What Are The Multiple Streams of Income?

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Back then, building more than one source of income was often difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Fortunately, things have changed, and the internet has made it easier, faster, and more affordable to generate multiple income streams.

Adding more income options to your existing business doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and the benefits of having several sources of income can make it worth the effort.

This article will focus on the multiple streams of income you can generate and how to start creating them as soon as possible. We will also see why it is important for you to make every effort possible to increase your streams of income today.

Multiple Streams of Income Meaning?
What Are Some Multiple Streams of Income?
Is it Good to Have Multiple Streams of Income?
Why Have Multiple Streams of Income?
How do You Make 7 Streams of Income?
Multiple Streams of Income Ideas
3 Ways to Create Multiple Streams of Income
How to Create Multiple Streams of Income in Your 20s
Multiple Streams of Income Quotes
How to Manage Multiple Streams of Income
Why Should You Have Multiple Streams of Income?
Multiple Streams of Income Millionaires
What The Bible Says About Multiple Streams of Income
How Can I Get Rich in 2022?
What Are Good Streams of Income?
How Can a Beginner Make Passive Income?

Multiple Streams of Income Meaning?

You may have heard about the value of multiple streams of income at some point in your life. Yet, many people may not realize they do indeed have different money-making areas currently. And others may not consider why different streams of money really matter.

The concept of this is pretty simple and you probably do not need an official definition to truly know what it means. But, let’s still put something together to get on the same page.

Creating multiple income streams allows an individual to have various cash flow sources that are coming in. This puts you in a better position to be prepared if one source of income fails. Now you have something to fallback on.

What’s cool about this current digital age, is there are a lot of ways to make consistent extra money, whether that is passive or active.

What Are Some Multiple Streams of Income?

When it comes to building various streams of income, you have a lot of different options. The digital age we live in has created more opportunities to make money than ever before.

But instead of listing every example, below are just some of the high-level common ones you might want to consider.

Your Salaried Job – For most people, your 9-5 salaried job will be your primary source of income. It’s where your consistent pay comes in, but your goal should be to make as much as possible and utilize any employee benefits.

Secondary Salary – I refer to this as your spouse’s income, which can add another nice income stream. Maybe it’s full-time income or part-time, either way this other salary is a great way to ensure your family has another income stream.

Your Investments – The other common stream of income you’ll start generating is through your investments in the stock market via 401k, Roth IRA, etc. Your investments typically pay out in the form of dividends and capital gains. Additionally, you won’t be touching any of this money until retirement (usually), but it is generating income for you.

Online Business – The internet has made it possible for more people to find ways to have another income stream. Many online businesses can easily make part-time to more than your full-time income. It can be anything from starting a blog, selling items on eBay, selling your art, drop shipping, Amazon FBA, etc.

Gig Economy – The rise of the gig economy has grown in recent years thanks to technology companies stimulating this new wave. Think of companies like Uber, Airbnb, Lyft, and Rover where you are paid for a specific task through the platform. Will you get rich or be able to do this full-time? Probably not, but it’s another revenue stream to consider.

Rental Income – Besides some of the tax advantages of owning property and renting, you can make some money just by renting properties you might own. Of course, you’ll need some initial capital to get started, but once you do there is some great wealth-building potential. For those who aren’t ready for this or do not have the initial upfront cash, real estate crowdfunding might be a good alternative.

Is it Good to Have Multiple Streams of Income?

Building multiple streams of income is no longer a luxury, it has become a necessity. If the high rate of unemployment and mounting job losses have taught us anything, it is that nobody’s job is safe.

Unfortunately for most people, their only source of income is from their job, which can be a risky way to live. Some couples may be more fortunate and have a spouse bringing in money each month, but they are still relying on a job for their livelihood.

Because of the financial risks involved with relying on a job for all of your incoming cash, it is critical to consider having at least one additional source of income. The list below details a few reasons why having several sources of money coming in is important and how this extra cash can be used.

Why Have Multiple Streams of Income?

Here are ten simple reasons why building multiple income streams is so important. Each item listed below is an example of how alternative income sources can be used to lessen the risk of living on a single income.

Rising Health Care Costs Whether you are in favor of the health care reform or not, chances are you are feeling the pinch of higher health care costs. Adding an extra income source can go a long way in paying for things like higher prescription costs and unexpected medical costs.

