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.

We've all been there. Staring at a neglected task list, that dream project gathering dust in the corners of our minds, a voice whispers, "Maybe tomorrow." This voice, the embodiment of resistance, is a powerful force that can keep us stagnant, preventing us from reaching our full potential. But what if we could confront this resistance, lean into the discomfort it creates, and finally take action on what we've been putting off?

Resistance is a natural human response to change. It's the feeling of inertia, the urge to cling to the familiar, even if it's not serving us well. This resistance can manifest in various ways: procrastination, self-doubt, fear of failure, or simply a lack of motivation. It's like a persistent gremlin whispering negativity, keeping us stuck in a cycle of inaction.

The key to overcoming resistance lies in understanding its root causes. Often, it stems from a fear of the unknown. We may be afraid of judgment, of not being good enough, or of stepping outside our comfort zone. Sometimes, resistance is fueled by a lack of clarity about our goals or the steps needed to achieve them. The task at hand might seem overwhelming, leading to paralysis.

So, how do we confront this internal gremlin and move forward? Here are some strategies to embrace discomfort and ignite action:

• Acknowledge the Resistance: The first step is to recognize the resistance for what it is. Don't judge yourself for feeling it. Resistance is a natural part of the change process. Once you acknowledge its presence, you can begin to dismantle its power.
• Identify the Source: Dig deeper and understand why you're resisting. Are you worried about failure? Feeling overwhelmed by the task? Once you identify the specific fear, you can develop strategies to address it.
• Reframe the Narrative: The way we talk to ourselves significantly impacts our actions. Instead of dwelling on the negative aspects of the task, try reframing the narrative. Focus on the positive outcomes and the potential for growth.
• Start Small: Don't try to tackle the entire mountain at once. Break down your goal into smaller, manageable steps. Taking small, consistent actions can build momentum and confidence, making the bigger goal seem less daunting.
• Embrace the Discomfort: Stepping outside our comfort zone will always feel a little uncomfortable. However, this discomfort is often a sign of growth. By embracing the discomfort, we learn to tolerate it and eventually thrive in new situations.
• Find an Accountability Partner: Having someone to hold you accountable can be a powerful motivator. Share your goals with a friend, mentor, or online community and celebrate your progress together.
• Reward Yourself: Celebrate even small wins. Reaching a milestone, completing a task, or simply taking consistent action deserves recognition. Positive reinforcement helps stay engaged and motivated in the long run.
• Focus on Progress, Not Perfection: Don't let the fear of making mistakes hold you back. Mistakes are inevitable, and often they are valuable learning experiences. Focus on making progress, not achieving perfection.

Leaning into discomfort doesn't mean ignoring our needs. If you're feeling overwhelmed, take a break. Taking care of yourself physically and mentally is essential for sustained action. Mindfulness practices like meditation or deep breathing can help manage stress and cultivate a more balanced approach.

Taking action after a period of resistance can be exhilarating. There's a sense of accomplishment that comes with breaking through the mental barrier and finally pursuing what we've been putting off. The initial discomfort melts away, replaced with a sense of empowerment and control. Overcoming resistance is a continuous process. There will be times when the gremlin rears its head. However, by using these strategies and developing a growth mindset, we can learn to manage resistance and take consistent action towards our goals. Here are some additional tips:

• Visualize Success: Spend some time visualizing yourself achieving your goal. What does it look and feel like? Engaging our imagination can fuel our motivation and provide a clear picture of what we're working towards.
• Find Inspiration: Seek out stories of others who have overcome similar challenges. Reading about their journeys can be a powerful source of inspiration and motivation.
• Celebrate the Journey: The path to achieving a goal is often as important as the destination itself. Focus on celebrating the small wins and the lessons learned along the way.

Remember, overcoming resistance is not about forcing yourself into action. It's about acknowledging your fears and anxieties, creating a supportive environment for growth, and taking consistent, deliberate steps towards your goals. By learning to tame your inner gremlin and embrace the discomfort, you can unlock a world of possibilities and finally take action on what you've always meant to do.

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.

 
One of the most common pieces of advice you’ll hear as an online entrepreneur is that you should develop multiple streams of income. It seems wise, especially when you consider the danger of putting all of your eggs in one basket.

But that generalization gets overblown in the worst way, causing marketers to spread themselves so thin, they never get to experience true success. In fact, for many people, this is polar opposite of the advice they should be taking.

Multiple streams of income is a concept that involves having more than one business model or niche. Sometimes, people will do so many things at once – selling info products, offering freelance services, trying out affiliate marketing, dropshipping, selling printables and more.

Instead of embracing a multiple business model approach, let’s consider a strategy that has you fully focused on excelling at one thing. This is what most truly successful, top notch entrepreneurs do when you study their business carefully.

