I was speaking to my brother, a long-time web developer for a successful design firm in Philadelphia, about the concept of lifestyle design. We had both decided that the daily grind was not exactly what we had in mind when we signed up for our jobs. 9-5, day in and day out, 5 days a week takes much of the fun out of jobs that we like. My personal comparison was take any hobby/activity and do it for 40 hours a week, most days of the year, and see how long it takes you to get bored of it. Diminishing returns sets in after awhile and the tedious, busywork tasks that inevitably show up become increasingly annoying.
Given that neither of us have the stash of booty required to retire out-right, we still have to work. While I could feasibly make it about 2-3 months before I’d start hitting crisis mode, having that hanging over your head like a constant hourglass wouldn’t make it the most carefree time, nor would it be a long term solution. Instead we began tossing around ideas, things that would renew our vigor and creativity while still bringing in enough income to save and support ourselves. My brother came up with an idea that stuck in my head: What if we established 5 different unrelated streams of income, thereby diversifying our income out to a safety net of different jobs, while also preserving our ability to do change it up on a day to day basis?
At first, I decided the idea was absurd. What jobs could I possibly do? What about health benefits? The more I thought about it, however, it’d actually be a safer bet in some respects. Having a number of different jobs would provide a sort of safety net. If one income failed or earned less than expected, you could feasibly utilize your other income streams to make up the difference or provide support in the interim. I drew up a rough idea of how this would break down for me:
- Niche Mini-Sites
- Freelance Writing
- Dividend Income
- Beekeeping
- ?
I don’t think generating 1/5 of my current income would be outlandish with the exception of course of number 5, which is yet to be determined. I plan on doing some further research into the possibility in the mean time. Have ideas? Questions? A good old fashioned “what the hell is wrong with you?” Feel free to drop me a line.
EDIT: My alternate income yesterday was $2.78, driven entirely by adsense!
on Jun 5th, 2008 at 2:00 am
One way I found to make extra money was to start a web based business promoting other banners through affiliate programs. I found it to be a lot eaiser than I thought. I won’t get super rich off it, but it does afford my family and I a ‘free’ vacation each year & then some.
K
on Jul 8th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
[…] it. I originally did some brainstorming with a microbusiness portfolio all the way back in June of 2008, sort of a predecessor to more well known bloggers who can put forth the idea in a much more […]