There is nothing secret about it, most millionaires have multiple streams of income. In fact, on average they have 7 streams of income. These income streams are divided out in various ways such as real estate income, dividend income, investment income, business income, royalty income, advertising income, and earned income.
Although these various streams of income may differ, if the goal is to increase wealth and become more successful, it’s about exploring and exploiting the sub streams that work for you while not getting too hung up on trying to create or mature all 7 streams at once.
For this reason, I wanted to share with you how I narrowed in on five specific streams of income and created 12 sub streams within these areas as a way to maximize the gains that can work for my family. My five are:
Earned income
Business income
Dividend income
Investment income
Royalty income
Now, before we go further in unpacking sub streams of income that flow out of these, let’s draw some parallels.
There is a famous interview from former Olympic gold medal hockey coach Mike Babecock following his gold-winning performance in coaching Team Canada in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. In his book interview, the interviewer indicated that he was a smart coach by putting the best player on the ice in overtime (Sydney Crosby) as he was the one who ended up scoring “the golden goal”, allowing Team Canada to win the gold medal. Babecock immediately rebutted this conclusion and replied,
“I didn’t put ‘Sid’ on because he was the best player. I put him on because he was the best player at that time to match up against the opposing line.”
If you didn’t already know, that coaching decision changed the fabric of Canadian and Olympic history forever.
The parallel here is that rather than looking for the best sub streams of income to build, you have to look at what you have and how you are matched up in the arena with these 7 forms of income to make the best decisions that is right for you. If it doesn’t make sense to you, it doesn’t make sense.
For example, I don’t currently own a real estate property, so would I go buy a house in the middle of a pandemic/recession where the market and the seemingly secure jobs that exist within it is fragile? Maybe. But probably not. It just doesn’t make sense to me. It would stretch my players beyond their capacity and burnout my bench before the first period was over.
For me, the better question is — what more can I do in the other 5–6 streams of income I have to maximize my financial growth such as investing in my business, education, current investments and my job?
For me to get the golden goal, it is not about putting the best player on the ice, it is about matching my line with what I am seeing on the ice at this given time. It’s a strategic game plan – not a spray and pray approach with money.
For my strategic game plan, here are the 12 sub streams of income I have created.
1. Earned sub stream #1 — Full time job
2. Earned sub stream #2 — Part time job
3. Business sub stream #1 — Client 1
4. Business sub stream #2 — Client 2
5. Royalty sub stream #1 — Book 1
6. Royalty sub stream #2 — Book 2
7. Royalty sub stream #3 — Medium
8. Royalty sub stream #4 — Affiliate income
9. Royalty sub stream #5 — (Coming soon)
10. Dividend sub stream #1 — Investment #1
11. Dividend sub stream #2 — Investment #2
12. Investment sub stream #1 — Investment #3
13. Investment sub stream #2 — Investment #4
Although I haven’t maximized all 7 streams of income, I am able to scale my sub streams of income very easily because I am operating from a place of strength with strategy. My best players are matched up according to the strategic game plan I have with what I am seeing on the bench.
The best thing about sub streams is that they are easily managed and can be continuous regardless of what chapter of life my family enters.
Cue a recession — doesn’t matter.
Cue a pandemic — still doesn’t matter.
Once these sub-streams are set in motion, the amount they make may change dramatically, yes. However, my players will always be working hard as long as I adjust the game strategy as needed over time and keep them involved in the game.
My encouragement for you is to take some time to clearly write out what streams of income you are already exploring and think about ways you can further exploit these through sub-streams before diving into another stream of income. Simply put, focus on the sub-streams instead of trying to cast a big net to see what happens. Set your roster and make something good happen. Go win some gold!
Ryan
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Previously published on medium
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Photo credit: by fran hogan on Unsplash