Unemployment How safe is your job? Let’s face it, no job is really ever safe, especially in a tough recession. Having other sources of income can help you deal with a job loss much easier than being caught off guard. Even if your other sources of cash can’t cover all of your monthly expenses, it can still give you time to figure things out.

Paying for College How much are you saving for your kid’s college? Instead of putting your retirement at risk by saving up for your child’s secondary education, why not create an alternative income stream to help out. Having multiple streams of income bringing in cash every month can help ease the burden of paying for college.

Living Within Your Means In order to build true wealth, you must be able to live within your means. If it is impossible to cut your spending any further, or you just don’t want to sacrifice any more—create a new source of money. There are only two ways to live within your means — either spend less or make more money.

Pay Cash for Purchases How many times have you been able to pay cash for a car or could pay for a large home improvement project without taking out a loan? A second or third income stream could be used to save for these types of purchases so you don’t have to take out a loan and pay any interest. What a concept—pay less interest and keep more of your money!

Build a New Income Stream What better way to use your extra income then using it to grow another income stream? If you don’t need it to survive, then why not use your extra income to your advantage to increase your monthly cash flow and become financially independent?

Pay Down Debt Paying off your mortgage, vehicle, or credit cards is a great use for an extra income stream. If you can avoid paying tons of interest on a loan by making extra payments on existing debt, then you could be on your way to financial freedom.

Diversified Income Sources Any good stockbroker will tell their customers the number one rule as an investor is to build a diversified portfolio to reduce risk. If you would diversify your investments, why wouldn’t you do the same with your income streams? Creating multiple income streams allows a person to diversify the various cash flow sources that are coming in. In the event one dries up, then there are other sources of income to lessen the loss.

Build a Holiday Fund This is something my wife and I recently did after I earned some extra freelance income. Instead of stressing about how we will pay for all the extra holiday expenses this year, we simply designated this alternative income stream to be used for the holidays.

Take Control of Income When was the last time you got a raise at work? Even if you have received one in the past year, there is no guarantee you will be getting one next year, especially the way the economy is behaving. Do yourself a favor and take control of your finances by creating multiple streams of income. That way you have the power to give yourself a raise anytime you like!

How do You Make 7 Streams of Income?

According to the IRS, most millionaires have these seven income streams:

1. Dividend income from stocks owned.
2. Earned income from a paychecks.
3. Rents from rental real estate.
4. Royalties from selling rights to use something they’ve written or invented.
5. Capital gains from selling appreciated assets.
6. Profits from businesses they own.
7. Interest from savings, CDs, bonds, or other lending activities.

Most people focus on three of these income streams: earned income, interest income, and dividend income.

They spend the majority of their time earning a paycheck. This paycheck is limited by the number of hours of their life they’re willing to trade away. In addition to this time limitation, there is another expense they incur. This expense is the opportunity cost of the time lost at work. Instead of building new income streams, they continue working on their existing limited income stream: paycheck.

If these same people do create additional income streams, they’ll typically choose the two income streams offering the lowest income: dividend income (stocks) and interest income (bonds) These income streams will come from their contributions into their 401k plans.

Once you have enough rental income to walk away from your job, you now have TIME. TIME is the most important asset we have and you can now leverage your TIME to create new income streams.

You can start a new business.
You can create websites.
You can write a book.
You can invent cool stuff.
You invest your rents into dividend stocks.
You can invest your rents into bonds, CDs, etc.
You can invest your rents into other small businesses.
You can continue investing in rental real estate.

By focusing on rental income as our primary income stream, you unlock the doors to all other income streams. This same opportunity does not exist when we focus our time on earned income, dividend income, and interest income.

Multiple Streams of Income Ideas

All passive income streams will require at least one of the following two elements:

1) An upfront monetary investment, or

2) An upfront time investment

You can’t earn residual income without being willing to provide at least one of these two.

These types of passive income require you to invest money up front to generate the passive income later. Don’t be alarmed though – you can start with as little as $5 with some of these ideas, so it’s achievable for everyone.

1. Dividend Stocks

Dividend stocks are tried and true way to earn passive income. You will have to do plenty of research to find good stocks and invest a significant amount of money to receive large dividend checks. However, if you consistently invest money into dividend stocks you can amass a nice residual income over time.

For any of these investment opportunities, make sure you open an account at the best online brokerage, and get rewards while doing it.

