Making money in business isn't that "hard".... You find an activity that makes money, then do it over and over and over again....

I think the wise thing to do is to not abandon something which is making you money, UNLESS you have something (another stream) which is ALREADY making more money for you. Until then - do them both! :) I'm a big believer that multiple streams of income can be healthy for your bank balance and your financial security as well....

Everyone - well most people anyway - will agree that Multiple Streams of Income (MSI) is a good thing to have. Where the disagreement starts is in the Dollar Value of the MSI.

"I ain't gonna do nuthin' for only thirty bucks a week."

Hey, I WILL because that gives me $120 to $150 a month - depending on how many 'pay days' are in the month.

$20 a day, is $100 a week, or $400 a month. And $400 is a week's pay for some people. Why throw away a week's pay because I make it over the course of the twenty working days in a month (five working days of the week x four weeks of the month)?

What if I run an ad at $20 per week and the ad only generates $80 a week in income? I make a $60 profit each week. And that's $240 by the end of the month.

Would you like an extra $240 at the end of the month?

So one Income Stream makes you $60 a week. What if another one makes you $50 a week ($10 a day)? That's $200 by the end of the month. So now your two Income Streams are making you $240 + $200 = $440.

Would you like an extra $440 each month?

Sure you would.

Are you willing to receive it in drips instead of in one large bucket full?

In the last issue of The Great Ideas Letter we showed how a teenager makes up to $1,200 a week and how you could start a similar "business" with less than $30 initial cost.

What if you did? And what if you only did it at one-tenth what the teenager did? You'd make $120 a week - $480 a month. Remove your $30 cost and you're making $90 a week - $360 a month. And not doing a heck of a lot for it.

Add this Income Stream to the two others mentioned above and now you're making $240 + $200 + $360 = $800 a month.

See how these small little amount of money - $60 a week, $10 a day, etc. - are adding up?

Each MSI does not have to be huge because when you have a few of them they add up to be a real nice sum of money.

Just because an Income Stream doesn't make you $100 a day, doesn't mean it is not worth having as one of your MSI.

Hugh Gaugler mentioned Gutter Cleaning was something he did. And, from memory, he suggested a minimum of $125 per job.

So what if, as well as these other MSI, you also did Gutter Cleaning. And what if all you did was one job per week. That's an additional $125 per week, $500 per month.

Now our Income looks like this: $240 + $200 + $360 + $500 = $1,300.

And all of it from your own independent MSI.

Personally, I find this more secure than a job. But lets say you don't and you want to have a job too. Well, have one. Make it a part-timer. Maybe something that makes you $200 a week. Maybe an evening job doing janitorial work as I suggested in this post:
http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?read=9291

Now your monthly income looks like this:

$240 + $200 + $360 + $500 + $800 = $2,100.

Now that's pretty close to what the average income is, so lets leave it at that.

If you lose any one of your MSI, the most you will be out is $800. But you'll still have $1,300 a month coming in.

If you lost your $200 Income Stream, you'll be down to $1,900 a month coming in.

In either case, losing one of your Income Streams is NOT the end of the world because you still have income coming in.

Compare that to the people Gordon mentioned in his post. They lost their income and that was it. No income coming in at all.

Which situation would you rather be in?

I would rather have Multiple Streams of Income, even if it meant others viewed me as some kind of Jack of All Trades.

I would rather have a whole bunch of small Income Streams making me $100 - $500 a month than one large one making me $2000 a month.

When considering any potential Income Source, avoid thinking about the immediate worth of it. Instead, calculate How Much it is Worth to you at the end of the month - and even the end of the year.

That's the first step. If you want that particular Income Source to be more - to grow - be patient. With enough care and attention it will. But it won't if you never even give it a go, never start it, because you didn't think it was worth it.

Michael Ross.

P.S. If you want to add additional Income Streams to your income, subscribe to The Great Ideas Letter today. Each issue we show you businesses you can start with a minimum of effort and funding and skill and education. And we don't just show you these businesses either. We also start some of them and then show you the results of our "tests."