Diversify or Go Broke: Why You NEED Multiple Online Income Streams
Imagine that you have a bustling online business.
Your income stream steadily rises week after week.
Cash is flowing.
Then one day, you wake up to find it alls all but disappeared.
The river of internet money has dried up.
That was me, two years into my freelancing journey on Fiverr.
My first 18 months on Fiverr were a dream run:
50+ 5-star reviews
Average order of $750
Total earnings of $38,000.
My first 18 months of earnings of Fiverr
But, out of the blue, my gigs tanked, my Fiverr impressions dropped to nothing almost overnight.
Poof!
Gone.
The revenue stream that I had worked so hard to build dried up to nothing.
No money.
No leads.
And a fuckload of stress.
One of my top-performing gigs went from 4000+ impressions to almost 0 overnight
I was cruising along, close to becoming a top-rated seller, and then, suddenly, I was shadowbanned for no clear reason.
My promoted gigs? They tanked too.
Thankfully, I still had a couple of clients that I was working with outside of Fiverr to continue funding my travels.
But, this was not something I wanted to feel again.
So, in 2023, I began to diversify my online income streams.
Why you need multiple online income streams
Thats you, in the middle.
If you've ever experienced this drop in online income, you know the feeling.
Panic sets in. You can’t shake the desperation. The sense of helplessness.
It feels like you'll never earn a single dollar again.
You’ve got bills to pay and the online world isn’t paying them for you.
You're not alone.
I’ve been there, and many other online creators have too.
This article is not just my story, but a wake-up call and a survival guide for anyone who earns their living online.
Don’t let your online income streams run dry
I was traveling through Europe at the time and I had planned to use my income to continue funding my travels.
But that dream faded quick.
I realized I needed to base up, knuckle down, and build more income streams.
The worst part was realizing that this wasn't just my story.
Other top Fiverr freelancers were caught in the same storm, their income streams dried up without warning.
Elena Jason said on Twitter that she made $45,000 USD before her account was disabled out of the blue…
Fiverr Member Jordan Hall said in the Fiverr community forum: “On 25 Nov my impressions dropped off a cliff and are yet to recover. I went from receiving an order almost every day to not receiving one since the 25 Nov drop off.”
These are just examples on ONE platform!
Imagine how many creators have seen:
Their Youtube earnings disappear.
Their blog traffic falls off a cliff and affiliate or ad income stops flowing.
Their sales stop on a Gumroad product or Shopify store.
Their OnlyFans subscribers stop paying.
This list goes on and on and on.
And there is only one way to avoid it…
Diversify your Online Income Streams
Here's the thing: you can either let these setbacks defeat you, and go back to your 9-5.
Or you can fight back.
You can adapt.
You can diversify.
My biggest piece of advice is: If you're earning an online income, DO NOT put all your trust in one platform.
The platforms you use are big companies that do not care about you on an individual level.
They make changes to their algorithm, terms and conditions, and commissions without a single thought about ‘Ben Webby’ or ‘Freelancer X,Y,Z’.
So, to avoid being at the mercy of these corporations, you have to build multiple income streams.
This is how you guarantee a steady flow of revenue, no matter what.
You have to adapt and build multiple income streams.
You have to diversify to make a full-time online income.
Rather than giving up on making money online, I pivoted and adapted.
When Fiverr failed me, I pivoted and adapted.
What I Did to Diversify My Online Earnings
I poured my energy into building my profile on Upwork.
I started building digital products to sell on Gumroad.
I created a Youtube account with plans to monetize in the future.
How to Build More Income Streams Online
Now, 5 months later, the fruits of my resilience are showing.
I’ve made over $10,000 on Upwork, and my Gumroad store has made $4000 in 35 days.
My first ever product on Gumroad made $4680 in 35 days
Why am I telling you this? Because the online income game changes daily.
You have no control when you put all of your income in the hands of big businesses.
To survive and gain financial freedom - you need to build different income streams.
You need to pivot… like Ross.
The landscape of online income is a battlefield that changes daily.
You can't control the decisions of big businesses that can pull the plug on your income anytime.
But you CAN control how you respond.
You CAN build different income streams.
You CAN pivot.
You CAN adapt.
