“Wow, there are so many ways to make money.”
My friend said these words to me while we were having dinner a few days ago. We were discussing her business. Then my businesses. Passive income streams. Trades. Investments.
There was an energy to the conversation. Each idea sparked another, then another, then another, until the room was blazing with possibility.
Money was no longer a single path.
We had created a beautiful web of opportunity between us.
Where each path opens three more doors. Then five. Then more.
Most people don’t realize money works like this.
We’re taught to see it as one path. One paycheck. One investment account (maybe). Until retirement.
Boring. I want to show you how money multiplies.
But first, we have to talk about the trap of the single paycheck.
The Single Paycheck Trap
By the age of 5, we’re trained into the system.
Go to school.
Learn stuff to get a job.
Get a job and earn a paycheck.
Earn a paycheck to “make a living”
It’s a survival script. Linear. Predictable.
Marketed as “safe”.
One paycheck is anything but safe.
When all of your income flows through a single employer, you’re at the mercy of decisions you don’t have any control over. Tomorrow you could wake up to news of a reorg. A funding pullback. Some new technology that makes your role redundant.
We wake up to daily news of another round of layoffs. Many of these being the “safe” jobs your parents, teachers, and society told you to aim for. Coupled with these layoffs, is the stark reality that college grads are facing the highest unemployment rates since 2013.
It can feel easy to blame AI for this but from the conversations I’m having with recruiter friends, this is stemming from broader economic uncertainty above everything else.
The future of work is changing. And this is where the danger of dependence comes in.
If you’re dependent on one paycheck to provide for your livelihood, you are a guest in someone else’s home.
In this case, you’re a guest in your employer’s home. And maybe you don’t like the food they serve. Or how they treat their pets. Or the way conflict gets handled under their roof. But as long as you depend on them, you keep your mouth shut.
You trade your freedom for access. Your voice for a place at the table. Your fulfillment for a paycheck that might not even keep pace with rent. You might do everything “right” while staying as a guest in your employer’s home. And still one day.. they might decide to kick you out.
The same can be said for a business owner with one client or one product. Whether you're self-employed or not, the trap of a single income remains the same.
Linear. Predictable. Marketed as “safe.”
One paycheck is anything but safe.
Multi-Income Mindset
The alternative here is what I call the multi-income mindset.
To start seeing money the way investors see assets.
Money as a portfolio of income where one stream pays for your housing, another for health and travel, another for investments, with several more compounding quietly in the background.
Despite all the doomsday news about layoffs and hiring freezes, it’s never been easier than it is today in 2025 to build your own multi-income portfolio. AI lowers the cost of both education and creation. The creator economy rewards individuality and distribution. Remote work dissolves borders. Digital platforms let you monetize in hours what once took months.
When you’re still thinking in terms of a salary and retirement accounts, or even running a business with one revenue stream… your security is anchored to a single point of failure. That’s why headlines about rising unemployment or AI replacing jobs feel terrifying.
But with a multi-income mindset, those same headlines read much differently.
They’re signals. Motivation. Reminders… that security doesn’t come from loyalty to one employer or one product.
Real security is about giving yourself options.
Options to pivot careers and take a sabbatical without stress. Optionality to live in New York in the summer and Scottsdale in the winter. The freedom to say no to work that drains you. The choice to design work around your life and wake up daily on your terms.
That’s the mindset.
But a mindset only matters if you turn into practice.
When Mindset Becomes Reality
Let’s look at four ways people are building multi-income stacks that fit their unique skills, energy, and ambitions.
You might recognize yourself in one. Or see different parts of yourself across them, ready to be combined through your own design.
1. The Wellness Coach
She earns steady income from 1:1 clients, adds leverage through a small group program, layers in sponsorship revenue from her podcast. She invests part of that revenue into dividend-paying ETFs, which provides quarterly income in the background. On top of that, she co-owns a short-term rental she uses for wellness retreats, creating both event revenue and ongoing cashflow. Her reputation fuels her practice, but her multi-income portfolio ensures she isn’t dependent on client enrollment cycles alone.
2. The Recruiter
He earns a salary that covers his base expenses, plus a commission that covers lifestyle upgrades live travel and nice dinners, with enough left over to consistently invest in index funds. But… he also writes a Substack newsletter on hiring trends that brings in additional revenue. On top of that, he serves as an advisor for an early-stage startup and gets a small equity stake. He still works for an employer, though he’s no longer dependent on their budget cycle. His multi-income system gives him optionality in his career.
3. The Corporate Executive
Her salary and stock options are strong, but she also stacks two rental properties that cover her mortgage and create extra monthly income to spend on private pilates classes and beauty treatments. She also allocates part of her annual bonus into an angel syndicate, giving her upside in companies she believes in. Her corporate role gives her scale and resources, but her stack of real estate and equity means she’s not captive to any one employer’s payroll.
4. The YouTube Creator
He builds his audience on YouTube, monetizes through sponsorships, and offers a paid community for deeper access. But he doesn’t stop there. He licenses his content to brands for recurring revenue and funnels those earnings into an index fund that pays quarterly dividends. He recently bought a small studio space, which doubles as a rental set for other creators. What looks like “just making videos” is actually a portfolio of income streams, all working together to compound into long-term wealth.
Each example above shows you how a career can expand beyond a single income source.
Though, I don’t recommend you chase every opportunity and spin up 17 income streams overnight… that’s a recipe for burnout.
You begin by adopting the mindset. Then you gain clarity on what excites you most to pursue. Then you start stacking income streams that make sense for you and your wealth goals.
A multi-income portfolio is powerful because it gives you agency, freedom, and unlimited upside in an evolving world.
So where does this leave you?
The Next Step…
I invite you to pause and ask yourself:
Where in my life do I already have leverage? Leverage can take the form of a skill, a network, some capital, a brand.
What income stream(s) feels both exciting and feasible to start building or multiplying today?
Maybe it’s taking one skill you’re already paid for and packaging it in a new format.
Maybe it’s buying an asset that pays you back month after month.
Maybe it’s saying yes to a collaboration that opens three more doors.
The point is to begin.
To map possibilities on possibilities until you see your next move.
Which brings us back to the dinner table convo.
The web of opportunity, the sparks of potential, the realization my friend made out loud:
“Wow, there are so many ways to make money.”
She is right. There are.
My final question for you today:
Which money paths will you choose?
For those ready to design your own income stack and start building leverage I’ve created two resources to help you take the next step:
And if you enjoyed this breakdown, share it with someone you’d want sitting at the table with us while we talk Rich Futures.
Always telling the people what they need to to hear. 🗣️🔥
Love it 🤍 Always looking forward to your ideas and insights, Kalei.
This is a bit off topic but I was wondering where you had talked about the process of brand building with RF and how you’d used AI to build the brand visual identity. Was there a vault in which you shared the process on how you did it? (I may be mistaken). I’m looking to do something similar and was curious about how you’d gone on about it.