Working for yourself — it’s fun and exciting… until it isn’t.

Let’s be honest: Owning your own business and being responsible for every dollar that comes in the door can be overwhelming. There’s a lot to do and a lot to accomplish, and while you’re probably doing work that you love, you still want to make money along the way.

And then there’s all the noise online, telling you that you need to hit that magical 6-figure number. Not only are you hustling to just pay rent, but now you have to make even more?? It just adds to the overwhelm. 

I’m here to tell you that it is possible to reach your revenue goals — whatever they may be — with a few tried-and-true strategies. If you want to hit 5 figures or 6 figures or even 7, these tips will help you.

Best of all, these strategies don’t require you to work all day and night without a bathroom break. 

Let’s dig in, shall we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tXUf8cG-oo

Offer premium services

As a self-employed business owner, you can increase your income by offering premium services that cost a higher fee. This would be things like coaching or consulting. 

If you aren’t a service provider, this is a great opportunity to add 1:1 services to your offer stack. But if you are a service provider, you may need to approach this a bit differently. You’re already offering somewhat specialized or all-the-way specialized services, so how can you boost them or take them to the next level? 

Remember that people will pay big for you to solve expensive problems for them — whether that’s a problem that’s literally costing them money, or it’s more time that they need. 

You also want to think about what you have the skills and passion for. If you already have an established or somewhat established business, then you probably have this figured out. But that doesn’t automatically mean you’ll have a passion or the skills for everything.

For example, maybe you work better solo, or you’re an introvert, or you don’t really want to spend a significant amount of time talking to people. I totally get that! You might want to reconsider coaching then. 

But if you feel the need for more conversation in your life, and have a hard time focusing and staying on track with one-person projects, then maybe you should consider adding it to your offer stack.

 

Expand your customer/client base

To reach six figures a year in business, you need to have a steady stream of clients or customers. Focus on expanding your customer base by marketing your business to new people in your audience. You can totally use social media to get there too! 

There’s something that’s universally happening across the online business space: We, as business owners, don’t really talk about what we’re offering. We’re too scared to be seen as annoying, and our sales are suffering because of it. 

Show up and be annoying! Pop up where your people are hanging out and let them know what you have to offer. Don’t be shy!

There’s an old saying — if you aren’t annoying yourself, then you probably aren’t talking about it enough (for business that is, not your latest handbag addiction).

 

Diversify your income

This was something I didn’t really grab a hold of until later in my business, but I sometimes wish I would have started earlier. Because diversifying your income means you won’t have to spend all your time working with clients. 

Which I totally don’t mind, but, there are only so many hours in the day! Eventually, you reach a cap that limits your income growth. 

But I wouldn’t recommend looking into this until you’ve been in business for at least a year. You need time to build your client base and to figure out what you like doing!

As for ideas… there are tons. You could create digital products (I’ve got 30+ ideas for you here), and online courses, sign up to be an affiliate for a product or software you love, or even look at investing in alternative streams of income like stocks or renting out personal assets if you’re feeling spicy!

Streamline your business operations

Hear me out — even if you don’t have a team, you can still streamline business ops and processes in affordable ways. There are tons of software options out there that help automate and get those tiny tasks you keep putting off FINALLY done, whether it’s Canva or Asana or even MailChimp or another email tool. 

Seriously, all those tools are worth the couple hundred bucks per year investment. Because as soon as you start, you’ll be wondering why you didn’t do it sooner. Being able to run things on autopilot is a gift. 

At some point though, you will max out that software and will need to hire someone to help you out. I recommend making some sort of business manager or operations manager your first hire! They’ll easily be able to see the gaps in your systems and tell you what you need moving forward — like if you need a graphic designer or copywriter in the future. 

And I know what you’re thinking… “What’s this going to cost me?”

Well, the truth is that running a business isn’t exactly “cheap.” There will be times you need to make investments that feel painful right now but pay off tenfold in the long run (like hiring an ops manager). 

But if you want a clear picture of this whole thing, check out the video below. I’m giving you an inside look into how much it really costs to run a business after you reach six figures!