How I Am Diversifying My Income Now & 3 Reasons Why

How I am diversifying my income and why may be putting the cart before the horse. Let me take a shot at the reasons why I am diversifying first. Once those are divulged, then I will give you a glimpse into how I am doing it today.

Table of Contents

• 3 Reasons I Am Diversifying My Income
• How I Am Diversifying My Income
• When Diversifying My Income, Slow and Steady Is the Key
• Why Am I Sharing My Diversifying My Income Journey With You?

3 Reasons I Am Diversifying My Income

COVID-19 did a number on a lot of people and the world we live in. How we work and where we work from were both affected by the pandemic. Some of those changes were temporary, some were permanent. It was during this time that I became extremely reflective about where I was in life and where I would like to get to. While some things were changing for me by external forces out of my control (like being forced to do learn how to do relational ministry remotely), others were changing because I was the force behind the change. My desires for where I wanted to be and what I wanted to be doing were gaining clarity and as I asked myself about the way I envisioned the future, the following three reasons were the top reasons for diversifying my income and kicking that process into a higher gear.

It is a pretty commonly quoted idea that the average millionaire has 7 different streams of income. When I compared my income sources to this old adage, I realized that I was putting all of my eggs into one basket by having my 9-5 job as my sole source of income. This left me exposed to potential market or business changes that could have resulted in a lay off or business closure that would put me out of work. While I have been fortunate in the last couple of decades to be able to maintain consistent employment, the older I got the more uncomfortable this idea has made me. So the first reason I wanted to diversify was to provide some “fall backs” should something ever happen to my primary source of income.

The second idea that has percolated to the forefront of my mind in recent years is that I have spent a large portion of my life working for others. Simply put, I am trading my time for money and losing control of time and energy. All the while, someone else is gaining more from my efforts than I was. Now there were a few years where I was self employed, and those were truly great times. Reflecting on that season of my life (I am now 52) has caused me to rethink my options moving forward. I desire to reclaim more of my most precious asset – time. As my daughter is getting older, I want to be able to spend more time with her and my wife. So, the second reason for diversifying my income was to reclaim more of my time.

Finally, there are some things that I want to be able to accomplish through a new non-profit I have envisioned. In order to be able to do that effectively, I need my multiple streams of income to be able to someday get the non-profit off of the ground.

Before you decide you want to diversify your income, you should do some reflection to gain clarity as to why. There is no right or wrong answer to the why question. For some people, the why may be to be able to have some additional ‘mad money’ to go to concerts, take vacations, or upgrade some things around the home. For others, the why may include getting out of debt more quickly and buying a first home. Others may even just simply want to be rich; however they may define that term. While still others, want to be able to have more freedom in their schedule. As you can see, there are an infinite number of possibilities as to why different individuals to diversify their income.

Having clarity about why diversifying my income was important to me because it gave shape to the breadth and depth of time, energy, and resources that I need to invest in my other income streams to make my dreams a reality. It narrows the field of possibilities of alternate income streams. For example, I don’t want to have to manage 300 apps that if I engage in I might make $10-20 per week each at. I need to be exploring higher yield, longer term, more residual and passive income opportunities to accomplish my dreams.

The same will be true for you. For example, if one of your desires for diversifying your income is to have a place to express and get paid for your creativity, then you might find a way to sell your art or crafts online. If part of your desire is to live a healthier life style and help others do the same on a full time basis, then you might explore coaching, ebooks, and product affiliation marketing to accomplish your dreams.

