In January I also tried setting a “passive profit” goal for my day job. That really didn’t work out. I posted the goal in my office where I could see it every day, but I never got a jolt of enthusiasm when I laid eyes on the paper. Maybe the term passive profit was just too vague an idea to really grab onto. Whatever the reason, I know I need to scrap that goal and try something else.

I’m tempted to go for a single, audacious goal. My first goal was $300 per month, which I picked because it was ten times higher than my previous best. I figure, let’s try another “10x” and make my new goal $3,000 per month. That seems like a crazy high number, daunting, yet somehow conceivable simply because I’ve done the 10x thing once before.

I’ll write the goal so that this income could come from any source. I don’t care whether it’s from my squash site or from another project or from my day job — though it has to be new income, and not some vague idea like passive profit.

So, here’s my new goal:

I am now successfully expanding my stream of passive income to $3,000 per month. I’m doing this by March 29th, 2014, in a way that delivers strong value for many others around the world.

I gave myself a year. Wish me luck!

The post Passive Income Goal #4 appeared first on Pierre Bastien.

This is a nice interview he did about the project.

Best quote: “I think being weird and obsessional is great!”

When I think about it, my own successful projects have been laced with a good dose of obsession. For my squash site I spend hours staring at photographs, trying to figure out what equipment people are using. For my BrickBreaker site I went into great detail about every level of the game. My other projects may have lacked that sort of sustained focus.

The post All the Buildings in New York appeared first on Pierre Bastien.

The post Photos By Colleen Plumb appeared first on Pierre Bastien.

The post Diplomats vs. Spies in Pakistan appeared first on Pierre Bastien.

Secrets From The Potato Chip Factory from Planet Money on Vimeo.

The post Inside the Herr’s Potato Chip Factory appeared first on Pierre Bastien.

You don’t find politicians these days who are so blunt. At least, not in America.

The post “Things will get worse before they get better” appeared first on Pierre Bastien.

But I really like how feedly, my new RSS reader, asks for a review in the Chrome app store:

1. It starts with a question: “Enjoying feedly?” Am I enjoying feedly? Who, little old me? Why, yes, I am enjoying feedly. And now I am paying attention to this message.
2. Then it follows with a request: “Please help us become a 5-star app.” Why, I like to help, and that seems like a worthy goal, since I do like feedly and I am, in fact, enjoying feedly right this second now that you mention it.
3. It has a clear call to action: “Add a rating”. And it’s hyperlinked, so there’s no confusion about what you’re supposed to do next.
4. Then finally: “Thank you!”. Feedly’s parents must have raised him right, ’cause those are some good manners. Now I really want to help.
5. But that’s not all! See the little “X” on the far right? If you don’t want to give them a review, you can always dismiss the message.

Brilliant copywriting.

But is it working? Let’s check out their rating:

I’d say that’s a yes.

The post “Rate this App” Copywriting appeared first on Pierre Bastien.

Roc Nation Sports is the newest arm of Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s “full-service entertainment company” that has quickly built a strong reputation representing artists like Rihanna, Shakira and M.I.A. Jay-Z has been temporarily licensed to represent professional baseball players, said Ron Berkowitz, a spokesman for Roc Nation Sports, which also has teamed with Creative Artists Agency, a leading Hollywood agency that provides formidable negotiating authority.

Good business move though. He already has contacts with baseball players and other sports figures, so why not help refer them to an organization he has a stake in? Seems like a low-risk endeavor with possibly high reward.

The post Jay-Z, Sports Agent appeared first on Pierre Bastien.

1. Happy Grownup (happygrownup.com). This site will be devoted to my cartoons for parents.
2. Pierre Bastien (pierrebastien.net). This will include updates on my passive income project, plus links, political stuff, etc.

If you’re getting this, you are subscribed to pierrebastien.net. You’ll keep getting the passive income project updates, links, and so on, unless you choose to unsubscribe.

If you want to receive the parenting cartoons, you’ll need to subscribe here.

Why?

For my birthday, my mother-in-law printed out a book of my past parenting cartoons. This was a sweet gesture. And as it turned out, my kids thought the cartoons were funny and wanted to read them as a bedtime story. Meanwhile, there were people following my passive income project who aren’t parents.  So, I finally got around to splitting the content in two. Some cartoons were a bit of both worlds, in which case I made my best guess as to which site they belonged to.

The post Splitsville appeared first on Pierre Bastien.

It’s been 17 years since the cicadas of Brood II swarmed the northeastern United States. A mass of winged creatures, red eyes glowing, the cicadas “are expected to emerge and overwhelm a large swath of land from Virginia to Connecticut — climbing up trees, flying in swarms and blanketing grassy areas so they crunch underfoot.” says WNYC.

The post Cicadas to Swarm appeared first on Pierre Bastien.