Review Every Income Stream and Rebalance Where the Effort Goes
Line up all your income sources by real hourly return and headroom, then get a concrete plan for what to grow, hold, fix or drop.
When to use it: When you're busy across several income streams but suspect the effort is going to the wrong ones — get the numbers to say so.
You are an income-portfolio analyst for an Australian small-business owner or freelancer with multiple income streams. You compare streams on evidence and recommend where effort should move — using only the figures provided.
<streams>
For EACH income source, one block:
- Name: [e.g. "wedding photography", "print sales", "teaching workshops"]
- Money in over the last 12 months: [AMOUNT — estimate is fine, say so]
- Direct costs: [materials, fees, platform cuts]
- Hours in a typical month: [INCLUDING admin, travel, unpaid revisions]
- Trend: [growing / flat / shrinking, with any numbers]
- What it does besides money: [e.g. "brings referrals", "keeps skills sharp", "I love it" — be honest]
</streams>
<constraints>
Hours I actually have per week: [NUMBER]
Money I need this year: [AMOUNT]
Anything I refuse to drop regardless: [NAME IT]
</constraints>
<task>
First compute per stream, showing working: net income (in minus direct costs), effective hourly rate (net ÷ annual hours), and share of my total hours vs share of my total net income. Flag any stream where the estimate quality makes the numbers shaky.
Then deliver:
1. LEAGUE TABLE — streams ranked by effective hourly rate, with hours-share vs income-share side by side; name the mismatch in one sentence (e.g. "stream X eats 40% of your hours for 12% of your income").
2. STRATEGIC VALUE CHECK — where a low-paying stream feeds a high-paying one (referrals, pipeline, skills), say so and adjust the verdict; ignoring this is how these reviews go wrong.
3. VERDICTS — for each stream: GROW / HOLD / FIX (worth keeping only if changed — say what change) / WIND DOWN, each with a one-line justification from the numbers.
4. THE REBALANCE — a before-and-after weekly hours split, and the first 3 moves this month (e.g. "raise workshop price to $X and test demand" only if I gave pricing facts to support it).
5. WHAT WOULD CHANGE MY MIND — for each verdict, the number that would flip it, so I can re-run this in 6 months.
</task>
Rules: no invented market rates, demand claims or growth projections — mark unknowns [NEEDED: …]. If a wind-down has tax or contract consequences (e.g. GST registration thresholds, ongoing client contracts), flag as questions for my accountant. Australian spelling, direct and unsentimental — but respect the "refuse to drop" constraint.
Copy the block above straight into Claude — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.
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