How Psychologists Can Build Passive Income (And Why You Should)

Dr Marianne Trent (: 00:00

What do Netflix, Dr. Julie Smith and Headspace all have in common? It's that they've all found ways of working with more people without just offering one-to-one. They are able to offer valuable content which helps their audience whilst also creating sustainable income for themselves. Now, what if I told you that you as a psychologist or mental health professional could do the same? You could earn money while you sleep, when you go for a run or even when you're spending time with your family. You could even earn money when you are in one-to-one sessions. No, this isn't a rainbow unicorn. This isn't something that's too good to be true. It's all about working smarter, not just harder. As psychologists and mental health professionals, we are often so focused on helping others that we neglect to set up sustainable income streams for ourselves. But what if passive income could give you the financial freedom to work fewer hours, reduce burnout, and focus on what truly lights you up. Today we are diving into why passive income is not just for massive names and corporate companies. It's a game changer for psychologists too. Stay tuned because by the end of this episode, you'll have a roadmap for how to get started, and I'll also be inviting you to a free passive income challenge where you'll be able to take the first steps to your financial freedom.

(: 01:22

Hi, welcome along. I'm Dr. Marianne Trent. I'm a qualified clinical psychologist. If you've been following me for a while, you'll likely know that I'm passionate about supporting the needs of aspiring psychologist, but also qualified psychologists throughout their careers, but I'm also all about achieving work-life balance and financial sustainability. For me that looks at writing books such as the Clinical Psychologist Collective, but also running the Aspiring Psychologist membership and creating paid for courses and master classes on passive income for psychologists and mental health professionals. I want to show you how you can start to do the same. I know it might sound daunting, but I promise you it's not rocket science. I passionately believe that passive income is a must for qualified psychologists and mental health professionals, and even if you are not yet qualified, I still want you to take notice because you could even start to create passive income streams from your existing expertise right now, and that's because it's not just about professional skills.

(: 02:20

You could create passive or recurring revenue from your personal passions too. For example, I know of one woman who made a stack of cash teaching people to hula hoop and another who made loads sharing her love of the theatre. So if you have knowledge or a passion that others might find valuable, you already have a passive income opportunity. Perhaps you are feeling a bit hesitant, a bit wary about the idea of making money in your sleep, or perhaps you think no psychology is a vocation. I didn't get into this for the money. I'd say that's probably quite a good job in the most part. But it doesn't mean that you can't be wealthier, that you can't be more comfortable, that you can't have more time to focus on perhaps doing the really nice aspects of therapy like reflecting, like writing in your journals, like doing the formulation perhaps depending on the medium that you work in by doing your process notes for earning more money, which supplements all of that for you so that you're not having to take on so many one-to-one clients.

(: 03:27

I think sometimes we can have deep seated beliefs about money and how it should or shouldn't come to us. Some of us even have kind of money trauma as well from our experiences in growing up or in our relationships past or present. This can really affect the way we think about money, but also about how we prioritise and manage our finances and our financial wellbeing. But the truth is building a sustainable career in psychology, for me at least means thinking beyond direct one-to-one work. But it doesn't mean that you need to stop the one-to-one work. I love offering my trauma and grief therapy to clients. I never plan to stop, but by having passive income streams and recurring revenue streams, I have more time to do what I love without burnout. So today we are unpacking why passive income is essential for psychologists and mental health professionals, the biggest mindset blocks that stop you from getting started and the first simple steps to create income streams that really work for you and for your clients.

(: 04:31

Let's get started by talking about burnout. So many of us, regardless of the stage of our career, are juggling direct client work, paperwork, supervision, CPD, and also trying to have a personal life too. The emotional toll of therapy can of course be high. So I think without alternative income streams, many psychologists and mental health professionals might well find themselves on a direct route to feeling exhausted, overworked, and underpaid. Passive income really helps by reducing reliance on one-to-one sessions by providing financial security to help transition tricky phases like parenting, maternity, paternity leave, adoptive leave illness, career transitions, or even helping to care for your parents. It also gives you the time and the flexibility to explore your other passions or just sit around more or go to a spa or get up a bit later one day a week, two days a week. It gives you the chance to really begin to think about how you thrive.

(: 05:39

For me, passive income has allowed me to do more things like media work, brand partnerships to run this podcast, which absolutely takes a lot of time to develop my membership community and to spend more quality time with my family and friends. What are the blocks then that stop us all from immediately rushing out and doing this? I think for me, the biggest blocks ironically are psychological. They are mindset things like imposter syndrome, who am I to create a course or write a book or start a membership? I think the guilt about earning more is a big one too because in my experience, many mental health professionals can feel uncomfortable about making money beyond their client work. Feeling like you have a lack of time is another big one too. I'm already busy, I'm already at capacity. I don't have the time to build passive income streams or to figure out how to do it.

