I Talked to TikTokers Who Are Making It Rain Through Multiple Streams of Income — and I'm Taking All the Notes
Having a side job definitely has its pros and cons. On the pros side, you rake in some extra cash that you can toss toward paying off debt, add to your savings account, or whatever else you want. On the cons side, well, you're hustling on top of your day job.
Nickelodeon / Via giphy.com
While there are definitely positives and negatives to having a side gig, I think it's pretty amazing that TikTokers are finding ways to boost their cash flow — or forgo the traditional college route and the 9-to-5 completely — and earning money on their own time, and in their own way. One of the most exciting and financially sound ways to go about it is to rake in cash by tapping into multiple income streams.
Take Spencer Barbosa, for instance. Barbosa, who is 19, is financially independent and has five streams of income. Yup, that means she doesn't have to ask mom and dad for money and can fund her life and career on her own. Nor does she have to toil away at a day job.
Start With $100
Go With What You're Most Interested In
DancingWithTheStars / Via giphy.com
"If you're feeling flummoxed as to where to begin, find a topic or niche that you're passionate about", says Sugumar. In other words, landing on a topic you can talk about without losing enthusiasm. Plus, you'll want to be willing to learn more and dig deeper into that topic."To be honest, the freelance marketing and the false eyelashes e-com store weren’t doing very well and I wasn’t very passionate about them," says Tan. "I think that there's a lot of pressure to 'have it all figured out,' and have everything be successful, but I think that success comes with failing a few times and trying to figure out what you want to do."
Do Something You're Good At, That You Like Doing, And That The World Needs
Look At Different Ways To Make Money Within An Income Stream
TLC_network / Via giphy.com
You don't have to do dramatically different types of things to generate multiple streams of income. "There are many ways you can earn money within a single bucket. For instance, within content creation, there are different ways to monetize your audience", says Tan; YouTube ads, sponsorships, digital products, merch, affiliates, and so on. "You don't have to pursue them all, and not every stream will work for everyone", says Tan.Case in point: Tan generates most of her income from content creation, which comes from YouTube ads, affiliate marketing, and sponsorships. She also makes money from e-commerce and investing.Barbosa's streams of income stem from modeling and acting, affiliate marketing, brand deals and content marketing gigs, money earned from her investments, and reselling items on Poshmark. Sugumar has nine streams of income, which include an admin office job, investing in crypto, and creating Instagram theme pages.If you have an e-commerce business, you can find new ways to monetize, like branching out and selling different products, or maybe through collaborations with other e-commerce brands.No surprise, but Sugumar suggests starting a TikTok page, as you can gain tons of exposure and use it as a funnel to grow your different streams of income. "Once you have a social media account with an audience, you can create many streams of income through that — trust me," says Sugumar.
Work A Part-Time Job While You're Building Your Income Streams
thismightget / Via giphy.com
You never know when an income stream will take off. In some cases, it can weeks, other times, it can take months or even years. And some ideas you have might not take off at all. Get a part-time gig to have a bit of cash to get by."The most reliable source of income is a part- job", says Barbosa. "When I started to actually get serious about money and streams of income, I got a part-time job at Dairy Queen when I was 16, where I was guaranteed to get a paycheck every two weeks," says Barbosa. "This gave me the security that every month I would be able to pay my phone bill, car insurance, gas, and so forth. Then, once I had my part-time job, I started my own clothing business, TikTok, YouTube, and built from there."
Figure Out What Works Best For You
YellowstoneTV / Via giphy.com
"One of the common misconceptions is that everyone thinks they need to have the same kind of streams of income," points out Tan. That makes sense, as a lot of TikTokers are touting the same types of income streams — investing in stocks, rental properties, content creation, and ad sponsorships. But at the end of the day, you need to do you. And as mentioned before, it largely hinges on what you're good at, what you enjoy doing, what people will pay for, and what they need. "I’m personally not somebody who wants to have 10 properties all generating rental income, however, some people may really enjoy property investing and being a landlord," says Tan. "No stream of income is perfect, they all have their own pros and cons. And it all depends on what you like to do and what problems you don’t mind solving."
Be Mindful Of Burnout
Starting new side hustles while you already have a day job can be exciting, but it's also super easy to get overworked and burn out. There are so many ways to make money, especially these days, and you might put pressure on yourself to try to monetize anything and everything.
Signs of burnout include taking a lot longer to finish a task, physical and mental fatigue, feeling depressed, stressed, and anxious all the time, and having problems eating or sleeping.
If you're experiencing burnout, give yourself permission to hit the "pause" button, and scale back. Whatever endeavors you attempt won't be successful nor sustainable if you're overworked.
Finally, Keep At It And Be Persistent
HBOMax / Via giphy.com
Seeing Instagram influencers and TikTok stars pull it off makes it seem very easy. But it takes a ton of work. "If you wanna be a part of the 1%, you have to work harder than 99% of people," says Barbosa. "If it was easy, everyone would do it.""Whatever you do, do not quit," says Barbosa. "There have been so many times where I have felt discouraged and angry about the income I was generating, but little did I know, I was two weeks away from awesomeness, and if I quit, I would have never gotten there," she says. " Just keep trying, test new theories, use social media to your advantage, and gain more knowledge so you can be better."
"Just remember: You’ve got the most valuable asset because of your youth — time," adds Sugumar. "So try different things out, fail and repeat. Start now, don’t put it off for later."
Do you earn multiple streams of income? Share what's worked (or hasn't worked) for you in the comments.
And for more stories about life and money, like how millennials have paid off their student loans, check out the rest of our personal finance posts.
