How to Master Card Tongits and Win Every Game You Play
I remember the first time I realized my income streams needed serious diversification. It was during a particularly intense chess match with my regular opponent, a defensive specialist who could disguise his strategies better than anyone I'd ever played. That feeling of breaking through his defenses after twenty moves of careful observation—it struck me that building multiple income sources requires exactly the same kind of strategic thinking. Just like in chess, you need to read the economic landscape, see through the disguises of market volatility, and land your financial haymakers when opportunities present themselves. This realization led me to develop what I now call the Money Coming Jili framework, five proven strategies that have helped me increase my monthly income by approximately 67% over eighteen months.
Let me tell you about Sarah, a freelance graphic designer I've been mentoring for about two years now. She was doing reasonably well with her design business, pulling in around $4,200 monthly from client projects, but she'd hit what I call the "income ceiling"—that frustrating plateau where no matter how many hours she worked, her earnings wouldn't budge significantly upward. The turning point came when she described her situation using a chess analogy that reminded me exactly of that reference knowledge about defensive gurus and well-disguised strategies. She said, "It feels like I'm constantly playing against an invisible opponent who knows all my moves in advance. Every time I try to raise my rates or take on more premium clients, something blocks me—either price resistance or competitors undercutting my proposals." Her defensive opponent, in this case, was the market itself, and she hadn't yet learned to read its subtle tells or anticipate its countermoves.
What fascinated me about Sarah's situation was how perfectly it illustrated the core Money Coming Jili principle: income diversification isn't just about having multiple streams, but about creating streams that work together strategically, much like chess pieces supporting each other on the board. The problem wasn't that Sarah lacked talent or opportunities—her portfolio was impressive, and she had steady clients. The issue was structural. Her entire income depended on trading hours for dollars, and she hadn't developed what I call "offensive-line adjustments" for her business. Just like in that football reference where you can shift half the line instead of the whole line, Sarah needed to make partial adjustments to her business model rather than complete overhauls that would disrupt her existing revenue. She was trying to shift her entire line when what she needed was to reposition just a couple of key pieces.
The solution emerged when we applied the five Money Coming Jili strategies specifically to her design business. First, we identified her "defensive guru"—the market forces that kept blocking her progress—and learned to read its patterns. For Sarah, this meant recognizing that competing solely on price was a losing game. Instead, we developed what I call the "premium niche specialization" approach, where she focused on serving eco-conscious brands willing to pay 40-60% more for designers who understood sustainability messaging. This was her equivalent of dodging the jab and landing the haymaker—by moving away from competing with budget designers and toward serving a specialized market, she effectively sidestepped her main competitive disadvantage. Within three months, her project rates increased from an average of $850 to about $1,350, and she was working fewer hours while earning more.
The second strategy involved creating what I call "residual income formations." Much like how offensive-line adjustments give you more options beyond just whole-line shifts, Sarah needed income streams that didn't require constant active work. We developed two digital products: a $97 branding guide for startups and a $247 package of customizable design templates. These became her "half-line shift"—supplemental income that didn't require completely changing her service model. The brilliance of this approach was that these products actually fed her main service business; clients who purchased the templates often later hired her for custom work. By the sixth month, these products were generating approximately $1,100 monthly with minimal maintenance.
The third Money Coming Jili strategy we implemented was what I personally call "strategic client sequencing." Instead of taking whatever clients came her way, Sarah began intentionally balancing her roster between quick-turnaround projects, retainer clients, and premium one-off projects. This created a more stable income foundation that could withstand the natural ebbs and flows of freelance work. I've found this approach works similarly to having multiple chess strategies ready—when one approach isn't working against a particular opponent (or market condition), you can seamlessly transition to another without losing momentum. For Sarah, this meant she could decline low-paying projects without anxiety because she had diversified her client types and payment structures.
What's particularly powerful about the Money Coming Jili framework is how it acknowledges that sometimes you need to make partial adjustments rather than complete transformations. That reference about being able to shift half the line instead of just the whole line? That's exactly what most income diversification advice gets wrong—they tell people to completely overhaul their careers or business models, which is intimidating and often unnecessary. Sarah didn't need to abandon her design business; she needed to augment it with complementary streams that leveraged her existing skills and reputation. The fourth and fifth strategies involved creating educational content and developing referral partnerships, but those are topics for another discussion.
The transformation in Sarah's business has been remarkable. Last month, she reported earning approximately $7,100 across her various income streams, with only about 55% coming from her original client service model. More importantly, she told me she finally feels like she's the one controlling the game rather than constantly reacting to market pressures. "It's like I can now see three moves ahead," she said during our last check-in. "When one income stream slows seasonally, I already have others positioned to compensate." That's the ultimate goal of the Money Coming Jili approach—to develop what I call "income anticipation," the ability to read economic patterns and position your various revenue streams to support each other through market fluctuations.
Looking back at my own journey and working with people like Sarah, I'm convinced that the chess and football analogies aren't just catchy metaphors—they're accurate representations of how we should approach income building. The defensive gurus and disguised strategies we face in the market are real, but they become manageable when we develop the ability to read them and counter effectively. The five Money Coming Jili strategies provide that framework for countering, for seeing through the disguise of market limitations and landing those financial haymakers that transform our earning potential. What I love most about this approach is its flexibility—just as you can shift half the offensive line or the whole thing depending on the situation, you can apply these income strategies partially or fully based on your specific circumstances. The key is to start seeing your income not as a single stream but as a coordinated team of revenue generators working in strategic formation.