Hey friend,

Remember when having one job meant security? That fairytale died when corporate America shed blood across every industry in 2025. Tech companies cut 143,000 workers. Pharma axed 13,470 in just six months (BioSpace, July 2025). Healthcare systems eliminated thousands more (Becker's Hospital Review, August 2025). From Disney's marketing teams to Procter & Gamble's 7,000-person reduction (CNBC, June 2025), no industry is safe. While companies are treating employees like disposable assets, there's a quiet revolution happening among those who've figured out the new rules.

The average millionaire has seven income streams. The typical laid-off professional? They're scrambling to replace their single source that just vanished. But what if your layoff is actually an invitation to join the millionaire's playbook?

I'm living proof this works. After my own layoff(s), I built 2 income streams: freelance consulting, a growing agency, and hopefully one day, this newsletter. No single client or platform controls my future anymore. I make more money, have more flexibility, and sleep better than I ever did with one "secure" job. And I'm not special — I just stopped playing by the old rules.

Here's the thing: You've been conditioned to believe that multiple income streams are for entrepreneurs or trust fund kids. Meanwhile, nearly half of Americans already have at least two revenue streams (Entrepreneur, September 2025), and they're not all running startups. They're consultants, writers, part-time specialists, online instructors, and strategic freelancers who've realized that in 2025, employment monogamy is riskier than playing the field.

Mandy Liu stepped off a plane from London to Budapest and found two emails (Medium, July 2025). One started with "Your termination..." The second was a 15-minute meeting with HR. After years grinding as a Lead Data Scientist at Meta and EY, she was done.

✔️ She could have panicked and mass-applied to data science roles
✔️ She could have desperately networked at every tech meetup
✔️ She could have spent months chasing that one perfect replacement job
✔️ She could have waited for the "right" opportunity

Instead, 303 days later, Mandy wakes up at 8 AM for Pilates, writes content that pays, coaches job seekers, connects with creators, and collaborates with bestselling writers. She built a business ecosystem, not a job search.

Meanwhile, The Interview Guys tracked traditional job seekers: those chasing single replacement roles report 43% lower satisfaction and earn 30% less (The Interview Guys, 2025) than those who built portfolio careers.

The brutal truth? Mandy understood something most laid-off professionals miss: the economy that eliminated your position is the same one creating unprecedented opportunities for those willing to work differently.

The numbers tell a story that should terrify anyone with a single income source:

56% of 2025 graduates plan to have multiple income streams within five years (Essence, May 2025). They watched their parents get laid off after decades of loyalty and decided that wasn't going to be their story. These aren't side hustles for beer money — this is strategic career architecture.

The results are striking: Portfolio careerists report 43% higher job satisfaction and earn 30% more than traditional employees (The Interview Guys, 2025). Why? Because when you have seven bosses instead of one, no single person controls your destiny.

Consider this: 130 biopharmas axed 13,470 employees in just the first half of 2025 (BioSpace, July 2025) — a 31% year-over-year increase. Tech isn't alone in this bloodbath. Every industry is cutting, restructuring, "rightsizing." The only real job security is not needing job security.

97% of workers cite cost of living as their top concern (Essence, May 2025), yet most are still betting their entire financial future on a single employer who could eliminate their position with a Slack message.

Forget the fantasy of immediately replacing your full-time income with one perfect job. Here's how to build real security through strategic diversification:

Week 1-2: Audit Your Sellable Assets Take inventory of every skill you've ever been paid for, complimented on, or asked to help with. Your corporate project management experience? That's fractional COO material. Your Excel wizardry? Online course potential. According to Mintos research (June 2025), the most successful portfolio careers combine active work with scalable digital products.

Week 3-4: Launch Your Anchor Stream Start with what The Interview Guys call the "Anchor Model" (2025) — one primary part-time role (20-30 hours) that provides 65% of your target income. This could be consulting for your former industry, a part-time remote position, or contracted specialist work. This anchor gives you stability while you build.

Week 5-8: Add Two Complementary Streams Layer in two additional income sources that leverage different skills or serve different markets. Medium's data shows successful portfolio builders stack income streams strategically (January 2025): content creation can spawn consulting gigs, affiliate marketing, course sales, and sponsorships from a single effort.

Week 9-12: Systematize and Scale This is where most people fail — they treat multiple income streams like multiple full-time jobs. Wrong. You need systems: batched client calls, automated invoicing, templated proposals. The Interview Guys found that successful portfolio careerists reserve 10% of working hours as "white space" for unexpected opportunities.

The Multiplication Effect Here's what nobody tells you: income streams compound. Your consulting clients become newsletter subscribers. Your course students become coaching clients. Your blog attracts speaking opportunities. Coursera's research confirms that once established, passive income streams require minimal maintenance while generating consistent returns (June 2025).

Stop thinking about finding a job and start thinking about creating income. This week, map your portfolio potential:

The goal isn't to launch everything at once. It's to shift your mindset from "I need a job" to "I create value in multiple ways."

"The average millionaire has seven income streams. The typical worker? Just one. This single statistic explains why portfolio careers are transforming how ambitious professionals think about work security." — The Interview Guys (2025)

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You don't need anyone's approval to stop playing the single-income game that just failed you. While others polish their resumes hoping for one callback, you can be building revenue streams that no single CEO can take away. (Trust me, writing this newsletter to you every week has become more rewarding than any corporate job ever was — and to be honest, I’m not making a cent from it yet.)

The economy that laid you off is the same one creating unprecedented opportunities for portfolio professionals. Every company cutting full-time staff still needs the work done — they're just paying consultants, freelancers, and fractional executives instead.

Your layoff wasn't a failure. It was your graduation from an outdated system.

Now go build something no one can take away.

— Win
Fellow layoff survivor, creator of Let Go Weekly
Currently running 2 income streams (and maybe some day 3 with this newsletter) and sleeping better than when I had "job security"