Chit Chat: Adding Income Streams

My husband and I have spent a lot of time talking about what we should do with the added income as the slow season for my business dies out and we take on extra income streams like a 2nd job for me, and a side gig doing some construction on the weekends for him. One thing we decided to work on is to add to our income streams to help reduce issues like the seasonal slump.

After throwing as much as we can into the new bike fund we plan on doing some projects here to help set us up for a better lifestyle later on. That includes adding some more income streams to our list that will help cover the slump and rebuild our emergency savings that have been tossed into other things through the slow summer.

Why you need to diversify your income sources.

Diversifying your income streams is one of the best things you can do to help you handle the crazy ups and downs in this economy. Little extra things you can do to earn money like how I have this site and my freelance writing business now that help with our everyday expenses and bills alongside my husband’s income.

When AI came into the picture my writing business took a major fall and so did our income. While we have been doing just fine we haven’t be to go out and buy a new Harley or build the new chicken coop and quail aviary well. This upcoming income source is a lot of work but it will pay off when we can turn around and build some new income streams.

Income streams we plan to add.

While most people think to start doing things like DoorDash to help build their income streams I like to look for things that do not require a major 3rd party to manage. This means we will be looking at ways to make the most of the added income to add new streams of income that we can do in our own time, on our own terms, and avoid middlemen that take a large chunk of the profits.

Quail chicks and eggs

Upon building the more advanced coop and run for the chickens we will be expanding our quail setup so we can sell quail eggs for eating and hatching as well as sell quail chicks for people that are looking for a more urban homesteading-friendly egg source. Because the fact is that chickens are not legal everywhere and take up more room than quail.

The local grocery store sells imported quail eggs with pale yellow yolks so our deep orange yolk quail eggs may do amazingly well in this neighborhood market. We will also be listing them online. This one will be easy to set up as we have the incubator, brooder, and everything that is needed we just need more cadges to make it happen, which will be built into the new coop and run.

Motorcycle flipping

We have had luck with stocks in the past. I would like to sit some money off to the side and dive back into stocks next time the market dips hard. This is a great way to make some extra money. The trick is to invest in stocks that payout dividends.

I had an idea to use my husband’s knowledge from when he went to MMI for motorcycles to help with another great income sources. This one will have higher start-up costs and we need to get a few things that would have been handy to have already like a motorcycle cycle trailer. That would have helped us not have transported the Harley in a UHaul last month lol.

For this we will save up an initial investment the go buy a bike that is already in running shape and fix it up to make it run and look better before selling at a profit. This will not only be a fun project to do together as I usually help a bit and we chat while doing bike repairs but it could be really profitable in the long run if we stick it out of reinvesting the money back into the business.

Stocks

One thing we used to do for an income stream was invest in stocks. I plan on putting some cash to the side to dive back into stocks that pay dividends when the market hits the next low. this is a great way to make a small amount of extra money regularly and when life hits a rough patch you can turn around and sell your stocks at a profit to help pay bills or keep afloat in hard times.

With the next market low we will aim to buy enough stock to make a small chunk of change every few months from dividends that can be invested or used depending on the current situation. the goal is almost always to keep your stocks for the long road but you can use the buy-low-sell-high method to help make the most of those occasional dips in the market.

Farm Stand

Next summer we plan to add a farm stand to our little urban homestead. This will allow us to put out things like eggs, vegetables, and cut flowers for sale. The girls are planning on helping to turn the entire main front yard into a cut flower garden. Selling produce and flowers is a great way to make money from your garden. In the sprig we can start extra seedlings in the run that will house quail that we can sell in the farm stand at the start.

Crafting business with my teen daughter

We have been eyeing the Silhouette Cameo for a while to start a crafting business. this will be one for the smaller investments that has a great potential of paying off for our family.

We can start producing stickers, t-shirts, and other odds and ends for my husband’s friends’ business saving them money and adding to our income streams.

Me teen and I can make signs, leather earrings, and other fun things with this cutter to start a craft business that can quickly pay for itself to expand. Then over time younger kids and dive in and help when they want to earn a little extra cash here and there. Crafting is a great way for teens to make money.