Usually someone asking this question is wondering how they get an income stream in retirement without dividends. If that's not you, feel free to ignore this.
Basically, with a total return model, you'd sell stocks. People worry about losing principal, but essentially, in theory, it should turn out to be a wash.
Let's do a very simplistic example, assuming you need 3% of your holdings in cash flow.
Company A goes up 4% and pays a 3% dividend. You've gained 7% on your money, your principal is up 4%, and you have the 3% cash flow.
Company B goes up 7%, no dividend. You sell enough shares to get your 3% needed. Your principal is still up 4%, and you still have the cash.
Turns out to be a wash.
The only differences is taxes (capital gains on the sale versus taxes on the dividends), which can be a plus or minus either way, and depends on your tax strategy and protections.
There is no reason a total return model that includes selling stocks has to deaccumulate your principal, nor is there anything saying dividend stocks have better returns. Indeed, one may have more in ER going with a total return model.
So to answer your question (or rather the one I think you're getting at), no, you don't have to build up a large portfolio and then switch over to dividend stocks to generate cash flow.
