My livelihood system

My livelihood system is best illustrated by the following diagram.

The most ideal scenario is complete financial independence, where I do not rely on paying clients, customers, or patrons to provide for my financial needs. I simply rely on the profit created by my own investments. This is retirement, which means optimal creative freedom but also freedom in other human pursuits.

While on my way to complete financial independence, my most ideal income stream is the patronage model similar to what andy matuschak and craig mod have. This is because the projects I am most interested in working on are not necessarily profitable and I don't want the pressure to make money out of what I am creating (See some important work are necessary even if unprofitable; a patronage model is best for an independent creative).

However, since I do not have the career capital Andy and Craig had when they built those patronages, I need to improvise. I need to rely on lower level income streams while I try to pursue patronage and financial independence.

Because of the nature of my goals, my livelihood system needs to have the following characteristics:

• The system has to be resilient (i.e., it has multiple streams of income).
• The streams of income should either be remote work or product business.
• The system has to encourage gradual transition toward more satisfying kinds of work (i.e., lower level work are used to support me while I set up higher level work).
• Lower-level work should still be able to provide some psychological benefits (i.e., they are not draining, I don't hate them, they could be source of social signal while my higher level work is not yet gaining enough traction).
• The accumulated income from all streams in this livelihood system should be at least Php 40k per month. This ensures that all my needs are covered plus savings and a little extra. The savings ensure that I could eventually enjoy financial freedom.
• Ideally, time dedicated working on each stream of income could be lessened (which you will do when you move to the next level) but not completely shut off. This could turn any stream income into a side hustle. Lessening time for a stream of income could either be done by simply meeting the minimum time requirement for it each month or delegating it to an assistant, which you pay for less than what you earn from the income stream.

The design requires the achievement of the following goals in chronological order:

1. Find a flexible day job that I don't hate (See My ideal day job).
2. Find a side hustle that I also don't hate (that serves as a substitute for the first one in case it vanishes).
3. Conduct experiments until I create a passion business (made of services, products, or both), one that involves doing something enjoyable that is integrated with my vocation (See my ideal passion business).
4. Slowly build a community around my passion business that I eventually turn into a patronage or a membership business.

At any given time, I should have at least two income sources that are able to meet my minimum viable income (ideally more). And aside from these two incomes sources, I should be actively working on a third and more ideal income source. Here are my scenarios for each level:

1. DAY JOB + SIDE HUSTLE + PASSION BUSINESS: After finding a day job, I should immediately add a side hustle. Once I have both, I need to dedicate time building my passion business. I am an employee/freelancer working on my business.
2. PASSION BUSINESS + 2 SIDE HUSTLES + PATRONAGE: Once you have established a passion business that constantly provides you with stable income, convert your day job and your previous side hustle into two side hustles. You are now a business owner with a safety net of two side hustles creating membership as your primary offering.
3. PATRONAGE + 3 SIDE HUSTLES + FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE
4. FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE + 4 SIDE HUSTLES

This is how I plan to implement this in 2023.

• Day job: Find an academic writing job.
• Side Hustle: Podcast shownotes writing, writing for Bookbright, improve proofreading and editing skills; Support Lea's business
• Passion business: Start writing a book about los baños; Experiment with teaching LMS by offering a short workshop
• Patronage: (This should wait for now.)