4 Steps to Create Multiple Income Streams

                                                                                                                                               c) 123RF Stock Photos

A conversation I had with Jackie 3 months ago prompted me to write this article for her blog. You know that regardless of your career path you can create multiple streams of income that will get you on the path to financial freedom. I created a process called the The EDCS Process. It starts from discovering what abilities and ideas will generate an income, to converting it to a business, building a business system and actually making money.

Here is the EDCS Process:

Step 1 - Explore 
Explore your skills, talents, abilities, and ideas and you will find something you can convert to a viable income stream. Use reflection and analysis to determine your skills, talents, abilities, and competencies. Get them all out into a map.

Secondly generate ideas for business. Do this by brainstorming and generating ideas. These could be ideas you have had prior to now or  brand new ones. When you take a close look at these two elements (your abilities and your ideas) you will find raw material that can be processed and refined to create a money making machine.

I usually favour mind mapping to generate ideas because typically when you ask people to go through this exercise they write lists; lists of ideas, lists of skills and talents, etc. Generating ideas in lists limits your ability to go beyond the norm and tap into your brain power. Whereas visual thinking is the best way fuel creativity, maximize the power of the brain, and help you explore unconventional routes and thereby produce truly innovative ideas.

Step 2 - Determine the Use Value 
Determine the use value of the ideas you generated in Step 1. Ask yourself questions like: how does this help people? What problem does it solve? How does it make life better for people? How does it help people and organisations achieve their objectives? How does it advance life?

It is important that you understand and establish the use value for people or organisations because obviously you will give them a use value for the money they will give to you.

Step 3 - Create a Business System 
Take the use value you have established in Step 2 and create a business system around it. By creating a business system around the ideas, you can use your time to work on the business without necessarily having to work in the business.

A business system is methodical procedure or process that is used as a delivery mechanism for providing specific goods or services to customers. Expressed simply it is the process for making money. It is where you take the idea or concept and create a step by step process for the business operations.

Document it and create a flow chart. This ensures that you can either do it yourself or other people can do it. It also polishes the process in a way that can be communicated should you choose to sell the business idea at this stage and cash out.

Step 4 - Start Selling
Having completed step 3, you should start selling. Get the word out and start getting potential customers. Depending on the nature of the business you can choose different advertising and promotion methods. Sales are absolutely vital to any business and anyone can learn sales and marketing. Read resource materials and sign up for courses to plug the gaps in your knowledge.

By Jesse Ford

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