Why You Need Multiple Streams of Income

Relying on a single source of income comes in a variety of forms –  affiliate sales for a single company, offering sponsored posts, working with a single client. The danger, when you only have one way to make money is that when (rarely if) that income dries up, you’re stuck. You have no other money coming in.

Diversifying your revenue streams takes work, and it definitely doesn’t happen overnight. But once you create more than one way to make money, you can better (although not always perfectly) weather any financial loss.

What Multiple Streams of Income Looks Like

My method of more than one way to earn money isn’t the only way – let’s be real here, there are an infinite ways this can work. But it’s an example to use so here are all the income sources I’ve developed over the years.

• Affiliate partner with five to nine products or companies
• Sponsored blog posts and banner advertising on my website
• Podcast sponsorships
• Write for two or three adult companies as clients
• Vanilla freelance writing for six clients
• Pitch articles to two or three websites per month
• Patreon crowdfunding (for now)
• Merchandise/swag for the Loving BDSM podcast

Right now, my biggest sources of income are my sex and vanilla clients. If they all fired me tomorrow, I’d be hurting. But my hope/plan/intention/goal is to build up the others so I can reduce or eliminate the vanilla writing clients in 2018.

Do they all take work, nurturing, and a lot of organization? Yeah, they do. And of course, I wish I earned more income than I do. My belief is that if I continue to grow my audience and form relationships with people, the money will follow.

How Do You Create Multiple Streams of Income?

If you’re one of those multi-tasking souls who can get a lot done in a little bit of time, maybe you can tackle all of these things at once. But that’s not the reality for most of us. The vast majority of us have lives, kids, or other jobs that come first. So jumping into all the ways you can make money requires time and patience.

Start small. Pick the thing you know you can do easily. Early success – the company that offers to sponsor your website or that first affiliate sale – will give you the confidence to keep moving forward. Especially since rejections (or simply being ignored) are a real part of making money.

• Create a page on your website with the services you provide.
• Reach out to brands and companies you love to see if they have an affiliate program.
• Contact them (again) if you think they could use some help with their web content or social media presence.
• Pitch your ideas to different publications.
• Figure out what you can offer readers as “extras” in exchange for monetary support. Could (or would) you print pictures? Record special videos? Write special stories? You’d be surprised at what your readers and audience will pay to have or access.

Keep Building Your Audience

While client work and pitched articles can provide a decent living, there’s nothing wrong with wanting your blog or other creative work to make money, too. In order to do that, you have to keep building your audience.

• Show up consistently and create something for them to read, watch, or listen to.
• Interact with your readers as much as you can.
• Have a presence (that doesn’t take over your life) on social media.
• Market (Pimp) yourself, your products, your services. Frankly, this is the one most of us (including myself) fail at. We want to create the thing, but not sell the thing or ourselves as the creator. We’re going to have to get over that.

Why are Multiple Streams of Income Important?

When you’re devoted to a single client or one way of making money, you’re not prepared for the natural ups and downs of the freelance/smutlancing life. Clients will let you go with little or no warning. Websites that took your ideas last month might go out of business or move in a new direction that you’re unable to go in. You could get banned from one source of income (ahem, Patreon) or the social media platform that generates the most clicks to your affiliate links.

Literally anything could happen.

In the beginning, you won’t have multiple streams of income right away. But it should always be the goal if your plan is to quit your job or life off your smutlancing income. When you do, you give yourself more financial freedom and flexibility. That it keeps you from burning out, stagnating, or getting bored is a plus, too.

My way isn’t the only way. What other streams of income do have or want to have? Have you found a balance or a mix that works best? Share in the comments below!