Focusing on Leverage

I would say that at least once a week (if not more) I hear someone talking about some job or money related thing that just points out the fact that most of us don't really focus on building leverage.  The other day, I heard some people talking about how the latest round of promotions in their office were pretty thin since funds for the organization were cut.  Therefore, fewer people got promoted…better luck next year.  Comments like, "Well, that's life" were all that was offered as the passed-over employees went back to the grind.

Instead of worrying so much about being "given" a promotion, most people would be better off if they used their natural skills and talents to go out and "generate" additional income (or, horror of horrors, develop new skills that allows them to do so). 

It doesn't matter if it's done via affiliate marketing, an infoproduct business, making/selling crafts from home or providing some sort of service (though I obviously have my own criteria for choosing among those options).  To some extent, the vehicle used doesn't really matter.  What's important is to have some sort of additional income stream that can help you bridge the gap between how much you make now and how much you'd like to be making. 

Ideally that income stream will grow to the point that it can replace what you make from your current employer but will also be systemized so it requires little to none of your time to keep running (so YOU don't have to be part of the equation).

Why is that?  Is it because of laziness or wanting to take advantage of the work done by others?  Hardly! 

The hard, cold fact is that at some point, you're not going to be able to do whatever the "thing" is that you do now (or you just flat out won't WANT to do).  Why not guard against that by setting up that additional income streams now?  Not "multiple streams of income"…just ONE thing.  The former is just an excuse for lack of focus.

This whole trading time for money thing is a bit ridiculous sometimes.  I heard a guy that's about to "retire" talking about moving to New Mexico.  I guess they pay nearly the same amount there as they do in Washington, DC for his particular job but the cost of living there is much less.  So he commented that maybe he'd work there once he moved, doing the same sort of thing he does now but after he "retired"…presumably because the pay was so great. 

But my question is why would you want to CHOOSE to spend your golden years slogging off to some job, trading even more of your "more-precious-than-ever" time for money, rather than enjoying yourself?  Instead, why not use all that you've learned over the last 30-something years and find a way to make that experience work for you, perhaps in the form of coaching, consulting, creating an informational how-to guide or some other "thing" that gives you freedom of time and freedom of location?

Oh well, to each his own I guess…

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