Passive Income In The UK - #11 Or Goren

Building Passive Income In The UK:

An Interview with Or Goren.

Welcome to this interview series focusing on UK-based passive income builders. A lot of focus has been on US-based passive income entrepreneurs. So I am using this series to highlight some passive income entrepreneurs a little closer to home.

I hope you find this series enlightening and encouraging, opening your eyes to the multitude of ways you can reach your financial goals.

In this interview, the 11th of the series, I’m talking to Or Goren.

Please introduce yourself

My name is Or Goren, and I currently run two UK blogs - Savvy Londoner and Cord Busters. I moved to London (and the UK) back in 2016 with my husband and our cat, and since I was a blogger for many years before that, I quickly decided to start some UK-based blogs. And since personal finance has always been a hobby of mine, it was only natural to focus on these topics.

What Does Passive Income Mean To You?

The dry term relates to things like interest in the bank and financial products that earn you money while you're asleep. However, I prefer to deal with the term as it's more widely known in the online marketing world - so income that's generated from online assets that you have (as in - blogs and websites).

In that regard, it's never really passive - you have to build your websites, and then keep working and updating them. But it's somewhat passive in that income is often created without you handling it directly, so technically you CAN wake up in the morning and find out your website made £100 during the night.

What passive income sources do you have? Are all of these UK-based? 

Ignoring the petty interest I get from the bank, my most passive income sources are the websites that I run. Again, it's not exactly passive, because I work on them every day - but if I leave one of the websites alone for a week, for example, it'll still make money.

How does your passive income compare to your active income and your expenses? 

Since I work full-time on my websites, you might say most of my income is derived from them, and their somewhat-passive nature.

However I do, on occasion, do some freelance work for others (mainly as a writer and editor) - but the long-term gains from that work is always considerably lower than that of my passive income streams.

What Are Your Short And Long Term Goals With Passive Income?

I want to make a satisfactory full-time income from my websites. And just as important - to be able to go on holiday and leave them be for a week, or even a month, and have the income keep coming in. (They're doing that at this stage, but only up to a point. The amount of money is still very much dependant on how much time I devote to the sites).

What are your most passive and most active income sources?

Most passive - the interest I get on my bank accounts. But it's close to nothing.

Most active - When I do freelance work for others.

What is your favourite passive income source and why?

Website posts with affiliate links in them. I love writing guides (on a variety of topics) that actually help people understand a concept, a service, etc' - and then include affiliate links in the guide, so I get a small commission when people buy something or join a service through that link.

It's a win-win situation - people get the help and information they need - and I get paid for my efforts over time, with the article potentially making money months (and years) after it was written.

Which passive income source has been the most challenging to build?  

My TV cord cutting website took more than a year to start gaining traffic and income. Because it's such a narrow niche, getting to the right audience took a long time.

Do you think your passive income sources will provide consistent income over the long term?

That's the hope.

What Passive Income Sources Would You Like To Have In The Future? Do you see any areas of growth? 

I would very much like to diversify my sources of income and not rely on one or two sources. So possibly financial investments, and in the longer term - perhaps real estate.

And where my websites are concerned - besides growing the ones that I have, I would probably want to start a few more, so the online income is diversified as well.

Has passive income-building changed how you save, spend and invest? If so, how?

I run a very tight family-budget every month. Whenever there's any money left outside the regular monthly expenses, I try to use it for long-term investing. It doesn't happen often enough yet - but will hopefully grow as my income grows.

What are the main advantages and disadvantages to being UK-based when building passive income?

With websites, being UK-based means there's less competition than what the US-based bloggers face. On the other hand, of course, it also means the audience is more limited.

Plus, US-based bloggers often have more income opportunities - higher paying affiliate offers, more ad networks, etc'.

What advice would you give to someone looking to build passive income in the UK?

Diversify! As the old saying goes, it's very risky to put all your eggs in one basket. I had a website that was doing very well, until Facebook changed their rules (as they so often do) - and then traffic - and income - plunged almost overnight.

If you don't have multiple streams of income - a hit like that can be devastating.

Thank you for the interview. Would you like to add anything else?

I used to work a regular, full-time 9-5 (more like 9-9) job. While there were aspects of it that I liked, I don't regret for a second moving to a work-from-home based living, and working on growing my own websites and passive income sources.

It's a lot of hard work - but it's worth it at the end, knowing your income is not directly dependant on a capricious boss, or on the hours you have to put in every single day.

And finally, where can people find you?

Savvy Londoner: https://www.savvylondoner.co.uk

Cord Busters: https://www.cordbusters.co.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/savvylondoner

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savvylondoner

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savvylondoner/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/savvylondoner/