3 Simple Strategies to Diversify Your Income As a Service Provider
Serviced-based businesses are one of the MOST popular ways to start an online business.
When you are operating as a service-based business, you are usually trading your time for money. You are providing some sort of craft or talent in exchange for moolah πΈ
Service-based businesses can be anything from hairdressers, photographers, social media managers, or content strategists (like I am now!)
The big pro of starting a service-based business is they’re one of the easiest types of businesses to start!
But they DO have a dark side.
The downfall in being a service provider is that you hit a point where you simply do not have any more time to trade.
Those 12 hour days add up quick, let me tell you!π΄π΄
It can feel like you’re a bit limited when it comes to being a service provider.
But are you really...? π€
Today, I want to walk you through the ways you can diversify your income as a service provider.
I do want to preface the 3 ways I am going to show you, with this disclaimer:
You may have heard that growing a team or agency is a great way to work less and make more.
When I first started A Creative Co I was working 12+ hour days, and I didn't have a team yet. As I started to bring on team members, I was SURE it would alleviate some pressure.
Spoiler alert: it didn’t.
It just replaced the time I would be spending working on client work, managing team members, and bringing on more clients to pay for the new team members.
Even though I saw some growth in my income, I also continued to see my time being sucked away.
Trading time for dollars AGAIN.
I knew there had to be more out there for me.
I decided it was time to strive to create some form of passive income, some way to πΈ generate more cash πΈ while still providing services to my clients.
SO without further ado, here are 3 ways you can diversify your income as a service provider.
1. Digital Products
This is the one most entrepreneurs flock to first!
It is often the cheapest and easiest way to get into passive income.
Seriously, you can go make something up on Canva right now (for free!) and sell it tomorrow.
Cha-Ching!
Some digital products you can create are memberships, courses, e-books, or digital download products.
Some things, like memberships or courses, are MUCH more involved and take more time to put together. You’re able to charge people on a monthly basis to get access to your brain, your energy and knowledge.
There are pros and cons to each type of digital product.
For example, e-books are generally impulse buys, and they can be sold over and over for an extended period.
A course, on the other hand, will take much of your time and energy to create, but you can charge a higher price and update it to evolve with you as you grow.
Digital products are the quickest and easiest way for most service providers to tap into the world of passive income.
It’s how you can make money while you sleep. π
βοΈNOTE! Passive income doesn’t mean you set it and forget it. You do still have to market your products.
The idea is that you only need to create it once, and then it continues to work harder for you. βοΈ
2. Collaborations
When you have a large audience on social media, you’re able to leverage it to create opportunities for collaborations with brands and other influencers.
With a larger audience, you can trade your expertise as a content creator or service provider for benefits like free products, services, and yes - money πΈπΈ
You can give them your content, and they then distribute it on the channels they see fit. They pay you for the content, and then it’s out of your hands.
Yes, I know, I know. This is still kind of a service.
BUT the difference is that you don’t need to do it on an ongoing basis (unless that is something you want to do, of course!)
Most content collaborations don’t take that much time or energy, and purchasers are only given certain timeframes that they can use your content on.
It's a good mix of the two business models.
A little bit of passive income here, mixed with a little bit of providing a service there...
Sometimes those collaborations can lead to further collaborations with that brand, or they might give you a portion of the sales generated from whatever content you create.
The thing that trips up many people when it comes to collaborations is the thought that you need a big audience.
You DON’T need 10k followers and a swipe-up feature - I promise!π€π€
You don’t need 100k on TikTok.
A lot of brands actually PREFER to go with niche influencers for their products over those with larger audiences. Smaller creators often have more engaged audiences within their niche, making them a TOP choice for brands looking to make the most of their marketing budgets π
To start dipping your toes into collaboration work, you can reach out and see if a brand would trade content for a free product. Or hey - even go ahead and see if they have the budget for a small payment!
Eventually, you can work your way up to getting a pretty big chunk of change! π°
3. Affiliate Marketing
This one is one of my FAVES!
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to get some passive income rolling into your business.
You can make a fair amount while doing the things that you would already do.
Here’s what I mean ππΌ
You know those products or subscriptions that you already use ALL the time?
The products that you gush to all your biz besties about or rave about on social media?
Well what if you could get PAID to do that?
THAT is exactly what’s possible with affiliate marketing.
You can partner with the makers of those brands (or distributors, like Amazon) and offer other people recommendations or discounts to use those products or services.
You then get a little kickback in return.
Sweet.
Many of the brands I have affiliate partnerships with, such as Canva or Later, I was already recommending even before getting paid for it.
I have a couple of friends that have incredible digital products and I shout their name from the rooftops.
I would do all of these things for free because I believe so much in their products.
The downside to affiliate marketing can be the tendency to get a bit annoying or repetitive when promoting products.
But if you make sure you’re getting the word out there in a non-pushy way, then the little extra that comes back to you is AMAZING π
If I have somebody in my audience come to me and say “Hey, where'd you get that Canva template?” and I can point them directly to where I purchased it myself, I not only help out some of my friends and other content creators, but then I also get a little kickback from that sale.
What’s not to love?!
I DO still need to market the product or program, but once again, it is much more reward for much less effort. I don’t even need to create the product!
So those are three different ways that you can diversify your income as a service provider, and start getting some more bang for your buck.
AND not have to work so hard all the freakin time!! π
If you're a social media manager and you're reading this and you're not quite ready to take the leap on some of these passive income products or diversifying your income, I have a really amazing pricing workshop to make sure you're positioning yourself to make money by providing your service. Grab the workshop here!
Do you diversify your income in any of these ways? Leave me a comment and let me know!
Amber
A Creative Co.
I've been in the marketing industry for over 10 years... and I have done it ALL! From working in corporate America, to working as a solo marketer for a small business, to running my own Social Media Agency. I am here to help small business owners grow their businesses through strategic content!
