In this Covid season how does one make passive and multiple streams of income? We need to be entrepreneurial and we must grow. Now these are important all the time but now even more crucial. Your multiple streams of income will be uniquely yours because you and your needs, available time and skills to execute, are different.
In the light of recent events, say the past 20 years, we know we cannot rely on one income source. Both young and old realize it is not only death that can come at any point in ones life but financial ruin can happen at any point. This means your income sources cannot all be active (things you personally do to make money) but a good portion must be passive (income that comes from your money working for you.
From the day you become aware of this, you should continually seek to find opportunities to earn income not just from your direct efforts but through other resources you may have.
When we talk of resources from a business perspective this could be money, people, equipment or network. Now thinking of yourself as a business entity what resources are available for you and how can you strategically use them to increase your income opportunities?
1. Yourself:
First if you are not making money by offering yourself either as a business person or employee this is where you should start. There is always the debate between whether or not to be employed or go into business. Many say not everyone is meant to be a business person. The reality for me is that every one has different stress levels but everyone is in business. Business is the exchange of goods and service for money and whether you are employed or have an outfit of your own that is what we do daily. Exchange goods and services for money. So we all are in business. Question is when you get this money do you reinvest it or do you consume it all?
Let me bring this into perspective.
A small business owner who uses up all their income covering costs, paying workers, themselves and other shareholders and not reinvest in the growth of the business is just as bad as an employee who does not invest in their personal growth and in other opportunities in the market. Both have no future unless their income significantly surpasses their expenditure and is wisely invested in future opportunities.
Personal and business growth is important because this is how you get to update skills, learn of gaps and opportunities and combine the two to strategically come up with solutions to problems for yourself and others. Whether we a looking at an individual or a business, growth is necessary to understand ourselves and gaps in the market and find ways to provide solutions directly or through our investments to meet the needs and increase our streams of income.
Just a note, personal growth may not be complex and could be as simple as a change of attitude towards something that could put money in your pocket.
2. Your money
So money is another resource available to us / our business. This could be money you earn as a salary for the service you offer your employer, or earned as a business from clients buying what you selling. Either way the money is not really yours until you spend it on something that grows or expands you as a business or individual. It falls in the debit side of the balance sheet till it is spent on something that increases your opportunities and income stream then we call it an investment. Any investment should yield increased income otherwise it is just a cost/loss.
3. Skills and Knowledge
Are you making use of all your skills? Find ways to use the knowledge and the skills you acquired through life whether it is directly in your job or in a side hustle. Today there are many safe hustles that will not require you investing money but just applying skills you may have.
As a business owner are you underutilizing your staff. Giving them repetitive work simply because you dare not explore new opportunities? Have you employed the best you can get for the salary you are paying and giving them challenging work and opportunities?
Being a leader and not a manager is important for a business person. This may not be consistent with what you expect but there is opportunity in letting staff create similar business as branches of your own instead of getting rid of them because they are too ambitious or threaten your growth. Leadership is not about managing things but people and the sooner you develop yourself to learn to lead leaders chances of being impactful and getting multiple streams of income will continually elude you. We do not get rich or multiple streams of income by managing things but people.
4. Technology
Now I can hear you refuting what I just said and I agree there are times where you can have multiple streams of income without managing people but guess what? More often than not another resources comes to play and often it is technology.
If you have not invested in the traditional methods of doing business, technology gives you the opportunity to have extra income. For example using online work sites can enable you run whole businesses in your spare time. Understanding how these are used in the sectors you are interested in puts you ahead of the pack whether we talking investments or online business.
5. People and Networks
Are not just important but crucial. Often having a good product or service is just not enough especially in Africa. Red tap has stopped even the most novel causes. Who you know helps not only in opening doors but avoiding pitfalls that can be avoided. For example, having a mentor who has done what you are trying ton do will give you hands on information of licensing requirements, investor networks, what channels are best to introduce something new. In the same breath a career mentor will know which companies are looking for what and increase your opportunities of getting head hunted other than just give you quality career advice. After you have all your experience or lack of it, all your papers aligned, the people and networks you have do make a difference.
It is said you are the average of the 3 people you spend time with. People we work with, work for and hangout with all directly contribute to who we are and become. If you were asked for one resource you should go out of your way to build, this is it; a reliable network. Investing in ones networks and people not only ensures you are not limited in yourself but that you have the crucial support you need when you are not capable on your own. People are the blood in your pipeline of streams of income
6. Spirituality
I suppose this is also where I would talk about spirituality. I cannot over emphasize how important this is. Spirituality gives you insight, sharpens your gut instinct. The energy you put out there, your connection with God is important both in business and career. If People are the blood in your pipeline the Spirituality is the heart of it all. People talk of good luck, coincidence, helpers, angels and so on. Many successful people will tell you after all is said and done chance happens to all of us. Many people work harder better than they ever did. However, luck was in their favor.
You can miss your season for take off if you are not spiritually aligned. This may not be easy to grasp for some and may contradict others belief but through experience and in reading and learning from many successful moguls, educated or not, this plays a significant part in their success with the different income streams they chose to pursue and the ones they left. Don’t take it for granted.
In your experience what other factor is crucial in creating multiple streams of income?
