huge topic especially when founders started their businesses in covid. interested to hear thoughts from those who’ve been there and done it.
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If your income is unstable, I would suggest finding alternative sources of revenue. I know this sounds so easy, but there are really ways to find extra income even for the most busiest of people.
The easiest answer is getting a part time job as a server or bartender, but not everyone wants to do that. But they are good at just getting cash every night as well as other not as well-known under-the-table jobs.
If you don’t want to work at a bar, you can also try working for gig apps like DoorDash or Instacart. Instacart tipping has really gotten better, you’d be surprised how much people tip to get their groceries delivered to them.
Some more creative ways would be to flip things and selling them on Facebook Marketplace. I like this because you can declutter AND make extra money. Selling your plasma is also another one that most people don’t know about. Anyone have any other ideas?
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I think selling your own stuff and flipping on eBay is a great way to go as a start. But eventually even Marie Kondo wouldn’t have anything to declutter in your place and your income stream stops.
I’ve done stuff like flip art and collectibles on eBay and that’s been a way to hedge income instability.
If you lack income and your business is something that’s decent, you can try meeting up with some angel investors to grab some runway for your biz. But if it’s something that isn’t angel-able I’d say either:
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Move onto another business (because if it isn’t profitable, then why do it?)
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Diversify your hustles until the business proves itself to be profitable. As an example, I failed at a few businesses and did rapid 30-day tests for business ideas to empirically test them and eventually found a decent one and evolved upon it.
As an example, if your business is unstable and you can’t get funding, it’s not really a business and you probably need to at least diversify to get income some other way if you really want to make your biz work in the long-term. There’s no magic solution you can pull out from within a business that’s either failing or too young to be profitable, and the answer to your question highly depends on the type of business you’re talking about.
Also: a lot of CEOs get the feel that ‘I’m a CEO’ and spend a lot. If your income is unstable you should live wayyyyyyyyy below your means to squeeze out more runway. The difference between, say, 3 or 4 months of business savings is a 33% increase in runway for example. So every dollar counts.
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i have to say i would get a part time job on top of my full time job, not spend money on anything but what i need and try to stay on top of things
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Agree with what others have said. When I was starting a business several years ago, I didn’t have a steady income. On the flip side, when I took on a full time job, I didn’t have enough time to focus on the new business.
My happy medium was seeking freelance gigs – writing, data entry and various one-off marketing roles – i.e jobs that fit my work experience and skillset nicely.
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@will.s posted:
Agree with what others have said. When I was starting a business several years ago, I didn’t have a steady income. On the flip side, when I took on a full time job, I didn’t have enough time to focus on the new business.
My happy medium was seeking freelance gigs – writing, data entry and various one-off marketing roles – i.e jobs that fit my work experience and skillset nicely.
Out of curiosity, where did you find the freelance gigs?
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@lismox posted:
Out of curiosity, where did you find the freelance gigs?
This was about 10 years ago, so things may have changed, but at the time I found my freelance gigs from my own personal network – I had previously been working a newspaper, so I had many local contacts. Other than that, it was replying to a lot of Craigslist ads for writing gigs. 
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Definitely pick up more work! There are a lot of opportunities in health care, retail, writing, work from home, etc. I work as a nurse case manager. Work slowed down a bit during lockdown in early 2020. I took online courses for health care content marketing writing and legal nurse consulting to expand my skills and services. I also keep my LinkedIn updated.
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The company I worked at did a 25% pay cut after 9/11. It was a big deal as I already had issues paying the bills will 100% income. I immediately took a part time (Saturday) job working 8 hours. It was my old college job I’d left a few years earlier. I did so for 14 months working M-F at my regular office job and then all day Saturday.
It did the trick and I didn’t lose any ground with my finances. That being said, it was not “fun” to have a full time “adult” job and have to cut my weekend short. No one ever said life would be “fun”. Sometimes we have to put in extra effort to get where we want to go.
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