Multiple Streams of Income: The way to financial independence

Good Wednesday Morning!  I bring to you today another excerpt from my ebook: Common Core Money.  I am still devising ways of creating passive or residual income for myself.  In all honesty, it is the way of the future and if you're not taking aim at this, you're falling behind.  The world is becoming an automated, robotic, malleable place to live.  The 21st century is already one of the most innovative in the annals of human history.  Are you resting on the perceived comfort of your 9-5 job?  I give you the following to help get you thinking about improving your income potential.

“Multiple streams of income” is the idea that individuals should have more than one way of making money.  You shouldn’t depend on a single source.  There are inherent risks associated with reliance on a single way of making income.  The obvious one is the threat of losing your job.  Think about this: How would you support yourself or a family if you were to become unemployed today?  Scary, isn’t it?  This is why I consistently preach to my colleagues and friends to create multiple streams of income.  When you establish another source of income, so that money is received on a regular basis with little effort on your part, you’ve generated what is called, “passive or residual income.”  I talked about real estate in this book and mentioned cash flow from rents.  Cash flow from rents is money you have left over once you’ve covered all other obligations.  By having rentals with cash flow, I’ve created another source of passive income.  Sure, there’s work related to being a landlord, but that’s why I have a property management company.  I can’t get on a plane and fly to Memphis every time my tenants complain the hot water isn’t working.  I’ve authorized my property management company to take care of the little stuff, and only bother me when it’s something major.  At the end of the year, I send the invoices and receipts that are mailed to me by my property management company to my Enrolled Agent for tax purposes.  This takes little time and effort.

           

Real estate is not the only game in town that produces passive or residual income.  There are plenty more.  The table below presents two additional ideas for generating a more robust income stream.

Multiple Streams of Passive Income-Possibilities

Type	Description
Network Marketing	Network Marketing businesses have gotten a bad rap.  The public often labels them as “pyramid schemes” or associates them with Ponzi set-ups.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  With network marketing, you build a network of clients and consultants who consume and share a product they love.  Consultants can earn as much or even more than their sponsor.  Everyone starts at the same level and through their personal efforts can create a lucrative residual income.  See, not a pyramid!  My wife, Jessica, is our household’s expert on network marketing.  She states that a great network marketing company sells a consumable product with timing for trends (health and wellness is big right now in the world).  There is market-place demand, meaning you aren’t selling a trinket or product only a few people would want to buy.  Sell to the masses.  You also have to love the product and feel passionate about the company.  Before signing-up, you should check the compensation plan because they’re all different.  There are costs to get started and these vary by business.  To read about network marketing, go here: Entrepreneur.com.  A big shout-out to the beautiful ladies (and the handsome men) of Arbonne International!
Write a Book	Although there’s considerable time and effort that goes into writing a book, and a possibility that it will never be published, the benefits are worth the trouble.  With a published book, you get royalty checks or payments deposited to your checking account, every month.  The royalties are based on the contract you sign with the publisher.  They start out low, say 8%, and can increase after meeting a certain sales threshold.  E-books are the new disruptor to the industry.  You can cut out the publishers and self-publish your own book.  I put my fiction writing skills to work and self-published a collection of stories for Amazon Kindle: Immigrant Me & Other Short Stories.  Amazon sends me my royalties every month.  The process to self-publish a book for Kindle is easy.  I purchased a beautiful, royalty free stock photo for my cover image from www.dreamstime.com for ten bucks.  Donna Tlachac, a teacher colleague (Donna@Tlachac.com), helped me position text onto the stock image with her computer skills and software.  Because self-publishing places the burden of marketing on your shoulders, you should have a strategy.  Prior to the release of my e-books, I build momentum and hype on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  I also use online sites for free e-book marketing.  You can also spend money on an e-book ad campaign; just don’t go crazy.  All of your expenses will be tax deductible.  This will be your new business!

            Let me introduce an expert on passive income streams, Mr. Chris C. Ducker.  His video describes other types of sources for passive income.  Watch here: Passive Income STreams

The Impact of Social Networking Sites on the Creation of Passive Income

            This is a passionate topic for me.  Networking on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter has been more than a pastime for me.  The sad truth is that the masses aren’t taking full advantage of 21^st century technology.  Most people use Facebook for entertainment purposes, to catch up with friends and family, or to post pictures of themselves (selfies) or others.  They “like” or “comment” on threads, sometimes not watching what they say.  They “share” memes or other posts.  They follow celebrities by liking their page.

The investor or business owner realizes that Facebook is much more powerful.  They can place ads.  They can also connect others to their products or services.  In essence, they learn to create a virtual monetizing machine with their profile.  I had an epiphany two years ago.  I was working on my first e-book at the time.  I realized that I needed to market myself in order to promote my book.  I had the fortune of being written about in a newspaper article: UT San Diego.  This went on my Facebook.  Each time one of my short stories was published, I updated my status.  Pretty soon I had people I didn’t know requesting to be my friend.  And I added them.  Duh!  If you request to be my friend on FB today, I’ll add you too!  People endear themselves to other people on FB, even when they’ve never actually met.  That’s because Mark Z. and his team have done a fantastic job of setting up a platform that makes individuals from far off places come together in one big community.  He truly is connecting the world.  How did I meet my rich uncle, Warren?  On Facebook!  How did I get the privilege of having a lengthy conversation on investing with Mr. Andrew Hallam, author of Millionaire Teacher, I messaged him on FB (and he actually replied), no lie.

After FB, I repeat the process of self-marketing on LinkedIn and Twitter, directing others to my monetized platforms, my e-books, via my profiles and occasionally with a plug.  I have ideas for YouTube not yet put to work.  You can see YouTube is one way (video making) Mr. Chris C. Ducker expands and promotes his personal brand.  Your profile then, becomes both a business and a brand.  Well, if that’s the case, then what’s your service or product?  It’s you!  It’s the feeling people get when you provide reliable, useful, and beneficial information to your followers.  In order to help yourself economically, you need to help others first.  Only then will you clone yourself like Calvin’s duplicator box.  Only then will you be on people’s minds and in their hearts.