If you’re a knowledge-focused creator who likes making money and is looking for revenue growth, Chris Ducker has great advice.
“Build an ecosystem of products and services that enables you to enjoy numerous revenue streams – passive and not so passive,” says the founder of the Youpreneur brand.
He shared some steps on how to do that during his Creator Economy Expo presentation. Here are five things to do:
1. Stop, stay, and start: Stop doing what isn’t working. Stay with what’s working well but delegate the tasks. Start to create what’s missing in your business when it comes to monetization. Chris offers some suggestions on what to start.
2. Sell a one-on-one power hour: Use your expertise to help your audience achieve their goals. You can tailor your advice in a one-hour consult. (An automatic scheduling tool like Calendly can help make the process less labor-intensive.)
Since you must show up for the hour, this consulting service is limited by your availability. It’s a good introduction, but then you should think about revenue streams that don’t require your presence every time someone buys.
3. Create a pilot product: A digital online course works well as a pilot product because you can scale it. It’s also low cost to produce and can be turned into a passive, year-round income tool.
A pilot product should deliver a quick win to the audience by helping them solve a simple problem. It also works as a plug-and-play marketing tool for your business because it positions you as an industry leader.
To determine the topic, think about the three things your audience asks most often. Turn them into the three modules for your course. Break each module into three to six lessons to address the big question. Keep each lesson to 10 minutes.
4. Create a champion product: Identify a product that will allow your community to ascend in the ecosystem. Provide them with a way to understand the real problems they experience and present a simple, results-oriented, and time-specific solution.
To identify the product, survey the audience to see what stops them from moving to the next level in your ecosystem. Chris says, “It’s easier to get a customer to say yes again than to get somebody to say yes for the first time.”
In his case, his community didn’t want to move to the next level (the Youpreneur Academy) until they earned at least $5K monthly. So, he created an incubator program that would lead them to that monthly revenue benchmark. It worked as a paid sneak peek at his premium champion product and as a marketing tool for the brand.
He created a six-week course – one live lesson a week in a community setting so students could have the accountability and support to execute what they learned. Chris says the optimal live course length runs six to eight weeks but should be no more than 12.
5. Figure out the money: For both your pilot and premium products, you must determine how the price and payment terms. For a pilot product, a one-time fee could work well. A premium product might be a one-time or monthly fee (Chris advises entrepreneurs to avoid weekly payment terms.)
About the author
Ann regularly combines words and strategy for B2B, B2C, and nonprofits, continuing to live up to her high school nickname, Editor Ann. An IABC Communicator of the Year and founder of G Force Communication, Ann coaches and trains professionals in all things content. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.
