Shiny object syndrome is a real thing and gets a bad rap in the entrepreneur world, but it can also help you build multiple streams of income into your business. It's called shiny object syndrome because it's the entrepreneurial equivalent of a small child chasing after shiny objects. Once they get there and see what the object is, they immediately lose interest and start chasing the next thing. Do you have shiny object syndrome? I do too! 

I used to think it was such a bad thing to be looking for the next big thing, but the farther I got into this journey, the more I began looking at other successful people and finding that one common denominator – consistency. The most successful entrepreneurs I follow are the people who do the same thing repeatedly and are consistent in their processes. Those are the ones that crush it year after year. So I had to find a way to find shiny objects inside of my niche to chase (aka multiple streams of revenue) and make each day fun and full of adventure, and that’s when my business transformed from side-hustle to millionaire status. 

I’m sharing these ideas for multiple streams of income because now that I’m seven years into my journey, I do use all of these to make a great living. But they aren’t all my primary sources of revenue. We still have to keep the main thing the main thing. So today, I’m going to share something I’ve never shared before. It’s a secret formula that will work for you whether you’re at step one in this CEO Teacher® journey or step one hundred. I’ve created an acronym to help you remember the seven streams of revenue for any teacher, and if you’re an English teacher, I hope you appreciate this as much as I do! I always taught my students to remember important content with silly acronyms, so welcome to this 360º life moment when I still get to do that for my students; they just happen to be teacher entrepreneurs reading this on their smartphones or laptops. The acronym for you to remember the seven multiple streams of income for any teacher is TBAPTCM – the badass plan to create millions.

Step 1 of How to Create Multiple Streams of Income: Teachers Pay Teachers

I mean, you didn’t actually think I was going to start this list of multiple streams of income any other way, did you? You know the story of how Teachers Pay Teachers saved my life not only financially, but it gave me a greater feeling of purpose than I had ever known. Not only that, but it allowed me to make $100,000+ while I was still teaching in the classroom. If that ain’t a – hold the phone, what’d she say moment – I don’t know what is because it’s happening to thousands of other teachers too. 

I know it’s hard for some to believe, but there are some schools in rural places where teachers have never even heard of Teachers Pay Teachers. Insert shocked emoji face here, but it’s true. Just because YOU know about it doesn’t mean EVERYONE knows about it. As a teacher to CEO Teacher® students starting their journeys every day, I want to let you know that it is not too late. There’s room on this beautiful playground for you too. You can listen to three of my successful students’ stories here, and I would love for you to be my next success story. It’s our year- click here to get started!

Step 2 in Creating Multiple Streams of Income: Blogging

Here’s the low down on how this works: You have to create great quality products, I’m talking eye-catching and diverse learning products before you can move on to make your teacher blog. Once you have some amazing products created and up for sale, you want to be found online by other teachers, right?! Well, then you have to use something I like to call our ace-in-the-hole. It’s in-depth and kinda hard, but once you figure it out, it’s empowering and truly life-changing when it comes to your business. This superpower is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO for short). I’ve taken tons of courses and read all the books on SEO, and I share my knowledge with my students who are mastering it! This proven method will get you on the first page of Google in every single search, every single time. 

Let’s get back to blogging, shall we? Some of my favorite online marketers put out 5-10 blog posts a week. Do you think they do this because they love writing? No, they do this because they understand delayed gratification and are building multiple streams of income. If you’re going to make it in the online teacher business world, then it’s time you stopped looking for instant gratification and started realizing that everything you do in this business is for the long game. Remember the show Survivor? Outwit, Outplay, Outlast. That’s my motto in life.

Have you ever felt like you weren’t the brightest crayon in the box? Just me? Or that you weren’t born with a natural gift, but instead, you had to work really, really hard at it? Me too. The best part of this online teacher business world is that you can work hard and become the grandmaster. All it takes is to set up your surroundings for success and join a mentor or group of teachers rallying behind you to support you every step of the way.

Step 3 in Generating Multiple Streams of Income: Affiliate Marketing

I want to squash the myth that you may be thinking right now when it comes to affiliate marketing. You see all these influencers on social media, and you think to yourself, “Gosh, I wish I could share what I love and make a lot of money.” Whew, I wish it was that easy. Someone who works with a very successful influencer recently told me, “Nobody made millions sharing links.” It was sharing those links that finally got the attention of big-name brands and nailed them a promo spot for a blog or social share. That’s where the money is. 

