Diversifying Income

[robby]

I have a single job and that is my income. How important do you think it is to create multiple streams of income for ones financial health? Should I be taking an active roll in trying to find additional income streams besides my current job?

[jmjj215]

YES. Ever since I began diversifying income streams there have been opportunities popping up all around me. It's amazing the type of domino effect in can have not only on your finances, but also on your network. I would highly, highly recommend it. It is extremely risky to rely on a single income - especially from an employer - IMHO.

[kristinecfp]

Great thread! I would love to hear from other members some ideas on how to diversify your income, especially for people who have a single job/employer. Thanks!

[jmjj215]

One way is to start an online business based off of a hobby.

Just make sure you aren't doing what everyone else is doing. You know, the whole USP thing.

[34saving]

Beyond financial health, it's helpful for one's mental health! Some ideas: Freelance off of your current job (I'm a teacher, I also tutor. My husband does computer stuff on the side.) Do some hobbies in a professional capacity for cheap/free. (Try your hand at grad. pictures for a niece/nephew, offer to help a neighbor with gardening, etc.) This cheap/free experiences will make it possible to get real money in the future. We also have rental income, but I'm not sure I'd suggest that route to everyone.

[lrjohnson]

I love reading Thrifty Ray's blog, and other blogs, where people do not have a full time single source if income. There is something very appealing about not having any single employer have you for too much time-I'd imagine it'd be freeing.

That said, I am pretty comfortable with my civil servant job. Even if there are lay offs, even if I am demoted due to restructuring or changing laws, I feel comfortable that I will have a least some position with the county. There is a fair amount of turnover, so at 6 years emplyment if they laid off 50% of people I'd be around. And, I like the idea that any ting I do that is helpful benefits the public not a corporation.

I do not want to "work" more hours than I do now, but it would make sense for me to look at an y hobbies in the light of income. If I lost my job, could I make and sell jam and bath salts? Could I help others budget? Could I learn more about investing? Could I work a "regular" job part time and do other things the rest of the time to increase income?

Good stuff to think on.

[Ima saver]

I bet lots of you out there could give compute lessons to computer dummies, like me!

[PrincessPerky]

I think diversifying is great, and since all of my husbands income is budgeted out (and rather well squeaked) I think it is essential to ever see a way out of the paycheck to paycheck life...ok so we do have savings, about one check, but still I want more.

I want to find alternate means more for my kids though, I want them to see that there is mroe than one way to 'make a living' you don't have to get a job..you can make work. Dh would like to be a writer, can you imagine how wonderful it owuld have been for him to be writing for 8 years instead of taking classes he doresn't use? even if he still ended up working a computer job, he would have had that chance to try writing first..and still do it in his spare time now.

In order for my kids to be open to the idea of alternate incomes I need to show them some, either mine, or friends, or online stories..... If all they see is 9-5 jobs that is all they will think about, and that is not a fair picture of the world for them.

[debtdude]

Diversifying is great for your financial stability. The problem is getting to that point.

First, ask yourself what type of additional income you want. Do you want a passive income or something you have to work with to make money. The latter is like a second job.

When you build multiple income streams, your need to spread those across different areas of business. For example, don't work full time as a carpet cleaner and then work a second job carpet cleaning on the side. If a new business comes in with better service and better marketing, you're out of luck.

Here's what I have going on:
1. My primary daytime job. (computer programming)
2. I offer a software program to a niche market:
x3watchpro
I do provide technical support so there is some daily work required but not more than 30-60 minutes per day and no work on weekends unless I have something important related to the program.
3. I run a web site on church sound systems. This is a more passive income based on income from google adsense advertisements. My work on the site is writing articles. The more articles i write, the more traffic I will get...but if I don't want to write an article, I can do that as well. However much time I want to spend on it is up to me.
4. The link in my signature. It's more of a pet project (which I'm updating now). Again, like number 3, the time I put into the site is up to me.

