This couple reveals how to generate 8 sources of income from “left hand, left foot” work, earning more than 3 million USD per year
One of our greatest accomplishments was giving up our office jobs in search of passive income. Now, we focus on more important things, like spending time with our children, traveling, and giving and helping those around us.
Before we met, Craig and I had separate jobs. But in 2006 we started our business together and founded Tandem Consulting.
Today, Tandem generates $3 million in annual sales.
We want to let everyone know that our financial success started with a side job that supplemented our income. The money we generate from Tandem, combined with our savings and income from previous odd jobs, has allowed us to branch out and work on a number of other projects, including real estate investment company, estate and non-profit organization, Tandem Giving Inc.
We currently have a total of 8 revenue streams generating 7 figures a year. Two of these are passive income streams through rental properties in Wisconsin. Recently, we co-authored a book called “So You Want to Start a Side Business”.
Many people, especially young people, often ask us what one needs to know before turning to a full-time business. And here are the five mistakes we made:
1. Ineffective time and work management
In the early stages, we didn’t anticipate and prepare well for what might happen later, when we literally had too many full-time jobs and contracts rapidly expanded.
In addition, because we feel this is a challenge to help us develop ourselves, we are constantly trying and struggling to manage our time effectively. But in the end, we found that in increasing productivity, automating some tasks and hiring more staff would go a long way in doubling the effort.
Before making a decision whether you, someone else, or someone else needs to do a task, ask yourself:
Is this mission important to you, your job, or does it represent your values? Otherwise, you may not be able to do it.
If this task needs to be done, can you delegate it?
If not, how and when can you most effectively achieve this? And where is the deadline?
If you continue to perform this task, in the future, can you automate it or delegate it to anyone?
2. Confusion between income and profit
We know several people who have tried to start an online business. They think they need to: find 20 customers, bill each customer $4,000 per year, and they will make $80,000 in profit.
Do you think that’s true? No.
You need to think of a way to find those customers. Will you have a website? If yes, how much does it cost and how does it operate? Do you have to factor in marketing, branding and many other costs? Who will handle your accounting, bookkeeping, and legal contracts? What if the customer doesn’t pay you?…
With every business we’ve ever been in, we had to plan it all out. The sales you make are not your profits (and $80,000 is not what you take home).
3. Reinvest income to generate more sales
Once you make “enough” in income, you don’t have to reinvest all your profits to make more money.
Let’s say you start with a side job in landscape architecture. And you grow it into a business that generates $600,000 in revenue a year, with a net profit of $130,000 – if you don’t receive a salary.
Then it will take you about one to two years to perfect your business systems, secure your customer base, get lean by paying off all your debts, and transfer your skills and management to a few key employees. Furthermore, you can grow your business at a salary of $60,000 per year and save $70,000 a year for yourself and only do the work that matters most.
If you have a simple personal budget and good financial management, you can live on less than $70,000 per year. Over time, you can accumulate some savings to continue investing in other businesses.
Or, at some point, you may choose to withdraw your capital and reassign your business.
4. The initial price is too high and after you build your own brand, the price will not go up
Once your business is successful, customers will be willing to pay for the perceived value. And oftentimes, if something has a low cost, people will value it low too.
Don’t be afraid to review your pricing structure regularly. Given the ever-changing and dynamic state of core inflation and the economy, you should also be flexible in your pricing.
5. Back to the employee mindset
We used to be wrong in adopting a strict ownership mentality to run the company. Because like most people, we all start out as employees, it’s quite normal to think and act like them.
Some major changes you will need to adapt to:
Predictability, stability to change: As a full-time employee, you work for 2 weeks and are paid in full. You have a fixed salary, benefits, and usually a schedule. But as an entrepreneur, you still have to work to your heart’s content even with years of unpredictable schedules and possibly low pay.
Be the smartest by finding smarter people: Employees often aspire to be the smartest or see smarter people as their competitors. But when you start your own business, being surrounded by smarter people becomes an invaluable asset.
Not every side job will bring you success, but our advice is to embrace the power of failure and move forward. When you can understand that mistakes are inevitable and you are still willing to go down that path, you will become stronger, smarter, and better at everything you do.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
