Now is the best time to start making your big plans and dreams for growth for your business before you get caught up in festive madness and before you know it’s February!
Here are 10 Surprising Ways To Earn More From Your Creative Business in 2017.
1. Create Done For You Services
Right now, done for you services are HOT!
Nobody has time to do the things they don’t want to do – in an age when we are all encouraged to ‘do what you love’ where does that leave all of the things we DON’T love to do- setting up and running ads, admin, content syndication (yep, your content should be spreading far wider than just your social media pages)! even things like content creation itself for those who struggle to write?
Well, they become those nagging things that eat away at us on our ‘Really SHOULD do but REALLY don’t want to’ list.
Which leaves a wide open door for you to step in and offer your multiple skills and talents as a Done For You Service.
What is it you have been great at in your own business?
Perhaps it was designing your own website.
Perhaps it was writing content at a super fast pace.
Perhaps it was transcribing your own audio because you’re a super fast typer.
Perhaps it’s running and optimising your ads.
Perhaps it’s writing your sales and marketing materials.
Perhaps you’re just supremely organised (and if that’s you, send us an email. We are always looking for dynamic Virtual Assistants!)
Whatever it is, someone out there is probably waiting to hire you for it.
Create a new page on your site, advertise your services on your facebook page, register yourself with fiverr and / or upwork, post about your new services in groups you are part of. And watch the cash roll in.
2. Partner Up
Joint Ventures are common in the online marketing world, but not so common outside of it, for reasons why I can’t quite fathom.
When you team up your services (and promotional skills) with someone who has a complimentary business, you open yourself up to double the business.
They can either promote your business or product for a commission, you can promote theirs, or you can create something brand new together. It doesn’t have to be an entirely new business, but a course or program or combined skill can work brilliantly.
Like the videographer who partners with a photographer to offer a combined service, or the florist who partners with a stationery designer to create a floral-inspired contemporary range, like the graphic designer who partners up with an Instagrammer to create an online course about creating a beautiful visual brand.
Reach out to people at a similar level / with a similar aesthetic to you. The chances are they would love the opportunity.
3. Run A Workshop
So many of us put this off, either because they seem like so much work to organise (they are)! or because we don’t feel ready. So make it easy on yourself.
Work in small groups.
Run it for beginners.
Hold it in a cosy and lovely room or outside even! rather than a grand venue.
Whatever makes it feel like FUN to you. We tend to overthink events and workshops as this far off goal, but if you have had paying clients and you know you are good at what you do or you have any sort of social media following, official ‘training’, or have been in business for a long time and know the ropes inside out which you can then teach to others, this could easily be a viable option for you which grows your reputation as an expert as well as generates a good ‘lump sum’. Just make sure you set your costs beforehand so you can calculate a good profit margin!
4. Monetise Your Blog
We fall into the trap of thinking that our blogs have one purpose only; to showcase our work. Not only can that often be a missed opportunity for you to connect to your clients, it also is a missed INCOME opportunity!
If you can write interesting articles that you then share across social media and can generate traffic, you can earn from that traffic.
*Sell your own programs or someone else’s.
*Recommend a service or a product and earn commission via places like Amazon Affiliates.
*Use your blog as a sales tool to sell more of your own products DIRECTLY FROM YOUR BLOG> link to your shop, create reviews out of blog posts, write stories about particular items, share your behind the scenes processes, and so on. Include direct links so people know where to buy or book right away! *Sell advertising space
Are just four ways to start earning directly from your blog!
5. Diversify Your Main Product Line Or Service
So for example. If you are a florist, you could create an incredible floral calendar or line of downloadable holiday-themed cards with the help of a photographer.
If you are a photographer, you could sell some of your images on stock sites or creative market.
If you are a write poetry books, you could sell poems as gifts on fiverr.
If you write children’s books, you could create an entire line of audio books around your central character / s as bonus stories.
The ideas are endless- to get started, brainstorm who else would want your services aside from your current core target market.