What other income streams could I create?
1. write an ebook on something I know very well. Passive after setup up a web site and clickbank account...ok, you can do a lot more but that's the short version.
2. create another software product for a difference niche market. Fairly passive with tech support.
3. Become a copy-writer: write articles for a price. Active income.
4. Create a niche-specific weekly newsletter and sell ads or sell affiliate products related to the topic - or write an ebook on the tpic and promote the ebook.

I'm not saying the above stuff I do MAKES ME A MILLIONAIRE. However, it's enabled me to start paying down my debt in large chunks.

I've listed means of diversifying income via internet sites and products. There are other means of doing this. You could invest heavily in stable mutual funds or the stock market (blue chip stocks or S&P 500) Take any dividend-yielding stocks and put that money into a money market. Then when that money builds up to 5-10k, reinvest or place it in CD's. This is more an investment than a diversified income, however you can do well with stocks to make it an additional income...if you don't mind being a bit more risky with your money.

There are other options such as a 2nd job or selling a product/service from your home. However, these don't provide the passive income you get from internet businesses.

One final note on passive income: it's not passive. If you want to start a web site on a niche topic (that isn't already dominated) then you need to develop the site, write articles, and market it. The more you write and moarket, the more traffic you should get. Then it comes to modifying the site to meet what your new audience is REALLY wanting. In time, once you get a steady flow of traffic, you can let the site go on it's own. Forums are great for building content for free.

Finally, passive income web sites, ebooks, anything internet-related isn't a guarantee of income.

[jmjj215]

I like the above post alot as that is what I'm doing as well. I also agree that it is not passive by any stretch. It takes work. And, even if you did get the ball rolling with a site and had steady traffic, good rankings, etc. if you let it stagnate too long it would eventually it its denoument and you'd lose some income.

It really isn't passive. But it is extremely flexible and that is nice. Also, it's extremely important to 1) pick something you're already interested in and 2) not pick something already saturated with competition.

[b4freedom]

Originally Posted by robby

create multiple streams of income

It sounds like you've been reading too many finance guru books. Multiple streams of income is such a buzz statement in certain books (rich dad poor dad for example).

Look at the big picture. What is your long term goal? What is the best way to get there?

If it's to work a 9 to 5 job and stash tons of cash towards retirement then do that. Your income will become your retirement fund.

[debtdude]

No, there are buzz words and there are just some phrases that couldn't be said any better or shorter. I haven't even read RDPD...am I the only one?

[b4freedom]

Don't worry, it's not worth reading.

[fultron]

Diversifying my income has been a priority for me for the last year or so. I still have my full-time job but I've started some internet things on the side to provide additional income. I'm hoping that my side business will soon become my main source of income. And I plan to diversify even further so that I won't be up the creek if my job ends up being outsourced or eliminated.

[vsjhoc]

I started a fulltime job in a different career area about 8 months ago.

I'm starting up my own business in the same area but catering to a different market. The idea is to do this parttime and eventually as my main gig.

Also I'm writing a book, although I'm not doing that for the money (and there's certainly no guarantee there will ever be any).

So if three fulltime jobs weren't enough, I decided to write some articles for a website. The topics are unrelated to the book, but the writing practice is good for me.

I won't be rich unless I appear on Oprah, the book becomes a bestseller, followed by another, etc.

[b4freedom]

Originally Posted by debtdude

Here's what I have going on:
1. My primary daytime job. (computer programming)
2. I offer a software program to a niche market:
x3watchpro
I do provide technical support so there is some daily work required but not more than 30-60 minutes per day and no work on weekends unless I have something important related to the program.
3. I run a web site .

I thought of writing some software tools for a very specific niche market (educational institutions using multivalue databases). I created some stuff and presented at a conference. Nearly 1/2 of the conference showed up (1100 people) for my presentation and I thought: I should just package this and sell it. My problem is: I don't want to deal with setting up software support. And would licensing be worth it? It's for colleges, most don't have huge IT budgets. Maybe I could just consult? Do you find that it's worth it?