Many of us believe that the only way to make money or to increase income is to work harder. Often this stops us from being truly financially successful or achieving that next level. We work as hard as we can, even to the point of burnout, and just don't see a way to work harder. The truth is we don't have to work harder to make more money. We've developed some psychological link between hard work and money. In this case, though, just because you believe it doesn't make it true. And, this limits us from seeing easier ways to do things.
Here are ten ways to make more money in your current business without a significant amount of extra work. See if this doesn't open the way you look at your business opportunities.
1. Raise fees or prices. Counterintuitively, this often brings in more clients, rather than fewer. Test it out if you don't believe this.
2. Offer and sell more high dollar services or products. You probably already have one or more of these. Add more of the same (that is market more often) and sell more or add new ones.
3. If you do workshops, teleclasses or group sessions, make sure the classes are full. Hold larger classes, less often. Same effort, more money.
4. Allow others to make money for you. If you have assistants or employees, allow them to offer products or services under your auspices, using your marketing machine or your facility, for a cut of their fees. You can also license out your products and services.
5. Put your assets to work for you. If you have a building, rent out space, even by the hour. There are lots of freelancers who need a space to meet with clients or to hold classes. If you have an assistant, could someone else pay you a fee to give him or her occasional work? Do you have a street sign or a delivery truck you could "rent" out? What about referral fees? If you often refer to your favorite web designer or printer or accountant, are you getting referral fees or at least discounts?
6. Collaborate with others. This can be within your field or outside. Often new entrepreneurs will do most or all of the work in exchange for your marketing machine. And you both make money by selling the final product or service.
7. Repackage what you already have. If you have a product that isn't selling too well, can you combine it with something else to make it more appealing? If you have been teaching a workshop or producing a program for awhile and it no longer is selling as well, can you revamp it, change it's focus, upgrade it a bit (remember, we're looking for minimal work) and sell it again? Do you have a service you can break up into smaller chunks to sell individually or combine several into a "gold" package? Of course, price so that you make more money, rather the same or less.
8. Develop new products or services from supporting material, old products or marketing material. Often we have lots of material just sitting around that, with a little effort could be made into a salable product. For example, if you write articles, combine them into an e-book or booklet. Maybe you have an old interview you did with someone, turn that into an audio product for sale. Workshop or class material can be turned into workbooks, manuals, e-books, booklets, or shorter workshops or teleclasses.
9. Affiliate with others. They sell your products (for a cut) so you sell more. You sell their products for a fee.
10. Widen your distribution. This could mean sell your electronic products in more than one place (your website, clickbank, etc.) or by using affiliates. Exchange marketing with others, be creative about where you sell.
All blog content is copyrighted, all rights reserved, Mary Anne Fields and Life Unfolds, 2006
