Multiple Streams Of Income For The Home Business Owner

When you start finding out about making money outside of your full-time job, there’s one phrase that will keep popping up – “Multiple Streams of Income”. I had never bothered about this phrase until I left my job and started a home catering business with my wife. I found that people kept talking about how important it was to diversify my sources of income. It didn’t take long for me to appreciate how crucial it is for the home-based parent to have multiple streams of income – both online and offline.

Our catering business is our main source of income right now, but I must admit that it is a business that involves a LOT of hard (and messy) work. While we’ve already built a steady base of customers, the inevitable ebb and flow of the economy does affect our business. The number of competitors is also rising :ohman: because there are more and more enterprising people who realize that this business is a lucrative money maker.

Fortunately for us, when we first started our catering business, I also set up a couple of websites. These websites eventually started to bring in money. Our online income accounts for approximately one-third of our total gross monthly income right now, but I expect that soon, it will over take our catering business. :hubba:

I learnt quickly that one of the many, many factors that affect our online income is the fluctuating Search Engine technologies that can make or break a website. My websites have gone through the up and downs of search engines ranks and with each fluctuation, I am thankful for our catering business bringing in a relatively predictable income. On the other hand, during those times when our catering business slowed down, the income derived from our websites kept us from hitting the panic button. :ohman:

If you’re a home-based working parent or you have a website, you will understand how vital it is to diversify your sources of income. Here’s a couple of tips to create multiple streams of online and offline income :

• Create different websites targeting different niches.
• Build on the websites that are bringing in the most income by adding content, investing in advertising and promotions.
• Sell advertising space on your website, earn commission by promoting other people products, use Google Adsense, sell your own eBook or eProduct. Don’t rely on just one source of income from your websites, but don’t go overboard and overload your website with tons of affiliate links and banners.
• Act as an agent or distributor for products related to (not in direct competition with) your business.
• Invest a portion of your monthly profits to build a portfolio of stock, mutual funds, real estate or other forms of passive income generators.

When we first started catering business, both of us kept our daytime jobs, opting to work only in the mornings. In the first year, we literally held four jobs between the two of us – our regular jobs, the catering business and my websites! It was great having so many sources of income, but it was physically draining as well. We eventually quit our regular jobs, but that experience taught valuable lessons about the importance of creating multiple streams of income.

In this last three years alone, almost thirty acquaintances of mine have had the misfortune of losing their jobs. Most of them were working with me in the same company before it shut down. I was one of the lucky ones. My wife and I quickly put her cooking skills and my web development skills to work and while it was tough in the beginning, we survived. Others weren’t so fortunate.

Do yourself (and your family) a favor. Whether you’re working a regular full-time job, or you’re a small home based business owner, start thinking about creating multiple streams of income. You might just need it sooner than you think! :hmm:

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