It is important to have multiple income streams, living off Steemit is not enough

in #life7 years ago (edited)

Diversify your seeds to reap wide benefits from your crops

We learn in finance that diversification is a means of spreading risk. We learn in business that compliance is a method of reducing regulatory and legal risks. We learn in development and engineering to follow best practices for quality control.

While it feels good to be your own boss and be self employed, to not have to worry about being hired or fired, there are still risks involved. One of the ways to reduce the risks involved with being self employed is by having diverse income streams.

Don't let all your income arrive from Steemit

Steemit i looking good right now for many people. People on Steemit are earning $40, $50, $100 a post. This is encouraging people to begin asking questions like whether or not they can live off Steemit and be a career blogger. A specific blogger asked that question in their post: "(VLOG) What Will You Do When You Can Live Off Just Steem!?":

The short answer to this question is people already are living off Steemit. The long answer to this question is more involved and whether or not someone should seek to exclusively live off Steemit. I don't think it's wise to put all your eggs into one basket even if Steem is the basket. There are other blockchains which pay participants and which you can generate an income stream from and if you'd like to see how then take a look at @craig-grant to see how he makes profits from Genesis Mining and BitConnect.

Don't let all your income arrive from cryptospace

In other words don't put all your eggs into one basket. There are regulatory risks in cryptospace which make it not necessarily a good idea to pin all career hope on making a living from the blockchain. The tax uncertainty is only part of the concerns, as there is the possibility of a crackdown and the possibility of crashes in the market cap to the point where the amount of money you can earn is no longer able to support a comfortable standard of living. The only way to reduce this possible risk is to diversify your income streams so that at least some of your income streams come from sources outside of crypto. These could be passive income streams such as from real estate investments, stocks, or and it can be your day job. You can work in the tech industry or outside of it, but as long as you have other things going on then you will not fear a crypto recession or crackdown as it will be just a buying opportunity for you or the end of profiting from the blockchains.

Don't let all your income be the result of your own labor

This is a critical point, and it is important to note that this might conflict with the labor theory of value. Labor is not the only source of income and not really ideal. Labor requires you to sacrifice your time for money and when you are young with more time this seems sensible, but once you're older, of poor health, or if you perceive due to your circumstances that you have less time? People who have less time don't have as much time to sell and all time / labor theories of value and methods of producing income will fail for people are old, disabled, not in the union, etc. Value is subjective and it doesn't matter who is doing the labor but what does matter is who has the legal rights to the income generated by that labor.

Passive income streams are an example of income without labor. The person who for example makes money from affiliate marketing may not need to do a lot of labor to get a lot of residual passive income. The artist who makes a film or album can get residual income for years with weeks or months of labor. And of course there are many stocks, REITs, and other methods of producing passive income which can fund care for you in times where your health is poor, or where you are retired. Passive income is a critical strategic source and during times when nothing is going on with Steemit or when you're unable to post, the passive income will still keep coming to you even if you're in a coma.

References


  1. https://steemit.com/steem/@lukinsawyer/vlog-what-will-you-do-when-you-can-live-off-just-steem
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_theory_of_value
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You are really so right that diversification is important. I think assets you can touch, not just cyber assets are important. All your cyber investments could go pouff with an electronic magnetic pulse hit.

"Wait, so you are telling me that I cannot live from a super volatile platform which keeps changing every week and is still in beta phase? You are strange, man. I should probably invest all my money into Steemit and make my family do that as well!" said every successful homeless person ever!

The fact that the super-volatile, weekly changing, beta phase blogging platform is about twice as reliable as the job markets in 2/3 of the western world probably has people's expectations a little skewered ....

Besides, where else can you sell sarcasm for $3 per sentence? :p

Oh, and look up there! A $13 meme!!!

Yeah, the sarcasm must be much better than mine to receive $3 per sentence outside of Steemit. That's why it is impossible not to love Steemit. Also, I already said it before and I'll say it again: it is better to earn unstable $50-$200 than stable $10.
Yup, the job market is pretty much ruined these days, but what can ya do? I blog on Steemit and write for a couple magazines outside of the crypto world. It brings me some money and a lot of free time, so I am happy.

It is definitely not wise to put all your eggs in the Steem basket. There's plenty of other cryptos to invest in and plenty of other ways to earn online. I'm a blogger, and writing for an established tech blog was my main source of income.

However, like you said, some people are just living off steemit right now. But it's okay, as from the rewards they make on the site, they can venture into other fields and build and create new revenue streams.

