It’s been an exciting week, as I tried my new plan for active investments for the first time. After several months of browsing listings of websites for sale and ridiculing the majority of them, I found one that sounds reasonable and bought it for $1100. After some cash adjustments the price is less than 6 months of current profits, and I’m planning growth strategies now.

Even compared to the few active fund managers who actually add value (and who can never be identified until it’s too late) this is a great rate of return. It requires a bit of time and industry knowledge – it’s not really in my main area but it is related and I know the major trends – but even with the ongoing time input this has the potential to be my best investment yet (even if one of my regular contributions hit the stock market bottom and gets doubled this year).

The most exciting part is that I finally own an asset that I can improve by investing more time but that will continue generating income regardless of when I put that time in. Although I have employees in my main business I still need to be there every day and push it forward, which sometimes gets in the way of long-term improvements. This website only needs a little time to get each customer set up (and some occasional support), and then they keep generating revenue every month. Once it grows a bit I can even eliminate my involvement in the regular activities entirely.

The income might not be a lot but this is just the first step. Two years ago I opened a high-interest savings account and a bond fund and started putting in money even though I still had some credit card balances, because I wanted to get my passive income started. Now it adds up to more than any of my former interest charges did and I’m slowly growing it to much higher levels. This is the start of a new type of income and given a bit of time I’ll do everything I can to take it much further.

The results of this move will be very interesting, regardless of whether it’s a net loss or it produces enough profit for a larger investment. Are you looking at any opportunities to make extra money by getting involved in something directly?