The Importance Of Multiple Streams Of Income
And why it's going to be even more important in 2023 and beyond
A slightly shorter blast from me today, mainly because my fingers will likely explode if I do any more reams of typing for the next few days! For reasons that will become clear.
The main topic for today is why it’s so important in this day and age to create multiple streams of income for yourself. Seemingly long-gone are the days of the age-old ‘job for life’ mentality. These days people swap jobs like they’re swapping shoes.
It’s even more precarious in the freelance and self-employed world. Which is why finding new routes to new clients and customers is vital.
A few days ago, I saw a post on LinkedIn from a guy I follow who was talking about his latest eBook which he sells on a platform called Gumroad. I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of Gumroad before but was curious enough to check it out.
It’s a platform where you can just about sell anything. Predominantly knowledge. Be it in the form of a course, where people subscribe monthly, or whether you’re selling just a one off digital product, like an eBook, video or audio series, whatever it may be, for a single shop-style selling price.
Since I’ve been doing quite a lot of writing recently on a little secret project I mentioned last time (which I will reveal more about soon), I thought why not do a bit more. So I’ve ended up writing a 4000 word eBook on how to write effective voice over scripts, based on my 14+ years combined knowledge of the voice over world.
One of the key things I’ve learned, and noticed over these 14+ years, is that there are so many scripts that come to people like me that are ‘off’ in some way. Either they’re written for a visual audience, rather than an auditory one - i.e. it’s been written in the style of a report or brochure, not written in a way that’s designed to be spoken aloud.
This becomes all too prominent when clients want something to sound conversational and approachable, but it’s been written in the most overly-formal Downton Abbey style wording, and expect people like me to work miracles!
We’re good, but we’re not that good!
Other things people don’t often think about - like numbers. Should ‘0’ be pronounced zero, naught, oh etc, if it’s in a phone number? Web addresses, people still keep the antiquated ‘www.’ in their scripts where it’s just not necessary any more!
Plus little writing tricks that people can use to make scripts sound less clunky. Because many’s the time you just know that the person writing it has never read it aloud, even to themselves, to check whether certain words sound clunky in a sentence, and maybe other wording choices might make it sound much more pleasing to the ear.
So, I did a thing.
Mainly to test out the Gumroad platform, see how it worked, see if it’s something that’s worth a go for any freelancer out there that either creates content, or has lots of knowledge in their head which they could share in some way in the form of eBooks or multimedia content that can be sold many times over, to create a passive additional income stream.
Before I knew it, I’d collated a load of thoughts together regards tips for writing voice over scripts, and ended up creating a 16 page 4000 word eBook!
Here’s what it’s all about:
This literally went live yesterday afternoon, so it’s all brand-spanking new. However, the set up on Gumroad was delightfully straightforward and very easy to do.
It’s also a free platform, so no monthly costs - they simply take a small cut of the selling price, which is more than easy enough to build in to the price of your product.
So we’ll see how it goes. I’ve already got thoughts and plans for 2 further eBooks up my sleeve, so I’ll be adding to the collection before too long. But I’d certainly recommend you take a look at the Gumroad website if it’s something you’ve been toying with too.
Given the world is in such a precarious situation at the moment, no one know what’s going to happen one day to the next. Especially with all the previous Covid lockdowns, current cost of living crisis etc we are all-too familiar with; it’s even more important that we plan for multiple streams of income ongoing.
Because no one can predict the future, and it’s always better to be prepared. So if there’s one thing you can do to boost your potential for 2023 and beyond, plan for creating as many additional streams of income as you possibly can. You never know when you might be relying on them.
And being in a position where you can sell your knowledge on a passive income basis, selling i.e. digital products that can sell time and time again, that’s got to be worth a try.
Stuff I Found That You Might Find Useful
Creating Screenshots The Funky Way
Thanks to a handy video I spotted on YouTube a few days ago, they highlighted a tool for Mac called CleanShot X - a souped up version of screenshot and screen-recording software that is massively useful.
For years I’ve used a tool called Skitch, that was bought by Evernote a few years ago. It’s worked great, and it’s something that I’ve used a lot. But with CleanShot X it can do so much more, and has handy features like in the below image; it’ll automatically isolate a window to screenshot, and hide any icons and open windows you may have surrounding it on your desktop at the time, to give it a nice clean background, making your screenshot subject more prominent:
If you’re a regular user of screenshot software, and like to annotate things easily, want the ability to isolate windows, capture scrolling websites etc into one single image seamlessly, then it’s well worth taking a look at Cleanshot. For me, it’s $29 (one-off fee) well spent.
Currently, it’s Mac only, and there are seemingly no plans to bring it to Windows, but you never know…
The Origins Of Freelance
Did you know this? I didn’t…..
It amused me though.
That’s your lot for now.
Until next time…