Enjoying this post so far? download this PDF on 57 more ways to earn more in 2017
6. Write A Book
Writing an e-book increases your authority in your industry AND your business income. Plus it can also fulfil a lifelong dream! (I don’t believe I am the only creative who dreamed of writing a book when I was growing up)
And they’re surprisingly easy to write. The most important thing is to set aside time to write it, and to set your intention simply to share what you know. Start from this base where you have time to write, and an idea of what information would be useful to others, and just write!
I wrote my first book in a weekend with two children under the age of 2! If I can do it you can too- and generate lovely extra income from your business as you do so.
7. Raise Your Prices
I know, this one isn’t too much of a shocker. But why not move into a new price bracket, and target slightly more affluent clients or clients willing to pay for what you are creating?
So often, it is our mindset around raising our prices that holds us back from charging more. We tell ourselves things like ‘nobody here would pay that much’ and ‘I’m not ready to increase my prices yet’ and we continually hover around wanting to but letting our excuses hold us back.
If you know you’ve been holding back from increasing your prices in 2016 because of reasons like this now could be a perfect time to work on your money mindset and increase your income as a result.
(If you haven’t already read it, grab hold of a copy of Denise Duffield Thomas’ Get Rich Lucky Bitch as a starting point. It will be a wake up call to how you approach and treat your income).
8. Send More Newsletters
I think every client I have ever worked with struggles in this area! But the truth is this- when you send newsletters you deepen and strengthen your relationships with the clients who love you and your work. (You will also of course lose subscribers, which is totally normal, it just means right now they aren’t the perfect fit for you and your business).
And when you have good solid relationships, you can use newsletters to make sales not just every week, but EVERY DAY – and this is the key part – WITHOUT coming across as salesy or slimy.
If you know you use expressions like ‘I don’t want to bother people’ ‘nobody has time to read frequent emails’ and ‘I don’t know what to write about’ the chances are you are resisting sending them;
due to it either being one of those things you just don’t want to do (in which case you could outsource this and consider the expense an investment into your business when you can make direct sales as a result) or
(most often) because you haven’t yet spent the time invested into how to create and write newsletters, which leaves us feeling unconfident, so therefore we avoid it.
Creating great email newsletters are EASY when you know how. Start with a simple email newsletter program like mailchimp and make a commitment to sending them weekly to begin with.
Research it online to find out all you need to know- and if you want to become an awesome writer and know how to generate sales from your newsletter, check out the FCA Storyteller course here.
9. Hire Out Your Equipment
When I first started my hair accessory business I was desperate to get my hands on solid brass millinery tools from the Victorian era. I knew it could provide a real bespoke and unusual element to my work, and I couldn’t wait to experiment and play with them. The only problem was the only ones I could find for sale were in Australia and would take three MONTHS to arrive.
If someone had them for hire I would have snapped them up for a weekend play in a heartbeat!
What do you have lying around that you could rent out for a short (or long) period of time? It could be anything from unusual tools, a spare room or garage for storage or an office space, or your everyday equipment when it’s not in use.
10. Public Speaking
Yes- if you can speak authoritatively or knowledgeably about a particular subject – whether that’s raising ten kids or setting up a business in a recession or growing seeds- whatever it is, you can earn money from it.
You might have to start speaking for free to begin with, but Youtube and Facebook Live has made that very achievable. After a while when you have gained followers, or demonstrable experience speaking, you will be able to charge for your speaking gigs and earn from it. This also helps to boost your main income as you will be seen as a further authority in your niche / specialism.
So that’s it- ten unusual ways to make more income from your business in 2017. If it’s been useful to you, share it with others you think might need to hear it using the share buttons below!
To your successful (and creative) 2017. Oh, and before you go, don’t forget your free download- containing 57 MORE ways to earn extra income from your business in 2017.
Of course there are also many further avenues to explore, from creating online courses to mentoring – check out this link to learn how to create a successful secondary income stream through mentoring and coaching others in your industry.
