Ever thought of selling US$0.50 microwave covers from Alibaba.com on Amazon.com for US$12.00? What about sitting on a beach here in Jamaica and sourcing cold weather door strips to sell online during the bad winter months in North America?

After starting online marketing in the year 2000, Lorette Lyttle and her sister Alicia Lyttle have found that the hardest thing to do is focus on one stream of income.

“Internet marketing is like a rabbit hole. There are so many ways to make money that you have to learn how to focus on just a few that are the most profitable for you,” Lorette shared with us. Alicia added, “We firmly believe that once people learn at least seven ways to make money on the internet, they can find financial independence.”

Alicia shared that for the Lyttle sisters, the most profitable lines of internet marketing have been:

• Selling courses online through Udemy.com and Teachable.com

• Affiliate marketing

• Blogging

• Freelancing through making linkages on Craigslist.com and Fiverr.com

• Social media marketing for other small businesses

• Live training in countries such as Singapore and South Africa, where they then promote their online courses

• Webinars

• Monetisation of their own YouTube channel

“My sister Alicia is a great starter of projects, and I am a great finisher. We balance each other and manage getting caught up with the ‘shiny object syndrome’ that a lot of entrepreneurs get distracted by.” Lorette added, “You have to get an accountability partner. It’s the best way to make sure you stay on track.”

The sisters were making these remarks at a recently held event where they shared seven steps to creating multiple streams of income which they did not limit to internet marketing.

Step 1

Write your monthly income goal – somewhere you will see it to remind you of what you want to achieve.

Step 2

Decide on the types of income streams you will be pursuing such as freelance work, affiliate marketing, selling on Amazon, real estate, investing in the Jamaica Stock Exchange, investing in cryptocurrency, etc.

Step 3

Focus first on implementing your passive income streams. These include written works such as books which can be sold online and physically in a book store. Audio and video creations, investing and receiving dividends and real estate.

Step 4

Next look for streams of income that will expand your business. For example, the Lyttle sisters use international speaking opportunities to build their online businesses selling courses that they manage Jamaica.

Step 5

Once you have an idea of the sources of income you are interested in, choose to implement them one at a time. The planning and launching of a new stream is the most time-consuming. Putting your focus into too many areas at once will slow you down.

Step 6

If you have several additional income ideas, wait until you’ve got one up and running smoothly before starting the next one.

Step 7

Drop an income stream if it is not working. You want to give your additional income streams the time and effort needed to get them running, but if they don’t start generating income, then drop it.

Lorette added that the best way to ensure that you can manage multiple streams of income is to “automate and use technology wherever you can. And make the best of every minute. If you have to use a kitchen timer to make sure you complete tasks and not get lost in Facebook or Whatsapp, then do it. Also, remember to remove the distractions that limit your productivity.”

Alicia added, “You have to be focused and make the time to ensure that 2018 is your best financial year.”