Income Streams

 This post is a bit of a brain dump of all the revenue streams I can foresee creating in the mid-term future for myself.  Then I'll have some accountability following up on all my ideas.  Some of these ideas will be good ones, and some will be dead ends.  

 Since my daughter was born, I've been struggling to re-create a career.  My training is in math and programming. I have a BA in Math.  I worked two corporate jobs programming predictive statistics for banking and then for retail.  Then I spent 18 years self employed as a statistical programmer supporting cancer research.

After I had my daughter, I was left with significant brain damage that made it harder to program.  I kept trying with help from my dad, for whom I was subcontracting, but then the pandemic happened.  Funding was diverted to focus on Covid research.  Hospitals were too overwhelmed to run experimental studies.  My dad decided to retire.  First, I started a clothing line, which is my dream job, and ran into manufacturing problems.  I still have Kickstarter rewards to fulfill.  Then I started To The Mountain Shuttle to support my ex-fiance, which just failed. 

 So where am I now?  I'm applying to jobs but also looking at any and all ways that I can think of to generate income.  But me getting a job isn't very interesting blog content.  What other income streams can I add to improve my finances?  Let's explore a few ideas.

Blog Revenue -- Well, I'm writing this blog about money.  I might as well explore how blogs make money.  I thought it would be as easy as saying "yes" to Google AdSense, but no. My first try applying for an AdSense account was rejected.  I'll try again.  Per ChatGPT, "... a small blog with 10,000 monthly visits might earn $20–$100, while a popular niche site can earn hundreds or thousands."  So far I've had about 12 blog visits. 

Print on Demand -- This sounds fun!  You upload designs that get printed on T-shirts, other clothes, hats, mugs, whatever.  I looked into Amazon print on demand.  I think I'd get about $5 for every T-shirt sold.  Unfortunately, my application to Amazon print on demand was rejected.  They didn't give a reason.  Apparently there is no way to appeal it or ever apply again.  I'll look at Etsy next.  

MLMs --  One of my ideas for the buses when I owned To The Mountain Shuttle was to have a refreshment station onboard.  We were planning to take out a seat or two and put in a water system with hot and cold water, free instant drinks, and a mini vending machine.   To fill the vending machine, I thought I'd try joining an MLM (Multi-Level Marketing company) and have To The Mountain Shuttle buy snacks from my MLM business.  I looked at Melaleuca. They have snack bars and energy bars and such that looked good.  But to be a distributor for them, you have to be a customer.  To be a customer, you must order a minimum of $80/month.  If you don't order that much, they will automatically charge you and ship a selection of products.  I didn't see that benefiting me, so I didn't sign up.

I went with Amway instead.  I'll do a whole post about that.  I'm still involved and making a small amount of money from that, about $100/month.  

Wealth Builders -- Wealth Builders has a mission I really believe in.  I really feel like I've learned a lot from their education already.  I have another call set up with Conor and his mentor Karan.  I'm cautiously excited to perhaps start working with them.  The income opportunity is getting commissions on financial products people buy if they want to implement the wealth management strategies they teach.

Rental Property  -- I own my house and also a small piece of undeveloped land up at the ski area.  My property at the ski area is small (4000 sqft) and close to I-90, but it's also about 400 yards from the ski lifts.  I love it.  Because of my business failing and the massive debt that created, I've been trying to sell my little property since March.  Since it hasn't sold yet I took it off the market for the winter.  I could at least try to rent RV spots there on HipCamp for the winter.  

I could also look into renting out parts of my house in the future.  I used to have roommates before I had my daughter.  I am hesitant to take on a roommate again, but I could as a last resort.  Once I have recovered financially, I could also look at making improvements to my house or to my shed to create an AirBnB space.   

Skiing --  Teaching skiing has been my hobby job for the past 19 years.  I absolutely love teaching skiing!  I work at Snoqualmie Pass for the mountain's in house ski school and also for a private ski school called Ullr.  It doesn't pay well, but I'd do it for free.  Come ski with me!!!  I just started a website, Skadi Ski, to pull together all the possible income streams related to skiing.  I can tell people how to book lessons with me through the mountain.  I can link to the HipCamp listing for my property.  I can link to Amway  supplements I recommend for muscle recovery.  I can link to my favorite ski brand, Tara Shakti, for whom I am a brand ambassador.  I could also start blogging about skiing on my site and share other ski content that I like.  One of the jobs I'm applying for right now is a retail job at a ski shop.  It won't pay enough to take care of me and my daughter for long, but it could be a good way to promote other ski income streams.  Maybe I could make some Print on Demand merchandise with ski themes, too.

This was a great exercise for me.  I really see, after writing it all out, how all my income projects can be tied together with my new Skadi website.  Building a website is not my skill set yet.  I have some work to do!  Winter is coming soon.  

I'll leave you with this picture of the most golden of golden hours I've ever seen.  It was a gorgeous day and even more beautiful evening out at the pumpkin patch with my daughter.  Take care!