If you are tired of the daily nine to five slog and trapped in the proverbial rat race of modern life, it's time for you to take a trip back to the Middle Ages. Here's why: In the Middle Ages, although no one really knew it at the time, a concept developed that would be responsible for the wealth of some of the biggest business titans in our modern age. Back in the Middle Ages a select few people (usually aristocracy) were land owners, and we are not just talking about little lots, but we are talking states and provinces which ‘belonged' to individuals and families. Due to their positions as land owners they were able to make a fortune for doing absolutely nothing.



See, what these landowners did was to charge every person who lived on their land a levy – regardless of what they did on the land. If you were a landowner and you had seven towns on your land every person and farmer in and around those towns had to pay you a monthly or weekly fee, just for being there. This is where the idea and the principle behind residual income originated. Residual income, by definition, is income that continues to be generated after the initial effort has been expended. As for the landowners, their asset (the land) kept on bringing in income month after month without them having to do much more. After they got hold of the land their income was residual.

Most people today earn linear income. Linier income is income that is directly proportional to the amount of hours you work and it is nothing more than a reward for your time and effort. Residual income, on the other hand, is what is often called smart money. The really rich never ‘work' for money. They set up residual income streams that keep working for them and they earn money long after they set up the system that generates it. You either work for your money or your money works for you.

The sheer thought of going to sleep and knowing that you are actually earning money while you sleep is a blissful thought and one that I am sure appeals to many. The problem is that residual income remains an illusive concept for most. Surely it sounds nice, but ‘how' do you create residual income for yourself? I believe that when it comes to residual income affiliate programs hold the key, especially if you are starting out with nothing and especially if you are stuck in a current job that limits your free time.

Before we look at how you can create residual income with affiliate programs, lets look at some of the more traditional ways of creating residual income. Firstly, if you have a lot of money you can create residual income by investing your money. Your return on your investment will be a recurring income or you can invest your money in a business that will make you money even if you do nothing. This is where the idea of ‘it takes money to make money' comes to its own. Similarly, you can invest your money in real estate and let it out to receive a monthly income from the rent. The second way to earn residual income is to write a book. You do the work once and you earn a royalty or commission for every book that gets sold. This can be highly lucrative, but it definitely does not strike a cord with everybody. Many residual income affiliate programs are based on ebooks that pay commission, but more on this later. In a similar way you can write a computer program or a play or a movie and earn residual income off that. Once again this requires significant amounts of time and above all - talent.

I am sure that there are many people who actually do have the time and talent to do that, but for the rest of us, starting out with very little time and money, there must be a way of creating residual income for ourselves. I believe that residual income affiliate programs hold the key. It requires very little money to start with, you can do it by investing only a couple of hours a week and virtually anyone can do it. You do not need any special skills or knowledge to do it.

Virtually every product on the market these days are available through affiliate programs. Basically, affiliate programs pay you a commission for every sale that is made from customers that you refer to the vendor's website. Let's say you start a website about your favorite thing in life, your Chiwawa. Now, you probably know more about Chiwawas than 99% of the people out there, so doing it won't be difficult at all. By signing up for relevant affiliate programs your readers can go straight from your site to a vendor where they can purchase relevant products or services. For this you will earn a commission and the best part is that you will continue to earn that commission for years to come. As your website becomes more popular and grow in size and content you will draw even more visitors and your residual income will increase, regardless of whether you work on it or not.

Residual income affiliate programs is the answer to making smart money. You probably won't quit your day job after two months, but starting to build residual income can easily snowball. In fact it always does, and before you know it you will be earning a full time income while you sleep.