Our favorite place to invest is M1 Finance. You might not have heard of M1 Finance, but it’s a FREE investing platform that allows you to build a portfolio, and invest in it for free.

This is amazing for investing in dividend stocks because you can build your portfolio of, say, 30 stocks. Then, your investments will be auto-allocated to your entire portfolio every deposit – for FREE! You can even auto-rebalance. Then, your dividends can also be reinvested. It’s a fantastic platform, and it was made for this.

2. High Yield Savings Accounts And Money Market Funds

If you don’t want to think much about your money, but want it to work for you, a basic place to put it is in a high yield savings account or money market fund.

The difference is in the account type and where it’s located. Typically, high yield savings accounts are located at banks, and are FDIC insured. Money market funds can be located at both banks and investment companies, and are only sometimes FDIC insured.

Interest rates have been rising, so putting more money into a savings account can generate a safe passive income stream.

CIT Bank consistently has a compelling savings account offer, with a 0.40% APY and no fees, and FDIC insurance.

Alternatives – Crypto Savings Accounts

Over the last year, crypto savings accounts have become very popular – simply because they provide much higher rates of return on your money. It’s important to note that these aren’t really “savings accounts”. These are investment and lending accounts that allow you to earn a high yield on your crypto “easily”.

Two popular options are BlockFi and Celsius. You can earn upwards of 10.5% on your money at these places, but there are risks.

3. CD Ladders

Building a CD Ladder requires buying CDs (certificates of deposits) from banks in certain increments so that you can earn a higher return on your money. CDs are offered by banks and since they are a low risk investment they also yield a low return. This is a good option for the risk averse.

For example, what you do if you want a five-year CD ladder is you do the following. Look how the rates rise over different time periods (these are estimated):

1 Year CD – 2.50%
2 Year CD – 2.90%
3 Year CD – 3.05%
4 Year CD – 3.10%
5 Year CD – 3.15%

If building a CD Ladder sounds complicated, you can also stick to a traditional high yield savings account or money market fund. While the returns aren’t as amazing as other things on this list, it’s better than nothing, and it’s truly passive income!

We recommend building a CD Ladder at CIT Bank because they have one of the best CD products available. High rates and even a penalty-free CD option (which currently earns 0.30% APY).

5. Annuities

Annuities are an insurance product that you pay for but can then provide you passive income for life in the form of monthly payments. The terms with annuities vary and are not always a great deal so it’s best to talk to a trusted financial advisor if you’re interested in purchasing an annuity.

These investments aren’t for everyone – they can come with high fees, and not be worth it. But if you have zero risk tolerance for loss, and are looking for a passive income stream, this could be a good potential idea for you your portfolio.

6. Invest Automatically In The Stock Market

If you’re not interested in picking dividend-paying stocks (and I can understand that), there are still ways to invest passively in the stock market. You can automatically invest in various ways through what’s called a robo-advisor.

A robo-advisor is just like what it sounds like – a robotic financial advisor. You spend about 10 minutes answering a few questions and setting up your account, and the system will take it from there.

The most popular robo-advisor is Betterment – which you can setup to automatically invest in and they will handle the rest for you. What’s great about Betterment is that they charge one of the lowest fees in the robo-advisor industry, and they make it really easy to invest automatically.

3 Ways to Create Multiple Streams of Income

1. Get cash-back rewards on credit cards.

There are credit cards that provide cash-back rewards ranging anywhere from 1% to 5% of the amount purchased. You’re going to be out shopping and buying anyway, right?

Rewards will give you an opportunity to earn some passive “income” (in the form of reduced outgo) from doing what you would do anyway.

We recently started being mindful of collecting reward points on our cards especially since we like to travel. In the past year we’ve been able to use our reward points to pay for 9 round trip flights and few nights in a hotel. Now that’s what I’m talking about!

2. Sell your own products on the internet.

The possibilities here are endless — you can sell just about any product or service that you like. It could be a product you have created and can manufacture on your own or it could be digital in nature (such as software, DVDs, or even instructional videos).

You can set up a dedicated website for this product or service, unless of course you have a website or blog already in place. Alternatively, you can also sell it on an affiliate basis, either by offering it direct to websites and blogs related to your product or service, or through a platform such as ClickBank.

