Experts now tell us that multi-tasking is not an efficient way to work for most people. When starting a new business it is best by far to select one stream of income and work that method of making money until it is successful (or has proven to be a failure) before starting another new venture.
Once the first business process is systematized and delegated to others then it is time to go on to another venture. A small business is quite vulnerable until there are multiple streams of income. What happens if the first business dries up or becomes subject to legal or technical restrictions that didn’t exist initially? Unless a business is using multiple strategies it is too prone to losses if the first business strategy loses favor with customers or faces stiffer competition.
How do you select the next stream of income? Within the field of real estate investment here are several approaches:
1. Analyze the strategies that other investors have found successful in your market and implement one of those strategies. For example, if you are primarily a Short Sale investor, look also at the possibility of wholesale investing in bank owned property. Areas that have a lot of Short Sales also tend to have a lot of shadow bank inventory and it will probably take several months to years longer to clear these than the Short Sales from the current glut on the market.
2. Analyze your own strengths and weaknesses and find streams of income that complement your strengths and do not require large output in areas of your weakness. For instance, if you have no construction ability and don’t want to manage contractors, don’t become a rehabber. If you hate to supervise and don’t like to deal with tenant issues, then don’t become a landlord because you’ll either be handling tenants and toilets yourself or you’ll be supervising the managers and maintenance people who do. If your strength is marketing then any wholesale technique requiring a constant pipeline of buyers and sellers should fit well with your skills and interests.
3. Find multiple streams of income that are easy to systematize and delegate or that bring in customers and cash on autopilot. Look for strategies that scale well so that you can easily ramp up to larger quantities of work and income without sacrificing personal time or quality of service. Some combination of these characteristics is necessary in order to add more income streams without stretching your own resources too thin.