Being an entrepreneur is rewarding, but it is also challenging – and one of the most difficult aspects of it comes from what we call an inconsistent income.
When you run a business or work for yourself, you never know exactly how much you are going to be bringing in on a week to week or month to month basis. That can make planning for the future difficult, not to mention result in the onset of premature grey hairs if you go through a few barren months.
Creating consistent revenue streams can give you a bit more security in life and take away some of that worry. Here are four ways in which you can try and guarantee consistent income.
Create a payment plan for your work
One of the easiest ways to guarantee yourself a certain amount of income per week is to sell your services in the form of a payment plan. Rather than receiving $1000 for a job well done but only at the end, you can ask your clients to spread the cost of the job into 10 weeks’ worth of $100 payments. Not only does this mean that you’ll know exactly what you are getting and when you are getting it, but it can also help the customer out by breaking the cost down into smaller chunks which might even help their financial situation. A potential win-win scenario.
Use a retainer
You might think that only a lawyer can charge a retainer, but it is an applicable payment model for practically any business. You might be a gardener who wants guaranteed income, and so you say to your clients to pay you a guaranteed fixed fee at the start of each month, and you’ll be round twice that month to carry out whatever jobs are required. Or if you help run social media accounts for a business on a freelance basis, you can simply ask them to pay you a set amount at the start of each month for all the work you do. It switches the payment from a per-project basis to a per-service basis, providing a guaranteed income at the start or end of each month.
Find a company that can offer commission advances
If your main source of income comes via commissions, but you often have to wait months for a deal to be sealed and the commission to land into your bank account, then that can have a detrimental effect on your business and your income. There are lots of companies out there who realize this, and they’ll offer you advanced commissions up front. This gives you a more stable income and allows you to move onto your next project without having to wait around to be paid for the previous one. Have a look at MyCommission for more.
Become an affiliate
Affiliate marketing is where you get a percentage of money from tools or products that you recommend to your customers. It’s big business on Instagram where influences can make millions of dollars just for posing for photos or plugging products to their followers. You might not quite have the reach of a Kylie Jenner or a Hudan Kattan, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t diversify your income by suggesting that your clients buy certain other products through you, ranging from word-of-mouth recommendations to affiliate marketing via a larger company such as Amazon.