If you make a lot of money in your current job and you’re not sure that you can make a similar amount by selling products online, think again. A while back, I interviewed Steve Chou from MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. In our podcast interview, Steve explained how his wife quit her job to become a stay-at-home mom.

Now, being a stay-at-home mom is a full-time job — but Steve Chou’s wife also started an online business that replaced her former salary and started bringing in a six-figure income! Wow, right?

You can learn to sell products online too and make quite a bit of money. While it’s not entirely passive, it’s certainly more passive than getting up and heading out the door to work every morning!

3. Invest in real estate

This probably falls more in the category of semi-passive income, since an investment in real estate is always at least a little bit of an active venture. Still, once you have a property that is established and fully rented, it’s mostly a matter of managing the property and keeping it performing well.

Additionally, there are professional property managers who can manage your property for you, usually for around 10% of the monthly rent. This professional management can make the investment much more passive, but will take a bite out of your cash flow.

According to Brandon Turner, an active real estate investor and co-host on the popular BiggerPockets Podcast,

The key to success with rental properties is buying smart. Not every property is going to provide a good return or prove to be passive. Understanding how to analyse potential real estate opportunities is incredibly important. As the old adage goes — you make your money when you buy!

Another benefit of investing in rental properties is the loan pay down. If you obtain a loan to buy the property, each month your tenants are paying off part of the loan. Once the mortgage on the property has been paid off, your cash flow will increase dramatically, allowing your mediocre investment to skyrocket into a full-fledged retirement program.

It wouldn’t take many paid-off properties to provide a pretty great, and mostly-passive, future for you and your family.

How to Create Multiple Streams of Income in Your 20s

Even with the challenges, the benefits outweigh the potential problems, especially if you build additional income related to your existing home business. Here are some steps that will help you add more income streams to your home business.

One way to start is by creating a mind map. Take out a piece of paper and write your main business product or service in the middle to start a mind map.

Next, create four spokes coming out of the middle, titled “products,” “services,” “advertising/affiliate,” and “other” off of your main product or service. These are categories of types of income you can potentially generate off of your existing business.

Create more spokes off of each of these categories with ideas on how you can make money at them. Earning sources include books, online courses, merchandise, coaching, freelancing, speaking, training, selling advertising, and affiliate marketing. Not all businesses will be able to come up with ideas for each spoke, but every business should be able to develop extra income streams from their home business idea.

Focus first on passive income streams that you create once, but they continue to generate income. For example, writing a book is a passive income stream. You write it once and sell it over and over. The word passive is a little deceptive because you need to write and market the book. Nevertheless, compared to non-passive sources of income, which you need to do over and over to make money, such as providing a service, passive income streams require less time once they’re created.

Other forms of passive income include other written works (i.e., courses), audio or video creations, affiliate marketing, licensing your idea, franchising, or continuity programs (i.e., memberships).

Next, focus on income streams that can expand your business. For example, public speaking or teaching can create additional income, as well as generate new clients. Another option is freelance writing, in which you’d get paid for an article that would also promote you and your business.

Multiple Streams of Income Quotes

“He who makes $25,000 annually through passive income is more enviable than he who earns $100,000 annually through a salary.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“If we were not impressed by job titles, suits, and jargon, we would demand that financial advisors show us their personal bank statements before they tell us what we could or should do with our own money.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Money has the power to buy you things. But a much bigger power of money is in generating more money for you. Those who are able to manifest the latter, are never short of it.”
― Manoj Arora, From the Rat Race to Financial Freedom

“…the stock market is the best wealth-building vehicle that exists today for the average American. Hell, for most if not all Americans!”
― Eric Milton,

“Whether it is big or small, the size of a poor man’s yard incessantly reminds him that he is poor.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Every pound is a seedling.
Invest your seedlings to create a tree.
Re-invest your seedlings to grow a forest.”
― George Choy, STEALTH MILLIONAIRE: How to Save Money and Manage Your Money Like the Rich

“To Become Rich — You Must Value Saving More than Spending.”
― George Choy,

How to Manage Multiple Streams of Income

Consider what you can offer to generate additional income, ideally passive income. Here’s a look at 4 ideas on how to create and manage multiple revenue streams.

1. Create an information marketing business.

“Today every business is an information business, everyone idea can become the big idea and even if you don’t have a business yet, you can start from scratch and earn a substantial income doing internet marketing as an author, speaker, coach, seminar leader, and online information marketer.”

