How to Make $1,000,000 Doing Nothing

Jennifer Aniston just made over a million dollars doing nothing.

Only one word in that sentence is debatable. That word is not “nothing.”

It’s “just.”

When I say “just,” I mean last December. Toward the end of 2018 Netflix renewed its agreement to air the show Friends. The price tag on that agreement? $100 million.

To we viewers, it will appear as if nothing happens. We keep rolling Friends to put us to sleep at night, or at the very least, watch the thumbnail on the “trending now” row rotate between Rachel in a skimpy negligee to Ross in a skimpy “Frankie Say Relax” T Shirt.

Behind the scenes, each of the six stars of Friends watch another $1.4 million fall into their already-crammed bank accounts.

Ca-ching.

I don’t talk about this a lot. I should. At the end of the day, it is nice to disappear into creative land. It is nice to have a hobby or a job you enjoy. It is nice to chase art for the sake of art.

It is also nice to make money.

David, Courtney, Lisa, Matthew, Matt, and sweet Jennifer of Friends fame are all cashing in 7 figures not because of what they are doing now, but because of creative work they did in the past which reached the right audience.