In the next few pages I’ll explain how you can put yourself in the enviable position of being able to spend less time at work—while doubling or even tripling your annual income.

(This is basically what I did)

In 1996, not long after my 24th birthday, I set myself up as a freelance consultant. I worked long hours, often 7 days a week. And I loved it. I did that for many many years. But gradually the ‘ceiling’ I was hitting started to wear me down.

Every time I took my foot off the pedal, the income stopped. Dead.

Illness, holidays, looking after elderly relatives, running favours for friends… whatever the reason for me not ‘being at work’, they all had the same effect… I lost billable hours and my income dropped.

If I could have ‘cloned’ myself back then things would have been very different.

“Ed Rivis Version 2.0” (and versions 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3) could all have trotted off to visit clients and do all the hard work, while I was at the beach or on the golf course, but of course that’s just science fiction. (And I don’t play golf!)

Thankfully (and I say that because it’s an ethical nightmare) the technology to perfectly clone humans (especially their knowledge and experience) is a long long way off.

Which means that as a consultant, advisor, coach, trainer or facilitator of some kind… you have to do all the work.

There’s only one of you… unless you employ staff to ‘replace’ you … but that’s a can of worms I’m sure many of us would rather leave the lid on.

I employed consulting staff before, in an attempt to free my time and replace myself… I almost lost my biggest client and nearly had a mental breakdown because of one idiot.

What this means — no cloning, no staff — is that all your knowledge and the many years of experience you have accumulated working so hard for clients is so damn valuable.

But do all your clients really appreciate you as much as they should?

I’m guessing the answer is a resounding “NO!”

We’ve all had our fair share of Clients from Hell over the years… you know the ones I’m talking about – the ones who pay the least and yet demand the most. (Funny how that works.)

Or how about the clients who keep changing their requirements… just when you think the job is done they throw more at you… and then bawk at any requests for additional payment. (Not so funny.)

Or how about the ones who ask you to do something for them… then make you wait weeks or even months before they give you the information to get started — and then when they do, they immediately start banging on about urgent deadlines!

And then there are the worst kind of clients (in my opinion) … the ones who treat you like dirt… despite the fact you help them achieve great results … and then take the credit for what you’ve done!

(We’re not glory seekers, but a bit of appreciation wouldn’t go amiss, would it?!)

But it’s not all bad is it?

Of course there are nice clients — it’d be pretty dreadful if there weren’t any.

I’ve worked with some lovely fantastic people over the last 22 years, many of whom have become close friends.

But having spoken with hundreds of professional service providers over the last ten years, it seems that the ability to pick and choose clients—and never accept a ‘rubbish’ client—is a luxury few can afford.

(After all… “the bills need paying!”)

Many of the coaches, consultants, trainers who I speak to, reluctantly have to admit they accept anyone as a client, as long as they’re paying.

Very few are turned down or turned away.

It’s not a great position to be in… but that’s where so many are.

Which is why I find it so ironic online there are hundreds (maybe even thousands) of online courses teaching people how to ‘Win More Clients’ … when the reality is most successful consultants don’t really need more clients … at the very least they need a better quality of clients… but more than that they need a better quality of life…

… less clients, less working hours… but more revenue, income, profit and money.

It sounds paradoxical… but it’s perfectly achievable.

I know, because I did it — and I still do it … because of the systems I’ve set up I now have the holy grail of ‘Multiple Streams of Passive Income’, which have turned me into a multi-millionaire.

The New Consulting Business Model

In the next few pages, I’m going to lay out the exact system I use to create one of the most beneficial streams of passive income for anyone who sells their ‘time and expertise’ and wants to escape from tyranny of ‘time for money’.

And by the way, I’ll hereafter use the word ‘consultant’ to refer to anyone who sells their time for money … and creates some kind of “end result” for businesses or individuals…. anyone like a consultant, coach, trainer, instructor, freelancer, facilitator etc … it’s all the same — working hard exchanging ‘time for money’.)