Whether you meet someone online or face to face, what you say about yourself in your introduction will determine the number of opportunities that spring from that meeting.

A well-crafted pitch that engages and inspires the person you’re meeting can dramatically affect the amount of business and referrals that come to you.

Over the last few years as the Internet has come to dominate our lives, an increasing number of people are choosing to pitch themselves as working towards ‘passive income’.  If that’s you, or someone you know, then read on to see an alternative view.

Passive Income Versus Active Outcome

Passive income is a tantalising prospect. As countless guru’s have promised, follow their path and the remainder of your life will be spent reclining on a beach with nothing to do but count your pennies as they rain down upon you. Bliss.

Yet telling people you are striving for a passive income is likely to have the reverse of the effect you are hoping for.

Business is all about making promises. Promises to customers, to investors, to suppliers, to your family, to yourself. Your pitch is your promise and how you make it will define the response you get to it. Big promises have a habit of energising people and creating outcomes beyond the expected.

With one line JFK was able to energise an entire nation:

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

Every single day, in every conversation you are in effect ‘pitching’ yourself and your promises.  How you communicate that pitch very much determines the level of attraction that you will create.  Those that do it well, pitch big ideas that let people get behind them.

Passive income is, by its very nature, a very small promise. It is declaring your own self-interest.  You want to make money… for yourself. Then you don’t want to do anything else.

Whilst that might not be the reality, it is the perception. And with that perception, that promise, how many people are you energising to help you make that goal a reality?

An Alternative To Pitching Passive Income

An alternative option is not to state your goal, but instead state the ‘Active Outcome’ that others might receive. What active outcome are you creating that will encourage others to get behind it?  How many other people will benefit?

The choice is always yours, but as you think about a potential Active Outcome, you may find that you inspire yourself enough that your goal stops being Passive Income and starts being about creating something bigger. Creating something meaningful to others that inspires you and others each day. Not to turn on a new ‘money tap’, but to significantly make a difference in people’s lives however you choose to do it.

We live in a world with a whole bunch of very real problems. When we are able to look beyond our own problems and start trying to create solutions for others we truly begin to tap our own potential.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure… Your playing small does not serve the world” – Marianne Williamson (often wrongly credited to Nelson Mandela).

As a New Year approaches, it’s a good time to ask yourself:

- How big a game do you want to play?

- Who do you want on your team?

- What outcome for others can you create?

Passive Income is not the culprit here, but illustrates the point perfectly. As you plan for your next networking event or go through your online profiles have a look at what pitch you are communicating. Are you giving others the best possible chance to help you? Are you ready to start playing a bigger game?