5 Realistic Income Stream Ideas for Small Business Owners

Apr 14

If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it's that backup plans are important. And if you're a business owner with only one stream of income, you're leaving yourself vulnerable.

Since 2020, we’ve seen that things can happen that are totally outside of our control, and having just 1 source of income isn’t the best way to weather new storms. Instead, generating multiple revenue streams is one of the best ways to protect yourself against financial uncertainty.

I know what you're thinking…"How can I do that when I'm struggling with just one offer?!" You’re busy as it is; you don’t want to juggle a million things. In this post, I will put your mind at ease — and give you some practical ways to create other income streams for your business, no matter how new or how experienced you are in your industry.

One-on-One Services

You don't have to be an expert to offer one-on-one services. I started my business as a social media manager, working on people's Instagram accounts, posting, engaging, and trying to see how we could consistently improve their performance. Contrary to popular belief, YouTube has not always been the bread and butter of my business.

Doing this work, offering this service, is what got me started on YouTube. I don't have a degree in YouTube. I'm not a certified guru. And I definitely wasn't one when I was offering social media management services. I just knew that I had the grit to figure things out and had a deep desire to help businesses grow online.

I didn't ever plan on being a YouTube agency either. In 2020, I wasn't offering those services, but we all know what happened then. Because everyone else was pivoting, so was I. It turned out pretty great, though. Today, my agency brings in nearly $200k in revenue.

If offering one-on-one services intimidates you, start small. You don't have to make it your full-time job. You can offer 5, then 10, then 20 hours a week, and the number of clients you work with is totally up to you.

VIP Days

A VIP day is where you work for the entire day with a client on their project. It's just you and the client, with no other distractions. The point is to streamline the process and deliver as much of the set goal as possible, so more is accomplished in a day rather than taking weeks to finish.

They're a higher-ticketed item because they're so focused, and the client doesn't have to compete with anyone else's attention. When I was doing VIP days, I worked with clients from the ground up to build their YouTube strategy and, because of that, I charged $4,000.

You can also group consulting calls or strategy sessions into this category because it's essentially the same thing, just much shorter.

If you've got experience or expertise in something and you have a super clear process, a VIP day is a good offer to bring you income and build your client base.

Affiliate Revenue

If you have minimal time to support other income streams, affiliate marketing is a good option. Personally, I think it's pretty cool that businesses pay other business owners to talk about stuff we love.

You can be an affiliate for all kinds of things. With Amazon, you can link an online store with your favorite craft products or work-from-home supplies, depending on your business.

I'm an affiliate for FG Funnels* and TubeBuddy* — even though, honestly, I'd talk about them anyway, even if I wasn't getting paid to do it.

If you think you won't make much off affiliate commissions, think again! In 2021, affiliate revenue accounted for a whopping $18,000 in my business. All to talk about things I love.

* These are affiliate links.

Low-Ticket Digital Products

Low-ticket digital products, like courses, are usually products under $100. Because they cost less, they are much easier to convert people with because they won't spend as much time going back and forth about whether or not they want to buy them.

You make these products once and then sell them year-round (or whenever you decide it is a good time to offer them).

Digital products allow people to get a sneak peek into what it would be like to work with you. Then, when they've gotten used to you, they're more likely to ask about your one-on-one services or higher-ticket items like memberships.

Core Products

A core product would be something like your membership or an offer that you want to drive most people into. Core products are scalable — meaning they won’t take a ton more of your time if 5, 10, or 100 people join.

For me, my core product is Video Strategy Academy, which is a membership that I only launch a few times a year to help people with their video content strategy.

Today, it’s a cornerstone of my income, but it wasn’t always that way. You can't come out of the gate with a $1,000 membership, but I certainly tried to. Fail. Guess how many people bought it? One. And it was a friend who took pity on me. I didn't have the audience for it, so it didn't make anything.

The next time I launched it, I lowered my price to a reasonable amount and gave myself time to warm up my audience. I bet you'll never guess what happened…

I actually sold spots in the membership.

Then, as I became more established and experienced, I slowly raised the price to reflect the value people were getting.

With your core product, take baby steps to get there, refine your process, ask for feedback, and offer people a fair price. You can't go wrong with that.

Struggling to Carve a Clear Path to Your Income Goals?

We can talk all day about income streams and making more money. But at the end of the day, you have to know what your goals are and how to reach them.

You probably love your online business (at least I hope you do), but you're tired of running yourself dry trying to make more money. You've got bills to pay, sporting lessons to pay for, and maybe a treat-yourself day every now and then.

You have no problems getting money out of your bank account, but when it comes to bringing money in? Not so much.

If you know you need to take the next step to reach your income goals, I want you to click below and save your spot for my upcoming PRIVATE workshop, How to Hit Consistent Revenue in Your Business.

You'll learn how to hit consistent revenue in your business by figuring out the whats and hows of your offers, as well as learning what to focus on and how the heck you can do it all as a team of one.

This free training is available by application only to people who are serious about wanting to reach consistent income from multiple revenue sources. Is that you? Apply for this free training here!