This is probably where you’re expecting to get hit with a reality check on paying for tools and services to make this career lucrative, but put your wallet away – there are no start-up costs associated with what you’re about to learn.

Artificial intelligence is going to be your #1 tool of choice. Get signed up with OpenAI so you can use the free version of ChatGPT. Later, if you want to upgrade, you’ll have that opportunity and you can get the Plus version and even make your own personalized GPTs.

You also want to sign up to use Google’s Gemini. These two in conjunction can work well to elevate your online business to something competitive and endeared to consumers.

You’re going to find that you have a personal preference for how you use these for the output that you want. For example, Gemini is fond of lists and bulletpoints, while ChatGPT is more prone to paragraphs.

Both have the potential to brainstorm and outline, and Gemini is better at tapping into real time news and trends for research, competitive or data analysis and other tasks where it needs to access the Internet.

Canva is another free tool you might be using. It’s great at the free level (and you can pair this with free stock images from a variety of sites). You can also use AI in conjunction with Canva by having AI create images to use in Canva.

With Canva, you’ll be able to create images and videos using their built in templates or by designing something from scratch. It has templates built in for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and more.

CamStudio is a freeware video recording and editing tool that can come in handy if you want to make presentations where you’re screen recording and can’t afford the Camtasia paid version.

Free level list builders all usually have a paid upgrade version. Typically, an email autoresponder system has an enticing beginner plan allowing you up to 500 subscribers or a set period of time that you can build your list at no cost.

You’ll want to sign up for one that you eventually want to use with the paid version, so shop around for features carefully so you don’t have to export and import your list later to another platform.

Social media platforms are also going to benefit you as free tools to help you generate a six figure income with the help of AI. You’ll want to get signed up wherever you feel your target audience is active.

That may mean you do some investigations by conducting searches on each platform to see if your niche topic is active there. You can also ask AI for help here. Simply prompt it with something like this: “I’m in the gardening niche and I want to use social media to educate my audience and promote products. What are all of the social media platforms where this niche topic would be a good fit?”

Each of the AI tools that you use will give you different types of results. For example, here is a result from Google’s Gemini:

Pinterest: Great for sharing gardening tutorials, plant guides, and inspirational garden designs. Create boards for different gardening topics and use relevant keywords to get discovered.

And here is what ChatGPT has to say about that same platform:

Pinterest

• Visual Discovery: Pins of gardening ideas, DIY projects, and plant care tips.
• Boards: Curate themed collections (e.g., seasonal gardening, urban gardening).
• Linking: Drive traffic to blog posts or product pages.

Some things, you may not even know about yet. For example, Gemini tells us that we should sign up on a social media platform designed just for gardeners, called Garden Savvy.

If you go look this platform up, you'll find that it even has an affiliate program built into it so that you can not only participate in the community there, but also drive traffic from other platforms there and earn money when people get a subscription to their Hortisketch program.

So it always pays to ask for AI to help you identify the best platforms for you to immerse yourself in because you never know what it will uncover that you may not have known inherently on your own.

As an online entrepreneur, your job isn’t just about picking a niche and business model – it’s about knowing how you’ll monetize it. There are multiple ways to generate revenue, and you can start with one and scale your business to include different ones over time.

You can add the various revenue models to your front end products, upsells, or cross-sells whenever you find the perfect opportunity for them to be presented. It can be overwhelming to understand the multiple income generators, so we need to dive into each one so that you can pair it with your business model and niche topic for the ultimate profit system.

This is a good way to shore up your finances in a precarious economy, when there are downturns and algorithm shifts that can influence whether or not consumers find your offers or are willing to spend money on them.

A well-diversified revenue stream helps mitigate problems and ensures you’ll keep your head above water financially in any unforeseen circumstances. Plus, it’s just good business to maximize your profit potential in any and every way possible.

Each option may not be a good fit for your current business, but it’s good to be aware of the options so you can apply them at a later date if you decide to pursue something different at a later date.