(: 06:36

And of course, having a fear of technology, how would I begin to fathom how to make all of this happen? You might think I've got a great idea for a book or a course, but I dunno how to get that out here and into some form where someone can pay me money for it. The good news is that you do not need to be able to reinvent the wheel. If you have knowledge and expertise, which you do, there's definitely a way to package it all up to help others whilst also benefiting yourself. So what are our first steps for beginning to build passive income? Where on earth do you actually start? So I think it's important to think about leveraging our time for our money, but also leveraging what you already know. What options are there? Well, it's likely that you've read a few books in your time.

(: 07:23

Have you considered writing one? It might be a book. It might be an ebook. If you've ever considered it, just do it. My books, the Clinical Psychologist Collective, the Grief Collective, and all of the others have been incredible sources of impact. People really like them, but they've also earned me revenue too. How about online courses, webinars, masterclasses. You've likely attended loads of these in the past. You may even have paid for them. What do you know that you could create and package into a course? Memberships and subscriptions, have a think about those that you already sign up to. Perhaps it is Netflix, perhaps it's Amazon Prime, perhaps it's Disney. Perhaps it's Preta Monja. Perhaps it's HelloFresh Apple Fitness. Think about what you get for your money and actually what you need to be able to offer your clients might be less than you imagine. Perhaps you could create an online space or community, maybe even a membership too.

(: 08:19

Now, I know as a psychologist I have a tonne of self-help and mental health focused books. How about the resources that we accumulate along the way too? Workbooks, reflective journals, digital downloads can all be really simple ways of beginning to generate passive or recurring revenue. Now I've got something really special for you. I recently had my first ever in person recording of the Aspiring Psychologist podcast, and it was in the home of the brilliant Lisa Johnson, who is an expert in passive income. She agreed to talk with us about why passive and recurring revenue is so incredibly important for psychologists and mental health professionals, and therefore why this could be a game changer for you. Let's dive into mine and Lisa's chat and I'll catch you on the other side. Hi, Lisa. Thank you for inviting me to your beautiful home.

Lisa Johnson (: 09:12

No Worries. Nice to have you here

Dr Marianne Trent (: 09:13

Oh, thank you. So tell us a little bit about you for anyone who hasn't heard of Lisa Johnson before.

Lisa Johnson (: 09:20

So the main thing, I'm is a Mum of twins. I'm a travel lover, but the thing that I'm known for is I wrote a Sunday Times bestselling book called Make Money Online, and that book was just because when I started in business myself, I was £30,000 in debt. This was only eight years ago, so it feels like a long time ago, but it wasn't actually that long. And in the last six years I've made £20 million just helping people use the knowledge that they have in whatever field they're in to make money online.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 09:53

I'm a psychologist and so I was really trying to go for the poker face, but you just told me you've made £20 million.

Lisa Johnson (: 10:04

Your poker face isn't that good. Yeah, it's not that good. It's not that good, but it's Admirable,

Dr Marianne Trent (: 10:04

Really impressive Stuff

Lisa Johnson (: 10:05

Yeah, it's been a while, few years and I didn't set out to become a multimillionaire, but I think that when you are trying to help people with something that you are really passionate about, money follows. I really believe that profit follows passion and I'm passionate about helping mainly women, but we help all sorts of people, but women have financial freedom and by doing that, by helping people just use the knowledge in their head to be able to make more money that gives them that. And so yeah, it's been

Dr Marianne Trent (: 10:35

Crazy. And I actually love what you say there about what does someone always say? Oh, could I, could I have a word with you about this? Pick your brain. Pick your brain.

Lisa Johnson (: 10:44

And

Dr Marianne Trent (: 10:44

I think when psychologists are trying to think about a niche, that's probably a really good place to start. What they'd feel comfortable having a 10 minute chat about

Lisa Johnson (: 10:54

Being

Dr Marianne Trent (: 10:54

Their passion. Yes,

Lisa Johnson (: 10:54

It doesn't have to be everything. It can be one thing that they think, this is the bit that I love helping people with. This is the bit that I always see the difference when I help people with. So let's make passive income, recurring revenue, really passive income is a bit of an outdated word these days, but recurring revenue from that.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 11:14

