Cash Cows

It occurred to me while driving to work today that anyone with a job effectively has a cash cow. A cash cow being something that you can _rely_ on to produce income. Most companies tend to have a cash cow - Google has Adwords, Apple has the iPod, Coca-Cola has Coke. Many of these companies don't stop there though. Google has a whole heap of other things going for it with gmail, google reader, google maps, etc - though they don't derive much, if any income compared to it's cash cow Adwords. Apple produces computers, and sells music through iTunes. Coca-Cola has Sprite, Fanta, and so on. The analogy I thought was interesting on its own. But there's more to it... Like these companies, I also have other things going for me and like those companies, I am gambling resources on them while I can rely on my cash cow. First of all, this understanding is an important one because a company that sat solely on it's cash cow is clearly taking a significant risk. Any person relying solely on their cash cow is also taking a risk - what happens if your employer goes bankrupt? what happens if you fall ill? etc. But the second and more important conclusion is that my cash cow is tightly coupled to my time and when I stop working, I stop making money. If google's founders decide to pack up their bags for 6 months and fly around the world in their shiny new 767, I bet they will still make a killing. Find or create a cash cow that doesn't need your time and you will be much closer to financial freedom.