Tweet

Painting Your Own Rainbow – Creating multiple income streams

Written by: Marianne Craig

Article Overview: Creating multiple income streams - including passive income streams, where you make money while you sleep - is a terrific idea and a creative endeavour.

Painting Your Own Rainbow – Creating multiple income streams

Painting Your Own Rainbow – Creating multiple income streams


I once met an entrepreneur who had ten different income streams including a number of passive ones. A passive income stream means you make money while you sleep. In other words you create a product which is sold for you by a shop or website.This entrepreneur wrote books and articles which were sold and published in the traditional way, he self-published other books, he ran workshops, offered one-to-one tutoring, he did training for different companies, he was a professional key-note speaker, he recorded his talks and sold the CDs from his web sites and at conferences along with his publications, he offered consultancy and he created ecourses which were delivered as automatic weekly downloads……….phew!

The beauty of having so many income streams is that you are not dependent on one income alone to earn your living. If several of them don't work out it's not a problem. Moreover you can spread the risk and aim to make a living from the spread rather than from one source. The other great thing is that you can leverage your successes. This entrepreneur gave a talk but didn't leave it at that. He leveraged this opportunity by recording his speech and selling it to many more people than were present at his original talk. I know of another entrepreneur with a number of creative businesses including her own photography business and photo-based products such as calendars which she sells online. One successful photograph can be leveraged many times over.

I like the idea of a portfolio career - where you do several things which reflect your personality and fulfil you. A portfolio career can, for example, mean combining a part time job with a start-up business, a course, voluntary work or child-care. Or you can run a portfolio of several businesses giving you a number of income streams. The term “portfolio career” was coined by writer and broadcaster Charles Handy in the 1990s and acknowledges the changes in society and in the job market: fewer jobs for life, more people wanting greater variety in work and education in their adult lives, changing gender roles, more people seeking fulfilling lives.

Linked to the idea of a portfolio career is this notion of multiple income streams where your income comes from a number of sources. I myself have a number of income streams. My core business is one-to-one business and career coaching. I have a second company through which I offer training in career coaching and I am an assessor for a coach training company. I also freelance as an associate for a couple of executive coaching companies. In addition I have several passive income streams. For example I have written an ebook called So You Want to Become Coach which I sell from one of my websites.

The 21st century is a wonderful time to think about your career or business as a creative endeavour. The idea of multiple income streams means you can think differently about how you earn and how much you want to earn. The key is you get to decide the shape of your life and work. You can focus on your strengths and have variety and fulfilment in your life. Thinking creatively about your time and your earning power and getting clear about your personal values means you can focus on what is really important to you. That might mean your main focus is on work but it might also be spending time with your kids, music, creative arts, saving the planet or contributing in other ways as a volunteer. The Internet and the growth of entrepreneurialism, especially among women, young people and retired people, means that the time is right to play to your strengths and create a career and business as varied and interesting as you are. Get the colours out and start painting that rainbow!

Marianne Craig MCC
ICF Master Credentialed Coach
Career and Business Coach
w. www.coachlifeandcareer.com
e: coach@coachlifeandcareer.com
Tel:+ 44 (0) 1273 563 518

Related Articles
  Home Business Expert: Multiple Streams of Income
  MULTIPLE STREAMS OF INCOME IS NOT DUMB
  Creating Multiple Streams Of Income Is Easier Than You Think
  You Must Have Multiple Income Streams in Your Home Based Business
  How to Create Multiple Streams of Income - Online

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - I agree David, it is all about having multiple streams of income which don't necessarily all to come from the internet. MichelleJ
Re: When do entrepreneurs retire, if ever? - I believe Enterpreneurs can retire. It depends on the type of business investment he/she has established. Entrepreneurs can retire at any age after he/she has multiple streams of income.
Are you Self Employed or a Business Woman? - Us women are especially vulnerable to thinking we can do EVERYTHING ourselves! I'm not immune to this way of thinking either. (It seems to go with the territory of having XX chromosomes and growing up in our North American culture.) Anyhow, this kind of thinking can actually trip us women up when it comes to business. I've heard it said that a true business is something you create that can eventually run by itself. A business is meant to give us freedom and not tie us down. A business works FOR YOU. If you are the one working FOR YOUR BUSINESS, then I invite you to open up to the possibility of using your entrepreneur skills to recreate a business that works for you. When I was first challenged on this concept, it was a huge AHA moment. I am grateful because I realized I was still a little stuck on working harder instead of working smarter. I've opened up to a whole new world of possibility and now I'm thinking MUCH BIGGER than before. I expect my income will be much bigger as well. In all honesty, I've realized that my coaching business has been a glorified job. I will still do coaching because I love to do it, but now I am in the process of developing multiple streams of income that use my time more efficiently and products that sell even while I'm on holidays. I'm also developing a retail store which will eventually mostly run itself. Then I will move on to my next project. It's liberating to be on the path of creating businesses that work FOR me. This is how I can run multiple companies without wearing out! In fact, I plan on having MORE time for me. So, what are you doing? Are you self employed or running a business?
Re: Social Media & Digg, Google, MySpace, and YouTube - Hi Kathy, What I meant about it being worth it was in the sense that I described. Creating multiple accounts for various sites and posting and ranking your own stuff. It's very time consuming to say the least. I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there that has done this and thinks it's beneficial.
Re: Article in the Business Section of LoveToKnow.com - I love it when people talk about possibilities! You have a lot of great ideas, Shri. It sounds like you're really expanding into multiple sources of income. Now the key is in adding those that can bring you income while you're sleeping (or down at the beach reading a good book!) That's one of the things I'm working on.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Steps For Starting A Small Business

Setting Goals for your Home Based Business

Sales Courage and Resilience

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.