The crux of  information marketing is translating your personal genius and wisdom into a consumable format so others can learn from your expertise. It’s an information product. You are an expert in something (likely whatever it is you are making, doing, selling, or offering).

You have followed a specific path, or a formula, to get to where you are today. And there is a market of people who would love to learn how you did it so they can replicate your success. And better yet they will pay!

There are courses out there that teach you how to write your own online courses. But if you’ve ever taken an online course you’ll have an idea of how to structure your own course. Udemy.com, a marketplace for online learning, is a great place to start and review the structure of successful information products if you want to keep it simple.

2. Develop multiple sources of site traffic.

Another way to increase your income is to look at the traffic channels that bring visitors to your current website. For instance, are you just advertising on Facebook or Google? Have you explored organic or paid promotion on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or even affiliate options?

Are you guest blogging or submitting your top content to aggregator sites like Reddit? Some persons use email marketing, Facebook and Instagram ads. They also have an affiliate program for our teachers so they can help promote the courses.

3. Launch another business or product/service.

The most obvious way to create additional revenue streams is to build several businesses or launch new products or services within your existing business. Consider how you can better serve current customers or what other niches you can easily expand into.

If you already have a loyal client base, consider expanding your offering for more complimentary products and services, or identify another offering for the demographic you currently serve.

4. Embrace automation.

Whilst setting up a number of companies can be very exciting be careful to make sure you’re not taking on too much. Almost every aspect of every business is taken care of by robots.

You can use Acuity online appointment scheduling software to look after our bookings, Stripe, a digital payments service, to look after payments and Zapier, a web app automation service, to automatically move customers into the right workflow in my email system.

Meanwhile, Xero generates automated invoices and receipts and PayWhirl looks after our membership systems by accepting recurring and one-time payments directly from your website.

All our social media activities are automated using a mixture of Hootsuite, Buffer and Onlypult (to schedule Instagram posts).

Management of revenue streams is just as important as the creation of them. If systems aren’t in place to manage the influx of inquiries, sales and service then you will inevitably struggle, if not fail.

Passive income is a brilliant source of income if your automation is concrete. Once you’ve created your content, set up online marketing systems, revenue collection and automated bookkeeping, you can make money in your sleep whilst never having to lift a finger for that particular revenue stream again (bot glitches aside of course).

Creating a passive income stream is also a genius way to raise the necessary funds for your next business venture, which may demand more of your time, energy and active involvement. Caution aside, the sky is the limit.

Why Should You Have Multiple Streams of Income?

Whether the goal is to achieve greater economic security and stability, or to increase purchasing power, many entrepreneurs, and people in general, are looking for ways to have multiple sources of income.

The boom of remote and freelance work, as well as the possibilities afforded by the internet when it comes to starting a business, has opened a host of new opportunities to generate money — from the comfort of your own home and with a simple internet connection. All you need is some time, ideas and a whole lot of dedication, as is the case for anything at which you want to succeed.

Those who have multiple sources of income generally enjoy a lot of benefits, and as a business owner, I’d like to share the most notable ones below:

1. Achieving Financial Independence

In the early stages of a new business or company, it is usually the founder who takes on many tasks themselves. With progress over time, the goal is to delegate secondary tasks little by little so that the executives can focus on the 20% of tasks that will generate 80% of the results to scale the company.

The main objective is to be able to answer yes to the question: “If I were not present, would my company still generate money?” That’s an excellent indication of whether or not you are financially independent.

If you have several sources of income, you will get that much closer to becoming financially independent.

2. Greater Stability And Safety

It is important to make sure that your first business is mature and developed enough before you start focusing on an eventual second source of income. However, I believe it is also important for entrepreneurs to always have an ambitious attitude and seek new sources of growth.

Having multiple sources of income can decrease your risk of losing it all. If the business to which you’re dedicating all your efforts goes bankrupt or fails, you will lose your only source of income, and you will be left empty-handed. When you have several sources of steady income, that worry is reduced.

3. Scaling Faster

You’ve likely heard the expression, “Wealth begets wealth.” Essentially, higher amounts of money and income will attract more money and ROI. Having multiple sources of income will allow you to invest a greater proportion in both your primary company and other new sources of income. In short, you will likely be able to scale faster because it is a virtuous cycle.

