source of incomeIf the latest economic struggles (and the ones that have come before) teach us anything, it is that we MSUT have secondary and third sources of income AND that we CONTROL those sources of income. 

Here are 3 very important concepts that I hope helps you understand how very important it is to create another source of income for yourself (more on how in just a minute)…

1. Work FOR Someone Else

Look, it’s great to drive to work each morning, put in your 8-10 hours, drive home and get paid every two weeks working for someone else.  For most people, this model works very well UNTIL…

a) You have a disagreement with your boss and they turn your life into a living hell
b) You hate your day-to-day activities so much it’s creating tremendous stress on you, your family and your health
c) You discover that the pressure, stress and travel associated with your job CANNOT continue…what do you do then?
d) Your company makes a few bad moves and suddenly YOU must pay for their mistakes
e) Despite your companies best efforts, the economy disappears and so does your job

Now what do you do? 

Believe me, the lack of control and absence of a plan that will at least tied you and your family over until another job comes along is an overwhelmingly stressful, sickening and totally un-empowering situation. 

It is precisely in the good times of your job that you need to plan and put into action a second income source because challenges will come – will you be ready?

2. Time For Money

So, the next step is that maybe you have a skill, knowledge or just the ability to work hard and you create a second income source by offering up your time and energy in exchange for extra cash.

It may be consulting, applying a trade (painting, building decks and fences on weekends, etc…), building someone else’s business for them, getting involved in a franchise or other distribution network model where you get paid for the effort you put in.

Congratulations…you have moved one step closer to becoming financially free and have taken a giant step forward in controlling your income stream, BUT…

We know how precious time is in our life. 

The answer is not necessarily to create a second JOB where we get to enjoy less of life, have less free time, spend less time with our family and take a bigger hit to our health and energy because we’re now working 14-hours a day to bring in both income streams.

What happens when you want to take an extended vacation…your second income stream ceases.

What happens if you get sick?  Your second income stream disappears right when you need it the MOST.

What happens if any untold number of interruptions takes place in your life that prevents you from putting 100% into your second income source?  That’s right, it disappears.

What happens when you want to scale up your income and turn an extra $5,000/month into $10,000 or more?  When your second income stream trades time for money, it’s very difficult to scale your business…and when you do, it means YOU must work harder.

3. LEVERAGED Income Activities

So, we’re left with a third alternative…chaneling your skill, knowledge, expertise and energy into leveraged activities. 

What are some example of leveraged activities?

a) You take knowledge you already have, develop through research or pull from another expert and put it into an informational product which you sell for months and years to come.

For example, you pull together an ebook, report or book on the best Yoga techniques for new mothers through a combination of writing about your own experience and pulling information from both yoga instructors and other yoga participants.  It takes you 6-weeks (See the 6-Week InfoProduct Profits Course Inside of InfoMarketer’sZone) of effort then you can continue to genearte a second income source from that proudct for years to come with NO additional effort. 

Now that is leverage.

b) You have spent years helping people with mortgages, have an inside view of mortgages and what it takes to get the best one.  You decide that there is enough demand to put together a $179 home study course on “Negotiating The Best Mortgage For Your Property” which takes you 2-months to put together. 

In the course you simply collect dozens of the most asked questions regarding mortgages, through a combination of your own knowledge and some paid outsourcing, you put together a training course that walks your customer through each stage of the mortgage negotiation process. 

You enhance that by showing a video of an actual mortgage negotiation or a set of templates that you can use to communicate with your bank or lending institution. 

c) You are a die-hard sports coach – perhaps soccer.  You’ve decided that the hundreds of thousands of other volunteer and paid soccer instructors around the world would find it useful to get monthly updates on soccer world information, training opportunties, new skills training, team building skills, and so on…so you develop a membership site for soccer training and charge $17/month. 

Before long you have 500 subscribers paying you $8500 each MONTH for your information.  All of the content from previous months adds to the attraction of the site – that is all LEVERAGED content that will continue to grow your income over time. 

The GREAT news for you is that you have created an automatic money machine that continues to pay you leveraged income based on your past effort while you continue to add more leveraged business income to your bottom line. 

This model is scalable, will double and triple your return without you having to work any harder, can quickly replace your existing income from your job or “time for money” business income and builds a tremendously valuable business entity that you can use to retire wealthy in a very short period of time.

It’s CRITICAL that you begin developing your own second and third source of income – both for your financial, emotional and physical well being. 

The question is…will you build that second income in a way where you work less but make more? 

Join the Infopreneurs over at InfoMarketer’sZone and see how we are building leveraged income streams each and everyday.Â