How I Am Diversifying my Income

Hopefully you can resonate with at least one of those reasons for wanting to diversify your income and you now understand why clarity is primary before you get too far along this journey. Now let me give you a brief glimpse into how I am doing this currently. Here is my list (in no particular order) of how I am diversifying my income:

1. My 9-5
   • I currently have a 9-5 job that pays well and that I love 95% of what I do (I had always heard that it’s the 5% you don’t love doing that you get paid for). It is a salary position, so my 9-5 can sometimes be 60 plus hours per week.
   • This is currently a 6 figure income on its own. In order to fully replace this income (including the cash value of the amazing benefits package that comes with this job) I need my additional income streams to be able to total an average of $3,231 per week.
     • While that may be hard to do with a single alternative income stream, having multiple streams makes it easier to reach the goal.
   • Additionally, should markets, trends, or interest in my chosen areas of business shift and cause the loss of one or two streams temporarily or permanently, the others can help sustain the desired income level carrying the burden equally.
2. Crypto Currency
   • I invest in Crypto Currencies like Bitcoin through direct purchases of them on exchanges as an investor, not a day trader (more about the differences and why I do it this way in a future post). By continuing to dollar cost average into the space, specifically through purchasing additional Bitcoin, I am lowering my overall cost basis of the coins I own. This will lead to greater gains when we get out of the bear market that we are in and Bitcoin climbs to a new all-time high. The gains I make here will likely not be realized for months or even years, so it is difficult to count this into my weekly earnings.
   • I mine Crypto Currencies like Helium, Etherium, Litecoin, and Dogecoin. In the current market, I am converting all of the mined coins into Bitcoin and holding the Bitcoin for future gains once the markets recover. With a Bobcat Helium miner, an ASIC miner for Doge and Litecoin, and 2 GPU rigs mining Etherium – and all coins being converted to Bitcoin immediately – I am able to make about $75-100 per week after power expenses in this market. In a full bull market, that number can easily triple. But this is a volatile space and as Etherium moves from proof of work to proof of stake, I will need to find new coins to mine with my GPU that turn out to be equally profitable.
   • Until recently, I was earning yield on my many of my invested Crypto Currencies. But if you have been watching the Crypto space and seen the default of 3 Arrows Capital, then you know that Celsius and others have paused their trades, swaps, and withdrawals. So the short version is simply that this leg of my Crypto Currency endeavors has been halted for the foreseeable future. If additional earnings by yield farming or decentralized finance (DeFi) are possible
   • This stream of income is most easily measured in annual gains and therefore is not being included in my weekly total goal.
3. Stock Market Investing
   • I invest in single regular stocks and ETFs, as well as stocks and ETFs that pay dividends, every single week. This is a manner of dollar cost averaging into investments to be able to compound my returns over the longer haul (more about this and my favorite apps to use to do this coming soon!)
   • This stream of income is most easily measured in annual gains and therefore is not being included in my weekly total goal.
4. Reselling
   • I love going to flea markets, garage sales, antique malls and the like always on the look out for a good deal to be able to flip either on eBay or Facebook Market Place.
   • My favorite thing to resell, however, is sports memorabilia like baseball cards. I seek out and buy large collections, add inventory to my personal collection that I am looking for, and then sell the rest online (usually through eBay). Last year I did more that $53,000 in sales, which may not sound like much, but that averaged out to be about an extra $2,500 per month in income. Before you scoff, ask yourself if an extra $2,500 would help you get out of debt, invest more, or take more or better vacations?
   • This is already bringing in $250 to $577 per week after expenses consistently (some seasons even higher, some lower).
   • My goal is to consistently bring in $1,000 per week with this income stream.
   • To find out more about how to get started with this side hustle/additional stream of income, click HERE.
5. Kindle Direct Printing (KDP)
   • I have recently started a small independent publishing brand and have published several dozen low to mid content books. I was able to begin getting organic sales without ads within about 45 days and am working to scale it for more consistent and larger volume sales.
   • I will also be moving to more mid content books related to may favorite niches (sports memorabilia and finance) moving forward so that my brands remain consistent and I don’t get spread too thin.
   • I foresee this to eventually be contributing a minimum of $300 per week to my overall total to reach my goal.
6. Social Media Chanels
   • I have a Youtube, TikTok, and Pinterest account under my new brand to direct traffic to the blog and other endeavors. I am looking to add Instagram and Twitter under the brand in the future.
   • These will not only be traffic drivers to the blog and each other, they will also all be able to be monetized with ads should I desire to do that in the future as they grow.
   • I foresee that these 3 channels combined could easily bring $1,000 per week towards my goal.
7. Blogging
   • This blog is where I can provide the richest most detailed content for my community. From how to guides to experiences with apps or side hustles that did or didn’t work, the blog becomes the way that I can give back to the community as I learn additional alternative income stream possiblities.
   • The blog can also be monetized through ads and sharing of affiliate marketing links for products that I support and recommend.
   • I would like to grow the blog to a minimum of $1,000 per week towards my goal.
8. Print on Demand
   • Currently I am only doing RedBubble to start, but this is a test case to see what the possibilities are.
   • May also try Etsy and other platforms eventually.
9. Selling My Photographs
   • This is also a test case to check out the validity of claims about how much can be made.
   • Because I have been able to travel internationally with my church job, I have pictures of people and places from around the globe that I have begun to post on Clickasnap.com where I get paid for both views and items that I sell with my pictures on them.
10. Affiliate Marketing
    • I am testing two different versions of Affiliate Marketing so that I can share my results with you and let you know what to realistically expect from both.
    • I anticipate this being my primary contributing stream bringing in $1,000 plus per week towards my goal.