4. Working From The Comfort Of Your Own Home

With the rise of remote work, there has recently been more debate about what is best: working in an office or from the comfort of your home. This is relative, as both options have their benefits and disadvantages.

No matter your opinion, as your own boss, you will be the one to decide where and when to work on your businesses. And when you have the increased flexibility of an entrepreneur, you can monitor and strengthen your sources of income while continuously identifying new opportunities that aren’t limited to your geographic area.

5. Living Your Dream Life

Everyone wants to live their dream life, but not everyone is able to achieve that goal. If you are smart and manage more than one source of income, then you have a real chance of creating the dream life you want. The more time and effort you put into building your sources of income, the greater the chances you will achieve financial freedom to live the life you want.

You may decide to invest more freely in your time and personal development, you could choose to continue building additional sources of income, or you may want to travel the world and enjoy it with your family.

Multiple Streams of Income Millionaires

In their book, “Rich Habits, Poor Habits,” co-author and self-made millionaire Michael Yardney explains how he helped hundreds of ordinary individuals become self-made millionaires by creating multiple streams of income. Here’s a list of some of Michael’s top tips:

Save, save, save: Save 10-20 percent of your net income every year.
Learn, learn, learn: Develop new skills that you can eventually turn into a side business. Acquire knowledge that you can use to start up a side business or that can help you intelligently invest your money in assets that generate passive income. Passive investments include: residential rental properties, commercial rental properties, TICS, triple net leases, seasonal rentals (beach areas, ski resort areas, lake front areas), equity investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds), annuities, permanent life insurance, royalty-generating property (timber, oil and gas), boat rentals, etc.
Invest, invest, invest: Invest part of your savings in a side business that will one day generate an additional stream of income.
Reinvest, reinvest, reinvest: Once your side gigs begin generating cash flow, reinvest that cash flow to either grow the business or invest that cash flow in other side businesses or assets that generate passive income.

If you can’t do it on your own, partner with others and keep building your side businesses or passive investments. That’s what self-made millionaires do.

What The Bible Says About Multiple Streams of Income

The bible tells us that we need to have 8 streams of income or multiple streams of income because…

Life is filled with uncertainty
The results from our efforts are uncertain
Some of our endeavors will fail
Diversification provides safety
You can control your own financial destiny

The writer tells us that life is filled with uncertainty for everyone. Frankly, we should expect tough times and be prepared for them. Even when we do a good job of planning and working our plan, our results are not necessarily a given. Some of our efforts will fail, regardless of how well we prepare.

Also, the diversity of having multiple streams of income gives us safety in that if one venture fails, it is no likely all will fail.

Lastly, having multiple streams of income or 8 streams of income allows us to control our own destiny. If you wanted to leave your job, one of your eight sources of income, you could afford to do so if you have 8 streams of income or multiple streams of income.

Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
Ecclesiastes 11:2 (NIV)

Consider another translation that further explains the subject of multiple streams of income.

But divide your investments among many places, for you do not know what risks might lie ahead.
Ecclesiastes 11:2 (NLT)

How Can I Get Rich in 2022?

Think you can’t get rich in 2022? You might be surprised at the ways you can get there. But before you get too excited, if you think becoming a millionaire means fancy cars, a lavish house, and an upscale lifestyle, think again. If you had a million and spent it that way, you’d blow through it pretty quickly.

In retirement, $1 million might provide you an income of $50,000 a year. You’d need to invest it using either withdrawal rate rules or a time-segmented approach. However, having a million dollars worth of assets is a fine goal, and it may be easier than you think. Here are six ways to become a millionaire.

Develop Your Career and Expertise

Consider the old-fashioned approach: Work hard to build skills, make yourself valuable, and you might receive more when you apply yourself in a career. Many millionaires have made it because they have worked hard and found a way to earn a lot of money.

They may have earned degrees and professional certifications to increase their knowledge. They may have been willing to spend time doing low-paid internships and apprenticeships to learn their crafts. As they have gained greater expertise and stronger footholds in their fields, they have begun to earn more.

Create a Side Hustle

Income is only one end of the millionaire equation. However, it’s a crucial one. The more you earn, the more you can put away toward your million-dollar goal. If you have a great job with plenty of surplus income, you’re on your way. If not, you may need to get creative. A side hustle can be a smart way to augment your current income and could become quite fruitful on its own.

