive and used it instead to plan and move toward their goals. So, as for lack of knowledge or experience, I think that's a common obstacle, and that can be remedied. Just so you know, just like when you started in medicine, whatever your field is, it's not like you knew exactly what to do. It took time, but you were able to learn what to do. And experience came right for us. When it comes to starting side hustles, there are plenty of blogs, books, resources, Facebook groups. I mean, the knowledge is out there. I mean, there's more knowledge today at our fingertips than ever before, but it's out there for us to find if we're looking for it, right? And experience comes with just doing it, just getting started, you know, making that investment, trying out that business. Experience will come with time. And so most successful people, when you talk to them, they'll say they figured out things, right? They figured things out as they went. And I think the same can be said for anyone who wants to truly change where they're at in life. It doesn't mean that, you know, when I say they just figured out things as they went, like, they didn't, you know, they weren't informed or they didn't make great decisions. I'm just saying that for us as doctors and physicians, we shouldn't get stuck in what's called analysis paralysis, right where we sit there paralyzed because we got to make sure it's perfect, weighing all the pros and cons. We shouldn't be worrying about not knowing enough. Again, the best way to gain experience and knowledge is truly by doing. And when you talk to successful people, they'll say that again and again. Number two, maybe this is a reason why you haven't started a side hustle. Lack of money, lack of financing. Right, financing. It's A particularly significant problem when it comes to starting certain passive income streams. I mean, some people struggle to find the money that they need for their idea or to fund their ventures. For example, it's not necessarily easy, right? Or cheap. I mean, to buy an apartment building, it can get into the six figures and you've got to plan for that and you've got to save. You know, for doctors and other high income professionals, I mean, this can be less of a problem. I mean, we do make good incomes, but still it can be a challenge. And of course, the key to getting over this is simply to save money. That means keeping track of your finances, you're your budget, making this a priority, doing that whole concept of paying yourself first. And what that means is that you set aside money first for things that will advance your future, will help you get where you want to be, and then the rest of the money you go ahead and spend toward expenses and things like that, right? And if you're able to do that and really, you know, section that money off, you're going to have eventually the money that you need to fund that venture. So for people, that lack of financing, yes, it can be overcome as well by smart planning, dedication, knowing exactly what you're trying to accomplish. And you might not be able to invest in that rental property today, but maybe in six months you can. And I've seen it possible, and I know that it is possible for you as well. Maybe you're not making that passive income because of fear of failure. Now, I have a couple quotes here. Thomas Edison said, I've not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. That's one of my favorite quotes. You know, when I talk to a lot of people about passive income streams and why they're not creating it, it's this reason they have a heavy fear of failure. I mean, being afraid to fail stops you from trying new things. I think we've all been there before. For those of you who have kids, you know exactly what I'm talking about as well. We're stuck in those same old patterns. And that lack of action really ultimately leads to no changes, right? Nothing changes without change. And I think it's so cliche, but it's absolutely true. I think so many of us have not failed a lot in our lives. We're high achievers, we're highly ambitious, you know, to make it where we're at today. We had to be the top of the top. And many of us have probably never failed anything in our lives. I know that's like my wife. My wife has, like, probably never failed anything ever in her life. So many of us, we don't want to do anything that jeopardizes that. Now, it sounds counterintuitive, but the key to overcoming that fear of failure is to fail again and again until it no longer affects you as much. I mean, you have to realize that, yes, failure, it only helps you get closer to your goals. Entrepreneurs know this. People in most other fields know that you keep failing until it works. And each failure is just a way, you know, to help you get towards your ultimate goal. I mean, we're all overachievers, right? We've been at the top of our class. Again, we haven't failed very much. But this is something that once you get through, the world opens up, and there's so much freedom in this when you don't have that same fear of failure. I like to think back on some advice that advisor or mentor once gave me, that you should try to fail as quickly and early as possible because that will ultimately help you get where you want to be quicker. All right, the next reason, maybe you're starting the wrong passive income stream. I mean, I hate to say it, if your current passive income stream isn't working, then maybe it's the wrong thing for you. I mean, this is one of the toughest calls to make. You just keep going, wondering if it's just a little more persistence that will help you break through or should you move on. I mean, I think dedication, persistence, and not giving up, that's huge. But with that also needs to come flexibility and resourcefulness. Figuring out what works and what doesn't work is part of the journey. Like this whole failure thing. Don't be afraid to step back, see why something isn't working. Ask for help from mentors, maybe find a coach. Try to figure out why you started this whole thing in the first place. You know, is it because you're passionate about it or because you just thought it would make money? I mean, neither is wrong in my opinion. But after a while, if you're not getting the results you want, it's going to be hard to continue. If that passion and that reason why you're doing it isn't still strong in your mind, it isn't there. This whole concept of pivoting, I think, is absolutely important. So many things may not go as planned, and you've got to learn to pivot and continue to move in a forward direction. And I think that's absolutely important when it comes to starting passive Income streams. And lastly, you might not be putting in the work or the right kind of work. Let's be honest, starting a passive income stream, it's only the beginning of your journey. Along the way, you're going to have to continually course correct. I mean, especially at first if you want to get where you want to be. You know, there's a writer named Grant Cardone. He wrote this book called the 10x Rule, which is a great book. He says this. You must set targets that are 10 times what you think you want and then do 10 times. What do you think it'll take to accomplish those targets? Massive thoughts must be followed by massive action. So I have a question to ask you. Are you putting in 10 times the work or are you just trying to do enough to get by? I mean, the key to being successful in this is to dedicate a good amount of time and energy to focus on your passive income streams, especially at the beginning. As I've talked about in the past, passive income, you know, it's kind of a misnomer in some ways. It's not about not, you know, not doing any work at all. It's about putting in most of your time and energy at the beginning to get it going. And then the rewards continue to pile up over time with hopefully the same or less effort. So take a look at yourself when you're doing this passive income venture, when you're trying to create those streams, are you doing the necessary work to make sure it's healthy, that it starts off strong and on the right course? I believe that your success, right, correlates with how hard you work initially and how smart you work as well. So yes, I believe that passive income streams, it can absolutely change your life. It's done it for me. It's changed for so many other people. But honestly, it's not without having to overcome some obstacles and putting in some work. I mean, you're going to hear some people out there saying it's easy, it's easy to get rich quickly and hopefully you'll never hear that from me. It takes a lot of hard work, just like anything, right? That's valuable, true worth. However, the benefits can grow and scale and can last a lifetime. And honestly, it can really create that financial freedom by unlinking time from income. And I know it can be ultimately worth it in the end for you, for me and everyone listening to this. So thanks so much. Hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Let's talk again soon. Enjoy the show. Let me know by dropping a review in the podcast app you're listening to us in. And if you haven't already, make sure to hit subscribe. Are you a part of our community yet? Join thousands of physicians who are also on this journey to creating their ideal lives through multiple streams of income. You can join us on our Facebook group Passive Income Docs, and you can always learn more at our website passiveincomemd.com thanks again for allowing me to be a part of your journey. See you next time.