One stream of income isn’t enough to carry the load anymore if your goal is to reach millionaire status (or multi-6 figure status). Rarely does a single offer provide the runway for growth to multi-6 figures and beyond (I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it can be hard as hell to get there with just one offer).
And you might be feeling fear or dread right now, wanting to throw everything you can at the wall and hoping something lands because, we keep hearing about how we’re going into a recession and that’s just adding to all the pressure. We’re told that people are spending less money. And maybe that’s true, but what actually happens in a recession is the money moves around, it gets redistributed. It doesn’t actually go away. That means your clients might want something different from you than they did six months ago and the person who previously would have been a perfect fit for your core offer, your flagship offer, might not be willing to spend that money right out the gate and a smaller offer might be more inviting for them.
Which means NOW is the time you step on the gas rather than stepping on the brakes. It’s the perfect time to build out your multiple streams of income to support yourself and your family for the long haul, not just for the immediate need.
But before you do, let’s make sure you do it in a sustainable and profitable way. Often, I speak with clients or potential clients looking to diversify their income and they start sharing all the ways they can make money but what they’re really sharing are the multiple businesses that have nothing to do with each other.
As someone who teaches both marketing and business strategy, I can tell you that is one of the fastest ways to (a) burn yourself out, (b) confuse your audience because no one knows what it is that you actually do, and (c) make less money in your business because you’re on this never ending cycle of burnout and confusion, and you don’t get any traction or momentum moving you forward.
So what can you do to create multiple income streams that are actually profitable? Read on for 5 of my top sustainable recommendations for how you can diversify your income AND make more money.
5 Sustainable Ways to Create Multiple Streams of Income
1. Build up your personal portfolio: You have an ace up your sleeve – your personal portfolio. This might be in the form of your physical assets such as rental properties, vacation properties, AirBnB properties. It can also be in the form of your investments, including stocks, bonds, crypto, and your retirement accounts.
Speaking about the personal side, don’t forget about any income you’re bringing in from a full-time job. You absolutely can grow a multi-6 figure business AND still have a full time role somewhere else. We’re often told it’s one or the other, that having a full time gig is not “in integrity” as a business owner, but that’s just BS. If you have a full-time role somewhere (either as a job or as a contractor) you can leverage this income to help you grow the branches of your business and personal portfolio.
2. Scale up your current offerings: You already have multiple streams of income you can create within your business. So what does that look like? Start first by answering the following questions:
What is your vertical? What clients are you serving? And what are the immediate needs of your clients?
What is your ascension model? Think about your client journey here: What is the entry point into working with you? What is your core offer or service? And what do you have that could be a customized VIP experience type offer? Or a lower ticket offer to make the barrier working with you easier?
The truth is, no matter how bad the economy gets, there’s always people with money willing to spend it on the things that they value and/or are of high service. This can be through that VIP experience, or you could choose to introduce lower ticket offers such as downloads, masterclasses, or even a low cost membership. But the number one thing you can do to have multiple streams of income in your own business is to have a vertical; an essential model of offers and ways that you help your client solve their problems but through different delivery systems.
3. Build out a horizontal: A horizontal is made up of the other services your client uses that are adjacent to what you do. Meaning it might not be exactly what you currently offer, but it’s similar enough and adjacent.
As an example, say you book an appointment with a fireplace inspector who’s coming out to make sure your fireplace is safe and won’t kill you if you light it. While booking, that same company also offers you fireplace + chimney cleaning and maintenance (related services) as well as heating and cooling maintenance (horizontal services). Those horizontal services are adjacent to the primary thing they do, fireplace maintenance. So while they’re known for their fireplace and chimney sweep business, they also offer HVAC services, which is in a similar realm and sets them up to be remembered because someone needing fireplace maintenance may also need HVAC support at some point.
In my own business, we have a version of this. While primarily Conquer Your Business supports you through the programs we offer, the thing that I know my clients miss the boat and where it all falls apart for them is the implementation. We have these great conversations about business strategy, marketing and messaging, but then they go back to their busy lives. Once they have to start finding their own vendors, execute on the projects, and start pulling things together, the overwhelm settles in and things fall through the cracks.
So our horizontal at Conquer Your Business is made out of implementation opportunities. Things that our clients need in order to deliver and execute the strategies that we come up with in the coaching and consulting side of the business.
4. Referral Agreements & Affiliates: You have a vertical, you’ve created a horizontal, which leads me to number four – ways OTHER people can make you money. One option is a more formal referral agreement with a trusted partner. In this scenario, if you regularly find clients are requesting services or needing services you don’t offer, having a referral partner on hand provides you with a “passive” style of income. You refer your client to the trusted partner, that client enrolls, and the trusted partner sends referral bonuses your way.
Similarly, another option is to establish affiliate links to products that you regularly recommend to clients, which creates affiliate sales and you receive a small stipend for referring business. This enables you to showcase valuable products that your customers can purchase to gain insight and direction from you without having to create the product yourself.
Affiliate sales don’t start and stop with other people’s products, you can leverage your existing audience to create affiliate sales for your own products as well. For example, at Conquer Your Business we have an affiliate program that our clients can join to promote our products for us. We’re locking in sales through word of mouth, and our affiliates are getting a nice financial perk for referring us out to others.
Interested in learning more about our affiliate program? Click here for more information about the program and how to get started.
5. Start Saving Money: Saving money is just like making money – the end result is you have more money. That said, I was always taught (and I believe wholeheartedly in this), you cannot save your way to success. You cannot save your way to wealth. There are not enough pennies to be pinched to save your way to millionaire status (keep in mind, we’re not talking about investments here, this is with the assumption you’re saving money but not growing that money).
Think for a moment about how you’re currently spending your money. Are you wasting money? How many subscriptions are you paying for and not using? How many fees are you being charged each month in your bank, on your credit cards, etc.? Track everything so you can find the areas where you can save and/or cut costs.
For example, recently we couldn’t figure out why my bill from Zoom kept going up month after month, and it turns out they signed me up for something I never intended to have. Had I not been paying attention to my finances closely, who knows how long this charge would have kept recurring (money being wasted). Always be sure to keep an eye on what you’re spending so that you don’t miss mistakes that happen and you’re not spending on things you’re not using at all. The money saved here can be reinvested somewhere else where it will make a difference (see number 1 above).
In Closing
With everything shared above, there’s one last nugget of wisdom I leave you with… don’t overcomplicate it.
If any step along the way requires a massive investment to put it into place, such as a huge time investment or financial investment, that’s not what we’re trying to accomplish. We’re looking for fast, actionable ways you can create a cash injection through multiple streams of income within your own business. And if you’re not sure where to start, I invite you to book a complimentary call with myself. In this call, we can complete a quick audit of your business and marketing, and start creating an actionable plan for your next steps. Click here to book your call.
