You probably have a job. Jobs are good, at least many of them are. If you have a job, you get paid to come to the office or job site, spend your hours working on tasks, and at 5:00 you get to go home. If you’re really blessed, you get to work with people you like and do tasks that are interesting and challenging. Your job is a blessing, even if it doesn’t feel like a blessing at times, as it brings income into your household. But for many, and perhaps for you, the one source of income creates a dangerous and precarious position.
It Wouldn’t Happen to Me
How many people have to decide they don’t like you in order for you to lose your job? Even worse than that, how many people have to decide that your department is overstaffed, and you are the most logical person to eliminate? Unfortunately, in most cases, as few one may decide to give you your pink slip.
Companies who lay people off aren’t bad or evil—in fact, if they refuse to take such measures they run the risk of running the business out of business and causing all the employees to lose their jobs. The answer to the tough reality of being an employee is not to get mad at companies. Instead, why not protect yourself by diversifying?
Employee, Self-Employed
Working as an employee is only one of several major ways to create income. It has the advantages of typically stable income (your paycheck is the same each week) and fringe benefits like insurance. Disadvantages can include a cap on your income and a disconnect between productivity and compensation. Some people create income through being self-employed. They are still an employee, trading their time for money, but they have the added benefit of a larger income potential, as the money they earn is theirs, and the more productive they are, the more they make! This can be a good option, but is tough to pursue without making a big change, quitting your job, and giving it a go.
Using Money to Make Money
Since our purpose is to diversify income, we’ll focus on the following two ways of creating passive income: investments and business systems. First, investiments. You’re probably familiar with things like stocks, bonds, and real estate. These assets are a great way to diversify your income, because instead of having to trade more time to get more money, as you do with a job or a self-employed opportunity, you use money to create money. As you save and invest, your portfolio grows and grows, so that each year a larger and larger percentage of your total income is capital appreciation. This is a great way to protect yourself from having your entire financial life being in the hands of one person. You could still be laid off from your job, but now you lose only a percentage of your income, rather that the whole thing.
Creating a Business System
Another great way to create income is to build a business system. You may not think you know about this concept, but if you’ve eaten at McDonalds you actually do! The history of McDonalds, as the history of any fast food chain, began with one man’s good idea. Ray Crock opened a hamburger stand, serving burgers and fries for 10 hours a day. He figured out how to run the business well and made some money. He wanted to make more, but didn’t want to stay open longer. So, he created a business system. He showed a friend how to open a burger stand just like his on the opposite side of town. Then he did it again with another friend. And another, and another. After a while, the new stands spawned more locations, and the franchise began to multiply. Each new person who wants to own a McDonalds location is trained in the right way to run the place, and the system grows and grows. Everyone wins here, from Ray Crock, to each business owner, down to each and every customer.
So What?
So how does this knowledge help you? Is it only relevant if you want to open and run a McDonalds? No—you can use this same model to diversify your income and lower your dependence on your employee income. At TotalThriver.com, we not only help people thrive in the areas of fitness, finances, and faith, but we also show budding entrepreneurs how to start a business of their own. Like other franchises, we have a proven system for getting a new person profitable in a business moving high-quality products that people in your network use every day. Sound like something you’d like to check out? Send a message to our Facebook group (ThriveMart) and get some info diversifying your income today. Your tomorrow can be better than today; are you willing to put in the work to make the dream a reality?