Each of these income streams has its own strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, you’ll have your own personal preferences, skills and strategy that might influence which methods you choose to use.

Single Sale Transactions

The first, and most common revenue option is a single sale transaction. This is a one time sale where revenue is generated from a consumer purchasing something from you and then going along their way.

This is used with both tangible and digital products both online and in the offline world. As a consumer, you have used this countless times period and it will benefit you as an online entrepreneur, as well.

For example, if you want to sell a digital download info product like an eBook or video course, this would be a single sale transaction between yourself and the consumer. If you want to sell stock photos, access to a webinar, or even a service like a ghostwriting project, you could sell these as individual transactions.

There are advantages and disadvantages to using this option. On one hand, it's very simple for you to implement and manage. It's easy to scale because they can then purchase other items that you sell in the marketplace.

You can price these attractively so that you not only cover your costs, but you are also generating a good profit margin. But it may also present some obstacles for you. For example, you have no promise of additional income from that customer after the initial exchange.

You may also find it harder to emphasize the value you will continue to give to your clients if you are in a one time transactional situation. Plus, there is more competition for products that have a single sale transaction model than those where they have the option to become members, etc.

If you are going to choose this option, you want to make sure that you pack as much value into that product or offer as possible so that this customer becomes a repeat customer, even if each time they come back they are engaging in a subsequent single sale transaction.

Do your best to upsell your buyers and, if they get on your list, cross sell other products or services to them so that you can increase the value of that customer. This is a revenue option that you will most likely be using at some point in your business, and it's the easiest one to understand.

Recurring Revenue Models

Next is the recurring revenue model. Here, you are going to be generating ongoing income from a subscription based situation. Customers will be signing up to things like a membership, paying for licensing to your product, or paying for access to your product for as long as they want to use it.

This is a revenue model that you have to work on building the number of leads you generate and retaining those customers for a long period of time. You do that by continually providing value to those who are willing to spend money with you month after month.

There are many subscription based models online, and you may pay for those yourself. These would be things like Amazon Prime, where you get perks like free shipping or faster delivery.

You probably pay for other subscriptions to streaming sites where you can watch shows, and there are different tiers of access, such as eliminating all commercials or adding on a different channel.

As an online entrepreneur, you can create a membership program or service that you will continually update and enhance over time. If you have a piece of software that people want to license from you, you can charge them an ongoing fee to continue to have access.

With a recurring revenue model, you're going to have a steady income, provided you continue to share value with your customers. Your obstacle will be in convincing people to commit to an ongoing payment, so you have to find ways to acquire those leads who are willing to do that, and then meet their expectations once they have signed up.

Freemium Business Models

The name may sound contradictory to building revenue, but a freemium business model can actually generate a lot of profits. This is where you present a product or service for free initially, with your monetization coming from premium features and access later or as an add on option.

Premium revenue models work very well because they are attractive to consumers who view the no cost option as something they have to have. It's very hard for many consumers to resist something that costs nothing.

Your goal, in this instance, is to convert those free product seekers into dedicated, paying customers who are willing to spend money because you have shown such good value with your free model.

One of the biggest perks about using a freemium option is that it creates a buzz and lowers the barrier for people to convert. Then, they will be on your list and you will be able to nurture their needs and convert them into customers who spend money.

This is a business model that can be upsold easily. They have not had to spend any money initially, but they have shown interest. Therefore, you can get them to sign up for a recurring option or even a single sale transaction once you have proven your worth to them.

The key in making a freemium business model work is for you to not only show value, but to have just enough features that make it attractive without eliminating the need for them to invest more for something better.

You might even want to give them a taste of a premium level option so that they can clearly see the difference between what they are getting for free versus what they could get if they were willing to spend a little bit of money.

Passive Income Options

With passive income, you are going to be generating revenue behind the scenes on autopilot. This is a wonderful option where you can do the work once and get paid for it over the coming weeks, months, and years.

This is an especially attractive option for those who want to work less and earn more. A recurring revenue business model will require you to continually show value to your users in most cases, whereas a passive income stream is a set and forget situation.

For example, setting up a line of info products once allows you to earn from them ongoing. Writing affiliate reviews for your blog one time and letting them gain ranking in the search engine results page and convert for you is passive income.

Ad revenue for content you write one time and publish on your blog is another form of passive income. These are easy revenue streams that, if you publish carefully and strategically with value, will pay off for you again and again.

You will have an upfront investment of time (and in some cases, a small amount of money like for a domain and hosting), but it’s easily scalable into something more. You do have the responsibility of upkeep and customer service.

Crowdfunding and Donations

Crowdfunding and donations are two different things, but they come under the pretense of people giving you money up front for projects or for appreciation of your content. They are not necessarily downloading anything initially, like a product or getting access to a membership.

With crowdfunding, you are benefiting from the collective power of a consumer target audience that is interested in contributing to your project. Some authors use this as a way to support them while they complete a book, giving perks to those who contribute, using a variety of tiers, depending on their investment.

If you are going to use this option, you have to make sure that you deliver and follow through on what was promised, whether it's a product, an experience, or something exclusive that they have backed you to complete.

Kickstarter is a good example of a platform that allows you to crowdfund for your launches and the innovation that you are putting forth with your business model. Donations are a bit different, and you will often see this on social media platforms where dedicated and loyal followers of influencers will donate as a way to support someone who puts out content that they appreciate.

An example of a platform that allows you to do this would be Patreon. This is designed for content creators to get financial support from their audience, and in exchange, you can give them early access to content, additional and exclusive content, and other perks such as in person group meetups.

You’ll often find bloggers who have the donation option on their website. It's either called a tip jar or something like “buy me a coffee,” and it is linked directly to a payment platform where they can contribute a nominal fee to help you offset your expenses and earn some profits.

With both of these options, you have to make sure that you're providing value consistently, achieving your content goals, and being very honest and transparent about how the funds are being used.

It's important that you are engaged and attentive to the needs of your audience. If you can build a community of people who are connected in their support for you, that will help elevate your earnings.

Now you have a better idea of the various revenue options you have available to diversify your earnings as an online entrepreneur. Go through each one and analyze how it would work in connection with your particular niche, business model, and personal preferences so that you can get started with your first one and add others on later.

Before you get started, let’s go over a few examples of some recurring revenue models you might consider. Let’s say you want to be in the weight loss niche. You could have something like a Weight Loss Membership.

Customers get a monthly weight loss program with meal plans customized by a dietician, workout routines generated by a certified physical trainer, access to an exclusive community (which is important with this niche), and live Q&A sessions each week for increased motivation and support.

Plus, you could host ongoing challenges and have people pay to participate. Members of your community could get these at a discount if you wanted to make them available to everyone.

With licensing, if you’re in the online marketing niche, you might license a training program such as an AI Training Masterclass. You could license the course itself, any software integration (like a custom GPT), and provide training and support.

With a digital product they pay to use in the online marketing niche, you might have a tool that repurposes social media content and publishes it across different platforms so that each one is optimized.

This would be a monthly subscription, but you could have a free tier with basic features like idea generation and schedule planning, a level 1 tier with the ability to cross-post only, a level 2 tier that repurposes and cross-posts, and a top tier that does all of that, plus the option for collaborations, high volume use, and an account manager at their disposal.

Generating recurring income is a more attractive option than just having one-off sales where you’re constantly having to try to get someone to buy something new from you again.

As long as you focus on the audience’s needs and providing value and solutions for them, you’ll develop a brand that’s known for customer loyalty and your business will grow with ease.

Your next step in the system is to think about how you’ll scale the growth of your business. There are different ways to do this. We’ve already talked about tiered pricing, where people will level up over time.

You can also scale your earnings by enticing affiliates to promote for you. Many affiliates love promoting recurring income products because it contributes steadily to their monthly income, too.

You’ll want to approach the best fit for affiliates and set them up with an offer that helps them promote easily – such as giving them swipe file emails, a launch discount perk for their buyers, and readymade bonuses they can use to close the deal.

You can also use other income models to promote to your existing members. For example, you might have strategic ads placed within the membership where you can earn ad revenue or money as an affiliate.

Expand your content marketing efforts, too – so that you reach a wider audience of prospective subscribers to your membership or product. You might co-host webinars with people who have a similar audience and approach them for reciprocal guest blogging opportunities.

Think of what you can cross-sell and upsell to your members and subscribers. They’re already paying an ongoing fee, but you might develop (or find) courses and other tools that also meet their needs in different ways.

If they can get some sort of perk for buying it, you’ll expand your earnings easily. You might secure a discount for them, create a bonus, or do a case study inside the membership for those who sign up.

Try to automate as much of the processes you set up as possible. This frees you to create more value for your paying customers and do more lead generating. Automation tools (like those that cross-post across social media platforms for you) are beneficial in alleviating your daily tasks.

Your next step is to think about how you're going to market your recurring revenue system. You want to be attracting your prospective customers and enticing them to become subscribers, and that begins with a targeted marketing campaign and customer segmentation.

Think about how you want to differentiate your customers, whether it's by specific interests, pain points, budgets, etc. You may want to sit down and develop a buyer persona for each segment of your business so that you can better understand their needs and what they are looking for.

This helps you tailor your messaging within your content, whether it's on your blog, social media, or elsewhere. For each audience, you need a compelling message that communicates the heightened value you are going to be delivering to them whenever they sign up for your recurring system.

This should be a benefits driven list of features that translate into perks they can understand for their own life. You need to showcase the transformation that will take place whenever they become a member or user.

You're not just positioning your brand as one that is attractive for their needs, but your position yourself as that trusted leader and guide who will help them achieve their goals within the community of your recurring income system.

In addition to content marketing on your blog and social media marketing where you relay the value you will be providing to your subscribers, you can also use live events that are open to the general public and get people on your list using a value pack lead magnet so that you can cater to them directly via email.

Think about how you are going to earn money from this concept. You have probably already chosen one of the three recurring revenue business models. The next step is for you to pinpoint who your ideal customer or general target audience is.

Not only do you need to understand the basic demographic information such as their age, gender, location, income level, etc., but you need to know more psychological and behavioral elements that tell you more about their pain points, preferences, and challenges.

Keep in mind that this is not a one time process for you. As a business owner, it's up to you to understand how your customers journey will evolve over time. Their needs will change, and you have to be able to deliver something that addresses that transformation.

When you are building your recurring revenue, you never want to over promise and under deliver. You have to be realistic about timelines and how often you can publish or develop features for something so that you are not disappointing them.

It's important that you maintain open communication with your customers and don't disappear on them like so many online entrepreneurs do when they start sliding in their responsibilities.

Think about how you are going to price your recurring revenue system. Typically, there will be some sort of value based pricing that allows people an entry level onboarding arrangement until they feel comfortable with the value you can provide to them.

That's why it helps to have tiered pricing, where you can cater to people who have elevated budgets and increased needs for core functionality or advanced features and support.

You have to think about what type of tools you will be using, such as a CRM (customer relationship management) tool that houses customer data and facilitates the management of their subscription.

In order to help you maintain good customer retention and continue delivering to their needs, you'll also want to have a good analytics system in place that can tell you more about customer behavior and what you can do to improve things such as your churn rate, cost of acquisition for each lead, etc.

Because you will have a system set up where people are subscribed, you'll want to have a solid security system in place that protects customer data. That means ensuring privacy and backing up your system regularly.

Make sure you are looking at any type of technology that can help you with running your recurring revenue system, and even automating it wherever applicable. This will make your system streamlined for success.

