How Multiple Income Streams Can Make You A Better Single Parent

Plus Our List of Business Ideas That Are Doable for Busy Single Parents

In Kentucky I met an elderly couple who told me that their parents always warned them of falling into the trap of “carrying a lunch pail.” Their parents always encouraged them to own businesses and build multiple streams of income. That was how their families measured success. 

When you work for someone else you are selling your time for money. Your time is fixed and while you can sometimes increase your wages you cannot scale or outsource your time.

After becoming a parent, I realized working multiple jobs wasn’t the best way to achieve multiple income streams. The huge investment of time and energy was neither sustainable nor scalable. As a single parent, the value of having diversified or multiple income streams feels even more crucial.

Read below for our tips to help you succeed at building multiple income streams, what you should consider before you start, and multiple streams of income ideas for both online and offline based businesses with low barriers to entry. 

Tips to Succeed in Building Your Business

Find an accountability partner. They can be tremendously helpful in reaching your goals. As someone who has had far more failed starts than I can remember, my most successful ventures have always involved a business or accountability partner holding me to my commitments. 

Hire a life or business coach. If you have a creative background and lack business skills having a business coach can help you make sure you’re building a business with a strong foundation.

Talk to a therapist. Sometimes the biggest roadblocks are mental. I believe in balance. Taking care of your mental health and healing past traumas will help you clear the mental space you need to focus on bigger goals. 

Own your time and establish a routine. Routines help build and reinforce good habits. This has been key to helping me meet my blogging goals.

Prioritize self care even if you have to schedule it onto your calendar. I get absorbed into ideas and projects until I work so hard I get burnt out. This goes back to the concept of balance. Taking care of your health, getting enough sleep and eating healthy, will help you achieve your goals and sustain you so that you can keep crushing it. 

Set achievable goals within the framework of larger goals. For example, our big blog goal is to monetize this blog in the first 6 months. It’s big, it’s ambitious and we have a tremendous amount to learn in the next few months if it’s going to happen. To reach that goal, I’ve broken each week down to a recurring daily focus. Monday is editing day. Tuesday is newsletter day. Etc. I don’t like editing which is why I get it done the first day of the week. 

Get organized. I’m biased. I love organizing. My closet, my life, my friend’s lives, I’m naturally inclined to organize the world. Organizing calms my chaotic mind thereby giving me the space to be creative. It’s totally okay if you’re not as obsessed as me, focus on achievable organizing. Find a calendar app or planner you love and commit to checking off a couple things each day. Or put your routine directly into the planner. Writing your day out can help you visualize how you might be able to shuffle things around to better optimize your time. Check out our blog post 10 Tips to Thrive s a Single Parent for more ideas on organizing your life. 

What to Consider When Deciding Which Business Ideas to Pursue for Multiple Streams of Income

What’s your end goal? We chose to take the long game approach and look for opportunities to build multiple streams of income ideas that could eventually become our full-time income. This blog was built as the headquarters from which we could build multiple income streams.  

Consider whether you want to be location independent. I chose to walk away from the opportunity to own a profitable property management business because I knew I didn’t want to be tied to my hometown. I wanted greater flexibility. For location based businesses, the longer you’re in business the more you’ll benefit from local relationships and reputation.

Do you need cash immediately or can you spend the next year building your business without seeing any revenue? Our goal was to start generating revenue with this blog by 6 months. It could be over a year before we’re able to leave our other jobs and completely sustain ourselves with revenue from this blog. 

How much are you able and willing to spend on startup costs? Our blog, not counting all of the opportunity cost for our time, has cost around $500 to get it established. 

The first business you launch will likely be the hardest because you have the least resources and the greatest learning curve. As you continue to pursue multiple streams of income ideas and build more businesses it will get easier.

Offline and location based business ideas:

Cleaning business. Either residential, commercial or both. It’s not glamorous but if you’re dependable and thorough you can build a list of recurring clients and eventually build a team.

Vacation rental manager. If you’re in an area with a significant number of private rentals you can offer to clean, stage and even manage the nightly rentals for the property owners. This is a business where dependability and strong organization skills will put you ahead long term. Check AirBnb and VRBO to see nightly rates in your area and to get a sense of market size. 

Property management. You may need a real estate license for this one so check laws in your state. I’ve worked in property management in both California and Illinois. I have experience managing long-term rentals, vacation rentals and condominium buildings. The number one complaint I’ve heard from property owners was about how hard it was to find a dependable and transparent property manager. 

Real Estate Agent. I started working as a real estate agent when my son was two months old and I brought him with me to everything – client meetings, open houses, real estate classes. I worked around his nap schedule as best I could. It was exhausting but I made it work. 

Professional Organizer. Ask friends and family if you can organize their kitchens, closets, entertainment rooms or garages in exchange for pictures to build your portfolio. You’ll also need to consider whether you want to charge by the project or the hour. 

Private chef focused on meal prep. By focusing on meal prep you can build a list of recurring clients and have a more consistent schedule. Grow your client list with websites like eatwith, host private dinner parties, and offer to cater friends events. 

Home based repair shop. Growing up, my neighbor repaired clocks out of his workshop. He was also an avid cyclist and would collect, repair and sell vintage bicycles on the side.

Sell your art or photography. I have a photographer friend who has had great results with mini Christmas sessions. For $100 and an hour long photo shoot you get 5 edited family photos. You can buy additional photos for a set price per photo. She uses a Facebook business page for her website that easily allows her customers to tag her when someone is seeking a photographer recommendation.

Sell products. Set up an e-commerce site or sign up for a booth at your local farmers market to sell your homemade baked goods, jams or pickled foods. Check licensing and health department code in your state before committing. 

Online and location independent business ideas:

Life Coach. Find a successful mentor who can help point you towards the right training courses and strategies to build your business. 

Travel Agent. This business can seem glamorous, and at times it can be, but it is hard work. The most successful travel agents are meticulous, detail oriented and empathetic. 

Social media manager. While building my real estate business, I earned money on the side by helping other real estate agents with their social media strategies. I helped with basics including setting up their accounts and profiles, consulting on strategies to incorporate social media into their real estate businesses, and teaching them how to setup and boost ads. There are different strategies and niches you could build your social media management business around. Focus on clients interested in long term relationships as the recurring revenue will help you build a steady business. 

Tax preparer. This is a great seasonal job if you’re good with numbers, organized and are okay with being really busy for part of the year. Some licensing may be involved depending on your state. You’ll likely need an annual refresher before tax season rolls around as tax laws can change year to year.

Blogger. This is not a get rich quick scheme. What I’m discovering while on my own single parent blogging journey is that there are abundant resources online for self-teaching everything you need to know, thriving online communities where new bloggers can connect and learn from experienced bloggers, and that my biggest roadblock is my own lack of self discipline. 

I chose not to include remotely teaching English or any MLM based businesses on this list. I’ve tried both. In neither case are you truly building your own business meaning that you never actually have creative control over the product. You’re also limited in these businesses by growing in the way they’ve predetermined for you. For some people, these business models work. If you don’t mind getting up early or staying up late, teaching English can be a decent way to make extra income. Keep in mind that the advertised amount you earn comes out to a lot less once you pay taxes and cover all of your expenses.