More thoughts on a balanced life

This is a continuation from my blog post from last Monday, imaginatively titled "Monday" which talked about jumping off the Monday to Friday life and finding a balanced income which would come from 5 different sources. Together the 5 would bring in enough money in about 40 weeks a year so that I could spend the rest of the year in Thailand as well as other worthwhile travel destinations.

My 5 sources of income would be: 1. casual chef. ( work about 2 days a week) In the early part I may need to work extra in this job whilst some of the others take off and pull their weight
                                                   2. Blogging. There is a lot of space between sitting here right now typing out a few posts a week and making it an income stream which produces $10 to $12,000 a year but it doesn't happen if you can't first dream it.
                                                   3. Cricket Umpiring currently earns me about $3500 tax free a year. This is the equivalent of about $4250 per year taxed. In this area I could easily umpire every Saturday and Sunday in the season and add another 8 days, hopefully some finals and then I would make $10,000. This along with Chef work are the 2 areas where I am certain I can achieve my goal
                                                   4. Income generating Investments. I am not exactly sure about these. I have been to the library and grabbed a book by well known Australian Finance expert Paul Clitheroe called "making money". I will be reading this with great interest over the next month to hopefully grasp a few good ideas as to where I can start. Also, I have purchased the Audio book which I have spoken about in previous posts "the four hour work week" by Tim Ferriss. The book is all about freeing up your time to do more of what you love and less of the day to day grind of paying the bills.
                                                  5. Teaching cooking classes to amateurs at the local community college. I have been in touch with the college by email and will be working on a course plan over the next couple of months. At this point I am not sure where I should even begin. Again the details are foggy but it is another hopefully enjoyable way to bring in some income whilst sharing some of my love of cooking.
Casual Chef could earn about, I think conservatively $24 per hour. $24 x 15 hours = $360.00 40 weeks a year = $14,400 Too easy. Hurdles to overcome being that I want to work less than some agencies would like.
Blogging is not so simple. This has a bit (maybe a lot) of do, wait and see how it turns out. I figure if I am consistent, monitor my results and improve as I go on then it may be able to be successful.
Cricket Umpiring I have covered above. There is always more demand for umpires than games so work is easy to find. This is a great example of something that I do for fun which brings an income. I hope that Blogging, cricket umpiring and teaching cooking will all fall into that category.
Investing for income is going to be difficult to do early on. I want to earn without too much time spent working at it. Hopefully Stockmarket and property investing can bring in some income but I am not sure if $10,000 a year is realistic, especially early on.
Teaching cooking classes. There are a large number of blanks to fill in on this one. How hard is it to get my classes going? What equipment do I need? Can I run classes only 3 semesters a year?

It's early days in this process. The big thing for me is that I like what the end looks like. "What does it look like?" you say. Well roughly there will be 4 hours a week at the computer typing out blog posts. I could start that right now. There will be 2 days every week with casual chef work. Changes in location will be testing, but will also reduce boredom. In the Summer (from September to April) I will be busy offending cricketers. Cricket umpiring can be very rewarding and enjoyable but also at times challenging. Saturdays and Sundays will be busy. Cooking classes at nights during the week will mean some challenges, as I will be learning the new skill of teaching and running a class. They are adult classes though and recreational in nature so should be easy compared to what School teachers deal with everyday. Hopefully a few concentrated hours each week will bring the investment aspect to fruition. Each time I have discussed this idea as a whole or written about it I have felt genuine excitement. That excitement is part of what can drive me to succeed. Wish me luck!!!