Without a college degree, a 39-year-old earns $18,000 monthly in passive income: "The best business decision I ever made"

For four years, Hugh Grant posed as a fake talent agent named "James Howe Ealy" to handle his business affairs. In reality, it was just Grant using a different email account and occasionally putting on a "pretty bad" Scottish accent over the phone.

I've heard of many people making the same powerful decision I did early in my career: creating a fake assistant.

In 2009, I was a college dropout with $50,000 in student loans, striving to establish a social media marketing business from the ground up. Now, my business generates approximately $18,000 in monthly passive income, as calculated from my recent deposits, while I work only four hours a day.

I discovered the fake assistant method because I knew I needed help managing my growing workload but couldn't afford to hire anyone.

The best business decision I ever made was unconventional, but looking back, it seems like the right choice.

I was drowning in administrative tasks

I observed that in the initial stages of my business, clients would frequently attempt to schedule calls at any time, negotiate prices, and anticipate prompt replies to their emails. As a result, I found myself overwhelmed with administrative duties rather than concentrating on income-generating activities.

As a new entrepreneur, saying "no" felt impossible, but I recognized the need for boundaries. "If only I had an assistant," I thought.

Since most of my work is done digitally, it doesn't matter if I respond to emails from potential clients as myself or someone else.

Hiring my fake assistant, Olivia, allowed me to start setting a new standard, charging more money, and holding myself accountable to growing my business.

Olivia delivered remarkable results right away

I set up a professional email address for Olivia and began cc'ing her on all client communications to manage tasks such as scheduling calls and sending invoices.

Instead of the back-and-forth eating up my day, Olivia would step in and offer clients a solution when they wanted to schedule a meeting.

My clients showed greater respect for my time, readily agreed to my rates, and treated my business with more professionalism.

Creating systems that enable business growth is not about deceit.

The real power of a fake assistant

What's the difference if you're still doing all the work yourself, Amy?

Discovering that a virtual assistant who appears to be you can revolutionize your business.

• An assistant can act as a barrier to safeguard your time and energy. When a client requests an urgent meeting, your assistant can tactfully decline without making it personal. On the other hand, when you're responding directly, you may feel a sense of duty and struggle to say "no."
• A great team can help position your business more professionally, leading to better rates and more respect for your time. Even a temporarily fake one can have the same effect.
• By acting as if you have an assistant, you are creating, testing, and refining processes, workflows, and infrastructure that can be easily replicated by someone else. This preparation made it much easier to onboard and train real help when you were finally able to afford it.
• By the time I hired a real assistant, I had a clear understanding of my business needs, how to delegate effectively, manage my time, and run my business smoothly.

My top 3 tips for hiring a fake assistant

If you're considering this method, here are some pro tips:

1. Rewritten: To create efficient systems that aid growth without adding unnecessary work, maintain simplicity and professionalism.
2. Rewritten sentence: This is a temporary solution to help with the task at hand, but it is not a permanent solution.
3. By tracking the time spent on admin tasks, you can determine the level of assistant you need to hire and the number of hours required in the near future.

It was my first step to success

Building a scalable business was my primary goal when I hired Olivia, who had a cheerful, organized persona and an email address. Now, I have a team of real people assisting me with managing my YouTube channel, books, and coaching business.

The method of pretending to be an assistant taught me valuable lessons about valuing my time, establishing professional boundaries, and developing growth systems.

Discovering that sometimes the best business decisions are the ones that seem a little unusual at first helped me.

Amy Landino is a personal brand coach and the creator of AmyTV on YouTube. She teaches how to earn passive income online through CNBC's course. Follow her on Instagram.

To earn extra money online, sign up for CNBC's course on passive income streams, which includes tips for getting started and real-life success stories.