Upskill And Generate Multiple Streams Of Income

In the old days, we could rely on our employers to provide all the training we would need in our traditional career – because most people only had one job, and that was for life!

Over the past twenty years the emphasis has been on developing “transferable skills” that enabled us to move sideways in our industry or sector and enhance our value.

All of that has now changed. We can easily build skills in areas completely different to our current job or career. Switching careers is the new changing jobs. Full-time employment is not a universal aspiration.

I gave a talk to some 6^th Form school leavers recently and shared with them that. According to the latest research, many of them would have up to 7 careers!

This blog will help you navigate your working life in a strategic way. It will enable you to move from career to career without missing a beat and always be happy and fulfilled.

What is Upskilling?

Upskilling is the new personal development. Upskilling is all about selecting something which fascinates, enthrals or captivates you – and then learning all about it. To get started, do a quick, honest, assessment of your current skills and decide what would enhance those skills or what else would you like to be able to do?

Upskilling options

You have two upskilling options:

1. Build new skills in depth. Become incredibly knowledgeable about your new skill.
2. Build many new skills. This is a generalist approach and great if you like to see how different things work together or have multiple passions.

Whichever choice you make, focus on selecting activities you enjoy. This will boost your energy, and energy is going to be critical as most skills take time to develop.

Upskilling examples

Deep Skills – if you like to develop your skills in depth, you can utilise the same approach when selecting and acquiring a new skill. Your accounting skills could switch to design consultancy, for example. Effectively, you are transferring your eye for detail into another, unrelated, field.

Broad Skills – If you’ve enjoyed working in a finance team, but it was the business aspects that appealed to you more than the detailed files and spreadsheets, you could learn marketing and sales to become more of a business generalist.

How to earn multiple streams of income

By far the simplest way to develop new skills is to pick up the ubiquitous “Side Hustle”. This is something you do alongside your current job. This approach is low risk and means you can try many things before choosing to apply more time and resources.

Creating multiple streams of income

The thinking behind developing different sources of income falls into two categories:

1. De-risking our money making strategy. If I have more than one income, I am less reliant on any one employer or opportunity. If the company I work for is no longer a reliable source of income and starts laying people off or stops trading, I am secure.
2. Magnifying my money making capacity. There is a ceiling to how much I can earn from most jobs. By setting up other streams of income, I can bring in more cash, accelerate my investments and potentially restructure what I do with my time.

8 secondary income examples

Here are 8 streams of income that just may turn into Primary sources!

• Stocks and Shares – investing your money in your favourite businesses all over the world has never been easier. You can develop a portfolio on your phone in your tea break! In fact, if you’d like a free share valued between £10 and £200 to get started, feel free to use this link and open open a Free Trade account. The key is to do your research, decide your risk tolerance and only listen to financial advice from an expert.
• Sell Stuff – start small. Look around you and identify a few things you no longer use or want and sell them on ebay. I know someone who started doing just that, learned all about the platform and now runs an eBay shop. His income has surpassed his former executive role.
• Teach – don’t let a lack of qualifications hold you back from making a start. You only need to be a few steps ahead of your students at first. Your knowledge will be invaluable to someone studying for an exam. If you like it, you can upskill and become a fully-fledged tutor.
• Start a Business – if you have an interesting idea or a new perspective on something, maybe a new business is the answer. Follow the example of many huge businesses and start on your kitchen table.
• Grow Assets – to develop income with this one, you can choose between relatively fluid assets that can produce cashflow like property investing. Or, you can invest in assets that are more static like art and antiques. To make the latter more of a stream of income, you will need to study how to trade.
• Become a Maker – especially if you are creative. Turn that interest in woodwork into things that can be marketed and sold. Alternatively, turn that love of writing into a book. The market for reading has boomed in recent years.
• Rent – many of the most successful business people in the world rent their homes. Equally, people are reluctant to spend big money on items they will rarely use or will depreciate quickly. Buy cars, gardening equipment and others large items and rent them out.
• Services – the range of ways you can hire out yourself has also increased exponentially in recent years. People offer their services on global platforms like Fiverr. If you have a specific skill you can package as a small offer or can support people with an hourly or daily rate, you could join the “gig economy” and be in business before you finish reading this blog!

Whatever you choose from the multiple streams of income ideas above, start from a place of genuine interest. You will be developing all sorts of skills and could discover something that has real potential to both earn money and occupy your time. So make sure it is something you enjoy! Work life balance is always important. Seek to balance your life your way.