CREATE MULTIPLE INCOME STREAMS
by Thelma Mariano
I grew up in an era when jobs were plentiful and, if the place was right, you stayed with a company until you got your gold watch. Those days are long gone. Also gone is the notion of working for ONE organization at ONE job for your entire career. Call it downsizing, rightsizing or restructuring; companies continue to lay off employees to improve their bottom line. Job security no longer exists.
Like most job holders, you are probably re-thinking the whole concept of work and what it means to you. Wouldn’t you like to feel more connected to what you do and have a more flexible schedule?
It’s time to think outside the box. To stop putting all your eggs in one basket.
Take back control of your life!
There is a growing trend to make a living using Multiple Income Streams.
I started doing this before I even knew what it was called! For many years I worked full-time in a corporate job and sold my short stories and articles on the side.
Now I have a Multiple Income Stream LIFE. I left my corporate job to make a living from Life Coaching (private sessions, workshops and on-line coaching), freelance writing and a small pension. What’s truly wonderful about this lifestyle is the variety!
How can you introduce Multiple Income Streams
into your OWN life?
In many cases it can mean keeping your job while developing an interest (or two) on the side. Or covering your basic expenses with a part-time job and using your freed-up time to work on other income streams.
There are as many ways of being creative in making money, as there are people! If you’re lucky, a supportive spouse or extra savings will give you a financial advantage. If not, stay employed as you explore other possibilities. Use your imagination!
Instead of relying on one company - or one source - to make money, you generate a number of revenue streams. This enables you to use your skills in totally different fields of interest - e.g. one woman does freelance editing, works as a part-time translator and teaches yoga in the evening. Multiple income streams give you the time and freedom to do what you love.
A few advantages of Multiple Income Streams vs. Traditional Job:
- Set your own priorities
- Follow your interests (more variety)
- More time for family, friends, travel
- Less stress (avoid rush hour traffic, shopping at peak times)
You don’t need to feel trapped in a job that doesn’t fulfill you. And if you are suddenly laid off from your work, you will sleep much easier at night if you already have other options.
How Does It Work?
In her book, Making a Living Without a Job, Barbara Winter refers to these income streams as “multiple profit centers.” To create them, she suggests doing what a juggler does when spinning plates on a stick. He starts with one plate, gets it in motion, and then starts on the next, until a number of them are spinning at the same time.
The idea is to focus on each income stream and make it profitable before going on to the next one.
I found her book very helpful as I set up my own income streams.
this is what I discovered about Multiple Income Streams.
- Get paid for doing what you love.
To many of us, this is a novel idea. We expect to work at jobs that we do not find particularly meaningful, solely for a salary and benefits. It may be hard at first for us to accept money for doing something that feels like FUN. - Appreciate the value of what you offer.
This is often a big hurdle for someone starting a new income stream. It may be hard for you to believe that your service or product is valuable. Maybe you’ve always helped friends to decorate their homes and more people are now coming to you for advice. It means you’re good at it! See “test your idea” under Turn Passions into Profits. - Be flexible!
As you commit to a new income stream, remain open to change and new possibilities.
Though I started out giving a big public lecture (Finding Your Mid-life Passion), feedback from participants led me to design a program for smaller groups. I found that the more interactive format worked better for me and it also became profitable very quickly. - Make your income streams work together.
Consider how each of your income streams can promote or extend another, so that people may buy one product or service from you and be interested in something else you are doing. Or you can do more than one thing in the same place. - Seek out income streams that produce the best return with minimum time and effort.
This could be a small business that runs itself (e.g. a message answering service) or that you pay someone to run while you focus on other priorities. Or it can be ideas that you sell. Think of all the people who have built up an area of expertise and are selling ebooks on the Web! - Treat “passive” income as an income stream.
This could be money from an annuity or pension, royalties or other assets. See Your Hidden Resources. Passive income will give you the time you need to develop your other income streams and focus on doing what you love. - If you are currently employed, consider your job as one of your income streams! As you develop ideas for other sources of revenue, you will feel less trapped on the job. You may also decide to work two part-time jobs to satisfy different interests, or one part-time job along with freelance income sources.
- Give yourself a financial cushion. If you want to fully embrace the Multiple Income Stream lifestyle, you need to put money aside for unexpected downturns (what if you get sick?), your retirement and the natural ebb and flow of income streams. How much is enough? That depends on your circumstances and needs. See “simplify your life” under Your Hidden Resources.
For more information on how to come up with your OWN multiple income streams, go to:
- Sell Your Skills and Expertise
- Your Hidden Resources
- Turn Passions into Profits
- 190 Businesses to Start on a Shoestring