So many people start out with this Big Idea. The Message they want to take into the world. And they plunge into the world of online business.

What proves to be elusive is – How on earth do they turn that Big Idea, into a thriving business.

Some women just start by creating an eCourse. Some start consulting on the side. And then they find that

1. The money isn’t quite flowing in like they expect.
2. They’ve created this business that’s so out of alignment with the kind of lifestyle they want.

So how do you make sure you don’t fall into that trap? You need to choose the right revenue models from day 1.

Catch is, when you’re starting off, you probably don’t even know them.

And that’s where my geekiness and stupid need to research just about everything comes in handy. Over the years I’ve studied hundreds of online businesses – what works and what doesn’t.  And from that, I’ve narrowed it down to just 7 strategic revenue models for service based, solopreneur driven online businesses.

So here you go…. the 7 Most Strategic Revenue Models  to help turn your expertise, into a thriving, profitable, online business – neatly packaged into a cool infographic! Hey, I know you’re super busy! You don’t have the time to read through hundreds of pages of research!

You have to choose a model, rather a combination of models, that’s most suited to your niche, your market. How do you that? Well, I could help you map it out. But before we go there, let’s dive deeper into understanding each of these models.

Ok, before we deep dive into revenue models, remember than an “Online” business is one where one or both of the following hold

1. You get most of your clients/customers via the Internet
2. You deliver your services via the Internet

Simple, right! 😉 

Many women start their online business only thinking about eCourses, probably because they first learnt about an online business from an eCourse.

After struggling to build an audience, they often find that the money isn’t flowing in the
way they thought it would.. the way all those ‘experts’ promised.

Don’t be fooled just because everyone is shouting from the rooftops that the future of business – especially online business, with ‘passive income’ – is the ‘Ecourse business’.

ECourse is just one of the possible delivery mechanisms.
Your online business can be whatever you choose it to be!As long as you’re solving a problem for people, as long as you’re providing them a solution – that they’re happy to pay you for.

Your solution can take many forms – depending on what works best for you, and your clients; and how you want to structure your lifestyle.

The thing is that business, revenues, profits – they’re all a numbers game. You’ve got to know your numbers. Here’s a rundown of 7 STRATEGIC revenue models to creating an online income, along with the numbers, to help you pick the right model.

1. ECourse / Ebook

This is probably the most talked about. Everyone and their aunt is trying to make – and sell – an ecourse. Which is great! After all.. you should never stop learning. And it’s a great way to launch an entry level product say at $49 or $499.

But before you jump head long into creating a business that’s solely dependent on eCourse, do the math first. Here’s some quick numbers for say, if you want to make $50,000 selling an eCourse:

Average conversion rates are 1­-2% i.e. if you have 100 people on your email list, only 1 or 2 will buy.

So to make $50,000 in sales from a $50 course, you’d need to build your email to at least 50,000 people! That’s a lot!

And growing to that level takes a few years. If you want to grow faster, you’ll have to throw a ton of money on paid ads! 

Which means if you want to make real money selling an eCourse, you need to build up either one or more of:

• ­ The size of your email list ( so that you can reach a really large number of people) 
• The engagement of your audience (so that more than 1­-2% convert) 
• The price of your eCourse (selling just a $10 eCourse will only get you so far)

People like Marie Forleo and Ramit Sethi have built really large email lists over the years. They’ve put in considerable time and effort into improving their conversion rates, building their networks, AND creating high end eCourses priced from $1000 ­ $12000.

2. MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM

One of the most popular ways to generate a recurring online revenue is to set up a membership program, where members get access to a group, videos, audios, files, or something.. on a monthly basis.

This could be either audio/video/files that you create yourself, around a particular topic. Or you could invite guest experts. Mixergy.com is a popular membership site that lets members access premium interviews, and courses from guest experts.

Membership programs are priced anywhere from $10­ to $1000 per month. (There are even higher priced
membership programs). 

Let’s say you want to make $5000 each month from a membership program. You’d have to sell

• 500 membership priced at $10
• OR 100 memberships priced at $50
• OR 50 membership priced at $100

The catch with membership programs is that each month, some people may drop off, and you’ll need to get more people to sign up to your program.

One way to avoid this is to offer special bonus or discounts to tie in members for longer duration – say 6 months or 1 year.

3. AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Affiliate programs are where you get a share, or fixed amount, for every customer you send to a particular provider. Some affiliate programs pay peanuts – and some pay handsomely. So it’s important to do your homework right on this. Signing up as an affiliate for hosting companies and for Amazon is quite popular.

