Recession proof your life with multiple streams of income

Just after I moved to Japan, the company that I was working for could no longer pay their staff's wages. A few people in the company had faith that they would eventually "make it", so they continued to work without pay. I didn't have any faith in the company, nor did I want to work for free.

It was around the time of 9/11 and companies in Japan had stopped hiring. I went for many interviews, but it was taking so long for any company to make a commitment. I then decided to do some part-time work and freelancing.

I taught English to private students and did some work editing poorly written documents that had been translated from Japanese. At least I was lucky I had this.

Until that time I hadn't even heard of the term "multiple income streams".  I eventually found another job, but the experience made me realize that you can't just rely on a single source of income like most people do. 

I started selling Japanese antiques on Ebay and did pretty well from it.  I eventually got sick of having to go to the post office all of the time and gave that up.  To promote my auctions on Ebay I made a basic website.

I found that I enjoyed making websites, and I then eventually found out about the Google Adsense program. 

I bought some properties and rented them out.  I worked on weekends doing office moves and relocations, helping move the IT infrastructure. 

Now, I make enough money from my websites to live comfortably.  I don't just rely however on one website for my income.  So many things can go wrong with a website.  I also don't just rely on one source of income like Adsense, which I am sure many people do. 

I have joined various affiliate programs and I have written a couple of ebooks that make a bit of money.  I am also working on starting some kind of offline business here in Bali.

No matter how secure you think your job is, it is important to at least try to create multiple streams of income.