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Running a business can feel like a constant uphill battle to keep it afloat. Sure, you will spend most of your time in front of computers or phones talking about how to grow your business, but there is always something else that needs to get done first.
Most small business owners make the mistake of thinking that they are running out of money soon. This misconception comes from not understanding what kind of income their business has.
Many entrepreneurs think that they are only making enough money one month of the year to live on, which is very untrue.
The term for this is recurring revenue. This article will go into more detail on what recurrent revenue is and why it is important to have as part of your business model.
It will also talk about some successful businesses that use this as a main source of income! Read on to learn more.
Many companies use what we refer to as “recurring revenues” to keep their business afloat. This is when a company charges for an item or service on a regular basis, usually monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
Many companies begin with a one time product or service before developing a relationship with their customers that requires repeated purchases.
Amazon is a good example of this. At first they offered free unlimited access to Amazon Prime which has now become its own separate membership program.
This gave people incentive to purchase items through the site because you get fast shipping and other benefits included in your prime membership!
Another example would be Netflix. They offer a streaming service and DVD service both of which require a subscription fee.
By offering these services under one umbrella, they create more frequent purchasers who feel obligated to continue using both services due to the value they receive from it.
These types of businesses depend heavily on repeat buyers so they are able to stay profitable long term. Therefore, they have enough money to invest into additional marketing strategies and resources to promote their products.
Importance __________
Recurring revenues can play a significant role in keeping a business successful. Even if someone doesn’t mind buying the product once, there may be others like yourself who find benefit in investing in the product/service on a ongoing basis.
Most businesses have to balance between having enough money coming in and keeping up with expenses. Having steady, recurring income can help mitigate this struggle by replacing a constant source of income with an average source of income.
I’m talking about the difference between having someone else cover your monthly mortgage or rent payment and having your own job that covers it. Having recurrent income helps you focus more on other things, like investing or starting a side business.
A successful entrepreneur I met mentioned how he would spend hours brainstorming new ideas but never invested his energy into actually putting forward any effort to start his business because he didn’t think he had enough funds to keep it going.
It takes a lot of work and motivation at times to allocate resources for a business idea, and those resources are often not free. He was too afraid to invest since he wasn’t sure how much he would be earning.
He eventually gave up and moved onto another project instead, which cost him nothing but left him feeling discouraged and empty. It is important to prepare yourself for the risk of failing as well as the chances of success when investing in potential future projects.
By having some extra savings set aside, you will know that you don’t need to worry about investment costs during hard times. You will also have something to look forward to once all the bills are paid.
The term recurring is pretty vague, so it can mean several things to different people. Some define it as “something that keeps happening” whereas others define it as “of repeated occurrence”.
Either way, they are referring to how the income source will keep producing money for your business. This could be through automated payments or paid memberships that cost extra each month.
Or maybe there is an upfront price but most of the other costs and expenses are covered via additional revenues. For example, with a monthly membership site, you may start off paying $100/month but then get more exposure due to marketing efforts and word-of-mouth referrals.
This type of recurring revenue is called passive because the activity comes from creating content people want to read or see and spending time promoting it.
With one time sales, this does not apply. A lot of businesses need quick cash so they create a one time sale product or service and make a big profit before moving onto the next thing.
This doesn't work for most entrepreneurs since they want to grow their business over time. They spend time developing products and services that people are willing to pay for instead of just slapping something together quickly and asking for money.
Having recurring revenue is great, but it comes with its own set of problems. Since your income does not fluctuate depending on the season or whether or not you are in business-mode, you need to be prepared for all time frames.
You will also have to prepare yourself for low revenues at times! This could potentially make it difficult to meet your commitments due to limited funds.
On the other hand, one time sales can sometimes feel like an eternity because there’s nothing else to look forward to. You only get what you earn – no guarantees that you’ll receive another sale next week!
So which type of company would be best for you depends mostly on how much risk you're willing to take and if you can endure short periods without any money coming in.
It’s always tricky deciding whether to have one time revenue or recurring revenue, but there are some things you can do to determine which is better for your business. You can also find out if it makes sense to try both types of income streams in your business!
Many entrepreneurs start off with one type of revenue stream before trying the other. Starting from one source then moving onto the other is very common, however having separate revenues will sometimes limit what you can offer your customers.
If your goal is to make as much money as possible, going straight into a steady source of income may be the best way to go. But if you want to keep your company limited so you can achieve your other goals, creating something that has reoccuring revenue could be the solution.
There are many ways to create a recurring revenue model, suchas through a website that collects monthly subscriptions,or through offering products at set prices that people renew every month.
A great way to know if this is the right option for your business is by looking at how successful similar businesses are doing it.
Viral marketing is defined as free advertising that creates its own source of revenue. It’s producing content people want to read, watch, or listen to (resources) so well that their spread via word-of-mouth becomes a thing beyond your control.
The more people who know about the resource, the higher chance it will be successful and the more money it will make for the creator.
This isn’t always the case, but it’s what most creators strive for with their products. For example, someone may hear about a new book and feel like they have to buy it, which then profits the author.
A lot of things become popular this way, mostly media (books, movies, etc.). People share their discoveries to get other people to purchase the product aswell!
It’s not only creative writers that benefit from virality, anyone can produce a piece of media and earn some extra income through it. This could be writing a book, creating a movie, or even designing something online.
There are many ways to achieve this, but the key ingredient is to create a good product and market it.
A referral program rewards you for bringing in new business, or referrals, from your existing base of followers or customers.
With a loyalty program, you earn points towards reward purchases by performing an action at one place and are rewarded for it elsewhere.
For example, if you’re reading this article then that is an activity you have done to gain access to the benefits of the My-My-Links-Site plan.
The best way to determine when is the best timing to have a sale or free item is to do an analysis of your site’s stats.
First, you want to make sure that your online store has enough traffic to support sales. If it doesn’t, then it’s off season for now!
You also want to know if there’s already a competition in your market that offers similar products as yours. If so, it’s probably high time to give back what they’ve got!
By analyzing your own statistics, you will be able to tell whether or not your business is at its most profitable period.
