How To Start Building Multiple Income Streams

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Have you ever wondered how you can build multiple income streams?

Do you want to increase your income and start earning more money but not sure where to start?

I’m here to shed some light on that.

Precisely, we’re looking at 3 ways you could start to build multiple income streams.

Income Streams

An income stream is a way you make your money or in other words, a source of income.

Building multiple income streams is about you having more than one source of income.

For instance you could build income streams from a combination of your employment, side hustle and investments.

Why?

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, don’t put your eggs in ONE basket.

The same is true when it comes to your income. Don’t put your source of income in one place.

Today’s environment jobs aren’t secure and the cost of living is ever increasing at a faster pace than our income.

On top of that, house prices are growing, savings interest rates are basically non-existent, and we’re pushed by social media towards consumerism.

For the majority of us, one income is nowhere near enough to live comfortably and achieve our life and financial goals.

Rich Dad Poor Dad – Build Multiple Streams of Income

If you never read this book before, you must read it now.

Here’s a snippet below of its principles that are core to building multiple income streams.

Rich people acquire assets. The poor and middle class acquire liabilities that they think are assets. Too many people forget to mind their own business.

They spend their lives minding someone else’s business and making that person rich.

Robert Kiyosaki

In his philosophy, an asset is something that puts money in your pocket as opposed to taking from it.

An example is a car is a liability as it costs you to own and drive, whereas buying shares in a car manufacturer is an asset as it potentially puts money in your pocket.

There are many discussions and debates about what is regarded an asset and what isn’t, however the mindset shift is key.

Don’t get paid to spend your money on stuff only, also put your money to work to build your assets.

Seriously, that was an eye opener for me when I read it. Check out the book here!

How to Build Multiple Income Streams

I know there are numerous ways to make money and I see people being blown by the wind in various directions of property, forex trading, e-commerce, or to Amazon FBA.

I’m not saying those don’t work or that you shouldn’t do them, because they do. But I’d like to come at this from another angle. 

Usually when we chase the wind we end up with nothing.

But if we take the time to analyse what fits with our ambitions, our personality, our lifestyle and our circumstances, we can approach building our income streams in the right way.

I’m talking about leveraging what you already have to build your income streams. 

How? 

Let’s consider 3 ways we can approach this.

Your Skills

First angle we can approach this from is thinking about the skills you’ve learnt and what you’re good at. 

A skill is the ability to do something well, whether learnt or if it comes naturally.

Are you good at cooking?
Have you learnt the art of photography?
Do you know how to build websites?
Do you know how to play an instrument?

This doesn’t require you to reach expert level to start leveraging that skill as an income source builder.

There’s always someone who wants to learn what you already know.

Take photography as an example. It’s not as easy as pointing your camera and pressing a button.

You have to consider lighting, the style of picture, and backgrounds. On top of that there’s learning about ISO, shutter speeds, apertures and lenses. 

You can leverage the skill of photography in these ideas:

1. Taking pictures
2. Sell stock photos online
3. Create online courses teaching the fundamentals of photography
4. Offer coaching services to those serious about taking their photography skills to the next level.

You’d be reaching different sets of customers:

1. People who want their pictures taken
2. Bloggers, content creators, website developers
3. Aspiring and newbie photographers
4. Photographers wanting to get to the next level

Your Experience

The second angle we can approach this from is your experience. 

Take some time to consider the knowledge ad experience you’ve built over time.

Have you got experience in fashion, insurance, medicine, sales, carpentry, car mechanic, or midwifery? Are you experienced in career coaching, job advice, recruiting or CV writing? 

Experience is often a part we compartmentalise to our work or job.

We’ve adopted the mindset of switching off when we finish work at and going about life. Yet the same thing we’re doing at our job can be leveraged to build an income stream outside the box called work. 

I’m not suggesting you start selling internal company knowledge to competitors or using your company’s name and logo to endorse what you’re doing.

It’s really about what you’re learning or doing at work that could be used to build another income stream. 

Maybe you use a specific software at work and you’ve become really good at it so you can create online courses on how to use it.

Or, maybe you leverage yourself as a public speaker at events that are specific to your industry to share your experiences.

Package your experiences in a book for juniors in your field to get insights and indirect mentoring of how to navigate their careers.

Look back over the years to your knowledge and expertise from your experience, and analyse ways to monetise that experience.

Your Passions

The third approach to building multiple income streams can be your passions.

I’d express passion as something that really interests you or makes you tick. However this can also be the things that frustrate you. 

Are you passionate about eating healthy or veganism?
Are you really into cars or personal tech?
Do you love animals or pets?
Are you frustrated by the misrepresentation of females in media?
Frustrated by the underrepresentation of Blacks and Asians in your industry?

These passions could be expressed via a creative outlet through written, voice, or video content.

You could write books or publish articles to make your voice heard.

If you chase money you might just get tired, so I say chase your purpose the money will follow.

Build Multiple Streams of Income

You can combine all the perspective, or deep dive into one. Either way you choose start with what you already have!

I’ve put my money into certain places because I bought into the idea that if I just do this one thing I’ll make money. But the truth is, I got burnt.

Making money is very much possible but it requires work.

A farmer would not plant a seed and hope that by the end of the week it grows into a tree. They prepare the ground, water the seed and nurture the plant as it grows in its due time.

The point is, as you plant various seeds you’ll eventually have built various streams of income.

Take Action

Make a list of your skills, experience and passions and start to think of ways you can leverage them to build your income streams.

Share this with your friend, family, or partner and discuss creating multiple income streams together.

Get the Ultimate Money Plan spreadsheet where you can take control of your financial situation.

Let us know how you’re getting along by getting in touch with us, we’d love to hear from you

Knowledge is powerless without action

So take action, and take care

Thando