How businesses can diversify their income streams
All businesses should take stock and revisit their strategies periodically, and particularly during turbulent or challenging times. When times are tough, diversifying their income streams can offer more stability to businesses as it means that they don’t have to rely on a single source of income. This is extremely important as income in one stream starts to dry up. Even when things are going well, diverse income streams allows you to maximize your revenue and multiple your profits.
Diversifying your income streams might sound great in theory, but how do you do this in practice? Not only do you need to take care of practical considerations like how you take payments from your clients, but you a great idea to get you started. Here are some different ways that businesses can diversify their income streams.
Enter the online market
Retail businesses have seen a major shift towards online shopping and ecommerce in recent years, and particularly in 2020. With more and more people are shopping online for convenience and safety, now is a great time to branch out into ecommerce. It is easier than ever to do so through platforms such as Amazon or eBay, or you can even build your own simple site through Shopify.
Give consulting a try
Consulting is one of the most popular means to build a complimentary income stream alongside your business. It doesn’t really matter which industry you are a part of, consulting services are always a great way to make use of your expertise to help others. As a business owner, you have a range of skills, both specific to your industry and more generally in terms of running a business. There are many other people that would be interested in learning these skills too, and will pay you significant sums of money to do so!
Expand your Products or Services
Irrespective of the industry you belong to, there are always going to be some resources of income that you can tap into and earn some extra income. A great way to expand your income streams is to add new products rather than just sticking to your regular business products or services.
For example, say you are a digital marketing agency, you can make extra income by selling logos on multiple online platforms. There are ample revenue-generating options available in every industry – you just need to look out for them. Have a look at what others are offering, and look out for niches and gaps to identify products and services that are in demand, but are not being offered by many businesses.
Monetize your content
In today’s age of digital marketing, most businesses are producing regular content to marketing their business, from blogs and videos to social media posts. Although this content is important to promote your business, it can also become a way of earning money in itself. If you are producing useful or engaging content, why not consider monetizing it? You can do this in a variety of ways, from setting up a subscription or membership service to ad promotions and affiliate links in your content.
Start a subscription service
You can add an extra income stream by launching a subscription service. It isn’t even necessary for you to have a large audience for this: you can simply set up a service that requires monthly or regular payments to access a special set of content, products or services.
For example, you could provide coaching of some type that suits your industry, or you can offer other services depending on your business. If you have a marketing agency, offer monthly packages for campaigns. If you sell software, offer access to programs or add-ons on a monthly basis. The possibilities are endless!
Think outside the box
If you are looking to diversify the income streams of your business, you will have to expand your approach too. You can’t have the same narrow mindset to earn extra. Therefore, the idea is to get rid of the attitude where you expect only a particular type of clientele or focus on just one product or service. Be open to exploring different markets and any kind of product or service. You could even consider partnering up with other small businesses in the same industry and come up with combined packages to reach out to more consumers.
Create digital products relevant to your business
Irrespective of your business, there will always be people out there who would want to learn more about your business or industry and develop their own skills. Digital products create perfect sources for passive income – that is, they keep generating income long after you spent resources to create them. There are multiple digital products that you could opt for. The most common ones would include online courses, eBooks, extensive guides, educational video content and templates.
Summing up
You need to be a little adventurous to create new income stream and not shy away from investing in a little. However, if you do it well, you can expect massive returns on your investment. Move forward carefully, researching different opportunities, the market and your audience, but don’t be afraid to jump in!