The Truth About Multiple Streams of Income Others Don’t Tell You
Feb 08, 2023
There is a myth out there that says you must have multiple income streams in order to build wealth.
That belief is far from the truth, and the thing holding many would-be entrepreneurs back from enjoying maximum success.
Although most millionaires do have multiple streams of income, most of them did not gain wealth from multiple streams of income.
They gained wealth by focusing on one business, and only after that one business was wildly successful did they begin to diversify their income, energy and focus into other streams of income and possibly other businesses.
Many who mistakenly go after multiple streams of income initially end up diluting their focus too much to gain the traction necessary to create the financial success they seek.
They spin their wheels, inefficiently juggling multiple things at once and find themselves busier, more frustrated, and further from their financial and life goals than they desire.
Here’s why multiple income streams should not be your initial focus and how the pursuit of such can hurt you more than help you on your way to building wealth and creating a life you love.
Yes, the following seven streams of income are certainly wonderful…
- Earned income (Your Job)
- Business Profits
- Interest Income
- Dividends (Stocks)
- Rental Income
- Capital Gains
- Royalty Income
But we must realize that there is always opportunity cost associated with anything we put time, energy, money or focus towards.
Opportunity cost is simply the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.
When we invest our limited time, energy and resources into multiple income streams at once, we are diluting our effectiveness from the one that can give us the most impact and biggest return on time invested.
Sadly, I often see others trying to build wealth and freedom all wrong.
They often divide their limited time and attention between their job, a side hustle they are starting, maybe some affiliate marketing, another business that comes along, some stock market trading, or house flipping, etc. the list of distractions is endless.
They are in essence throwing things at the wall, hoping something sticks, but that is not how most will ever find true financial freedom and success.
Yes, most will need to keep their “day job,” but in addition to that, it is best initially to give all you have (professionally speaking…not sacrificing relationships in the process obviously) to one business. One thing. One singular focus.
That is not how most financially successful people created wealth.
For example, female billionaire Sara Blakely focused solely on building her Spanx brand, a women's undergarment company, that has since expanded its offerings to other types of women's clothing.
Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, while working as a waitress, with a $1,000 loan made her real estate business her sole focus, and it’s now a $5 billion-dollar business.
Daymond John founded and built the clothing brand FUBU, selling hats from street corners. Six years later, the company was generating $350 million in revenue. That is singular focus!
Jewelry designer Kendra Scott focused solely on her jewelry design. Starting in 2002 with only $500, she went door to door to sell it to local boutiques. The singular focus is what helped her take the brand to a billion-dollar valuation with over 100 stores nationwide today.
In 2013, while in college, Tony Xu focused on one business (DoorDash). When it went public in 2020, he became a billionaire and now invests in many other things and has multiple streams of income, as do all the aforementioned “Sharks” from Shark Tank that I previously mentioned.
I personally have 6 of the 7 income streams mentioned above, but I am still singularly focused on my only active business in the health & wellness space.
Why? Because I am still wanting to maximize my effectiveness there and minimize distractions.
I have passed on multiple other opportunities over the past 8 years so as not to be distracted from the mission, the calling, and the path we are on of building the #1 personal growth and development company in the world.
Our desire to positively impact people’s health, wealth, personal growth, marriages, families, spiritual lives and ultimately their legacies, which compels me to not allow my time to be diluted or distracted by another business.
I have said no to many opportunities because I refuse to be short sighted.
I maintained a long term vision that has allowed me, by God’s grace, to pass up opportunity after opportunity over the past 8 years of building our business, for the long term benefits of what we are creating.
Just one of the opportunities I turned down last year, as an example, would have made me over $500,000. But I don’t care. I believe it would have cost me much more than that, over time, in lost focus.
I am not saying you must turn down every opportunity that comes along, but I hope this message will make you think twice before buying into the myth that you need multiple streams of income to be financially successful.
The fact is that pursuing multiple streams of income before having one business that is wildly successful is more harmful than helpful for most people.
It’s hard enough to ride one horse well and exponentially harder, if not impossible for most, to ride two horses well at the same time.
Starting out, most will maximize their success by keeping their day job initially, and singularly focusing on one additional income opportunity, with laser sharp focus. That is how to maximize your odds of enjoying the success you desire.
If you’d like to hear the most recent episode of my “Life's Hard, Succeed Anyway” podcast, where I talked about The Importance of a Vision, you can listen and subscribe here.
Until next time,
