The majority of people are conditioned through their childhoods and their educations to believe that the only way to make a living is to get the right qualifications and then get a job working for somebody else. It is a very rare school which teaches its pupils that they too could be a leader, and open up a business venture of their own. Almost non-existant in the education of youngsters is the concept of a “portfolio career”.
A portfolio career means having more than one string to your bow, and creating multiple income streams, rather than relying on a single job. After all, it is a very unwise investor who sinks all of his money into a single stock; in investing, diversification is the name of the game, as it decreases the risk to your money. Surely the same thinking should be employed with careers.
A very easy way to start building up fledgling streams of extra income involves using the internet. In general, little or no capital investment is required to get you started. All you need is an idea; you need to think creatively about what you can offer the world. But remember you can’t just pick something that you enjoy; it must be something that also has value to others, so that you can meet their needs, and get paid for doing so.
Knowing what people are searching for on the internet, and also what the potential value could be to yourself are really the keys to building financial abundance. Google has a free keyword tool to help you figure out who is looking for what, and other sites, such as the Keyword Academy, can help you figure out whether your ideas are likely to make any extra income for you.
Once you know you have a small topic of interest both to yourself, and to other people (because they are looking for it on the internet) then you can start by writing about it and make a little extra money, a bit at a time in the evenings perhaps, while still holding down a day job. Some of the sites you can write on, and begin building your online empire, include Hubpages and Squidoo, and then you might want to progress to building your own sites. It’s never too late to add new income streams into your wealth reservoir – the time to start is now!