Great article and some very good pointers. Upvoted :)

If your income would only come from steem there would be steem coming out of your ears and ass. It's damn hard work;).

Grind Hard Steemians!!! I worked on my 21st bday to grow my business.

Excellent post! Focus on augmenting your passive income is the fastest way to financial freedom. Also understand how to reduce your taxes legally.

Developing multiple income streams is never a bad idea...

Ditto with passive income. Thanks for a great and helpful post.

😄😇😄

@creatr

Just use the funds you earn on Steemit, put them into dividend paying stocks and use the dividends received to buy Steem Power on Steemit :)

Yes totally agreed, just like the saying goes "don't out all your eggs in one basket" (or something like that).
The key is to get involved in more things that create passive income. Have multiple streams of those and you shall succeed.
Just my two cents..

Right, do one thing effectively and then leverage the income from that to establish additional income streams. So if you're good at blogging and have some extra money then you can invest some of it in new areas like real estate, or other things, and see how you do.

A lot of people are travel bloggers, and they blog on Steem, Youtube, Instagram, plenty of ways to leverage travel.

Thats why I collect cans. Every can is 5 cents closer to retirement.

And now I am one cent closer. Geeze where I come from we don't even have one cent coins anymore, they just round down. Sad day to be in Canada

True Story: I had a crap load of monster cans to recycle. On my stroll to the recycling center I came across a guy begging me for spare change. I offered to give him my trash bag full of aluminum cans. He declined telling me that it was only worth $3 and not worth his time to walk 1 mile to the recycle it! So I told him that was the best I could offer and continued my way to the recycling center. It took me only 20 minutes to reach the recycling center and I received $5 for my efforts. Moral of the story: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!

Nah man! I'm 23 years old,making 50 cents a day on Steemit. I'm already looking at early retirement.

You are right, if one day steemit down this will be the end for many, one must diversify his income to maximum for safety first and foremost. In any case thank you for your advice I will follow you because you are someone very intelligent

very great post loved it :)
keep posting ..

as the saying goes never place all your eggs in one basket ...

Sound advice. Thanks!

What are your favorite passive income streams? I like to invest in the stock market, buy media royalties, and build out my investment website.

It's not enough actually , multiple incomes actually secure your future better also they can be your backup as well. Steem is good for online income. Great content , upvoted and following now

Great advice..a little old monetary system knowledge mixed with the new. However, in the near future I think people will start to create their own currency/value thus nullifying the "old way".

Its all a hobby until it has health benefits associated with it.

Yes I've been starting to wonder this, too!

I really think the important is to enjoy what you're doing in life

If you like my comments guys follow me i try to reach 100 followers im new here

Thank you

Very prescient re: don't put all your eggs in one basket!

Steemit and other crypto opportunities are still patchy baskets with some potentially scary holes in them (see: ETH price chart)

Great post! And good to point out that betting on one horse can be dangerous. Thanks for sharing (and I follow you for that, missed a lot of your post, well at least now I see)!! I need to check out the other sites you are talking about :-).

Interesting rule of thumb these days to have more than one stream of income
with as much of it passive income as possible. Nice post.

Realistically you should have at least 3 income streams. This is really not that difficult to do in 2017. Especially when you have Steemit by your side. Steemit should not even count as an income stream.

Never rely on any one single source of income.

It is always good to diversify!!!

Don't do this...

Advice for the ages.

Good post and great advice!

Yeah I would not trust putting all my eggs in one basket. I mean sure, ride the gravy train while its steaming along but remember you gotta keep an eye out for your stop. Know when to bail if need be. Good luck all!

Putting all your eggs in one basket is risky. But leaving money on the table is a recipe for disaster.

Right now Steemit is doing well and hopefully it will, well into the future. For people who need money RIGHT NOW, focusing on Steemit can help them tackle their financial issues. Once comfortable, take some Steem and use it to create other sources of income.

You're absolutely right about passive income being essential as one gets older.
Posts like this get us to think. Thank you!

Quite right

Very rise advice. Thanks for that.

I completely agree on being diverse and not just on different cryptos but industries as well. Nice post!

I've seen a couple of people post about the flashy things they are buying with Steemit money like jetskis and hiring people!
It'll be scary if the bottom drops and they have nothing.

This is an awesome post. Ive been thinking the multiple streams income wrong, the illustration was so on point and provided some clarity for me personally. I feel like im just all over the place lately and cant focus because there are so many things im good at and have a skill and talent for. Wow, thanks! I just need to pick one right?

Invest the money that you Jake from Steemit into an asset.