I love this post and your honestly and transparency with everything you are juggling right now. This is a reality for a lot of people I think... multiple projects bringing a few hundreds dollars instead of 1 big thing.
It think it's how you start, then you can narrow it down and focus as you understand what you are good at, what you like, and what makes money!
That is a lot though (even for me who likes to do a lot haha). Must be hard to be able to focus on so many things.
Have you considered removing some $0 projects to spend more time on the ones bringing cash and/or you are more passionate about?
You’re welcome Jeremie!! Thank you, always, for the interesting and always helpful conversations we’ve had and continue to have. Please send Rosie a squeeze from me! I feel like I know her now 😊
Re: the focus and removing the $0 income streams — I could remove them yes of course. I’ve considered it, yes but… 😅 I’m getting a lot of enjoyment from them. If I hate doing something, I can’t do it. But if I love doing something and it lights me up, I’d rather not stop. I will be removing the teaching for sure. I’ve stopped producing more podcasts for now. As soon as I finish the damn class, I can take that off my plate.
I do know, from a lot of past experience that when I push really hard toward a new venture, it often (not always) comes to fruition and I think that’s where I am now with most of these. I’m also very aware of “sunk cost bias” and keep that in the back of my head.
Interesting. It seems like you are doing this with a very high sense of self-awareness… which is super important because otherwise it can lead to burnout and a lot of frustration!
I feel you! When people ask me how I make money online, I say, "various things". I read this book once that said to think of income as a spiderweb, if one strand breaks, the others will hold the web in place. I've got a lot of the same strands going as you do. Also same as you, some of them currently make me $0 😂, but they have potential! And that's why I moved somewhere cheap to live, because now I have the time I need to develop those.
Hi Jess! Thank you so much for your comment! I subscribed to you 🤗 I’m looking forward to reading about Paraguay. And happy to hear you’re also finding your way with this remote learning thing. I love the spider web analogy!!
Thank you for sharing this Jess! It's a great metaphor for sure. I was "victim" of that. For 3 years I worked and focused on 1 business... it was 99% of my income. For various reasons I had to close this business, income went down to $0 and had to start from scratch again, not fun!
Wow, Kimberly Anne, your work ethic, ingenuity, multiple talents and smart ways of earning and saving money are impressive. Saving this great piece for future reference. I have been meaning to dive into your Substack but it was the conversation with Karen Gordon (such fun!) that got me to finally read & now I’ll be visiting here more often. I moved to Barcelona in February, an American with a Swedish passport (vi my Swedish ex husband, grateful for that) & a daughter who lives here & another daughter in Paris. I am a copywriter & editor, still with some clients in the U.S., now working through an autonomo (Spanish freelance business). I am 65 and definitely not working 10 hour days anymore although with our global economy (and my U.S. investments) in flux, I am still intending to work a few more years. You have given me food for thought for income streams that are not tied to my corporate copywriting work, because nothing is guaranteed year to year. The life of the entrepreneur/freelancer 😀
Hi Amy! Thank you SO MUCH for your immensely kind words!!!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the conversation with Karen, she's super awesome!
How are you liking Barcelona? I know there are so many mixed feelings about it. I know one American who's lived there for over 10 years and they love it.
That's so great that you have one daughter with you there and another in Paris, as it's so close.
Copywriting and editing is a great (and difficult) job! I only know it from the perspective of hiring both for my past books. I would think you could keep going with that or get more work but I don't know the landscape. Still, there are other types of work that could translate, branch off from there. Someone else on Substack recently mentioned editing jobs for AI mistakes/hallucinations.
And as Vicki (another Substack writer) pointed out, it's still better to work for ourselves building up our own businesses and loving what we do 😊
Thank you, Kimberly Anne. I was thrilled to learn that a "portfolio career" is now a thing. It’s exactly what I’m building—but getting Beyond Aligned Books up, running, and sustainable is taking most of my focus right now. I shared more about this in my last article. I've also scaled back and am no longer pushing myself to publish weekly articles on each of my Substacks.
The process of minimalizing in preparation for my upcoming move has added a lot to my plate. But hey, I’ve made a bit of money along the way!
Having left corporate America at the start of the year, I can tell you—many workers are putting in the same hours building someone else’s business. And with the constant risk of layoffs? No thank you. Besides, if you’re doing what you love for yourself, is it really work?
I wish you the best of luck with your book project!!!
I love what you said about how so many workers are putting in the hours to build someone else's business with no guarantee of stability.
And I agree, I also love my work and on most days it doesn't "feel" like work!!
Your upcoming move is exciting and huge congratulations on making some money, leaving the corporate job and moving on to your next adventure!! I'm so excited for you!!!
I deeply respect your discipline to manage those 9 jobs Kimberley! As a fellow expat figuring out how to make a living abroad I for sure can understand it’s a juggling act. Maybe you’re in the market for a virtual assistant at some point!
I've had VA's in the past and hope to again in the future for sure!!! Right now I can't afford one. That said, I have the best "when VA's go wrong" story that hopefully I can write about at some point!! 😳 😅
Thank you so much Kimberly for the shoutout 🥰
I love this post and your honestly and transparency with everything you are juggling right now. This is a reality for a lot of people I think... multiple projects bringing a few hundreds dollars instead of 1 big thing.
It think it's how you start, then you can narrow it down and focus as you understand what you are good at, what you like, and what makes money!
That is a lot though (even for me who likes to do a lot haha). Must be hard to be able to focus on so many things.
