How to Create Multiple Income Streams in Your Business
Do you have only one source of income?
What do you do if you have one main client and for some reason the work from the client dries up? Perhaps the client goes out of business or goes in a different direction or just has a lull in business? Your main source of income is then gone.
This is why it’s critical for anyone who relies on their self-employed revenue to have multiple streams of income.
I am not suggesting that you do all of the ones here that I have listed. It is just to give you an idea of ways to create more income in your business.
1. Have multiple clients. If you rely on one or two main clients for the majority of your income, you may want to start branching out to new clients. That doesn’t mean to add a bunch of new clients haphazardly, but to gradually add good clients, one at a time. You need to ensure that these clients fit with you, that you work well with them, that they don’t give you too many headaches. If the client fits those criteria, keep them. If not, dump them (professionally and nicely) and move on. You should aim to have a wider variety of clients as well, as you don’t want a single unfortunate event (say the collapse of an industry) to wipe you out too.
2. Have a full-time job. You may already have a full-time job, and if so, my recommendation is not to quit outright. You might downsize your job, if you don’t really need the income anymore, but it’s often smart to keep the full-time job in some capacity just to ensure that you have that regular paycheck coming in. You could cut back on your pay and responsibilities, though, and work from home if possible. I see too many that quit outright and start their self-employed business without the financial backing or security, and get themselves in money trouble.
3. Have a part-time job. If you don’t have a full-time job, and don’t think getting one will work for you, consider a part-time job. If you have valuable skills, often a part-time job can pay good money and offer you the flexibility you want so you can continue to build your own business.
4. Get contract work. I have many clients that I coach that these contracts give them steady income while they build their own freelance business. The good thing is that you can do contracts and freelancing at the same time.
5. Start a blog. Start sharing your information and knowledge with others. It is a good way to market your talents. It may take a while for you to make any money, but will give you credibility and eventually clients.
6. Create a product. If you currently provide a service once and get paid once, then you have to provide the service again to get paid again. However, if you can turn your service into a product, you can do that once and get paid many times.
7. Teach a class. If you have valuable knowledge or skills, teaching that to others can pay well. Teach at a community college, set up a series of seminars, or create your own classes at your business, home or community center.
8. Offer coaching or consulting. Instead of teaching an entire class, you can coach people one-on-one (or in small groups) or teach them how to set something up through consulting contracts. For example, if you do design, you can work with a bunch of new designers to show them how to set up their business, buy the software, bill clients, etc. Or you might teach them how to be better designers.
9. Write a book. Write a book once, and you’re done. Books can also help your credentials, which help with the other items on this list.
10. Affiliate marketing. If you have a blog or other kind of website, you can set up affiliate links to different services on the web. When someone signs up through your affiliate link, you get a small cut of their advertising revenue. That can add up if you get a lot of affiliate sales, and you don’t have to do any work.