So help us understand then what might recurring revenue, passive income look

Lisa Johnson (: 11:19

Like? It can look like all kinds of things. So it could be a course. So most people, they trade their time for money. So if you are in any kind of therapy, you generally give someone an hour and you get back an amount for that cost, but it doesn't have to be that way. And what we found is if we take that person who knows their information, and most people are asking the same thing at some point, so you put the answer into a course, a workshop, an ebook, a membership even where people just want support. And then you can charge times however many people. So instead of doing let's say a hundred pound for one hour, you can still have the same hour, but you could have a hundred people paying you a hundred pounds, making a lot more money with that one hour. So you are leveraging your time and all passive income is really is not trading time for money. People have turned it into this unrealistic thing of money raining down on you when you sleep. That isn't really what happens. You do have a lot of work at the beginning. You need to set something up that you can sell over and over again, but that's when it becomes really passive.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 12:28

I love it when I suddenly get £48 pounds drop in my bank and I haven't even mentioned it that day. It's just there and it's just that it just appears. And if you get a message from Kartra saying success, well congratulations. You made a sale. You're like, thanks. That feels good.

Lisa Johnson (: 12:40

What felt really good for me was I was helping people one to one. I couldn't go on holiday. If I went on holiday, I wouldn't get money and I couldn't be sick then I wouldn't make money for that two weeks or whatever. So it's like there has to be a better way. And so when I found passive income, what I love is we still can make a lot of money when I'm travelling. I don't work for the whole of July, August and half of September, but we make the same amount in that time as we do the rest of the year. And I think that's really important because we don't know what's going to happen to us ever and when we might be needed elsewhere.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 13:16

And I think for my audience of a psychologist and mental health professionals, that's really key, especially they've just got a small practise of themselves. Then it's thinking, oh, if I take two weeks off at

Lisa Johnson (: 13:26

Christmas, that's

Dr Marianne Trent (: 13:27

A really squeaky time in January.

Lisa Johnson (: 13:30

And they might decide not to take two weeks off, but if they get sick for a month or three months, that's a problem. And actually it doesn't need to be because the world has changed. We do have the internet, email list, social media. We don't need to work in the way that we did before. People always used to say, the harder you work, the more money you make. Although I believe that you should work hard. I think I have a very strong work ethic. I believe much more in working smarter than harder. You don't have to work quite as much to make more.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 14:00

It's interesting meeting you today because actually over the weekend I was at a magic show and there was a social media competition to you, like a bit of competition.

Lisa Johnson (: 14:11

I love a bit of competition

Dr Marianne Trent (: 14:12

To comment on this chaps social media post of us in the audience.

(: 14:17

And I'd commented on it and then someone else in the audience came and found me and said, oh, are you Dr. Marianne Trent? And I was like, yes. And she was like, oh, well you don't know me, but I just wanted to say thank you because actually a couple of years ago my Mum died and someone bought me your grief book and it's been so helpful. It really helped to me. And I think that really obviously feels amazing. The impact. Yeah, it's the impact and knowing that actually it's still okay for me to have made passive income on that, but it's still connect in a way that actually is a really valuable resource. And I think talking to this audience, it's really difficult because people think, Well, maybe people will think badly of me for that.

Lisa Johnson (: 14:59

I get that. And actually we have that with most of the people that start something because they are helping others because they want to make an impact in the world. They want to change the world sometimes. They certainly want to change how people feel. I think that's the hardest thing. For some reason, I think more in the uk we have been brought up to believe that we can either help people or make money. And I dunno why we think it's mutually exclusive. We can do both. We can help loads of people and we can make a lot of money. And there are plenty of people that we see online doing that. So yeah, I think it's a mindset thing that we do have to get a hedge around. But people say all the time, you've changed my life to me. You've changed my life. I've made money, but I've changed their life. Why can't it be both

Dr Marianne Trent (: 15:41

Such powerful food for thought? Yeah, absolutely. Life should work on your terms and you should feel proud of what you do. But also I think a word that feels really uncomfortable for lots of psychologists is the word wealthy and wealth. And when I first had a financial advisor and they started talking about those words, and even having a financial advisor, who am I to have a financial advisor and post syndrome? That's right. Log into your wealth account. But you have to become more comfortable with thinking about that You deserve to be recompensed for the really hard work that you do.

Lisa Johnson (: 16:17

And when we think about people like you, it's not like you've woken up one day and know this stuff. The amount of training and education and time that you've had to put in to knowing what you know and experience as well, why should you be doing that for a small amount? It is okay for you to earn now that you've learned all of this stuff and you are helping people.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 16:42

Yeah, so true. So I first started my degree 1999. I qualified as a qualified psychologist 2011, and I then started my private practise 2019 and I was sobbing at my kitchen sink that morning on my first private client thinking I wasn't enough. I didn't know enough, but all that, all that, all that.

