As a business owner, one of the most appealing dreams is to have passive income where you don’t have to trade your time for money. But what does that look like?
When I coach clients (and myself), I always focus on the question: ‘what is the lifestyle you want and how can your business fulfill that?’
I look at goals and income as lifestyle goals. This means not just how much income will this bring in? but what sort of lifestyle does it create?
A few things to keep in mind, as with anything worthwhile, it usually takes time, patience and energy to build up to.
Enjoy the journey and make the most of experience you are gaining
I had been running my first business for 8 years before I started my second business, because the learning curve on the first business was so much larger. Once I started my second, I already had put in the time and effort to learn the basics. I started my third business 3 years ago, and while it reminded me the process of building a new business, it was also much easier than my first.
Know your strengths and find the path that makes YOU happy
However, I discovered that that didn’t bring me joy. It stressed me further and was not my passion. I scaled back, took back all the work myself and focus on quality clients rather than quantity now and I am so much happier.
I recommend the Strengths Finder test. I discovered that in my top 5 strengths, I am the workhorse. When I get focused, I get the work done and it makes me happy. So inadvertently I followed my intuition to create a business that followed my strengths.
Instead I focused on building systems…marketing systems, client systems, etc so that I cold spare my time, put part of my business on auto pilot and focus on the elements that bring me joy.
- What do you want the end result, your end life to look like?
- How do you decide what multiple streams of income looks like?
- Multiple streams within 1 business (services and products)
- Multiple businesses (different expertise, maybe the compliment each other)
- Multiple investments
My Journey
I currently have 3 businesses & 3 rental properties, but these didn’t all happen simultaneously.
As I mentioned, I had my first business 8 years before I started my second business. You can do one thing well at a time, so get the systems in place you need, or the people in place, to run your existing business or revenue stream before you start a new venture.
Having multiple businesses, they ebb and flow to make a total of 100%. You can’t run two businesses full steam without outside support and help. Sometimes one takes more of my time and the other is quiet, such as 80/20, sometimes they both are fairly active and it’s more 60/40. Just know that you will be picking and choosing how your time goes into each business.
My third business I started 3 years ago and I focus on 2 businesses at a time, one is mostly on autopilot where I serve the clients I built up while in growth mode.
Investment Property
My early reading included reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The 4-Hour Work Week, E-Myth, etc. All books on how to leverage your money and gain financial freedom. After trying multiple paths, I’ve found that investment properties are in my joy zone.
Also, I sit all day at a computer so I love the idea of renovating and remodeling houses and the physical work it requires
I do these all because I’m passionate about them.
3 Tips to Building Multiple Streams of Income
1. Decide what multiple streams of income looks like to you (but it’s about the journey)
- Products and a service, a membership model, etc?
- A business that other people manage and you offer your specialty service
- Multiple services by you – just know that you will be splitting your own energy
- Real estate, investments, etc
2. Educate yourself / Get Help
- If you’re building out a membership model or selling products, get help from a VA or designer to help create it for you
- I listen to a lot of podcasts, I started with reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad to get interested in real estate but now listen to Bigger Pockets and Empire Builders podcasts, I bought a few real estate investing books etc. Get information before you start.
3. Listen to your intuition
- There are going to be trials and errors. You’ll think that something sounds amazing and after going down that path, you may not find the joy in it.
- I’ve explored a product I wanted to develop, but decided not to get into manufacturing. I considered partnering in a specialized gym, but wanted to only be a silent partner and not in the drama of the day-to-day. I would love to have a food truck, but don’t want it eating my time when/if a manager and staff couldn’t be found. The ideas sound fun, but the implementation doesn’t call to me.
Yes, these a larger picture items to tackle but it all boils down to, you can’t take a plan of action until you know where you are going, what it will look like and what you need to take to get there. Explore ideas, be open to possibilities, take action and then discern whether you enjoy them or not.
I invite you to schedule a Clarity Call, or even reach out for a coffee chat, if you want to just have someone to bounce ideas off of.
