Creating diverse income streams is something I honestly feel is key to business success.

And that’s not science or anything fancy, just fact.

If you derive ALL your income from only one source, then that’s risky!  That one source disappears and BOOM you’re out of business!

It might look a little different in retail vs service-based, but the theory is the same.

In retail, you might get your income from your menswear range, ladieswear, corporate contracts.  You might do high-end fashion but have some fashion items that appeal to the masses.  You probably carry different labels – basically just not putting all your eggs in one basket.

For service-based businesses, having different income streams is important too.

The rule of thumb is that no one client or income stream can be worth more than 30% of your overall business.  Because loose that income stream and BOOM, your business is struggling.  And we don’t want that.

So as a bit of an exercise, grab a sheet of paper or open a doc on your device, and I want you to write down all your income streams.

NEXT – put a % next to them – what percentage of your income is made up of that specific income stream.

Now if you only have a single income stream or source in your business, then we need to chat – immediately!  (But also, really think about it – do you REALLY only have one?)

I can say hands down that people need some form of diversity in their business to survive, heck if the past 2 years have taught up anything, it’s that we need diversity!

As an example, here’s some of my income streams:

• 1:1 coaching
• Group Mastermind Coaching
• Speaking and workshops
• Webinars
• Private Membership
• Affiliate marketing
• Podcast sponsorship
• Retreats
• Book sales
• Spend With Us – Buy From a Bush Business memberships, Corporate sponsorship packages, percentage of transactions

And there’s a few random ones on top of that, but as you can see I have a lot of diversity in my business when it comes to income.  I’ve needed to – that’s exactly what the past two years have taught me!

In 2020 I had wanted to break away from the “1:1 coaching model” and do more speaking engagements.  Then a pandemic hit and my diary full of speaking activities turned to dust and people started to approach me about more and more private coaching.  I followed the money – I opened my books back up and took on more private clients.  It’s not what I had planned, but heck, who planned for a pandemic!

So, what are your income streams? And what % do they contribute to your overall income?

Now, just for good measure, we are going to take a U-Turn and put on our marketing hats – because I can’t pass up the opportunity whilst you are thinking about your income streams to pop some marketing strategy into your head too!

You now have a list of your income streams and the % of total contribution to your income now I want you to put a % next to that income stream again after your answer this question:

• How much time and energy, as a percentage, do you spend growing each income stream?
• How much marketing goes into making that income stream work for you, become more profitable for you?

And – be honest when you are doing that activity (you’re only fooling yourself otherwise!).

What I hope this little exercise tells you is that if you have an income stream that’s 35% of your overall income, but you only spend 10% of your time nurturing and growing it – then there’s part A of what you need to focus on to grow your business!

Vice versa, if you have something that contributes 5% to your income but you are spending 40% of your time on it – then it’s time to rethink that strategy.

Email marketing and social media, respectively, are the two I often come across here with clients.

They successfully complete an email marketing campaign that brings in 40% of their income and then don’t do any more email marketing.

Or they spend SO much time on social media, posting, commenting, creating content etc, but I see time and time again that social media rarely brings in any direct income.

It’s topsy turvy land, right?

Think about your income, where the growth can come from and therefore where you should be putting your energy and marketing strategy.

Perhaps go back and listen to podcast episode 135 all about your 3 Money Making Activities – it’s a great re-listen after reading this blog to get you into the habit of thinking income and where you spend your time!

The next questions I want to you ask yourself are:

• Do you need more income streams?
• What could that look like in your business?
• Do you need to do some research and see what others are doing or just chat to some people in your industry to see what they are doing successfully?

I find networking is such a great marketing activity when it comes to seeing what others are doing and getting inspiration from them.

Or maybe, you have to rethink the income streams in your business.  You have too many income streams and none of them are getting enough attention to grow and really fulfil their potential.

I’m happy to have a chat with you about all this!  Feel free to reach out or book a discovery call to see how I can help you.

Reach out inside the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group – just tag me in the group.

Or, you can book a call here: https://calendly.com/jenn-smm/discovery

Thinking about your income streams, diversifying them, what energy needs to be spent where and how they contribute to your overall income, is a great way look forward for how you are going to build your business over the rest of this year.

CONTACT JENN:

Marketing and social media are my jam – and if you are struggling in either area at the moment I would love for you to reach out and book a call with me at: https://calendly.com/jenn-smm/discovery

And please do go over and join my Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group. This fantastic community of small business owners is so supportive and welcoming, and so willing to share their experiences. It really does make all the group members feel like they have a cheer squad on their side!

Or you can DM me on Instagram or send me an email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au

I wish to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Yorta Yorta People, on which I conduct my business today and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this blog post today.

About the Author:

Jenn Donovan of Social Media & Marketing Australia.  Jenn’s a coach and mentor from rural NSW and is all about empowering business owners to earn what they’re worth so they can make a bigger difference in the world.  The Founder of Buy From a Bush Business, Co-Founder of Spend With Us – Buy From a Bush Business Marketplace and host of the very popular podcast Small Business Made Simple, Jenn is all about community and humans interacting with humans!  H2H Marketing – human to human marketing. Jenn talks the talk but importantly walks the walk! Jenn’s online community is over 320,000 with her famous Facebook Group currently at almost 351,000 members and still growing every day.  She’s the major of her own little online city!

Get in touch – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au

On Instagram – @jenndonovan_

On Facebook – Jenn Donovan

Or on LinkedIn as Jenn Donovan

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