Let’s face it, every business owner dreams of that turn-key business. You know, the “Open and the will come!” types of businesses. But the reality is, it takes a while to grow a company into a turn key operation. However, there are ways for business owners to make passive income! No it is not quite the same as a turn key, but it can add some cushion to the bank account! Here are three ways to earn some passive income that requires a little bit of preparation, and then just let money come in.
Pro tip: Usually, passive income is not going to pay all of the bills. So we strongly encourage business owners to view passive income as extra money, and not rely on it. Now, over time, these opportunities can grow into something spectacular! But the keyphrase here is “over time!”
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is a simple way to make commission by recommending products or services to your audience. This process is similar to telling your friend or neighbor about the amazing new dinner spot down the street. But when your friends go for dinner, you get a small commission for it!
How do you set this up? Simply sign up for a brand’s affiliate program (this is an example of BigCommerce’s affiliate program and place a unique link within a product review on your blog, website, or even social media posts. Every time someone clicks on your link, they are brought to the product’s site and if they make a purchase, you get a commission. (If you want to post the link on your social media, just make sure to review the Terms of Service before making the post!) Affiliate links can also be added to eBooks or other digital products you sell.
Creating Upsells in Your Sales Funnel
Creating upsells in your sales funnel is another bring in extra money and earn a passive income. Most companies have basic sales funnels in place (if you do not, do this right away!) The basic sales funnel will include an offer to your broad audience and then include a more focused, more expensive offer(s) either within the same sales funnel, or over time.
A super common example of an upsell (outside of the food and beverage industry when your server talks you into a $200 bottle of wine) is when purchasing clothing or makeup online. Before the final transaction is complete, some brands will offer last minute promotions, “add x product now and save x amount of money).
Now for businesses outside the world of soft goods and/or beauty products, here are a few ways to make upsells. For each main offer in your sales funnel, think of an upsell your customer would find valuable. This may be free admittance into your private Facebook group or maybe it’s a report, checklist, form, or eBook for a nominal fee that is a no-brainer add-on to their order. For your more expensive offers, add a more expensive upsell, like a trial period in your membership site. The key is to choose relevant upsells that will benefit your customer and that makes sense to couple with the initial product purchase. In other words, don’t create an upsell that doesn’t make sense.
There are so many ways to add different incentives for your customers who are already purchasing. This just increases the total amount of income with just a little preparation, and therefore helps you create passive income!
Back-end Efficiency
We have definitely brought this up before, but it is too important not to bring up again! Always remember that time is money. Whether it is your time or your employee’s time, time wasted will cost you.
To flag areas where you can increase efficiency, either go through every aspect of your business OR ask your business coach to comb through your processes. Either way, make sure to assess the following areas:
- customer service
- marketing/outreach
- billing
- customer fulfillment
- accounting/reconciliation
Likely, you can streamline some of the areas listed above! And once you do, you (or your employee) will waste less time on tasks, thus saving you money. Though this is not a direct way of earning a passive income, it does keep money in the bank account!
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, we would all love to have a turnkey business. But until that happens, there are ways to increase your profit by adding in some passive income opportunities!