Build a Business

Creating a new business from scratch is a bold side hustle, because it requires a great deal of time and money upfront. The upside is that you’ll have control over the progress, and you’ll make more money if it’s successful.

If you are in a service business, creating a business model that others can duplicate is challenging; the business is in your area of expertise and you are the business. You have to figure out a way to train others to do what you do so that you can work on your business rather than work in your business.

If you make a product, the challenge is greater; you have to figure out how to market, manufacture, and distribute that product and create a profit.

Save Diligently, and Invest for Growth

You can become wealthy by spending less than you make, saving diligently, and investing smartly. How much you need to save depends on how much time you have and the rate of return you will earn.

The biggest mistake that people make that keeps them from making a million is they upsize their lifestyle when their income rises. When your income goes up, the first thing you should increase is the amount you put into your savings.

What’s more, have a focused plan for how much you’ll save every paycheck. If you can put those savings in an account you never touch, you’ll be on your way to building that nest egg. (Bonus points if you can put them in an account with a high-interest rate.)

Make Smart Investments

Being a smart investor doesn’t always mean playing the stock market and hoping you get in on the next Apple or Amazon. Spend some time learning about the market, and figure out which investments work for you. Think about your budget, how much you can afford to invest, and how comfortable you are with risk.

For one person, this might mean maxing out your 401(k) contributions; another might choose to make robust monthly contributions to an aggressive-leaning investment portfolio; another might choose a simple money market account or CD to get started.

The idea is to avoid having all of your savings in passive accounts. Money that works for you earns steady interest or pays yearly dividends.

Invest in Real Estate

Real estate millionaires put in a lot of hard work early on, but it pays off later in the form of residual rental income, not to mention rising real estate values over time. Those who develop real estate projects also take on significant risks; some pay off big, while others create losses.

Be prepared for ups and downs with your real estate ventures. You’ll need to feed money into improvements and maintenance unless you invest in real estate funds that don’t require actual property ownership.

Create a Financial Plan

Whether you hire a financial advisor or decide to go solo, you need a plan of action. How much will you save? Where will you invest, and when? Are your current earnings, saving, spending, and investing practices flexible?

What if you get laid off from your job, or you have a financial setback? What if your family grows? Try to prepare for as many outcomes as possible. You don’t always have to imagine the worst-case scenario, but you should know what you’ll do if you get off track.

It’s also important to keep a balance between your short- and long-term goals. Hitting the million-dollar mark is something that many aspire to. It requires smarts and sacrifices to get there. However, don’t forget to tend to your short-term goals and keep a balanced lifestyle along the way.

What Are Good Streams of Income?

1. Create an App

We might only be on the sixth passive income idea on this list, but you probably noticed a trend: Creating stuff tends to lead to passive income. If you’re a developer or programmer, you might want to try creating apps as a passive income stream.

You can go about it in two ways. First, you can charge a fee for people who want to buy your app. Second, you can make your app free and monetize with ads.

You can monetize your app in a number of ways, including running in-app advertising, offering paywalled content, and charging for premium features.

2. Invest in Stocks

When you look at the world’s richest people, it’s pretty safe to say that stocks have played a big role in their deep, endless bank accounts.

While the act of investing in stocks is pretty passive, the research that goes into it is active. Warren Buffett reads 500 pages a day, but he’s not reading your average mystery book. Nope. He reads business’ annual reports. By reading annual reports each day, he better understands whether or not a business is performing well, which helps him improve his ability to invest in stocks.

\Stock investments can help you earn passive income that stretches far beyond what your value at your 9 to 5 job is worth. So, consider this passive income idea if you like reading about the performance of various businesses.

3. Flip Websites

Do you love building websites and online stores? If so, you could make passive income selling them.

You’ll likely need to get your first few sales (to prove that your store is awesome). But if you’ve got great design skills and build out some of the content on your website, you could find someone who’d be willing to buy your store.

If you’re looking for a place to sell your website, you could try out Shopify’s Exchange Marketplace. On the platform, you can sell your newly built online store or your advanced six- or seven-figure store. It’s the perfect platform for website flipping.

4. Sell your Videos

If you always find yourself in the midst of drama and excitement, you might want to pull out your phone and hit record. Doing that can help you make some passive income. The latest video marketing stats indicate that people are obsessed with video content, so you should be able to find an audience for your films.

