How do I create multiple streams of income?
That’s the most exciting question to answer because there are endless opportunities for your services to make money. But, I want to show you if this is a question on your mind, why it's the wrong one.
If you’re like most small service business owners in Trinidad and Tobago, the thought of multiple streams of income gets your ears to easily perk up. But maybe, despite starting your YouTube channel, and selling that Ebook for your mechanic services, you didn’t hit the geyser like you thought you would. And you’re now wondering ‘why are your digital revenue streams as dry as a bone?’
Well, there is one main revenue stream that feeds into those small streams called a niche. And it’s quite possible the drought you’re experiencing is as a result of not niching your services the right way.
“Just Pick A Niche”
One of the problems with the local design, advertising and marketing industry is the pervading misinformation surrounding niching. Everyone believes being industry specific is all there is to it. And upon closer inspection, this concept is supported by
What if I lose money?
Ideal clients are mythical creatures!
Long live piggybacking!
Digital products is life!
So with everyone in some shape or form avoiding niching, you can rest assured the advice (when it comes to people getting familiar with your brand and gauging your expertise) will be riddled with tactics that logically, may not work for you. This is why if you’re wondering how to create multiple streams of income without understanding who you are as a brand first, you’re asking the wrong question.
Will you, out-of-the-blue trust something you know nothing about? That’s what you’re asking a perfect stranger to do when you lead with “How do I create multiple streams of income?”—magically connect with and trust my business without knowing anything about it or experiencing it. That’s not how you establish a brand or how branding works.
Now, I’m not trying to chastise you for not knowing any better. But these results are unfortunately due to asking the wrong questions. The only way to avoid falling into a situation like the aforementioned is to correct the error in your thinking about the most important revenue stream you need to find in your small service business.
5 Characteristics Of A Dysfunctional Niche
1. Niching Arbitrarily
I think it's logical when you first start charging for your services, that the parameters of your thinking looks like ‘working with anyone willing to pay you’. That was certainly the framework of my thinking—working with any small business that wanted graphic design. But as you go along you start noticing red flags in that thinking and adjust to make life easier. For example, after two years of designing for any ole person with a small business, I started focusing on people who wanted The One-Page Website, and could afford it.
Although just the tip of the iceberg, doing that tremendously helped the quality of my connections. And as my experience with these types of customers grew, I started noticing more things about them that made those projects work, and adjusted some more. Each adjustment improved my ability for the next person to connect with my services. Prior to that, targeting any small business that wanted graphic design was too random.
All that to say, if the people inquiring about ‘cars overheating’ ignore you even after learning that new skill set to attract them, chances are you just arbitrarily picked them and didn't validate them as your purchasing public.
2. Dabbling In Different Things
“We all want to make money” is such a misleading reason to start providing your services for and even less so, establish a brand on. Not that it isn’t a logical goal for any business owner, but because it fractures your focus. One of the many challenges local founders have in Trinidad and Tobago is staying focused on what matters most.
If you’ve been around the small business block, you’ve either heard or read that “starting a business isn’t about the multi-million dollar ideas but about solving a real problem”. So if despite stepping out of your comfort zone to learn ‘search-engine optimization’ you feel like you’re talking to no one, it’s because you focused on the wrong thing.
The emphasis needed to be on understanding what specifically makes you the best mechanic, and putting that into the world. And if you still feel like, “I’m a multidimensional person. SEO can help me make money on the side.” That’s the devil in your thinking. Are you trying to connect with people who need a mechanic? Or are you trying to connect with people who need an SEO specialist?
3. Can't Speak To The Problems You're Targeting
Have you ever wondered why Moses went down in the mud pits with his people? There is something to be said about experiencing a thing yourself. It’s a good rule of thumb to follow if you wish to circumvent coming off tone-deaf about the situation your ideal clients are in—be about what you know. It's also the reason the phrase “Solve as many challenges as possible” is cock n bull to me. No business has all the answers to every problem out there but I digress.
The authenticity is in your personal experience. Without it, where are the core values…where is the business?
I remember when I realized I needed a website and local designers would be arguing amongst themselves about which platform was the best. Honestly, being 2 years in business with a small budget, I stood to leak too much money upfront with squarespace (as great as it is). So it wasn’t the best option for me. And my clients felt the same way and appreciated the consideration to help them sustain being online.
4. Don’t Know Where To Find The People You’re Targeting
In 2017, I created an account with Sortlist an agency who helps local businesses discover and connect with the right small agency online for their creative projects. At least twice a month, I get a notification in my inbox alerting me of a prospect who wants to work with me. Before, I depended on Facebook groups for this because it's where I found clients. But, constantly reassessing who I work with I outgrew those spaces and had to come to terms with fishing somewhere else. So it's possible to niche and still have a hard time finding clients if you’re looking for them in the same old places with your new brand. A client of mine also experienced something similar. He used to get clients on Instagram after branding his services, but eventually shifted his efforts to TIK TOK because he realized his ideal clients were there.
So if compared to before, you’re now struggling to find clients at your old hang out spot with your new mechanic brand, to say you need a mindset coach to tell you you’re fishing in the wrong pond is an insult to intelligence. If anything, the mindset work is making up your mind to pay for the right pond to fish in if that makes sense for you. Some people have a hard time with that part, which is fine. You don’t need to be burning cash before you know how you’re making it anyway.
5. Don’t Know How To Get Them To Buy
I’m just going to say it, your business is not your brand. Your business is what people know you do. Your brand is the way people feel about those services.
While showing up in search results is good, buying is an emotional thing. When we experience the world around us, we instantly interpret it and assign meaning, which creates a feeling and inturn influences a behavior. If you interpret a cheque from Google for 6 months of work as qualification to the term ‘brand’, you don’t know what an emotional connection is and no one will trust your services. Not necessarily because the person may not be your ideal client, but because they might, but with nothing substantial for them to base that on, will check out the competition (possibly doing the same thing as you), who has branded their services.
That said, not every business (especially in Trinidad and Tobago) should have a brand. It takes vision and unwavering commitment to stay true to doing something over and over, which most locals struggle with because they’re too distracted by the concept of multiple streams of income. So if you’re getting overlooked you might be falling short in this area here.
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