Two weeks later and I’m back again, so that’s (1) ticked off for now. And this time I’m going to try to tick off (2), with some thoughts on how lawyers, as traditional service providers, can use their skills to create passive income streams.
Now, bear with me, this isn’t spam of the earn $$$thousands$$$ working from home variety (although as you’ll see you can, and in ways that don’t require regular testing).
Getting more for less
As a lazy millennial (by the baby boomer definition), I’m all about getting maximum stuff now with minimum effort. Or put another way, I’m not afraid to use technology for what it’s supposed to do – improve my life. Or put another way again, mo’ money is unlikely to = mo’ problems, if you’re not trading mo’ hours of your LIFE to get it.
You’ll be familiar with some types of passive income. If you’re a professional over 50 it’s likely you own all the houses and rent them to your children’s friends (who can toil all they like but will never be able to buy one, mwahaha. I digress). Anyway – you have this asset, and you receive cash from it, but you don’t have to do much in proportion to the return you get. It’s a simple enough concept, the application is the hard part, but with some forward planning, labour and investment in the right asset(s), you can free yourself from hours of slog without sacrificing income (and quality of life).
Buck the billables
But lawyers can’t do that right? Lawyers exchange time (life) for money. A lawyer’s asset is their skills, and if they’re not using their skills for at least 7.5 billable hours a day, they don’t make budget. And if you’re a lawyer and you don’t make budget, you’ve been a very naughty lawyer. Bad lawyer! And you’re going to get a visit from the HR lady.
Lame. If only there was an easy, cost-effective way that lawyers could turn their skills and valuable IP (e.g. their great precedent documents) into products that could be sold over and over again with a minimum of extra effort … Well, there is. And this is the part of blog 2 where I tell you a bit more about something that we hope you are all going to find incredibly useful. It’s also clearly the part where I plug Automio – but hey, we all know why we’re here. One of the fundamental philosophies behind Automio is the transformation of certain traditional legal services into products that can be sold over and over again with little extra effort. Money for little extra effort you say? Why, that sounds like passive income! Just like the rental house example! Well, that’s because it is.
Hello Automio
Let me tell you a little more about what Automio is and how lawyers can use it to create passive income. First, Automio is an easy to use document automation tool (and I mean $$$workfromhome$$$ easy). You do the automation, the software turns your document into an interview, and then when someone buys and completes the interview online, they receive a legal document which is tailored to their own specific needs. And you receive money, without having to do any extra work.
So where do you sell your automated documents? Well, second, Automio is a marketplace where people can buy and sell automated documents direct to end users (think: Trademe (or for people outside New Zealand, eBay) but for documents). This short vid gives a bit of an overview.
So Automio will allow you to use your skills as a lawyer to create a passive income stream. And you can do so very, very soon, when Automio launches (we’re soooo close to launch, keep an eye on us here). We want to help free lawyers from the constraints of pay-per- hour. Why not be more like our CEO Claudia? Claudia loves coming to work on a Monday morning (repeat: loves coming to work on a Monday morning) and seeing the money her online brand Legal Beagle has brought in over the weekend by selling automated documents. Why not let technology give you more time to focus on the things you really enjoy? Why not Netflix and bill!?
Until next time
Zac