Have you considered removing some $0 projects to spend more time on the ones bringing cash and/or you are more passionate about?
You’re welcome Jeremie!! Thank you, always, for the interesting and always helpful conversations we’ve had and continue to have. Please send Rosie a squeeze from me! I feel like I know her now 😊
Re: the focus and removing the $0 income streams — I could remove them yes of course. I’ve considered it, yes but… 😅 I’m getting a lot of enjoyment from them. If I hate doing something, I can’t do it. But if I love doing something and it lights me up, I’d rather not stop. I will be removing the teaching for sure. I’ve stopped producing more podcasts for now. As soon as I finish the damn class, I can take that off my plate.
I do know, from a lot of past experience that when I push really hard toward a new venture, it often (not always) comes to fruition and I think that’s where I am now with most of these. I’m also very aware of “sunk cost bias” and keep that in the back of my head.
🤗
Interesting. It seems like you are doing this with a very high sense of self-awareness… which is super important because otherwise it can lead to burnout and a lot of frustration!
Thank you but.... I've definitely hit some frustration and even resentment now and again!
I feel you! When people ask me how I make money online, I say, "various things". I read this book once that said to think of income as a spiderweb, if one strand breaks, the others will hold the web in place. I've got a lot of the same strands going as you do. Also same as you, some of them currently make me $0 😂, but they have potential! And that's why I moved somewhere cheap to live, because now I have the time I need to develop those.
Hi Jess! Thank you so much for your comment! I subscribed to you 🤗 I’m looking forward to reading about Paraguay. And happy to hear you’re also finding your way with this remote learning thing. I love the spider web analogy!!
Thank you for sharing this Jess! It's a great metaphor for sure. I was "victim" of that. For 3 years I worked and focused on 1 business... it was 99% of my income. For various reasons I had to close this business, income went down to $0 and had to start from scratch again, not fun!
Thank you for talking about this Jeremie, it’s challenging to start from scratch for sure.
Yep, especially without an audience. The grind is real 🤓
Exactly!!! 😳
Thanks for sharing this—it’s helpful. I’ve got to start thinking about remote jobs which will be a new territory for me.
YAY, you're welcome Lani!!!! It's possible :)
Wow, Kimberly Anne, your work ethic, ingenuity, multiple talents and smart ways of earning and saving money are impressive. Saving this great piece for future reference. I have been meaning to dive into your Substack but it was the conversation with Karen Gordon (such fun!) that got me to finally read & now I’ll be visiting here more often. I moved to Barcelona in February, an American with a Swedish passport (vi my Swedish ex husband, grateful for that) & a daughter who lives here & another daughter in Paris. I am a copywriter & editor, still with some clients in the U.S., now working through an autonomo (Spanish freelance business). I am 65 and definitely not working 10 hour days anymore although with our global economy (and my U.S. investments) in flux, I am still intending to work a few more years. You have given me food for thought for income streams that are not tied to my corporate copywriting work, because nothing is guaranteed year to year. The life of the entrepreneur/freelancer 😀
Hi Amy! Thank you SO MUCH for your immensely kind words!!!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the conversation with Karen, she's super awesome!
How are you liking Barcelona? I know there are so many mixed feelings about it. I know one American who's lived there for over 10 years and they love it.
That's so great that you have one daughter with you there and another in Paris, as it's so close.
Copywriting and editing is a great (and difficult) job! I only know it from the perspective of hiring both for my past books. I would think you could keep going with that or get more work but I don't know the landscape. Still, there are other types of work that could translate, branch off from there. Someone else on Substack recently mentioned editing jobs for AI mistakes/hallucinations.
And as Vicki (another Substack writer) pointed out, it's still better to work for ourselves building up our own businesses and loving what we do 😊
Thank you again for being here!!!🥰 🤗
Thank you, Kimberly Anne. I was thrilled to learn that a "portfolio career" is now a thing. It’s exactly what I’m building—but getting Beyond Aligned Books up, running, and sustainable is taking most of my focus right now. I shared more about this in my last article. I've also scaled back and am no longer pushing myself to publish weekly articles on each of my Substacks.
The process of minimalizing in preparation for my upcoming move has added a lot to my plate. But hey, I’ve made a bit of money along the way!
Having left corporate America at the start of the year, I can tell you—many workers are putting in the same hours building someone else’s business. And with the constant risk of layoffs? No thank you. Besides, if you’re doing what you love for yourself, is it really work?
Hi Vicki!!!!
Oooo I love that, a portfolio career!!
I wish you the best of luck with your book project!!!
I love what you said about how so many workers are putting in the hours to build someone else's business with no guarantee of stability.
And I agree, I also love my work and on most days it doesn't "feel" like work!!
Your upcoming move is exciting and huge congratulations on making some money, leaving the corporate job and moving on to your next adventure!! I'm so excited for you!!!
I deeply respect your discipline to manage those 9 jobs Kimberley! As a fellow expat figuring out how to make a living abroad I for sure can understand it’s a juggling act. Maybe you’re in the market for a virtual assistant at some point!
Thank you for your comment Daniel!!!
I've had VA's in the past and hope to again in the future for sure!!! Right now I can't afford one. That said, I have the best "when VA's go wrong" story that hopefully I can write about at some point!! 😳 😅
If you have any pointers, I'm all ears!
Love this!!! We should catch up soon and maybe add another 3hrs onto your already busy day 😂
LMAO!!!! YES!!! Let’s DO IT!