✔️ Now you’ve got your 7 different streams of income. What’s next?
One income stream is a death sentence today
The average millionaire has 7 streams of income. The average American? They have 1.
Yikes.
The problem with a single income stream is that it’s all too easy for it to get ripped out from under you.
You get sick and need to take time off to recover. A hurricane floods your business and sidelines it while you make repairs. You piss off the wrong person and get fired – or, worse, canceled.
The best way to bulletproof your income is to make sure it’s coming from more than one place. That way, if disaster strikes one income stream, you’re not immediately ruined.
So this week, we’re talking about how I’d get to 7 figures with 7 income streams in 1 year.
But before we get to that, let me tell you why this is on my mind today and why you should ponder the same path. It revolves around two words: free speech.
The problem of silencing, and the power of voice
For those of you who know me, you know I stand by this saying as the entire reason I began Contrarian Thinking:
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
As a former journalist turned investor, I know there is only one thing more powerful than money: words.
Most people look to control the price of things, while the pros know it is best to control the terms. Because when you control the language, you control everything.
Which is why I found what happened with Joe Rogan and Spotify last year troubling, to say the least.
I have no loyalty to the man, and I surely do not agree with him on many fronts. And yet, the problem with this situation – and countless others like it – is much bigger than him. And more dangerous.
Let’s call canceling what it really is: silencing.
When we start virtue-signaling what can or cannot be said by comedians, of all people, who is safe? Who or what is next?
And what happens with the next generation of free thinkers, who are now in their 20s, watching from the sidelines?
It’s what I call future silencing.
If the most popular podcaster in the world can be brought to his knees for questioning the narrative, what does that tell the up-and-comers? What does it tell those youngsters full of half-baked ideas that their future selves will think are ridiculous, or even horribly wrong?
It says, do not question anything. Do not let your ideas play in the arena to see if they can fight to the death. Instead, stay quiet, stay agreeable, bring nothing new.
Because you may be wrong, you may err, times may change, context may be excluded and that would be dangerous. Your evolved adult self will be demonized for your idiotic younger self. The risks of airing views that not everyone agrees with means you will not be able to air any ideas safely.
When we are not growing and debating and innovating with ideas, we begin to atrophy and die.
I don’t really care about Joe perse. I care about all the ideas yet to come from those who observed his takedown. Without risk-takers, the world as we know it wouldn’t exist. Without strongly argued, loosely held beliefs, we’d never grow.
So when that tingle of affront and anger hits, when you feel you have to cancel or silence someone, instead create a counter-argument. Battle them with your own ideas.
If your argument is better, it will win. If it is not better, it doesn’t deserve to win. But do not ask for another’s hands to be tied behind their back so yours can succeed in punching them in the face.
Be better. Don’t expect someone else to be quieter
In a few hours I’m hosting a free masterclass and there’s still a handful of spots available. If you want to learn how to replace your entire salary in 1 year or less, RSVP and I’ll show you.
How to earn 7 figures with 7 income streams
The other important lesson we can learn from Joe is that the key to freedom is having no singular master. Which is to say, no singular income stream.
Here’s the path I would take to ensure that you can keep on earning no matter your opinion, your job performance or your health status.
Part 1
START WITH "PLATFORM" ACQUISITION
The wrong way to get 7 income streams? Open 7 new businesses at once. The likelihood of failure is incredibly high.
What would I do instead? Buy a platform business you can add on to, using loans and SBA to put down minimal cash.
Let’s say it’s a laundromat, to keep the example easy. Here’s the how-to for valuing and buying them, but save that for the end before you go re-reading.
Imagine your deal goes something like this…
1st laundromat deal:
$67,000 profit a year
0-15% down for the purchase price of $100k
Use $100k in seller financing (using future sales to pay off owner)
Finance down payment with equipment loans on machines.
Income: $67,000 Income stream count: 1
Part 2
ADD-ON ACQUISITION
Get the first 30 days of operations under your belt, and then it’s time to add your second stream. Maybe you start with a series of vending machines at your laundromat. Think snack vending, soap vending or toy vending for your customers’ bored kids.
While you’re at it, you can add a few other vending machines in your local shopping centers, since you’ll be servicing the ones in your laundromat anyway. If you keep them within a 1-mile radius, your laundromat operator can run both businesses.