Usually, the ones touting a multi stream approach are doing it because newbies feel more secure having backup plans and they aren’t fully sure of which direction they should commit to.

Having Multiple Streams of Income Dilutes Your Productivity

One of the most important things you can possess as an online entrepreneur is productivity. Whether you have one business or multiple branches, it's important to keep up with the output your consumers demand, as well as what will keep you competitive in the marketplace.

When you are trying to manage more than one business, you're spreading your own energy, focus, and resources thin. This is bound to have an impact on how effective you are at being productive throughout your day.

Each business model is going to have its own list of tasks and a timeline they must be met within if you want it to be a success. If you are not able to keep up with that level of productivity across all branches, you will see each one of your businesses fail, without ever delivering any income stream whatsoever.

You have to think about more than just output of content. You're also trading your energy and your mental capacity whenever you switch gears and have to work on a different project in a completely separate manner from what you were just working on.

This is known as being a Jack of all trades and a master of none. You want to excel at one thing rather than have a little bit of experience and effort spread across a wide terrain.

It's better for you to have excellent results with one business than it is to be mediocre or even a failure in many different businesses. Each one is going to require you to hone your skills in a way that allows you to beat your competitors when it comes to the attention and investment by consumers.

You should have a focus on quality, not just quantity of deliverables when it comes to your target audience and what they are looking for. If you are trying to keep up with three to five businesses, you're going to find it difficult to even be productive, much less ensure the quality of what you are doing.

It’s More Complex Managing More Than One Business Model

When you are trying to learn the ropes of being an online entrepreneur and achieve your success goals, it can be enough of a struggle as it is to gain an understanding and apply principles in a way that allows you to generate income.

If you are trying to manage more than one business, you are burdening yourself with an extremely complex and overwhelming task. You have to stay informed about everything going on within each business model.

For example, if you are an affiliate marketer on Amazon, you have to not only manage their rules and guidelines that are continuously changing, but what Google and other search engines expect from product reviews they ranked highly.

If you switch gears to work on an info product, you have to look at the rules of the platform, networking etiquette, affiliate recruitment, and other issues that are difficult for even the most organized entrepreneur to manage.

The list goes on and on, with the more business models you add on to your strategy. Not only does the knowledge you have to absorb increase, but your time management becomes more difficult as each project begins to demand your attention in order to profit.

It’s Hard to Gain Traction for Your Brand with More Than One Branch

It’s also more difficult if consumers are viewing you as spread too thin. If your brand is trying to be a catch-all, it doesn’t instill confidence in your buyers and subscribers that you have the expert knowledge they need.

Your brand needs to be focused to reflect a top tier level of service and production. If someone looks up your name, they shouldn’t see five different businesses. To them, it won’t look impressive – it looks desperate, unorganized and concerning.

Imagine someone Googles your name and sees that you sell anti aging info products, promote dog care items on Amazon, sell bath bombs on Etsy, and offer virtual assistant services as a freelancer.

You have to be able to carve out an identity for your business that is clear and consistent. Ideally, this will be centered around your skills, talents and interests that reflect a passion for what you do.

Expenses Rise with Each Business You Tack On

If you’re a new marketer, or someone financially struggling, you’re going to find your costs and overhead rising with every business you add. Instead of just a domain and hosting for an affiliate blog, you might decide to add on several more businesses.

As an info product vendor in another niche, now you’re looking at paying for yet another domain, maybe a ghostwriter or editor, graphic designer or tools, and more. If you decide to add on a membership program, you now need a platform like AMember, which is costly and presents you with a big learning curve.

If you’re selling something tangible on Etsy or Shopify, you’re going to have to add the materials and shipping costs to that and don’t forget about fees you’ll pay across multiple platforms or paid ads you have to run to generate traffic, too.

To learn all of these new business models, you have to pay for courses, tools, and maybe even coaching to get you to a place where you can become profitable with your new add-on venture.

Streamline Everything Into One Business Model While Protecting Your Income

You don’t have to put your income at risk by focusing on a single business and niche. You can protect it in different ways. First and foremost, abide by rules and regulations as well as proper etiquette related to your business model.

Don’t engage in any risky behavior, like spamming or breaking rules of the platforms you’re using in order to turn a quick buck. You can also protect your income by utilizing multiple platforms, rather than just one.

For example, if you sell info products you can put your courses on ClickBank, Udemy, JVZoo and Warrior Plus as well as sell direct to customers on a platform like Systeme, Thrivecart, etc.

Multiple streams of income may sound tempting, but it can sometimes serve as a detriment to your overall success. If you’re determined to branch out, make sure that you’re making one business successful and profitable before you begin adding anything on one at a time, allowing you to properly manage your expansion.
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