$5K Mailbox Money 📬

Four Ways to Earn $5,000 in Monthly Recurring Revenue

John Meese

Sep 19, 2022 — 4 min read

Four Ways to Earn $5,000 in Monthly Recurring Revenue

I make money while I sleep, but I don't believe in "passive" income.

Last week I was enjoying dinner with my family at Alex's Tacos & Wings (a restaurant with a surprisingly lovely combo of my favorite foods).

I was laughing at my 5-year old son's love of queso while helping my 2-year old son devour a honey barbecue wing, when my phone buzzed.

💰 Cha-ching! New $500 payment from Patrick

Thanks Patrick 🤓

That may sound like "passive" income, but I'd previously set up a sales page and emails and created the product (as well as spent years building my reputation and mastering my craft).

A better name would be residual or exponential income, because the results come later (without limits).

I used to dream that one day I would earn enough "passive" income to fund my family's lifestyle, so I wouldn't have to stress about how I was going to pay for groceries or utilities or any other bills.

For my family of 5, our basic lifestyle costs roughly $5,000 per month.

It was a magical moment when I crossed the milestone of $5,000 in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) with Cowork Inc, NotablePress, and now Thrive School too!

This does not include income from books or individual products. MRR only includes subscription revenue set to automatically renew.

Of course, customers can always cancel, and I need to do my part to help people succeed—but I would have to royally ruin my reputation for every customer to cancel at once.

It's only been a few months that I've been building Thrive School MRR on Ghost, so I'm sure that number will continue to grow! In fact, here's how I could add another $5K MRR:

5 members join my mastermind
50 members join my membership (or 120 founding members)

How would your life be different if you were financially independent, because you automatically earned enough income to pay for your basic needs?

How would you earn $5,000 in Monthly Recurring Revenue? There are many paths to $5K MRR, but I researched the top 3:

How to Earn $5K MRR from the Stock Market

I used to be fascinated by FIRE, a movement of mostly millennials (my peers) spending very little to save a lot and achieve Financial Independence to Retire Early.

To define "a lot" and personalize the financial goal, many adherents calculate their FIRE number using the 4% rule.

If you invest enough money in a diversified stock market portfolio, you can safely withdraw 4% of your investments each year and reliably retire (assuming a normal pattern of economic ebb and flow).

In other words, you can calculate your FIRE number by dividing your annual expenses by 4% or multiplying your annual expenses by 25.

$5K MRR x 12 = $60K ARR x 25 = $1.5 MM

To earn $5,000 per month in residual income from stock market investing in the best case scenario, you would need to invest $1,500,000 cash.

That's a hefty sum for anyone, which is why FIRE proponent Mr. Money Mustache recommends you "save a reasonable percentage of your take-home pay, like 50%" 🤯

Why You Should Never RetireIn 2001, the US Social Security Administration quietly released research that I wish I never read. They discovered that the sooner you retire, the sooner you die. Another study confirmed that one-third of retirees are clinically depressed. Wait a minute—isn’t retirement the ultimate goal?! You sa…Thrive School from John MeeseJohn Meese

How to Earn $5K MRR from Rental Properties

What about rental income? That's where the term "Mailbox Money" comes from (getting rent checks in the mail) and the need for housing isn't going anywhere.

Let’s look at a best case scenario, where you’re able to buy profitable properties based on common real estate investing principles:

✅ 1% rule (the monthly rent you can charge is equal to 1% of the purchase price)

✅ 50% rule (annual property expenses are no more than half the rental income)

✅ 5% vacancy rate (the time your property is empty and not earning rent)

To earn $5,000 per month in residual income from rental properties in the best case scenario, you would need to invest $1,053,000 cash.

That’s a highly concentrated investment in a handful of properties with a handful of customers, where anything could go horribly wrong.

I don't just mean a drop in real estate value. Homes are where people fight and set fires and sometimes die.

🚫 I tried to include the 10% rule (pay 10% down to buy a property at 10% below the market rate) but at current interest rates that meant the mortgage ate up every penny of remaining profit every month 😬

How to Earn $5K MRR from Cryptocurrency

I'm bullish on Bitcoin. I’ve been a fan ever since I first invested in 2013.

At one point, I was the Executive Director of the Tennessee Bitcoin Alliance, and testified at the state capital to help get the first Tennessee cryptocurrency law approved!

I think the technology is incredible, and the investors with nearly one trillion dollars invested seem to agree... although this time last year that number was three trillion dollars so it’s been a rough year for cryptocurrency.

Still, with the new ability to invest in Decentralized Finance (or “DeFi”) there are plenty of opportunities to earn residual income in cryptocurrency.

I’ve invested some Ethereum on Coinbase that earns 4.19% APY, but my friend Cathryn can teach you how to earn up to 20%: