Ryan Levander

What All Successful Entrepreneurs Have: Income Diversification

Published on: June 9, 2019
Read Time: 6 minutes

Chances are either you are or know someone who is an Entrepreneur. And if you are an actual Entrepreneur, chances are you have a lot of friends who are also Entrepreneurs. But did you notice what I said – “If you are an actual Entrepreneur.” Do you know why I said that? Lots of people call themselves Entrepreneurs long before they are. I was one of them.

Now technically, the definition of Entrepreneur is:

a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks to do so.

By that loose definition, not many are Entrepreneurs. I still wouldn’t call myself an Entrepreneur by that definition. And it doesn’t really matter if you are or aren’t. There simply seems to be some confusion about it and I wanted to clear the air there at least from that simple definition.

Founder of Product Launch Formula meets Founder of TOMs Shoes

The point of this post is to breakdown the different income streams that all successful Online Entrepreneurs have.

I’m never one to speak in absolutes, but more often than not, people who create their own financial freedoms, do so in these ways:

  • Trading Time For Money – Definitely not the most popular one, but it’s usually how most Online Marketers and Entrepreneurs start. There first needs to be a problem you are solving for the marketplace. Once you are making consistent money and helping people on your own, you’ve done it! Escaped working for the proverbial “man” and the typical 9-5, yay! (Personally, I would rather make $60k working for myself than make $200k working for someone else. I hate being told what to do – especially from someone who isn’t as dedicated and knowledgeable as me – not many are…I invest a lot in myself and business). But there is only so much time in the day/week, so you really have to get selective and think through we are you spending your time with here. This is the first and most common income type, as the others are harder to show the value in and scale. And/or you really have to save a lot of money to start the others and get results fast.
  • Event-Based Marketing/Launches – This next category is a sexy one, creating an event out of your marketing and doing a launch of a product or service. Nothing is as easy as it may seem from the outside. However, being apart of a team with the creator of Launches, I see them actually working. And very well at that 💰💰💰. There are different types of launches and you can pretty much launch anything. I’ve seen so much success in quite literally almost every industry.  One of the best parts about doing a launch is it’s all virtual. You are paying for value – an end result or a way to get to the end result. You aren’t paying for a time-based service. You can launch a service, like a coaching program – which would fall under an info product. Or, you could launch your coaching program in which you would be launching it to only accept enrollments during a certain window because of high-demand, etc. You don’t have to do a launch, you can do an in-person event, like a workshop. The benefit here is serving multiple people at once and selling it for a higher price point as it would be a more condensed and you would learn faster than going at your own pace online. Also, they would have the chance to ask you/your team, the experts, questions while in the workshop. Events and Launches are great methods of income and can vary quite greatly based off of the context of where you are, your marketing, your email list, etc…but it’s not uncommon to do 6 figure launches (multiple times a year) if you are doing this full time and are smart about your Marketing.
  • Online Information Products – If you can’t afford to go to a workshop in person with the teacher you are looking to learn from, then a course is typically cheaper. Informational Products are a huge part of Online Marketers/Entrepreneurs’ structure. With so many great platforms out there nowadays (Kajabi, Teachable, Podia, etc) to create your platform on, it’s never been more about the idea and concept – and less about the how than it is now. Anyone looking to have a serious presence and income stream from informational online marketing has a course.
  • A Coaching Program – This isn’t necessarily what all successful Entrepreneurs have, but a lot of them do. It really depends on the market and situation that said Entrepreneur is in. But most will have a coaching program available to supplement their course. What if the students have questions, need support, want to get to where they are going faster? That is where there is an area to have a higher priced than the online course, coaching program. This also provides an opportunity for enhanced community building and a chance to meet up in person. It’s funny, we all love the online world, but we still need that in person element in order to advance and break-through certain business obstacles that seem daunting behind your screen, by yourself.
  • A Mastermind – Most all successful masterminds are paid, otherwise, there would be less of a committment aspect from the members. While this is a revenue stream for successful Entrepreneurs, it is much less about the money to join the mastermind and more about the “idea incubation” aspect. Just being able to get other top industry minds to weigh in on what you are working on is invaluable. I’ve been apart of many masterminds – and currently, get to be apart of one of the best for Digital Marketing in the world (so grateful for that opportunity). I’ve heard many times that the $25k annual price tag that they can cost was “worth it in one conversation” that they had during a meetup. I believe it. At that level, you need to make sure you are going in the right direction and are getting all the support and resources available you can.
  • A SAAS Product – Software As A Service, or SAAS, is everywhere online. In fact, I’m using it right now to write this blog post (thanks, WordPress). The web is very crowded with these, and it can be quite difficult to stand out. The fun part about SAAS products (after you create one) is it is really a Marketing game of numbers (my favorite kind). SAAS companies are all about getting your customer acquisition cost lower than your lifetime customer value. And significantly lower to compensate for expenses/employees as well.
  • E-commerce – Last but definitely not least. E-commerce is like “Entrepreneur” the definition can get misinterpreted, so let’s define it quickly:

Ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions. Ecommerce is often used to refer to the sale of physical products online, but it can also describe any kind of commercial transaction that is facilitated through the internet.

  • Leave it to Shopify to be the one who comes up first for the definition. They really seem to own the (serious) store owners online shopping marketplace. So technically, a SAAS product is a form of E-commerce. I have quite a few friends that sell with their Shopify stores and try to spend as much as they can on Facebook every month with ads. Because they have their Marketing down that good! They know exactly how much they are getting in return when they pay Facebook $1 – a very healthy ROAS (return on ad spend) of at least 1.5 to 1.

Hopefully, this gives you an idea of all the different types of digital ventures there are out there for Online Marketers and Entrepreneurs. You can’t have all your eggs into one basket. After all, Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster. We all know that going in, so income diversification is crucial to many areas of success.

Was this helpful? Are you an Entrepreneur or want to be one someday? Or maybe, you simply want to sell something online part time to get some supplemental income? Comment below and let me know! 👇🏻

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