Why? Because you can sell that video to a news site. And if the video takes off, you can make some recurring money for weeks, months, and sometimes even years. Of course, the easiest way to get in on the action is to be at public events such as protests, demonstrations, and festivals.

Wherever there’s controversy, you’ll find opportunities for your content to be sold. And if you’re good at producing entertaining content, companies will pay you to create viral videos along with offering a share on overall earnings.

5. Use Passive Income Apps

Passive income apps work exactly as they sound – you install them on your smartphone and perform a few actions to earn money. The actions can range from doing everyday activities such as watching videos to turning a small financial investment into a passive income stream. There are plenty of apps to start putting your mobile device and time to better use. Some good ones are listed below.

Fundrise – Fundrise lets you invest in real estate projects with an initial minimum investment of $1,000. It comes with the option to take quarterly dividends, which serve as your passive income.
InboxDollars – InboxDollars offers cashback for doing activities that you’re likely to do anyway, such as shopping, watching TV, and searching the web. The cashback and the $5 bonus for signing up are your passive income.
Dosh – Dosh gives you the option to link your debit and credit cards to its system. When you pay for something using these cards, you earn passive income in the form of cashback.

How Can a Beginner Make Passive Income?

There has never been a better time to make passive income as a beginner. Over the past 20 years, incredible opportunities for new passive income sources have come to exist making it even easier for beginners to find passive income ideas to make extra money, and you don’t have to quit your day job to do it.

Even if you are a beginner without deep pockets, you can still make money by executing some of the following passive income ideas.

1. Sell Music

People love music, and creators constantly need good jingles and songs for their productions. You can make money with your music via ad revenue on streaming platforms like YouTube, or by selling the music to advertisers or fans. This business has never been easier thanks to mainstream access to formerly expensive software. Even beginners with little experience are successfully making passive income from their music, notably on YouTube.

2. Sell an eBook

When was the last time you read an ebook? If you love to read or learn new things than it probably wasn’t too long ago. You can make passive income by creating and selling an ebook too. Unlike what some people might think, creating and selling an ebook is very easy, and there are ways to do it for free.

The harder part is making sure it will interest your audience and promoting it. There are many people out there who are making good money off ebooks they wrote several months or years ago.

3. Sell Printable Art

Art is always an important part of our culture and if you have a good eye for design, you may be able to make passive income from your printable art. These consist in documents (like pdf files) that you can create and sell online so others can print them off and use them in their own projects. Some examples include posters, colouring books, and designs.

4. Sell on eBay

eBay is one of the most popular online marketplaces ever. eBay provides access to millions of people who visit the site to make purchases every day. It’s very easy to get selling online, even for a beginner, and the passive income potential can be enticing.

5. Selling Stock Photos & Videos

A lot of people have websites today, and these online resources require pictures and videos. Not only that but website creators, businesses, advertisers and developers need stock photos for their projects too. Those who cannot create this media themselves often get it from people selling stock photos and videos. So, if you have any of these multimedia items, you can use them to earn some money passively.

6. Taking Surveys

Companies need to know what their customers think of their products and services. They do this through real-world testing via potential customers. That is where you can come in and take part in paid surveys to comment on what you think of a particular product or service.

7. YouTube Channel

YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google – and oh yeah, it belongs to Google ? Millions of people refer to YouTube every day to enjoy the exciting selection of content being offered there. If you meet the monetization requirements and have a popular enough YouTube channel, you can let advertisers put ads on your videos for passive cash.

8. Advertise on Your Car

This is possible by “renting” the advertising space on your car. By doing so, you are providing advertisers a place to display their ads, while you benefit from a commission or monthly income without having to spend any money.

9. AirBnB

AirBnB is a peer-to-peer platform that allows you to rent our a space, a room or your entire home to people looking for a place to stay. This is an excellent, well known, way to make passive income as a beginner.

You can make money sharing rides with people on platforms like Uber. You just need to meet the requirements, sign up on the site, register your car, download their app and pick up people in need of rides. This can be active if you have to go out of your way, or passive if you already are commuting from one place to another.

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Final Words

There are many ways to make passive income without money. Such ways include, but are not limited to joining reward and discount programs, renting space and items space in your home (parking space, garage, rooms, camera, bike, sports items), advertising with your car, selling online, copywriting and blogging.