Lisa Johnson (: 17:04

And we do, you do know enough. And actually, yes, you can use the psychology aspect and sell that, but what we found is we get lots of people that want to make passive income with us. We have a conversation with them, and it's not actually their profession that they end up using for their passive income because they do know a lot, but they also have a lot of life experience. So we've had people who have been through divorces and worked out how to do it themselves, how to do all the forms themselves and save themselves money. They know help other people to do that, and they charge for it because anyone that's just a couple of steps further along than someone else, anyone that wants to pick your brain, you can sell that information. I remember the first passive income product that I bought was how to get Round Disney and with hundred twos.

(: 17:50

And I was like, this is interesting that she's put this together because she's been to Disneyland a few times. And I rang her and I said, I've just bought this product from you. It said it was like $10. I said, do you really make money from this? And she said, I make a round a hundred thousand every month from it. I, I'm in every Disney Facebook group and it's like a military operation going to Disney and all people want to know is how do I get round this easiest? And so I just wrote it and she wrote it once. She updates it every now and again, and then she just keeps making money from it. But there's so much money to be made and just the knowledge you have on all sorts of life experience.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 18:25

Wow. And I think especially with a lot of my audience being aspiring psychologists, it might not be ethical to be putting out qualified mental health advice, but there's loads other things, loads of stuff they know. I know one of your audience made money selling people stuff on hula hooping.

Lisa Johnson (: 18:39

Hula Hooping. Yeah, she did so well. She was making like 20, £30,000 a month teaching people how to hula hoop. But we've had all sorts growing cup flowers, potty training, just random things dating, using internet dating. Yeah. Anything you can imagine, somebody has written a course or a membership on it because with a membership you don't even have to actually know your subject. You have an interest in it, and you bring in other people who know the subject to teach. You are just the curator of the membership. And so there is really a way to do this for everybody.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 19:15

Yes, there is. And you are running a challenge soon, very soon, race to recurring revenue. And you are always very upfront that when you've done this amazing free thing, there is an opportunity to work with you at the end if people choose. But there's no obligation to do that,

Lisa Johnson (: 19:29

And most people don't. If we're honest about it, I think about a 5% of people do come in and work with me. But what I love about this challenge is that the people that do it, that can't really afford, they're not ready. They're not in a position to come and work with me. They still make money from it. We have people telling us all the time, I've now on 10,000 pound month because of your challenge. That's how I sleep at night. If we're going to make money from things, let's give some free value as well. And sometimes those people make a lot of money and then they come in the next year anyway, so it's a win-win.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 20:00

Absolutely. Lisa, thank you so much for your time. It's been really, really lovely and I think this will be a really valuable chat for my audience.

Lisa Johnson (: 20:07

Oh, no worries. Really nice to be here.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 20:09

Hope your challenge goes really well for you.

Lisa Johnson (: 20:11

Thank you.

Dr Marianne Trent (: 20:11

Oh, how lovely was that. And thank you so much to Lisa for welcoming me into her beautiful home, how inspiring it was to speak with Lisa, someone who has helped thousands of people to build sustainable income streams for themselves and their families. You can work with Lisa for free. She is running a passive income challenge, which starts on Monday the 10th of February, 2025. Register here: https://goodthinkingpsychology--lisajohnsonstrategy.thrivecart.com/one-to-many-2025/ Lisa Johnson's Race to Recurring Revenue Challenge is a brilliant way to identify your best passive income idea, overcome imposter syndrome and mindset blocks, and to develop a strategic plan to launch your income stream. If this episode has sparked your curiosity, I'd love for you to take the next step with me. You can do that by joining Lisa Johnson's Race to Recurring Revenue Challenge. Scan the QR code on screen or check out the link in the description or the show notes. Please also check out my content on passive income on my website, which is www.aspiringpsychologist.co.uk.

(: 21:13

Then go to the Learn with Me online learning tabs. Please let me know in the comments what passive income idea you are considering, who you are, what area you work in. Please do chat with and support others in the comments too. If you resonate with what they're talking about, consider subscribing and liking their channels too. If you enjoyed this episode, please do like, subscribe, share, comment, do all of those good things. If you are listening on MP3, please do subscribe to the show. It really is the kindest thing you can do for free for any podcaster that you rate. Thank you so much for listening or watching to this episode. I do hope you have found it helpful. If you're looking to become a psychologist,

Jingle Guy (: 22:04

This podcast.