Yes and no. I’m sure you’ve heard the business advice that you need multiple revenue streams in business. It’s great advice. BUT, I’ve seen far too many entrepreneurs take that to mean it’s okay to dabble in 5 businesses. We’ve all heard it at a networking event or entrepreneur conference. “What do you do?” “I am an author, and I sell legal services, and I run a non-profit, and I do book keeping, and I tap dance on the weekends at local birthday parties.”
WHAT???? The minute I hear that, I know I’m talking to someone who lacks focus and results. They are dabbling in too many areas to create traction. And there is no overriding theme. It’s just chaos.
You want multiple streams of revenue so that if one stream dries up, you have others to fall back on. So how do we create multiple streams while not being the writer/legal services/non-profit/book keeping tap dancer? Here’s three things to consider.
- When you are building multiple businesses, you’ll need to have multiple teams to support the work. And your role is to oversee the businesses. If your business can’t support the team that allows you to be in the advisory role, maybe you should put some of them on hold until you build up one enough to scale and step back.
- Your revenue sources don’t have to come from different businesses. They could come from multiple revenue sources within the same business. Think Amazon. One company, but they have online product sales, publishing services, grocery delivery, and data storage. They did NOT start all of them at once. Remember when Amazon was an online book store? They found a way to win in one area, and then expanded their service offerings.
- Your revenue streams do not have to come through business. Alternate revenue streams could include, investing in the stock market, investing in other people’s businesses, investing in real estate, investing in intellectual property or royalties.
I have found that focus is critical in my business. I simply can’t wrap my mind around too many things at once. And yet, I want to be diverse! It’s a balance. And one that I am still learning about and haven’t quite mastered yet.
But here’s what I’m paying attention to right now.
What feels in alignment with my current focus?
As someone who creates consistent content, I’m looking at ways to position that content in locations that open up opportunities for royalties and advertising dollars. It’s new revenue without a new direction.
Where are my passions?
I’ve found that it I’m not passionate about something, I’m not the best student. And you do have to learn in any of these revenue generating strategies. So choose something you are excited to study.
Where am I currently leaving money on the table?
I realized this year that I was leaving a lot of money on the table by only having high end consulting services. So we created a new branch of our business to serve the client that needs business education that fits into the monthly budget and Coaching on Demand was born along with a new revenue stream. Most of the time, the opportunity you seek is right in front of you!
What are you doing to generate multiple revenue streams? What is working for you? We’d love to hear from you!