How do you get there and add affiliate marketing to your multiple revenue streams? You have to put in the work, and let me say, IT’S WORK! True confession: I actually hate it. I don’t like sharing links on the daily or trying on clothes every day for people (I don’t even go to try on rooms in clothing stores). So this affiliate marketing game is hard for me. Remember this, what you do now, sharing links on social media, is what will land you those big promo spots. I’m talking $20,000 – $50,000  for ONE promotional blog post. Again, when working on having multiple streams of income, you must remember that we’re playing the long game.

Step 4 to Create Extra Streams of Revenue: Partnerships

A lot of people would consider partnerships as affiliate marketing. And they truly are one and the same, but I like to group partnerships in their separate category. I consider very few partnerships each year because they take a lot of time and energy away from my team and me, and we want to make sure they 100% align with our company. We currently have partnerships with a blog designer two times a year that helps our students get their blog started right, and it’s everything I could have ever wanted in a partnership. We also partner with our favorite course creation website, Kajabi. You can sign up here to get a free trial! Finally, we partner with two other people that genuinely align with our goal of helping teachers leave a legacy online by selling their teaching resources. Who could you partner with that shares the same interest or goals as you? Using this as an extra stream of income has been amazing and is our third most profitable stream of revenue in our company.

Step 5 of Multiple Streams of Revenue for Teachers: Tutoring

Although I don’t currently tutor, many of our outstanding CEO Teacher students do through websites like VIPKID and various other platforms. Many teachers are also now using Outschool and making additional income teaching students. We often think of tutoring just for younger students, but in our programs, I teach teachers how to even tutor adults as an additional stream of income. Adding a coaching component to your teacher business is a great way to help you grow in your niche, land yourself as an expert in your field, and help you in the creation process in your course or membership. I “tutored” or coached individual teachers on their TpT store for 18 months while I was creating our membership. It allowed me to find the repetition in questions and use those to guide my creation. During those times, coaching was my second highest stream of revenue outside of my TPT store – but now I have a team of master coaches that do the individual coaching for The CEO Teacher. How could you coach students on their writing skills? What about coaching teachers to help them with their classroom management? What about parents when helping their kids with speech delays? These things are great ideas for tutoring and will help you have multiple streams of income.

Step 6 of Building Multiple Streams of Income Online: Course

Here’s our bread and butter, and although if you’re listening to this and in year one, two, three, or even four of your company, you may not be ready for this step yet. Here’s why: I believe in the CEO Teacher formula. 

1. Make Your Mark – begin first by creating a reliable income by selling your teaching resources online.
2. Make the shift – change your mindset into believing you are an online teacher creator and can become the entrepreneur of your own future. 
3. Make your business – build out a course or membership that helps students, teachers, or parents. 

My courses surpassed five years’ worth of selling my teaching resources on Teachers Pay Teachers in less than two years. Once you’ve established your place in the marketplace and become an expert in your field, It’s time to launch a course that can teach others (it’s what you were born to do). Courses are the most profitable aspect of our business, which is why I believe you should use this as one of your multiple streams of income.

Step 7 of Making Multiple Streams of Income: Membership

By the same token, memberships provide the second most profitable aspect of our business by providing monthly recurring revenue. Our membership is the light of my business because we get to do a few things: teach, coach, entertain, and enjoy. Some memberships have a course and a coaching component, while others provide your resources in a monthly stack for teachers. It’s a GREAT way to sell your teaching resources without just having them on TpT and offer special bonus incentives to your teachers that you’ll personally get to know through their membership experience. Memberships are monthly or yearly recurring payment, which differs from courses.

Courses are a one-time fee (or monthly installments), and memberships are a monthly recurring fee or a yearly recurring fee. Both have their place in your business to create multiple streams of revenue!

So, which of these seven multiple streams of income do you already have in place? And which ones do you want to incorporate this year? I’m here to help you every step of the way, and the best place to get more CEO Teacher® Tools of the trade is right here in my book, all on how to start or expand your online business as a teacher. But this is only the beginning, and the best is yet to come!