Building Multiple Income Streams: Start with What You Know

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

First off, I don’t do “get rich quick” schemes. They’re a money pit, and you’ll come out the other side feeling ripped off…like paying for a fancy meal and leaving hungry.

I’ve always been a grafter. Growing up in upstate New York, I hustled. I was the kid with the lemonade stand on a quiet country road. I grew vegetables and sold them. In winter, I sold Christmas cards. I worked at stables and dairy farms. I always had my own money and never relied on anyone to pay for the things I wanted.

Hard work is in my DNA. That hasn’t changed.

What has changed is the world around us. It feels like society is in a steady state of decline. Power-hungry megalomaniacs are running the show, and the rest of us are left scrambling for what’s left. The old adage about putting all your eggs in one basket? It doesn’t hold up anymore, something many of us learned the hard way since the pandemic.

The last five years haven’t been easy. I lost my mother and brother within a month of each other. My consulting work has seen its fair share of struggles. My anxiety has ramped up, thanks to the state of the world. I’ve felt lost, knocked down, almost broken. A far cry from the kid selling lemonade on the roadside.

But over the past year, something shifted. Maybe I got sick of my own misery. Maybe life had kicked me one too many times. Or maybe I just needed a reset. I took a deep breath, stepped back, and looked at my life, really looked at it, and realized just how much experience I had. How much I had to offer.

In some ways, I got lucky. During the pandemic, I started writing novels; something I’d always wanted to do but never found the time for. That led to publishing four books, with a fifth in the works. While my consulting business had its ups and downs, I wrote. That gave me two potential income streams. Writing is still in its early days as a business, but it’s showing real promise.

Then, I started thinking about my work over the years, the common challenges my clients’ teams faced. A couple of years ago, a client hired me to create and deliver courses for their customers and prospects. It went really well. And I enjoyed it. It took me back to my grad school days, teaching undergrads while studying for my MFA in Creative Writing. I designed my own curriculum and taught semester-long courses in person.

That experience got me thinking. I mapped out a whole series of course modules designed for my clients’ teams; quick, digestible sessions that fit into their already-packed schedules but still made an impact. Those courses are now in development, and later this year, I plan to start offering them as an add-on to my consulting work, and then as a standalone online platform.

Without straying far from what I already knew, without endless research or chasing random trends, I’ll have three income streams by the end of this year. No more relying on one basket. I’ve spread the risk. And the more I go down this path, the more ideas I come up with; ideas that align perfectly with my expertise and experience.

Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I’ve also gone through and slashed my expenses. To the point where any one of these income streams could support me moving forward. But that’s a topic for another day.

The not-so-big takeaway here? Start with what you know. Instead of chasing someone else’s big idea, look inward. Prospect your own experience and interests. You never know; something that’s been sitting in your blind spot all along might just turn into your next income stream.

Thanks for reading B. SCOTT HOADLEY! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.