The recent writers’ strike that has paralyzed the television and film industry in USA has also hurt the many innocent victims who run small businesses that make a living by providing services for the benefit of the members of the industry.Under the circumstances, it may have been critical for the writers to strike as they did because the movie moguls and television heavyweights were not prepared to play ball, having gotten major concessions from the writers as a result of the previous writers’ strike in 1988.Small businesses operate on a competitive basis. Unless they provide services at the right price using quality products they often do not survive. In situations such as what has occurred with the writers’ strike, small businesses are always the ones that suffer in silence. The very nature of their existence does not allow them the opportunity to have a collective voice like unions and guilds that can also use withdrawal of services to back up their demands. Therefore small business operators need to consider some form of diversification to help them survive in difficult times.One of the dilemmas small business operators have is whether diversification will be detrimental to the building of their main business. Usually it is because of the persistent focus on developing their goals that small business operators are able to succeed where others would fail. Another reason small business operators are able to succeed is because of the above average productivity which enables them to be more competitive than larger companies. This is particularly so when they have less overheads than larger companies.Nevertheless, small business operators need to have cash flow in order to survive difficult times. Therefore it often prudent for small business operators to develop businesses that can complement their existing operations without diminishing their focus on their business goals. The recent writers’ strike has demonstrated this, especially for those reliant upon the television and film industry.It does not pay to become reliant upon just one industry, just the same as it not advisable to rely upon one client for work. Diversification within an industry is advisable, but it is also advisable to develop a secondary income source in another industry.One of the best ways of doing this is to become involved in promoting something that is not going to take up too much of your time, but will allow for continued future growth.Some of the options that are available for small business operators are to become silent partners in other businesses which are in a different industry. Developing a property portfolio or a share portfolio are other ways to hedge against income lulls and prevent small business operators from going broke.Apart from investing in shares or becoming a share trader, a cheap way to get involved in a business that fits the criteria of continued future growth with minimal involvement is multi-level marketing. This is because over time residual income tends to grow without too much effort being required, especially if you have a quality product and above average company.Another way is affiliate marketing. Actually, if you have access to a computer, all you have to do is become an affiliate marketer and spend an hour every day developing your future goals. The initial cost of starting up a business as an Internet marketer can virtually be no cost at all.With the knowledge that there are other options available to develop as an insurance hedge against no cash flow from your main source of income, even if you are not a small business operator, it is your interests to diversify and find a secondary source of income.