Episode 101: Creating Consistent Income in Your Services Business

Once you’ve got clients, one of the harder things to figure out as a services business owner can be how to have consistent income month over month. In this episode, we’re talking about how to get super consistent with your services income so you’ve got a solid foundation to build on.

Consistency may sound like one of the most abused buzzwords in business OR a complete pipe dream. The problem that many service business owners face with their revenue is that it’s like a rollercoaster.

One month you’re rolling in the dough, the next month you’re barely bringing in anything. And while there’s always going to be ebbs and flows or seasonal factors in your business, you want to do what you can to help get things to a stable foundation month over month.

You want to avoid massive dips that can paralyze you and have a baseline monthly income that feels like it’s happening no matter what. From there, those spikes are essentially gravy.

Ways to get to consistent monthly income:

#1. Offer recurring monthly services or retainers

• Many times with our clients, we find that their work is mainly project based, and that results in instability month over month.
• If you do a lot of project work, carefully look at where you may be leaving money on the table with clients and how there could be a way to have an ongoing monthly engagement or retainer.
• Retainers may not seem super sexy, but you know what’s sexy? Knowing you have a $5k or $10k or more per month baseline. Your project work on top of that can then be the sexy fun stuff.
• Retainers also tend to be easier to manage as you get to know the client, and there’s less drama. You can be more efficient and lessen your mental strain doing client work because you’re not in learning mode.
• Getting your clients on retainers may require you getting creative.
• Our Double It Mastermind client Sandra is the perfect example.
  • She’s an illustrator and animator whose work was very project-based, and she wanted to find a way to create recurring monthly revenue for more stability.
  • Illustration and animation tend to be project-based, so she got creative and realized that video editing could be an ongoing monthly service.
  • Now she has a number of retainer clients for video editing, and the benefit of consistent monthly income.

#2. A consistent focus on lead gen

• A change in focus to lead gen helped us double our baseline retainer revenue in under three months. When you’ve got payroll or bills or simply want to make money, this is a VERY good thing.
• What does this consistent focus look like?
  • Schedule time every single week to be reaching out, asking for referrals, working on pitching yourself for speaking gigs, or going to events.
  • This is time well spent EVERY week no matter what, as it’s an investment in the future and ensures that you don’t experience the flatline that can happen when you’ve been too busy for too long and haven’t had time to talk to anyone.
  • Stop right now and figure out a 1 hour or 2 hour block EVERY week where you can do this so you’re able to keep being seen and keep having conversations.
  • It’s easier to do this when you’re not freaking out and NEED clients right this second.
  • Don’t worry about being full or too busy. You can figure it out as it happens. Don’t let the ‘what ifs’ hold you back.

Final Thoughts

• We’re not telling you to launch a passive income product. Until you have mastered consistent monthly income and have true stability, you likely have NO business launching any type of product or program.
• Work out your plan to get clients that have a long-term value to your business and a total lifetime value that’s not $500 but $10k — or even $20k or more. Those are the type of clients that will help you build consistency and your empire, not a bunch of one-time buyers of a $47 workbook.
  

Links for this show:

• Get started on bringing in a more consistent income with the 5 Steps to Consistent $5k Months course.