One of my favorite things about being an internet entrepreneur is that I can literally wake up in the morning with an idea for a new product and have it become a reality by the afternoon. Or I can find new ways to promote an existing product. Or I can join a new affiliate program or pursue a joint venture. Every time I repeat this process, I create a new stream of income to add to my existing revenue base.

I firmly believe that the key to business success is this: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. What do eggs and multiple streams of income have to do with each other? If you spread your eggs across many baskets, you can still make omelets even if one of those baskets goes away.

Similarly, if you have multiple streams of income, the loss of one income stream will not devastate you the way losing your only stream would. If you rely on only one source of income, and that single income source goes away (ever been downsized, laid off or fired?), you're left broke and desperate. This is why every successful internet entrepreneur I know has multiple streams of income.

It's also why I encourage my readers, newsletter subscribers and e-business clients to establish multiple streams of income, which is extremely easy to do online. Here are a few pointers to get you started:

1. Create your own info product. Regular readers of this column have heard me preach this sermon before. Creating your own info product is the best way to generate a new income stream because it's so easy to do, so easy to distribute and offers maximum profit potential. I can wake up with a topic in mind, sit down at my computer and within hours have a short book or report that I can turn into a downloadable e-book and immediately offer for sale on my website.

If you don't want to create the info product yourself, you can farm out the actual writing to someone more adept. If you've got an idea, it's easy to find someone to do the writing for you.

2. Become an affiliate marketer. This is one of my favorite ways to create multiple streams of income because there are hundreds (if not thousands) of affiliate programs that you can sign on with and begin making money immediately. As an affiliate marketer, you market a company's product or service, and when you send them a customer or make a sale, you're paid a commission.

You can sign on with as many affiliate programs as you like, and each one has the potential of creating another stream of income for you. Many internet entrepreneurs have become millionaires without ever having a product of their own. They did it by promoting affiliate programs.

3. Start an eBay business. Selling on eBay continues to be one of the more popular ways to make money online, though very few people are getting rich with an eBay business alone. Many PowerSellers don't make enough profit to cover their costs.

4. Market your services online. Are you a computer programmer, a writer or editor, or a graphic artist or website designer? If so, you can market your services to customers around the world, and it doesn't cost you a dime.

You can offer your services to customers on websites like Elance or RentACoder.com. Basically, you register with these sites, and when someone posts a job that falls within your area of expertise, you can bid on the work. For example, I needed a logo for one of my online businesses, so I went to Elance and posted the project for bidding. Within hours, I had a dozen graphic artists bidding for the job. I sifted through the profiles of everyone who bid on my job and picked a graphic artist who did the logo for less than $50.

Granted, I didn't pay top dollar for the logo--to get it done locally, it would have cost 10 times the amount I paid--but the designer probably spent an hour or two knocking out the five designs I got back. Plus, the work came to him--he didn't have to spend a dime on marketing his services.

These are just a few ways to create multiple streams of income. There are hundreds of other ways to make money online. No matter which ones you pursue, just remember, the more streams of income you have, the bigger your money lake becomes.

Tim W. Knox is the founder and CEO of three successful technology companies: B2Secure Inc., a Web-based hiring management software company; Digital Graphiti Inc., a software development company; and DropshipWholesale.net, an online organization dedicated to helping entrepreneurs launch and prosper from their eBay or online sales business.

 

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The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, not of Entrepreneur.com. All answers are intended to be general in nature, without regard to specific geographical areas or circumstances, and should only be relied upon after consulting an appropriate expert, such as an attorney or accountant.