I was trained as, and worked for years, as a psychotherapist. Because I have a restless mind, love to learn new things and am bored easily, I diversified my work life over the years. I began to give workshops and write books. Those activities began to be successful, so much so that my clinical practice became a minor part of my income.
But I had another motivation in the back of my mind as I pursued those new directions. I was always thinking about the possibility that depending on only one source of income could leave me vulnerable if conditions changed.
And, lo and behold, they did change. “Managed care” (which really meant limited therapy sessions that had to be approved by an overseer from the insurance company) swept through the field of therapy. I heard my colleagues complain bitterly about how this development had both reduced their income and intruded in a grating way on their autonomy. Some quit the field altogether.
Managed care was barely a blip on my radar screen, though. First, I stopped taking clients who used insurance or let them handle insurance issues on their own. Second, if they couldn’t afford therapy, I saw them for no charge. I could afford to do this since I made most of my income elsewhere.
The point: Identify places where your income is dependent on one (or very few) sources. And then diversify.
Of course, this is one of the things this blog is about: setting up diverse sources of passive, online, affiliate, automated and location-independent income; either to supplement your current income or to replace it entirely.
Where are you vulnerable to other people’s whims or sudden shifts in income? And what are you going to do about it?
Your Life of Freedom 