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• Tweet ^[1]
• Email ^[2]

One of the ways that you can improve your finances ^[3] is to come up with ways to earn more than you spend. While cutting back on your expenses can be helpful, it can also be a good idea to cultivate alternative income sources. That way, if you have an income drop from your primary revenue stream, you can supplement it. You can also use your alternative income to pay for fun extras, or boost your emergency fund.

While it will take considerably longer than 55 seconds to cultivate an income stream that can provide you with significant revenue, you can get started by considering your options and making a plan:

1. Consider the options: List out the possibilities for earning extra income ^[4]. These can include building an creating something that will generate royalties, income portfolio, getting a part-time job, donating plasma twice a week, doing odd jobs around the neighborhood, freelancing or consulting, starting a side business over the Internet and monetizing a web site. (16 seconds)
2. Be realistic: Next, go over the items you have listed out. Consider each one, and how realistic it is. If you don’t have time for a second job, it might make sense to spend two or three hours a night developing a blog and growing traffic, or creating craft items to sell online. Think about talents and abilities, and figure out what is realistic for you, and narrow your list to one to three items to try. (27 seconds)
3. Decide what you can put in, and make a thumbnail sketch of your plans: Quickly develop a plan to make your income idea work. It doesn’t need to be detailed; just sketch out how much time you can devote to it each day or week, and basic things you will need to make it work. (12 seconds)

Now that you have a basic idea of what you can do to earn extra income, you can take a little more time to flesh out the details. Put together a plan that can help you reach your income goals. If you plan to build an income portfolio ^[5], you can decide how much money you need to invest each month to eventually reach your target income stream. You will also need to make a plan for researching possible investments, and how you will hold them.

If your plan is to create a home business in your spare time, you will need to list out what supplies you will need, as well as make a plan for developing a business web site, and create a business plan that includes marketing ideas, and your plans for optimizing your site for search (many of these items are necessary, too, if you want to monetize your web site). You might even need to come up with a plan for getting small business funding ^[6].

Actually building alternative income streams takes some thought and hard work. However, if you make a plan, and if you can devote a set amount of time to it each day, you will be able to eventually see the fruits of your labor, and you will build an income stream that can help you achieve financial freedom.

(Photo: elycefeliz ^[7])