And you CAN diversify.
If I can do it, so can you.
The key is to diversify or face the risk of dying out.
What you can do to build more income streams?
Let’s say that you are making money as a freelancer on a single platform.
If you’re like me, you may have built up your Fiverr account into a steady stream of cash.
Well, the great news is that their are so many more options for you to make internet money.
Let’s look at some of the options:
1. Upwork
If you have a Fiverr account, start an Upwork account!
You can offer the exact same services, AND unlock an entirely new pool of potential clients.
The same goes for Freelancer.com and the range of other freelancing platforms available. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
the best way to earn more money on Upwork is just by applying for as many jobs as humanly possible. I ran an experiment in February to try and apply for 100 Upwork Jobs in one day.
The experiment landed me $10,000+…
Want to learn more?
2. Fiverr
This works in reverse.
If you are focusing all of your time and energy on Upwork, put some effort into building a Fiverr account.
You already know what works.
You know how to build a freelancing profile - use the lessons you have learned to speedrun your next platform.
Seriously, there is no better feeling as a freelancer than receiving a payment from Upwork and Fiverr in the same week.
3. Medium
You have experience. Start to tell people about it.
Teach others how to do the things that you do.
If you are not sure what to write about, write to yourself 5 years ago. Teach him or her exactly the things you would’ve wanted to learn back then.
Are you making money as a Youtube editor? Write articles about your journey. Teach people how you get clients, or how you edit videos in under an hour, or your best hacks to making a viral video.
Medium creators get paid just for writing articles. Sure, it takes time to build up a profile and get enough subscribers.
Once you qualify as a paid Medium Writer, you can earn roughly $25 to $30 for every 1000 views. Medium actually pays you based on the amount of time people spend reading your articles, so, the longer you can keep them hooked, the more you earn.
4. Youtube
Do you prefer to talk rather than write?
Are you a natural on Camera?
Start building a Youtube Channel.
If you can reach 1000 subscribers on Youtube, and either 4000 hours of watch time, or 10,000,000 shorts views in 90 days - Youtube will pay you as a creator.
Just like with Medium, this takes time to build as an income stream. But, if you want to make it as an online creator, Youtube is one of the most powerful platforms you can use. All you have to do is consistently upload videos that provide value to the watcher (easier said than done).
The same goes for writing articles - make videos that teach people how to do the things you do. Or make videos that make people laugh. Or inspire them to travel.
Whatever it is that makes you tick, start filming content about it.
5. Gumroad
Gumroad allows you to diversify your online income by creating digital products to sell.
You can sell:
Courses
E-books
Videos
Novels
Notion Templates
And so much more
The best way to do this is to create products that teach people how to do the thing you are going - in record time.
Gumroad is an amazing way to monetize every aspect of your knowledge and services. You just have to spend some time building a product.
And once you get sales, Gumroad will pay you every single Monday - like this:
I launched my first ever product on Gumroad (a product that took me less than 10 hours to make) and it made $4926 - in just 6 weeks.
My Gumroad stats after 6 weeks.
Want the exact strategy I used to earn almost $5000 on GumRoad in 6 weeks?
I made a FREE course to give you all the hacks you need.
Just click the button below and you will get a no bullshit, no fluff, step-by-step guide to making money on Gumroad.
Diversifying your Online Income Stream - A Summary
Let's cut to the chase.
Depending solely on one platform for your online income?
That's a recipe for disaster.
I learned it the hard way.
Big platforms can change the game anytime, leaving you in a tough spot.
They'll change their rules, tweak their algorithms, and they won't bat an eyelid about how it affects us.
So, what can you do?
You need to diversify.
You build multiple income streams.
That way, you've always got a safety net.
I switched gears when Fiverr didn't work out, and you can too.
I spruced up my profile on Upwork, started selling digital products on Gumroad, and even hopped onto YouTube.
So, what's the message I'm trying to hammer home here?
If you're freelancing, spread your talent across different platforms.
If you're selling products, don't limit yourself to one marketplace.
If you’re a writer, start recording videos too.
If you’re great on camera, start writing articles.
There are so many gold mines out there for you to discover, you just have to go digging.
Remember:
Diversify, adapt, pivot, repeat.
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