Creating leveraged revenue streams – Step 1 “Letting Go”
How do you take your expertise, your services and the skills you provide and offer them in bigger and better ways? How can you continue to serve your clients and make more money without necessarily taking up more of YOUR time and energy?
To get the juices flowing in the right direction, I want to start with a simple exercise here. (Although, truth be told, sometimes the seemingly simplest exercises can prove to be the hardest ones for some of us.)
I want you to take a mental look at your business and I want you to kill off one of your revenue streams.
GASP?!!
Yes, you read that right, I want you to kill off, pull the plug and discontinue at least 1 of the things you’re currently offering right now.
Now before you hyperventilate, quit reading the remainder of the blog and go into panic mode at the thought of tampering with your revenue, let me explain why I want you to do this.
In order to grow and expand, sometimes we have to sever some things that aren’t thriving as well as others.
Consider a gardener – in order for a rose bush to bloom and flourish, the dead and weaker branches must be pruned and removed. If this doesn’t happen, the weak branches choke the life out of the healthy ones.
The same goes for your business. You need to prune off the services, programs, etc. that no longer serve you and no longer serve your clients.
You’re likely familiar with the 80/20 Rule that says that 80% of your results are determined by 20% of your efforts. Or maybe 80% of your income is determined by 20% of your clients…and the principle can appear over and over in various business scenarios. I want you to write out a very specific list of all the services you offer within your business right now and how much money they have brought in over the past 12 months. We’re working on creating your own 80/20 list
Now brace yourself for a surprise or two when you really look at what’s generating what. Sometimes the things you thought were your big money makers may not be and vice versa. I know I’ve personally had a good enlightenment or two when I’ve made this list in my own business. With everything all written out, I want you to focus in on the 1-3 things at the bottom of your money-making list.
Nitty gritty decision time. You need to take an earnest look at those bottom revenue items and decide if it’s really worth the time, effort and energy to continue offering them in the next year. Now you may have the scenario where one of your bottom items is a new launch and there hasn’t really been time to get it off the ground, but you know in the next year it will be operating at maximum potential and the numbers will be there the next time you make this list. So leave that one alone for now. But on the whole, those low revenue items are going to warrant an “Eh…not really cutting it” response.
It’s time to let go of the money-losing, and often headache-inducing revenue streams and make the space and energy you’re going to want for the new stuff on your business’ horizon.
(Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)
