Day 2/30 - An Architect Quit His Job to Sell E-Books—And Struck Gold?
Pat Flynn—From Architecture School to Smart Passive Income Empire
You’ve seen dozens of “passive income success stories.” But few are as raw—and as revealing—as how an architect riding the 2008 recession rolled the dice on a blog and turned it into seven figures.
Spoiler: It wasn’t a fairy tale. It was grit, humility, and a willingness to share things most entrepreneurs bury.
In 2008, Pat Flynn was graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in architecture. He landed a sweet job designing commercial spaces—until that Friday when the firm folded. By Monday, he was Googling “now what?”
Instead of curling up in defeat, Pat leaned into his study notes for the LEED exam (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). He’d been jotting down tips on a little blog called inTheLEED.com. After losing his job, he realized there was a hungry audience for those exam resources.
So he bundled his notes into a $19.95 e-book, launched Green Exam Academy, and sold 309 copies in month one—earning nearly $8,000. By year’s end, that single guide brought in over $200,000. At that moment, Pat thought:
“If teaching what I know can out-earn architecture, maybe I’ve found a new floorplan.”
Unlock the Rest of Pat’s Story—And Your 30-Day Growth Blueprint
Curious how Pat went from publishing one niche e-book to building Smart Passive Income—a brand that:
Hits 300,000+ in a single month at its peak,
Pulls in over $2 million annually,
Broadcasts 100 million podcast downloads,
Rolls out software like the Smart Podcast Player,
Hosts a loyal community of thousands,
…and how you can swipe that “teach-what-you-know” blueprint for yourself?
Subscribe to the 30-Days of Growth Challenge before you scroll any further. Lock in 20% off forever when you join today, and get:
Daily Deep Dives—300–400 words of founder stories with no fluff.
Exclusive Worksheets & Templates—today’s “Income-Stream Map” toolkit shows you how to identify three low-investment revenue channels based on your expertise.
Creator exclusive Interviews —learn how they turned a single post into a multi–six-figure empire.
Access to Our Private Chat—where you and other paid members share wins, give laser-focused feedback, and hold each other accountable.
Live Workshop on June 29/30—free for paid members. A 90-minute, no-nonsense session to lock in your 30-day action plan.
Hit Subscribe Now ➞ and buckle up for Day 3. Tomorrow, June 3 at 9 AM ET, we’ll profile Anne-Laure Le Cunff—the mindful-learning maven who built a 100K+ community around creativity and curiosity. Don’t miss it (especially if you ever wondered how to build a paid membership without looking sleazy).