This is week 3 input for me as directed:
The best sources of revenue
1. What sources of revenue does your farmer program currently rely on?
a. Selling airtime in the form of 30 and 60 second commercial spots.
b. Selling content, our radio stations have sometimes been able to sell their sub-carrier programs for use.
c. Remote broadcasts of short sponsorship advertisement.
2. Are there other ways you think you can generate revenue for your farmer
_ program? Please explain._
a. Website Advertising: Stations can develop campaigns for merchants via their online web site presence.
b. Online audio streaming: Stations using digital audio playback can set up advertising that plays on their webstream that’s separate from what airs on their over-the-air signal.
3. What challenges do you face trying to generate revenue?
a. Mobile Network instability.
b. Poor internet connection.
c. Poor road accessibility.
d. Weather and climate
e. Scarcity of hardwards required for radio and computer setup maintenance.
How to diversify revenue
1) Begin Side Hustling
Do you already have a day job? Then one of the easiest ways to diversify your income is to begin side hustling. Can you offer a service, become a consultant, turn a hobby into something that earns you money, or take on a part-time, remote job?
Figure out a way you can earn money outside your job and start there. Review your strengths, ask friends and family what they think you’re good at, and see if there’s demand for it.
If you already have a wide network in your immediate area, reach out to people and let them know about what you’re offering. Perhaps you know a ton of dog owners that need pet sitters and walkers when they go away on business trips, or several small business owners that have websites in need of improvement.
Don’t know too many people nearby? Then get online, start your own website, and begin offering your services far and wide. I know starting is hard, especially if you’re in a creative space (we all deal with fear of putting our work out there), but having your own website helps tremendously as it makes you and your side business look legitimate. Plus, it serves as a great space for a portfolio if you need to showcase one.
2) Invest in the Stock Market
Another way to diversify your income is to start investing in the stock market. It pays to have your money growing elsewhere, and sometimes in a place where you can’t access it immediately.
For example, if you open a retirement account, or contribute to the 401(k) at your workplace, then you’re ensuring you have income to live off of in retirement other than whatever cash you have saved in the bank. This is a good idea and pretty much a necessity if you hope to retire “on time.”
Some people max out their retirement accounts and open brokerage accounts to further diversify their investments. A favorite among early retirement hopefuls is dividend paying stocks, since they create a source of passive income. Brokerage accounts don’t come with the same penalties as retirement accounts (although they are taxable), so you can pull money from there if needed.
3) Invest in Real Estate
This can go a number of ways. You could buy a fixer-upper and flip it, buy an apartment unit in a college town to rent out to students, buy single-family homes or duplexes/triplexes and rent them out, or invest in a vacation property and list it on HomeAway.
You can also rent out a section of your home, which doesn’t exactly require an additional investment, unless you need to make adjustments to the living space.
Either way, you’re creating another income stream for yourself in the event that something happens to your primary source. If you have rentals, then hopefully you’re collecting revenue from them each month.
If you can flip houses, then at least you have the skills and connections to do that, provided there are houses for sale in the area that make sense for the work.
Creating a rental property portfolio can be great for the long-term when you’re ready to retire, too.
4) Focus on Passive Income
As you can see, many of these ideas are focused around passive income. Who doesn’t want to earn money in the background without having to actively manage the details?
There are other ways to build up to passive income beyond investing and real estate. Maybe you want to start a blog and create products to sell. If you focus on ebooks or courses, you create them once, and then continue offering them with some minor updates in the future. The point is, a sale can occur while you’re away from your computer.
Or maybe you start that blog and it gains enough traction to earn affiliate income. Or you create YouTube videos and receive pay for videos you made in the past that are still being watched.
When thinking about creating and selling online products, it also helps to focus on “evergreen” content – information that will be relevant for a long time to come. Tried and true methods that have been proven to work for others. Otherwise, your information could appear stale and outdated, turning away potential buyers.
5) Don’t Forget Your Day Job
Your day job does have a place in all of this as your primary source of income. Even though you’re trying to build additional sources to diversify, having one (mostly) steady income stream provides peace of mind and allows you to venture out.
Trust me, I say this from experience: quitting your job and then freelancing with nothing else to rely on is scary! If you have your day job, use that income as a confidence booster to get out there and offer different services and to be creative.
If you’re a freelancer, then what I recommend is having one or two “main” clients that make up a decent chunk of your income, and then having several smaller clients fill in the gaps. I know this might sound a little risky (and it totally depends on the relationship you have with your clients), but having nothing but project/deadline-based work would scare me.
I personally wouldn’t want to be in a position where I was looking for new clients/projects every three to four months. I built my business based on ongoing work, and I kept many of the same clients for a year or more as I progressed. They “grew with me,” so to speak, and I’m very grateful for that.
Thanks for reading,
Mikepac715
