Make more money in your design business with multiple streams of revenue
If you want to protect your business from the ups and downs of one to one client work then you need multiple streams of revenue.
Here’s what I mean and how to get started…
Why you need multiple streams of revenue
Running a creative business can be hugely rewarding.
✅ You are doing something you love
✅ You have flexibility over your time
✅ You are hopefully making some money as well!
But generating a predictable, steady stream of income can be incredibly stressful in small creative businesses and more often than not there are huge fluctuations in work - resulting in months where there is way too much work coming in the door followed by months where you might make no sales at all.
But the aim of all businesses is to try and make money, first and foremost. After all if you aren’t making money then you have a hobby, not a business!
And once you’ve got proof of concept and you have money coming in the door the next thing you want is to think about growth and stability.
Most creatives run businesses where they are either selling their services (e.g. in the case of designers, music teachers or architects) or they are selling products that they make and sell (e.g. in the case of artists or photographers).
And when you run a business like this there are two main ways to grow and scale your business:
You start to hire a team around you who can help you deliver on the products and services that you create
You grow your business by creating different sorts of scalable products and services that mean you no longer just rely on income generated by you physically creating an artwork or delivering design work.
And it’s this second category that I want to talk about in this post - how to make money in a sustainable way but also how to grow and scale your business over time (even if you only ever want to remain a one-person business like I do!).
The benefits of more than one revenue stream
One of the things I am incredibly passionate about when I work with people who are running creative businesses is helping them move beyond the one (or few) products or services that they offer and start to get them thinking about creating multiple streams of scaleable revenue inside their business.
This is a topic I talk a lot about inside my business short courses as it’s how I’ve grown my own business to multi-million dollars in revenue over the past few years.
Within my business I have at least 6-7 different sources of revenue running at all times. And this sort of model provides many benefits and opportunities, such as:
protecting you from the month to month fluctuations of 1:1 client work
having a range of different sources of money coming through the door - if one product is having a ‘slow’ month another might be going gang busters and balance things out
helping you move beyond just trading time for money so you can scale your business with other products and services you create once and sell over and over again
allowing you to help more people than you could if you continue to just work one on one with clients
helping you make money while you sleep - most mornings I wake up having sold a number of my courses or online products over night. There is nothing quite like the feeling of making money while you are literally asleep!!
protecting you from fluctuations in the market
providing you with more predictable and consistent revenue
If you want your business to grow beyond just putting in face to face hours with clients - which has a natural revenue cap to it as once your hours are maxed out then your revenue is maxed out as well - then I want you to start thinking beyond just trading your time for money and start to think more about how you can grow your business by scaling the knowledge and skills you have.
Let’s take a look at how to get started with this.
Think beyond one to one client work
What can you offer that will set you apart from the thousands of other people in your niche who are doing the same sort of work as you?
Having more than just 1:1 client work to rely on for generating revenue is how you will make sure you have consistent income coming in to your business each month.
In contrast, relying only on clients to find you and your business puts the control in their hands.
So take back the control by creating other products, services and experiences that you can offer to a much wider range of people. This will give you peace of mind that you have revenue coming in during the months when 1:1 client work might be a bit slow.
Where to start
The way I want you to start to think about this is to consider the big questions or issues that you get asked all the time. I want you to think about your business, your niche and the areas you get asked about the most.
⭐️ What do you go through most when you meet with clients?
⭐️ What parts of your business do you enjoy the most?
⭐️ What makes you excited in your business?
Write down as many different ideas that you can think of.
Once you’ve done that I then want you to start to think about how you could scale the knowledge that you have and how you go about answering the questions or problems that you’ve brainstormed by packaging that knowledge up in a new way.
What ideas can you come up with for how you can turn the knowledge, resources and experiences you have in to a system or process that you can create once and then sell multiple times to more than one person at a time?
Here’s some examples to get you thinking:
💭 done for you designs
💭 workshops
💭 group shopping or sourcing trips
💭 live events
💭 digital products (like ebooks or templates or checklists)
💭 courses
💭 online or in person trainings
💭 templates
💭 cheatsheets
The ‘experience’ economy
While you are working on this activity I also want you to remember that we currently live in an 'experience' economy.
People already have too much 'stuff'.
What they really want are:
✅ connection with a community
✅ fun and experiences with likeminded people
✅ to get off social media and do things in the real world.
This provides a great opportunity for you to set your business apart. What sorts of experiences might you be able to offer that will invite people inside your business?
Could it be…
💭 group retreats
💭 a special lunch (e.g. get a guest speaker in your niche and host a great lunch in a well designed cafe)
💭 tours of your completed renovation projects
💭 a tour of your art studio and show them the ‘behind the scenes’ of how you work day to day
Be creative and come up with fun experiences to offer your audience that are authentic to you and your business.
Teach what you know
If you are still stuck for ideas then another way to start to think about what else you could be offering inside your business is to document the questions you get asked most by your current clients and then teach what you know on a larger scale than just one to one.
So instead of visiting the tile store over and over with clients one on one - perhaps you have a supplier that you regularly work with that would be happy to host a small group of your clients for a special evening where they talk about the latest trends in tiles, have some wine and then you are there to offer the clients support in selecting for their own homes (the one to one touch they will love).
Think about where you are repeating yourself over and over and then be creative about how you can offer new products or services to answer these questions at scale.
And these don't all have to be live experiences if that makes you feel a bit nervous as you get started with this - you could also create online products like courses, cheatsheets, templates, downloads, ebooks and more….BUT….be creative!
A lot of people are starting to sell things like e-books on their websites.
You need to make sure you have a standout product that is better than what your competition is creating. You are trying to make an impact here - not create a copy cat option of what your competitor down the road is already doing.
I hope this post has helped to spark some ideas for thinking a bit differently about the products and services that you offer and that you feel excited about the opportunity that some of these ideas might bring to your business.
But don’t just close this article and move on with your day - think about how you can put this in to action!
Nothing is going to change in your business if you don’t actively make it change.
So take even just one small step forward with this idea right now - start to brainstorm the questions you get, the things you do over and over in your business.
Where are the opportunities for you to create some new and different products or services and make more consistent revenue?
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