Now that you know what options you have available to you, let’s talk about you developing your own funnel of recurring revenue. The foundation of your business is going to be to develop a funnel that is irresistible to prospective customers.

They are looking for a few things from you. It starts with the value you can provide to them. How is your product or membership going to change their life or solve a problem for them in a unique way?

Secondly, you have to think about pricing. You can have one price if you want to, but it's often better if you can devise a way to have different tiers of pricing so that you can attract people and separate budget groupings based on their needs, where you charge people more if they need more from your product or membership.

You also have to consider bonus perks. For example, you might have an early bird launch discount for when you bring the product to market. Or, you might have exclusive member only bonus downloads.

You also have to think about the issue of customer retention. It's not just about how you're going to get people on board, but how you are going to keep them subscribed so that your income doesn't fluctuate month to month.

Part of how you'll do this is by continuing to deliver value to them and not just meet, but exceed their expectations. For example, you might have a live webinar from time to time where you allow them to interact with you and ask questions or you might release a case study that is exclusive to people in your membership.

Think about your funnel and how you are going to implemented online. It's going to start with the attraction process, where you are publishing content that brings people to your blog or social media accounts and presents the free lead magnet that gets them on your list.

Next, you're going to nurture those prospects via email marketing so that you can prove the value you offer to people, and help them let their guard down so that they are more open to signing up for a recurring payment system.

You'll then present them with your offer, whether it's a membership for ongoing courses, some sort of licensing, or the use of a product and you will need to not only include a strong call to action to help it convert, but also incentivize them with bonuses and options such as price tiers that can meet their budget.

In most cases, consumers don't like to be left on their own, and it's easier for them to disengage with your brand if they have no connection with you. So anytime you can have a live stream, webinar, or Q&A series with them, it helps to build that dedicated relationship that makes them want to keep being a customer.

Before we begin talking about how to set one up and plan one, let's look at the different types of recurring revenue streams you can generate online. There are basically three different forms of recurring revenue.

The first one is a subscription based model, where people subscribe to your brand through something like a membership where they gain value each month. As long as you are performing for them and meeting their needs, you can secure your income with minimal drop offs.

The reason many consumers enjoy belonging to an online membership program is because they are a part of a community where they can connect with each other, ask questions of you, and even support each other in their goals.

They also like receiving ongoing value from someone they know and trust. They get to look forward to new information such as courses, templates, and other elements of content that meets their needs.

You can also offer different tiers of subscriptions so that people can choose one that fits their budget. When promoting this type of recurring revenue stream, you can offer a free trial to prove value before they make a commitment and drip teasers out to non members so that they can get a sneak peek of the type of value that waits for them inside.

The second type of recurring revenue business model is licensing. With this type of option, you are going to charge your customers for the right to use a product for a specific period of time, where it renews each month, quarter, or year.

Many online software developers use this type of recurring income model and the price is more attractive for a longer commitment, such as purchasing annual rights rather than monthly.

With this type of business model, you can have other ways to earn from it, such as charging for a single user or multi user license and having tiered licensing where they can access different functionality or features.

Digital product models with recurring revenue are the third option, and this allows you to bill customers on a regular basis for the of your product. So if you develop a product that is cloud based, such as storage or a product such as an artificial intelligence tool, keyword research tool, etc., you can charge customers for using what you created.

If you think about it, you are probably using this type of business model as a consumer. For example, if you have an email autoresponder system, you are likely paying a certain fee each month for the number of subscribers you have, which increases the more people you get on your list.

Or, you might be paying OpenAI for access to ChatGPT plus. You pay each month for the use of that tool, and as soon as you stop paying, your access goes back down to the free level or stops altogether.

The great thing about this type of revenue model is that customers only have to pay for the level that they are using, so they see it as a fair deal, where their price is less when they are using the product less.

As your product is proven to be useful to them, and you entice them with elevated features and perks to different levels, they can upgrade and contribute more to your recurring income stream.