Multiple income streams for creatives

For most of my career, I have focused on diversifying my income through multiple income streams.

This focus is twofold. First, my goal is to place myself in a position where I would be comfortable for a few months if I lost my salary. Second, my goal is to invest in myself and accumulate wealth.

As a creative, it took some time to adopt this mindset. When I started my career, my goal was clear: find work I love to doing every day. This mindset served me well in terms of overall wellbeing; however, financially, the first few years were a struggle.

Once I created a formula, it became much easier to put this mindset into practice.

The formula is quite simple.

1. First, ask yourself what skills you have.
2. Next, ask yourself what you are passionate about.
3. Then, combine your answers and ask yourself who else shares your interests and could benefit from your skills.

Now, offer those skills to others and charge for your time.

In theory, this sounds simple but can be a challenge to implement.

In reality, this means that you’ll need to invest your “free time” into other opportunities. Creating new opportunities for yourself means trading sleep and Netflix time for “opportunity time.”

So, how do I generate side income? Over the years, I’ve experimented with different ways. I’ll cover a few below.

Consulting

A great way to get started is to offer consulting services. Once you discover your unique skillset, the goal is to find companies or startups who can benefit from your skills.

I’ve spent the better part of my career offering design consulting or freelance services in my off-hours or “opportunity time”. The benefit of this scenario is that you can be selective with whom you work with because you have the comfort of a salary. My rule is to only take on consulting work that fits into my lifestyle and only work with clients who align with my values.

eCommerce

As Jack Butcher says, “build once, sell twice.” Ask yourself what you can create once that others who share your passions will find value in and can purchase. Shopify has made this model accessible to anyone.

In 2019, I launched a Shopify store that combined my passion for design, photography, and motorcycles. I created a niche apparel brand for modern motorcycle enthusiasts called Whiskey & Wolf Supply Co. After building a solid customer base and shipping products for a year, I sold this brand on the Shopify Exchange Marketplace.

Digital Courses

There are a few ways to offer digital courses. You can apply to become part-time faculty at a local college or create a digital course to sell on platforms like Teachable, SkillShare, or Udemy.

I teach part-time at a local applied arts and technology college and deliver one course per semester on interaction design.

These are just a few ways you can generate side income as a creative. If you are looking for more ways to monetize your skills, I would recommend looking at the side hustle stack. The Side Hustle Stack is a free resource where you can find platform-based work, ranging from gig work and side hustles to platforms that help you start a small business.