Affiliates are a great way to build ‘passive income’. Provided of course

1. You have volumes of traffic to your site.
2. Those visitors actually buy what you’re selling via your affiliate programs.

Depending on the affiliate program you can make anywhere from 5% to 50% commission on the products that you ‘sell’.

So, if you become the affiliate for a $100 product/service, that offers you a 10% affiliate fee, you’d need to sell 100 of those products each month to make $1000.

Depending on the site of your network and email list – that may or may not be a large number to sell.

Alternatively, play it smart. Identify high end products you can become an affiliate for. Marie Forleo’s BSchool has a really generous affiliate program. Last I checked, Pat Flynn of SmartPassiveIncome.com was making close to $80,000 each month in affiliate income. No, I’m not kidding.

The catch with each of the models above is that you need a really large email list. That takes A LOT of time and effort to build up. 1000 subscribers in your first year of business is considered pretty darn good!

Personally, I’d rather have it the other way around – make a higher impact on a smaller number of people. I’d rather created higher end products and services targeted to a more specific audience.

Next, we’ll explore a few models that help you do just that.

4. CONSULTING/SERVICE

This is a simple model, that doesn’t require an extra investment upfront – and no need to build a huge email list. But it does require that you be an expert in something. Anything REALLY. Even if you specialize in “cat consulting” like Mieshelle.

Basically, as a consultant, you provide a service or advice that people pay for. You either tell people what to do – or do it for them. For example, providing financial advice to small businesses, or managing social media marketing or any other such service.

The good thing about consulting is that if you position yourself and your services right, so that you bag 23 premium clients at say $4000 per month each, you can easily make 5 figures a month, or 6to7 figures a year.

The challenge is of course, in finding those premium clients.

5. COACHING

We’ll use the word ‘Coaching’ to broadly refer to a business where you’re showing people how to do something that you’re already an expert in.

For example, there are Life Coaches, Relationship Coaches, Business Coaches, Copy writing Coaches .. and many others. Coaching can be provided in person, or online via Skype/Zoom etc.

In the purest form a ‘coach’ actually works to help people get the answers from within themselves. A coach is more of a guide, rather than someone who provides the answers or tells others what to do.

There are many institutes that provide training and certification to become a coach, though there are coaches who thrive even without certifications.

Depending on the expertise level, coaches can charge anywhere from $40 per hour to $5000 per hour. There are high-end coaching programs priced at $50,000 per year. Those numbers are not a hard upper/lower limit – but just to show you the range.

6. RETREATS

Prefer the energy of a group? Want to make large sums of money, at one shot rather than $40 per month? Try organizing a retreat.

A retreat can be a 1 or 2 week getaway at some exotic location; where you get a group together for a specific purpose.

Yoga & Meditiation Retreats and Writing retreats are often at picturesque locations, where participants can relax and say, write the book they always dreamt of.

You could also organize Business retreats around a particular business theme and have guest experts/others come in to teach about a particular topic.

Selena Soo is a “Publicity Coach”. She built her business as a combination of group programs with retreat’s built in, and netted close to $300K in her first year. Check out her interview at Mixergy.

Don’t limit yourself. You can conduct a retreat – for just about anything.

7. MASTERMIND

MasterMind programs usually have 6 to 10 people that meet say every fortnight, or once a month; either in person or online; to discuss things of mutual interest.

For example a business mastermind may meet once a month, and members discuss their progress, set their goals, provide feedback & support.

You may also invite a special guest / expert to give insights or share advice or provide group coaching in these sessions.

MasterMind range from free to over $50,000 per person for the year. So if you could create a  MasterMind, with 10 people, each at $10,000 – well, you’ve already hit 6 figures for the year!

Now that you have a good of idea of the different ways you can structure your online revenue stream, figure out the one that works best for you.

Ideas are a dime a dozen.

The magic isn’t in the “BIG IDEA”. 

It’s in the execution.

If you’d like help in actually creating these revenue streams, reach out to me. Let’s talk. Book in a free call to explore how best I can help you!

Successful business owners don’t just rely on one of these revenue streams! They build in multiple income channels into their business, or combine these channels!

For example, you can have a 6 month mastermind / 1:1 coaching, that closes with a live, 1 week retreat at an exotic location. Or in your eCourse, offer an exclusive 1:1 coaching for premium clients at an extra charge.

But don’t jump all in at once – create one revenue stream and master it, before adding on others!

There are really many ways to go about it.

Have fun. Mix and match.

Work out the best combinations for your business.

And if you need some help identifying  the best revenue streams FOR YOU – that work for your skills and your lifestyle – I’d love to help! let’s talk!