Welcome to another issue of the no-BS newsletter dedicated to demystifying the world of passive income, where we share practical, reliable strategies to build and sustain income streams that work for you.

If you want to help someone else make money while they sleep, forward this email to them.

In today's issue:

If you’re trying to stand out right now, understand this first: you’re not losing because you’re new, underfunded, or surrounded by smarter, better-connected competitors. You’re losing because the person on the other end isn’t listening anymore—not to you, not to them, not to anyone.

The modern brain is under siege. Every day, it absorbs thousands of ads, pitches, headlines, pop-ups, notifications, and half-formed promises. Nobody can consciously process that much input and stay functional, so the brain does the only sane thing it can do. It filters aggressively without asking your permission.

Advertising became background noise years ago. Same claims, same angles, same recycled urgency delivered by different faces with different logos. So now you’ve got ten, twenty, fifty people competing for the same prospect’s attention while that prospect’s brain has already decided it’s not listening to any of you.

That’s the real competition. 

Not other marketers, or better copy. A brain that’s already shut the door.

There are only two ways through that door.

The first is pain—real, immediate, hair-on-fire pain. If someone’s stranded on the side of the road with a dead battery and they see a message that solves that exact problem right now, attention is instant. Pain overrides filters.

The second way is story.

We tune out advertising reflexively. We never tune out entertainment. Not when we’re busy, nor when we’re overwhelmed. Not when we “should” be focused on something else. Stories bypass resistance because they don’t announce themselves as persuasion. They feel like relief.

Watch your own behavior if you don’t believe me. You’ll postpone work, delay decisions, and ignore responsibilities without hesitation when something interesting shows up—a video, a post, a game, a narrative that hooks you. That’s not procrastination. That’s wiring.

I saw it firsthand with my daughter when she had a full meltdown. Tears, noise, no reasoning possible. Then I say, “Want to hear a story?”
And just like that, the resistance disappears. Blankets come out, and Bedtime happens. No explanation required.

Her brain already knows what a story means.

So does yours.

I'm about to do something that will make every business consultant who sees this have a minor stroke.

Starting today, I'm offering unlimited 1-on-1 coaching for an entire year. This isn’t group calls or "office hours”, but actual personalized coaching calls whenever you need them.

That means you’re getting unlimited access to solve every roadblock in your business. 

I'm calling it "Roadblock Removal Laser Coaching" because we're not doing therapy sessions or motivational pep talks. We aim directly at your specific problem and eliminate it. Fast.

Some gurus charge up to $25,000 for a single day of one-on-one support. You're getting 365 days of unlimited support for $1,000.

This is experimental, and capacity is genuinely limited. I reserve the right to shut it down the moment we hit our number.

Most people think the risk is picking the wrong strategy.

It’s not. 

The real risk is picking the wrong person.

I learned that after lighting about fifteen grand on fire for a guru who looked perfect on the surface. Money coming in, lifestyle dialed in, calm, confident, married, and in fact very present.

Everything I thought I wanted.

I went to him exhausted. I got even more burned out from coaching all day, emails all night, and brain-fried by the time I got home. My marriage was paying the price before I even realized it. When I asked what to do, his advice was simple: sell the business you actually run, and coach anyway.

When I pushed back—because that felt dishonest—he waved it off. “Everyone does it.”

That’s when it clicked.

If someone is comfortable telling you to lie, they’re already lying somewhere else.

Here’s the part most people miss. Ethical misalignment doesn’t show up as a red flag. It shows up as discomfort you talk yourself out of. A tight feeling you ignore because the person is successful. A quiet voice you override because you already paid.

The truth is simple and inconvenient: real people piss other people off. If someone has nothing but glowing praise online, something’s wrong. Anyone actually practicing what they preach will have both supporters and critics. That tension is proof they’re real.

So here’s your move.

Before you buy, commit. Or even trust the process, ask one question: Does this person live the advice they sell?

Ben Settle didn’t wake up one day with a clean plan and a clever funnel. He started like most people do. Confused, distracted, and jumping at every shiny idea that promised speed and certainty.

In this episode, he walks through the stuff nobody posts screenshots of. The shortcuts that backfired. The “smart” moves that quietly stalled progress. The moment he realized daily output beats perfect strategy, even when it feels reckless.

What hit me wasn’t the AI talk or the tech skepticism, though that’s sharp. It was his insistence that tools don’t save you from judgment. They expose whether you have any. Consistency with a real voice still wins, because people can feel when you’re hiding behind polish.

If you’ve been wondering whether you’re behind because you’re not using the latest thing, this conversation will calm you down and challenge you at the same time.

Listen in if you’re tired of productivity theater and ready to sound like a human again.

This book didn’t teach me how to market better. It showed me why most marketing stopped working in the first place.

Schaefer makes one uncomfortable point over and over: people don’t want to be targeted, tracked, or tricked anymore. They want to be respected. 

Attention today isn’t earned with louder messaging—it’s earned by showing up like a human with something real to say.

Read this if your emails feel ignored, your ads feel expensive, or your content feels invisible.

It quietly forces you to ask a harder question: would you listen to you?

I show up every January,
Everyone swears they’ll finally master me,
I’m blamed when sales don’t grow,
Yet ignored when it’s time to do the work.

What am I?

Think you've cracked the code? Reply to this email with your guess, and see if you're right!