I’m sitting here thinking about money as I often do lol, and realized something. I currently have 10 income sources that I balance throughout the year. How did I get to this point?
A little over 10 years ago I was laser focused on finding ways to generate secondary streams of income. I have always been a person that placed value on skills over ambition. So often times along the way I have adversely found myself physically working harder than needed to produce minimal result. This all changed for the better due to three key pivotal occurrences:
1. A shift in mind-set
Prior to my shift in perspective, I was very proud to be able to “outwork” others and produce mind-blowing results at whatever I was working on. From web-design to roofing, to song writing – Utilizing/Showcasing my skills was my main focus. The problem with that approach is that you end up working harder for a smaller piece of the financial pie. Which ultimately leads to burnout and a diminishing of the skills you work so hard to acquire.
When it comes to making money, there are two other equally as important factors at work along with your skills. These factors are; value, and awareness.
Value
Value or perceived value is such an important part of selling anything. In my case, I was devaluing myself and my skills by not creating and presenting concrete price structures for the services I was trying to offer. In addition to that, I was quoting prices I knew were lower than I wanted or needed for profit. Like most early entrepreneurs, I assumed that my presentation and work ethic would encourage people to pay me what I felt I was worth. What I later learned is that people will pay you what you ask for, if it solves their problem. Simple as that. Yes, some people may not be able to afford what you are offering, but there are enough people that will.
Awareness
Awareness as it relates to making money is one of those things that can cost you nothing, or cost you everything. You can have multiple billion dollar products or services ready to sell, and be great at selling them. However, if no one knows they exist, money will not be generated. Ironically this is one of the main mistakes made by those who actually have the skills to do great things. I was one of those people. The problem is, most people who become good at something spend a lot of time doing that thing and not much time selling. This often times creates tunnel vision around their abilities. Leaving little to know room for the other important factors we are discussing. If you want to make money, I urge you to also take interest in learning the art building awareness.
My mind-set shift happened one year when I finally got to the point where I was tired. It was a perfect storm of being devalued and overworked by clients with little return. The frustration was beginning to show and my personal outlook was being altered negatively. At that point I said; “enough is enough. Something has to change.”
The first thing I changed was my “friends a family” work behaviors and expectations. No more did I take on projects for friends and family at substantially cut rates or for free in the hopes that they would help support my businesses at some point in a real and tangible way. Not to say that friends and family can’t be valuable supporters of your endeavors. To the contrary in many cases they can be great supporters. The problems arise from the inability to draw concrete lines between the growths of your business financially and the expectation in involvement of your growth that friends and family may have. In this you must be very clear and definitive.
The next thing I did was create a concrete price chart for what I was willing to work. This reflected all my skill-sets. Even ones I had not monetized yet at the time. My reason for doing this was so that I quickly new and was able to communicate my worth to potential clients or customers. This was and is a very important step in magnifying and sustaining your perceived and desired value. Once you have established value, you can increase your income on many fronts.
2. The Internet
I am old enough to remember a time without the internet as we know it today. A time where you had to pay heavily for a few key things that are now relatively free; Information, tools, and access…
Information – The internet makes it so much easier to learn how to do just about anything. On one hand this opens up a world of possibilities as it greatly diminishes barriers to entry into many profitable fields or industries. On the other hand, one can get overwhelmed by all the possibilities and end up doing little to nothing as a result.
Tools – New life changing tools are released daily on the internet. It has never been as easy as it is right now to create and automate process that save you time and money as it relates to doing business.
Access is key when trying to cultivate a tribe around whatever products and or services you offer. With the advent of social media, this process has become a click away.
3. Understanding Passive Income
This was a huge leap forward for me! Yes, like many people I knew early on in life that I would need multiple streams of income to realize life goals and what-not. But what I wasn’t taught was that I didn’t need to physically work hard my entire life within those income streams. Or that those income streams could be set up in a way that would pay me in my sleep. Again, I must give credit to the mighty internet for this one. Prior to the internet, passive income was something seemingly reserved to the ultra-rich or people who got-in-on the ground floor of something that for whatever reason experienced rapid sustaining success. Now, people are able to create multiple passive income streams with minimal prior knowledge or capital for that matter. The tradeoff being a larger more dedicated time commitment on the front end, in most cases. As all things, this will not last. However, what’s coming may be better! I digress.
My 10 Income Sources
Long story short, Once I shifted my “worth perspective”, it allowed me to work smarter as oppose to harder. This in turn gave me time. Which was/is the main ingredient I needed to establish and build the more passive income streams. Bellow is a list of my current 10 income sources. I have indicated the passive incomes in parenthesis:
- Videography – Filmmaking
- Music production
- Songwriting
- Music Royalties (PASSIVE)
- Brand Creation – Web Design – Development –Social Media Marketing
- YouTube Channels (PASSIVE over time)
- Blogging – Affiliate Marketing – Print On Demand – Ad Revenue (PASSIVE over time)
- Forex Trading
- T-shirt Vinyl Printing
- Home Improvement
There are limitless income possibilities available out there. These are just the 10 that occupy my time through the year. Let me know how you guys are generating your incomes in the reply box below. Thank you for your time!
I really enjoyed reading this article. It is powerful. I will certainly try to share it. So very proud of you.
Thank you! Glad it has value for you, and thank you for sharing!