5.1.8 What do you have? Sources of income

The question ‘What do you have?’ is tagged to ‘Sources of income’ in the business model canvas. However, this does not mean that answers relating to income are the only possible response to this question. You may not necessary be interested in income only. You may want to consider nonmonetary benefits too, such as professional reputation and recognition. Also, you may not be able to generate income at each stage of your professional development straight away, but what you do now may enhance your professional reputation and may help you to generate income in the long term. In other words, some of your current activities may not necessarily be a source of income at the moment, but they may bring in some non-monetary benefits (e.g. recognition, fame, reputation, and influence) that could be sources of future income.

For example, a graduate in charity management, social studies, zoology or medicine may apply for a volunteering post at www.adzuna.co.uk or www.freevolunteering.net to gain some initial experience needed for a future paid job. In this case, the volunteering job will not bring any income (although there is a possibility that expenses directly incurred with the volunteering activity will be reimbursed). In the short-term, this job may not be considered as a source of income, however it may bring in some valuable experience needed to get a future well-paid job where such experience will be required. Likewise, to enhance their reputation, a young developer may want to contribute as a volunteer to an open source product such as www.ubuntu.com available to users for free.