Have you ever thought about what would happen to you if you were laid off tomorrow? I don’t want to sound like a pessimist, but it’s not impossible for that to happen to you. Do you have an emergency fund to cover your expenses for the next 3 to 6 months? It may take that long to find another job in your desired career field. The traditional job model of getting a pay check every two weeks is becoming less popular and less traditional. If you want to maximize your financial security, you must have an emergency fund to cover your expenses if you do lose your job, but you can also think about creating multiple streams of income so that you do not rely 100 percent on one income.

Think of yourself as a business.

I am a strong proponent of thinking of yourself as a business. Treat your career path as its own small business, even if you are employed by another company. You may be an IT professional who does consulting work on the side, repairs computers, or sets up home networks for extra income. If you lost your job, you’d still have those streams of income to help supplement your lost income. A great example of a profession that typically is employed by someone else is a pharmacist. Most pharmacists do not open their own pharmacies nowadays, because chains like CVS, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, and Target dominate the market. However, you can still creat multiple streams of income as a pharmacist. My best friend is a pharmacist, and he is doing a residency and possibly a fellowship to help set up a pharmacy career that includes public speaking, consulting, and research. These are all great ways to earn extra income on top of a pharmacist’s salary.

Find Creative Ways to Earn Extra Income

You might set up an extra stream of income that doesn’t have anything to do with your career, but more with your hobbies. If you like crafts, make them and sell them on eBay or Craigslist. If your an outdoors person, give guided trips on the weekends. If you’re great at the piano or tennis, give private lessons in your spare time. These multiple steams of income are great ways to save extra money for retirement, get out debt, or save up cash for a house or car, when you already have a main stream of income. Again, it is an insurance policy if the worst happens, and an extra bonus if you have job security.

Automate Your Life

The best types of streams of income are those that run themselves. Starting a blog that makes money from advertisements, online stores, writing a book, or writing a song, are all great things you can start or create that make money even when you are sleeping. These are generally the hardest types of income to get started, but when they take off, it is money in the bank!

So, do you have any ideas yet about how you can start making money from other areas of your life? Start writing down ten ideas that you have, and then narrow it down to two or three that you think will be the most profitable and most effective.