On multiple sources of income, and more . . .
As I was discussing “next month’s budget” with my long suffering wife (hehe, not really), I realized something was amiss, but I couldn’t tell exactly what.
Being we are in COVID-19 lockdown time, and being we’re currently in India which has adopted some of the MOST ASININE and RETARDED measures (supposedly) to combat the Coronavirus, we have to plan ahead for just about everything these days.
For what we CAN get, that is.
For months on end, we haven’t been able to have a drink — — or enjoy a good leg of roast mutton (goat). Being just about everything in the country has been shut down for AGES now (since March 23, before which there was a statewide lockdown) and being the powers that be have decided it’s “too dangerous” to let people STAY AT HOME and enjoy their food and drink (really — how STUPID can this get?), we are all essentially in one gigantic JAIL as of now.
Flights can’t enter the country, and flights can’t leave the country, and . . . ah, but this isn’t about the ridiculous overreaction to the virus in India!
This is about that long ass shopping list, and deciding what to buy from where and when etc, and I realized not enough dough was coming in this month for SOME of the things (or so I thought, hehe).
“Hold on”, I suddenly told my wife.
“Why?”
“Let me check ALL my sources, and see exactly how much is coming in”, I said.
And while this seemed to bemuse her for a while, she agreed, and I re-checked — and sure enough, all was fine with the world after the re-tally.
Initially I had only tallied up ONE source of income, but hadn’t for whatever reason tallied up the rest (and note that these are just my “standard” sources of income -there are MORE).
And at this point, it would be appropriate to bring up the topic we’re talking about, or should have been at the outset, that being multiple sources of income.
It is always a folly (if not a folly, somewhat risky) to rely upon ONE source of income, my friend, especially if that income is derived from working for a company or other entity not owned by you (or where you have no real stake i.e. where you are just an employee and nothing else).
Used to be in the past once you got a job you had it for life barring something extreme happening.
These days it’s the exact opposite. In fact, you’re lucky if you even get HIRED for what you’re truly worth these days — — and part time, if even that!
And while this would be a great time indeed to wax lyrical about why doing one’s own thing is a great idea (and indeed, even if you’re part of the “be safe” crowd why you should ALWAYS have a side gig), this piece isn’t about that.
It’s about multiple sources of income, and why?
Well, first, the obvious.
If source A dries you, you got B, and C. If B doesn’t show up on time, C will. And so forth.
More importantly though, nigh on EACH one of these sources can be turned into a lot BIGGER source of income if you work it right, my friend, and each one of these sources (again, if you do it right) can lead to other doors opening, more contacts being made, and other opportunities materializing your way.
Not to mention any one of them could go BIG at any one time.
And a lot of people while they understand this concept have trouble understanding how to do it, so let me give you an example from my case.
Broad picture — I’m a writer, and while my fitness stuff is what you see most often, the fact is I have three different businesses, one of which involves just as much if not more writing than the fitness stuff does.
I started out doing that particular biz with a coupla guys based out of the UK that run a publishing guy. Now these were great guys and I still have a good relationship with them, but their marketing style left a lot to be desired (at least in my not so humble opinion on that front).
And while (again) to each his own, their model was “bulk works and brings in the money” which isn’t necessarily a bad model if you’re Amazon or a huge conglomerate but is completely opposite my OWN point of view which is lesser customers but better QUALITY customers.
In other words, for me its far more profitable to chase the dollars than hunch over the ground looking for pennies.
And though we disagreed on this for a while, I stuck with them for a while — — years, actually (though my main work was done in a few months with them — not all the years — but I DID stick with them selling my stuff for years while I simple “wrote”).
I was thinking like a writer. Not a publisher (big difference there, as you’ll soon see).
This year, I crunched the numbers and I made a tough call, which was to move away from these guys, and republish all the books under my OWN name (which was fine per the non -exclusive agreement we had signed) and re-negotiate the payment terms with them.
I haven’t received a single royalty check from them since doing this, but given I was receiving less than nothing anyway, this wasn’t as big a “hit” as I’d have thought, and with my own marketing I’ve already made more in ONE month than I did in several with these guys.
Again, don’t get me wrong. Great guys, but what works for them business wise didn’t for me, so . . .
And this gives me multiple sources of incomes from all my books in that one biz.
Not to mention the different sites I sell my book on.
Not to mention the different MODELS I have with those that I partner with on this (currently).
Not to mention that I STILL have a deal going on with the old publishers, albeit at a far reduced and lower rate.
And not to mention I could do affiliates. I could write ads in that segment for other. I could . . . ah, but you get the drift, don’t you?
Multiple sources of income, and when they’re recurring and GROWING (which should be your goal too) so much more the better!
The same thing applies to my fitness stuff, and the OFFLINE stuff I do (a lot).
And therefore, sometimes it takes me a while to figure out how much I’ll be earning in a certain month.
Or should I say figure out a baseline, since the sky is quite literally the limit.
Now, I ain’t gonna sit here and lie and tell you it’s “easy”.
Writing over 15,000 words per day for novels, for one, is NOT “easy”. Especially not if that work has to top notch and SELL WELL which it does.
And combine that with taking photos for fitness books, writing my blogs, articles here and elsewhere (do a Google, and you’ll find my LinkedIn and other articles) . . . it is a HELL OF A LOT OF WORK, which is why I get annoyed when people brush it off as “oh, he’s just sitting at home and doing nothing” (which I wrote about earlier; and if there was ever a bigger bunch of hooey then I’d like to hear it NOW my friend).
But done with a) the right LONG term goals and b) the right MARKETING — — this sort of thing can turn into a very profitable source of income indeed (or multiple sources) for YEARS to come, and the good part is, once you get rolling and build the momentum, then it’s very hard to reverse the momentum until and unless you STOP altogether (and yes, unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, Ive made that mistake too).
And lest you think this can only be done online, or with writing, well, NO.
Think again my friend .This sort of thing can be applied to ANYTHING you do, if you look at it the right way, and unfortunately a lot of people don’t (while getting hung up on the “one stable source of income” they have).
Yes, it takes work. Yes, it takes patience. Yes, it takes foresight and YES, it requires you to shut your mind to the negativity that will hit ya from all directions once you start doing something like this (w.r.t the “it will never work” comments, or “its stupid to spend time on that”, or “oh, that’s just a side gig! Treat it as such!”).
But believe me my friend — — the results are WELL WORTH IT!
In Rahul Mookerjee’s life coaching program he goes into far greater detail on how to create as well as LIVE this life for yourself, my friend. If any of this interests you, then apply right here — https://0excusesfitness.com/coaching/
Best,
Rahul Mookerjee
P.S — Here is the very best fitness program on the planet I sell — a program that is going GANGBUSTERS right now during the lockdown — https://0excusesfitness.com/0excusesfitnessystem/
P.S #2 — If you have kids, then you’ll want to pick up the KIDDIE version of this right here too — https://0excusesfitness.com/kiddie-fitness/
