What could diversifying your revenue streams do for you in your business? Could it offer you more time or even more money? Could it grow your team? There are so many benefits to diversifying your revenue streams and in today’s episode, Elizabeth McCravy joins us to share her approach to building multiple revenue streams in her business!
Today’s episode is brought to you by my ebook for creative educators! It can be overwhelming to start on the path to becoming a creative educator. In this ebook, you’ll learn about the mistakes that are holding creatives back from becoming profitable and impactful educators, plus how to avoid those mistakes in your own journey! Grab your copy of my free ebook here!
Diversifying Your Revenue Streams
It’s so easy to get caught in the weeds of diversifying your revenue streams and not know where to start or how to really approach it. It’s important to diversify your revenue streams as an entrepreneur in order to create a little more security in your role.
Diversifying your revenue can also be confusing when we’re constantly being told to niche down in our businesses, so let’s walk through why niching down isn’t always the right move.
Debunking “The Riches are in the Niches” Phrase
We often hear the phrase “the riches are in the niches,” but that phrase can throw us off when we’re just getting started. If Elizabeth had niched down early in her career and business as a web designer, she would have made no money in her business that first year. She got to play around in different areas to determine what she liked.
For service-based businesses, Elizabeth recommends that you try out a few different things before you decide what you’re going to niche down to.
Should You Focus on One Niche or Diversify?
While there is value in the phrase, “the riches are in the niches,” there is also a barrier that the phrase set on your ability to diversify your revenue streams. So should you focus on one niche and service or find a way to diversify your revenue?
Let’s consider diversifying in the long term. As you’re building out your clientele and business within your niche, your audience can grow with you and expand—as it does, so should you. You may find that you’re passionate about more than just one niche or service.
Elizabeth found that she loved teaching in addition to designing websites.
The Benefits of Diversifying Your Revenue Streams
The benefits of diversifying revenue streams will be different for everyone, but a few universal benefits include:
Pursuing different passions
Not depending on one revenue stream
How to Create Multiple Revenue Streams
Elizabeth’s journey to diversifying her revenue started after she niched down in her business to web design. Once she was serving those clients well, she did begin to diversify by creating a template shop. She believes that nailing down her plans for that template shop, letting it run and grow, helped her establish a foundation in diversifying. After that, she built her course, Booked Out Designer.
Her advice is to start small and focus on one diversification in your business. Once you’ve built that foundation, you can review the efforts, make changes, and then move on to the next. Your diversifications in your revenue should be beneficial to your business overall.
It’s also okay to fail in your diversification of revenue streams—treat it as a learning experience.
Knowing What Path to Take When Diversifying Revenue
While some entrepreneurs may know exactly what path to take with diversifying their revenue streams, others may feel completely lost. If you’re in the latter, the first step you can take to determine the path you should take next is to listen to your clients. You could send out a survey that will ask questions in order to determine what people are missing or needing from you, then look for trends.
Challenges Entrepreneurs Face in Diversifying Revenue
When it comes to diversifying revenue, understanding your audience is a key challenge that many entrepreneurs face. Through your offerings and your marketing, you need to know who you’re speaking to in each revenue stream. Your audience may not be exactly the same across the board for your different offerings or revenue streams, but it’s important that you’re clear in your messaging.
Additionally, you’ll want to ensure that you’re segmenting your email list based on the offerings in which they come in through.
Managing the Work of Diversifying Your Revenue
When you decide to scale and diversify revenue, there is so much work that goes into it. You may be trying to balance client work, your own business, and scaling into a new revenue stream all on your own—so consider what support you can call on.
This could mean bringing on customer support, a designer, or even a launch specialist. Additionally, you’ll need to consider carving out time to work on new offerings.
Passive income is not passive.
Your diversified revenue can be considered scalable income, because it does take work.
Elizabeth’s Unpopular Opinion
It is better to start with services rather than passive revenue options! When you’re in the work, you’re staying active as an expert in the products and education that you’re creating later.
Navigating A Different Schedule
As a new mom, Elizabeth is adjusting to a schedule that’s different than what she managed before. Diversifying her revenue streams has been a major component in building out this schedule for her, eliminating one to one clients for the moment (but she’s not eliminating it forever).
Her advice through navigating a different schedule is to give yourself grace through the process, productivity, and priorities.
It can be overwhelming to start on the path to becoming a creative educator. In this ebook, you’ll learn about the mistakes that are holding creatives back from becoming profitable and impactful educators, plus how to avoid those mistakes in your own journey!
When you are a creative entrepreneur, time management is the number one key to preventing burnout! Click to join the list and download my free worksheet.