When Diversifying My Income, Slow and Steady is the Key

As you can see, what started as a single income stream, then moved to two, then to three, now consists of 10 different streams that are varying degrees of scaling. Don’t rush this process. Slow and steady is the key. Let me explain what I mean.

I did not run out and start all 10 income streams at once. Some I have been working on and working at for 20 plus years. Others, I have been doing for much less time; weeks (like my Clickasnap.com account), months (like my KDP business), or only a few years (under 5 years or less, like my Crypto business).

So here’s how it worked as I was diversifying my income. I got a job first. After getting a job, I added my eBay store that has now been running for 19 years with consistent sales and a reliable extra income. If I lost my job tomorrow, I could triple my sales on eBay in a matter of months (because I have a lot of unlisted inventory on hand and I would have more time to list and ship if I didn’t have my main gig). I know the ins and outs of this business like the back of my hand and that makes scalability easier moving forward.

After eBay was up and running, I began investing in the stock market. I determined my risk tolerance, developed a plan, and have been sticking with it for years now. A little more than a year ago, I started investing in Crypto currencies. I began as a simple investor, following simple rules with a moderate risk profile. That meant that I got into the blue chips like Bitcoin and Etherium heaviest, layer one protocols and oracles like Solana and Chainlink, respectively. Then a couple of speculative coins like Axis Infinity, and others.

More recently, I began my publishing business with Kindle Direct Publishing. I started with no content books to learn the trade. Took a course to improve my skills and take a deeper dive with someone that have verifiably succeeded in the space. Tweaked my existing products and continued producing books and have finally attained some organic sales that didn’t include friends and neighbors (no pity buys) and didn’t require ads. This tells me that I am on the way to being able to scale this business into something that will legitimately be contributing to my end goal.

And so on, and so on; every so often adding and investing into an additional new income stream.

Whatever you do, please don’t go out and try to set all of these up at once. You will fail if you do it that way. Be slow and steady in your process of researching, learning, developing, and launching your

Why Am I Sharing My Diversifying My Income Journey with You?

My goal is to get my alternate streams of income scaled to a place that they could eventually replace and exceed my full-time income. And I want to share my experience with you.

So there’s the how and why of diversifying my income now. What about you?

How are you diversifying your income?

What questions would you like for me to explore in future posts?

Please feel free to answer these questions in the comments below or leave your own question or comment!

Affiliate Marketing, Crypto, eBay, Investing, KDP, Multiple Income Streams, Reselling