I don’t know about you, but I’ve often wondered if there was an easier way to earn money.
Notice that I said, “easier.”
Some make it look easy. But, between you and I, there is no such thing — mainly because of the whole “earn” part.
However, I’ve discovered that there is a better way.
Create multiple streams of income
It is by doing this that you sidestep the pitfalls of putting all your eggs in one basket, because life can happen when you least expect it.
“Never depend on a single income.” — Warren Buffet
Anything Is Possible
Good or bad, you may find yourself directly in the middle, fighting to find your groove in the midst of all the chaos. And that can go either way at any given time, regardless of your enormous potential.
For example, your employer may tell you it’s time to move on. You can put your heart and soul into a company, work a ridiculous number of hours for them, and in the end, they determine that you are the loose string needing to be cut. They give you all the apologies you can handle. Now, you’re left out in the abyss.
Depending on how prepared you were, this could be a perplexing time. You have a family to support. That car payment is due, and won’t magically pay for itself. All these things are running through your mind. And the confusion about where the money will come from next can’t seem to go away.
Or maybe you decide to leave. The job is stressing you out. They’re putting tons of pressure on you. You can sense the negativity from upper management. So, you make up your mind, and decide that it’s time to go. You put in your two weeks’ notice.
But, unfortunately, two weeks wasn’t long enough. You need more time. All the payments are beginning to pile up, and you haven’t heard anything back from any of the jobs you applied for a week ago.
It’s the Smart Way
Having multiple streams of income reduces the stress of depending on once source.
Since life is unpredictable, why live as if it isn’t?
Money coming from different areas allows you to breathe easier, especially, if “worst-case” scenario happens. There is less of figuring out where the money will come from next.
Instead, now you can simply replace that one stopped-up stream with something else, while the other streams are taking care of the necessities.
With multiple streams, you have multiple opportunities to earn more or the same. Look, making six figures per year would be nice. That’s darn good money.
But what if, instead of receiving from that one source, you opened the doors to earn the same amount (or more) doing multiple things at once — things you already do in your free time without getting paid anything?
For instance, you probably already own a dslr camera with a decent lens. You’ve been watching tutorials on how to use it, but you haven’t really taken it serious enough to do photography as another source of income.
The truth is, there are countless ways to earn money. Why don’t we take advantage of it?
Maybe it’s the response that we’re afraid of. It could be the reaction of those friends who’ve studied to become engineers, so they see no point in having multiple streams of income. And they’re partially right. They’ll be making enough money to relax and do what they’ve always dreamed of — that is until life happens.
It doesn’t matter how much income is being made. It is always a smart (and safe) idea to create multiple streams of income.
Then vs Now
Years ago, I thought multiple streams of income was all about having 2 to 3 different jobs at one time. I had two part-time jobs, working one directly after the other.
I was wearing myself out, though. I knew my body was taking a beating, but I didn’t know any other way.
That’s mainly because times have changed. And ways of making money have, too.
There are more opportunities available today than when I was working those two jobs. From Uber to work-from-home jobs and dog-walking, there are loads of opportunities now than they were then.
The Point
Simply put, there really aren’t many excuses. We can add other streams of income if we really wanted to. And we should do it before we’re forced to, after all else fails, and we’ve hit rock bottom.
We just have to take the risk of being outside the norm.
Author: Keith Horton / Medium