I know you’re bombarded every other day with multiple income streams being the way to go, the key to wealth, the new thing for 2018 and so forth.
Creating multiple income streams is definitely a path to success – especially passive income. However, before you even begin to think of growing your revenue, you MUST have already created these three things, otherwise, you can kiss those multiple streams bye, bye:
1. Secure primary income
How are you going to master earning multiple anything, if you can’t even consistently earn one income stream (rhetorical question)? Whether you start out selling one service or one type product, earning one primary income is crucial for several reasons:
- it will build your confidence as a business owner
- allow you to learn the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of what it takes to consistently create one income source
- with valuable feedback from your customers, you can edit your offering specifically to what they want
2. Build community
Launching a product or service successfully is all about creating a hype and buzz. And, the major one is creating customers before you even have your offering ready. I launched Womeneur in April 2015. But, in February 2015, I got online and began building my ‘tribe’, communicating via email and writing a blog. These three things allowed to me continue the conversation away from social media, building trust, loyalty, credibility. Essentially, I was providing value and sharing my knowledge and also showing I cared by creating a two-way conversation. I was able to build an organic, global and engaging Instagram community by providing value.
Additionally, I was able to carve a ‘niche’ in the market and place Womeneur brand in the minds of customers as the go-source for emerging and early-stage female entrepreneurs. This requires consistency, providing value and showing you care.
So I spent 9 months building a community and didn’t sell my consulting services or limited merchandise (mugs, posters, etc) until November. By then I had gained the trust and loyalty and people were ready to spend their hard-earned money with my brand.
3. Create what they want
Trust me, I understand: you have a brilliant idea for a product or service that you believe is totally irresistible and will be a cash cow for your business.
However, it will be unwise of you to create offerings without even asking your target audience what they want. Dell Computers mastered this philosophy by getting their customers involved in their decision-making process… matter of fact, they began making customer laptops because of this.
You MUST ask your customers what they want. If you have one primary offering, know that in order to add more on top of those (because your goal is to offer as many offerings as you can within the scope of your business), you need feedback. You need to know what’s working, what’s not working, what they like or dislike, what would they like different or like to see more of.
You can get feedback numerous ways:
- Ask questions on social media. It is true that my questions on Womeneur Instagram seem like fun and games (and they are to some extent). However, I’m taking your responses and finely tuning your customer persona.
- create surveys in Google Docs, Survey Monkey or Typeform and include questions above to your current customers and even potential customers
- ask for testimonials
- Include questions in the purchase process. How did you find out about us, what made you buy this product/service, where have you purchased similar items before?
When I began selling merchandise, I began showing mugs, notebooks, etc and asked which ones you liked most. Before I offered my consultation services, I sent out a survey asking you what you struggled with and what price range were you willing to pay… and I did the same thing before creating the WomeneurCollective.
Last week inside the WomeneurCollective, I hosted a virtual classroom: Creating Multiple Streams of Income for Your Small Business. I shared the many options available for creating multiple income streams for your business. Also, I shared tips and strategies and tips to implement them successfully.
Are you working on creating multiple streams of income and do you have the above 3 criteria in place?
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