Now you have $67k profit from laundromat plus, let’s say, $50k profit from vending machines in multiple locations.
Income: $117,000 Income stream count: 2
Part 3
VERTICAL ACQUISITION
Now you are maybe 90 days out, and your laundromat is fully operational. As you grow the business, you get to know your competitors and other operators.
You meet Bob, who has run his laundromat for 20 years and has just gotten too busy. He wants to move out to the country, so you ask him if he’d like to sell you his laundromat. He says, “Well, reckon I might.”
You use seller financing to pay from his future profits to buy his business. You send Bob a monthly check and plan to pay him off completely in 3 years. He doesn’t have to work, but still gets a check each month.
This was a bigger, more established laundromat with wash-and-fold service. It makes $300,000 in profit, because you know the game a bit better now.
Income: $417,000 Income stream count: 3
Part 4
ASSET ACQUISITION: MACHINES
After Bob teaches you the ins and outs of his laundromat, you realize your laundromat could have more capacity and be much more profitable with more machines.
So you shop around to see if anyone wants to sell you some used machines.
A broker you’ve gotten to know says another store is going under, so you buy out their equipment for pennies on the dollar.
With your increased capacity, you’re pulling $50k per year.
Income: $467,000 Income stream count: 4
Part 5
ASSET ACQUISITION: DELIVERY
Now laundromats are great and passive, but you’re aggressive and want to grow. You want more margin and higher-end customers.
So you purchase a van delivery fleet from another company and add a wash-and-fold service. Now you have another $250k in income from this service add-on.
Income: $717,000 Income stream count: 5
Part 6
HORIZONTAL ACQUISITION: PRODUCTS
One of my favorite ways to diversify my income streams is what I call a P&L review. I look at all the things I spend money on and figure out how I can turn my costs into profits.
So you start to think about one of the biggest costs in the laundry business: the soap.
Why not buy a mixer of commercial-grade soap, brand it, bottle it, cut costs 30-50%, then go sell it to your competitors under a different name?
So you buy that business and do the same thing, or you partner on it and take a revenue share or an affiliate fee. That’s another $200k per year.
Income: $917,000 Income stream count: 6
Part 7
HARD ASSET ACQUISITION
So you have a budding business empire doing $917k profit, and hopefully more if you’re growing all the underlying divisions and companies. Your biggest expense besides labor is probably your leases and real estate.
Why not buy your strip mall? You’ll be a landlord to your own businesses, while benefiting from all the write-offs, depreciation and tax benefits that come with real estate.
That deal equals another $100k in profit.
Income: $1,017,000 Income stream count: 7
The key to getting this plan off the ground
You could spend months (or even years) trying to start a business from scratch, and still might end up at zero after all that effort. The fail rate of startups is incredibly high.
You could attempt to do this all with passive investing in the stock markets. The returns would take some time, or a whole lot of money and luck.
Maybe another path?
Buy an existing business. It’s already set up – customers, employees, systems.
I can already see the comments saying “Yeah, but that’s SO expensive! You’ll need to invest millions!”
Not always true. Many businesses can be bought with little money down (or even zero).
Here’s how: Seller financing.
It allows you to put down part of the purchase, and then pay the seller over time with a percentage of revenue.
There are thousands of businesses for sale in the US right now. Over 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every single day – and many of them own businesses!
You’ve got your 7 streams of income. What’s next?
You have more cashflow that can help you buy even more businesses, or scale the ones you have. We use laundromats as an easy example, but there are much better options with higher ROI.
The lesson? Free humans create more, take more risks, build more, grow more and give more. Make yourself a free human and see what happens.
Disclaimer – Disclaimer – This is the “Be an adult” section. This article is presented for informational purposes only. The opinions stated here are not intended to recommend any investment or provide tax advice. Neither are they an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle by Contrarian Thinking, LLC or its affiliates. All material presented in this newsletter is not to be regarded as investment advice, but for general informational purposes only. Investing does involve risk. We cannot guarantee profits or freedom from loss. You assume the entire cost and risk. You are solely responsible for making your own investment decisions. We recommend consulting with an advisor. By reading/sharing this newsletter or consuming our content on our other channels, you are indicating your consent and agreement to our disclaimer.
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