I’ve long felt that I needed to work to develop passive income streams to help guard against the unexpected. Among other things, the pandemic was a very real lesson in the importance of not relying on one source of income.

For years I’ve been aware of the folks making good money doing things like affiliate marketing, freelancing, online sales, and other things. Countless time’s I’ve read about it, thought about it, said “I need to do that” and nothing happens.

Some of the folks I started following years ago have built their businesses from very modest monthly sales to multi-million dollar empires. While those people are undoubtedly the exception, I know there care countless other’s who have enjoyed plenty of success.

Although I’ve done relatively well with real estate and loan signings, the crazy housing market has clearly had an impact on things. It’s a war out there, and it’s very difficult to make any headway, especially for newer folks like myself. It’s certainly not impossible, but it’s very slow going.

On the other side, interest rates are going up, and I assume that will mean a slow down in people refinancing, buying, and selling, which will negatively impact my loan signing business.

Rather than wait for the bottom to drop out, and while I continue to work hard at real estate and loan signings, I realize there’s time to pick up a side hustle (or two).

Of course I’ve had those thoughts before, and they never go anywhere.

But this time is different.

Rather than my usual pattern of thinking, planning, preparing and dabbling, I’ve decided to hit it hard. I decided to open an Etsy shop . To start I’m selling coffee mugs with funny, clever, or witty sayings on them.

I decided to start here because I thought it would be fun. Designing the mugs and finding catchy or funny sayings to print on them is an interesting creative challenge. Drawing people to my shop and making sales will also be fun. Learning SEO, sales techniques, and providing great customer service all appeal to me.

But this time is different. Different how?

In less than two weeks, my shop is up and running. I spent a little time doing research. I watched a few youtube videos and read some articles. I paid someone on fiverr.com to make me a banner and logo (something I would have tried to do myself in the past). I did a little research into popular products and then started designing.

I have five mugs in my shop. My logo and banner are acceptable, and everything else seems ok, for now.

But the most important part is that I’m up and running in weeks, not months or years. I’ve broken my usual pattern of endless thinking, planning and procrastination.

I don’t have any sales yet, but some people have visited my shop. I believe the sales will come as I keep improving things.

This time is different, and it feels wonderful! Taking massive action is a great thing!

It’s been very hard to ignore my usual habit of planning, thinking and thinking some more. I’ve done it all my life. I’m sure I’ve missed many opportunities because of it.

But I’m on a roll now. I know I’ll make lots of mistakes, but I also know I’ll learn from each one.

I know it will take time and patience to build a following and a loyal customer base.

I also know that the most successful people aren’t necessarily the brightest or the best salespeople, they are the one’s who don’t quit. Then learn from their mistakes. They start over if they need to. But they just don’t quit.

I want to be one of those people, and it starts here. It’s scary, it’s even a little painful, but it feels so good!

This time is definitely different.