What would you do if your business hit a dry spell?

No matter how fulfilling working with clients can be for you and your business, it is not necessarily a path to sustainable income. I know, you don’t want to let your main source of income evaporate or suffer neglect – so what do you do?

It is crucial for coaches, consultants, authors, speakers, and service professionals to have multiple streams of income to ensure your viability – both active and passive methods to create a comprehensive engine for your overall business. Passive income especially gives you much needed breathing space to nurture your core clients – giving you time to focus on doing what you love.

There are many ways to be creative in generating revenue so use your imagination! Let’s examine some ideas for setting up multiple streams of income to make your coaching business a stable place for you in addition to your one-on-one sessions.

1) Have multiple clients. This is the easy first step. If you rely on one main client, slowly start branching out to new clients. That doesn’t mean you should grab anyone that comes your way without examination, but instead gradually add clients, at a reasonable pace that is not overwhelming. You need to ensure that there is a fit within your business model. Aim also to have a wider variety of clients, as you don’t want a single circumstance or trend in the economy (say the collapse of an industry – think what has happened with automobile, banking, etc.) to impact you as well.

2) Fine tune your marketing, web site and blogs. Devote time to make sure you have comprehensive marketing in place and that your plans have attainable goals and objectives with deadlines attached. Think of your web site as a storefront open 24/7 with your vision front and center – it has many other functions of course, but there is no better way to market your work and to share your knowledge with others – enough to get them interested in hiring you.

3) Create products, programs and services. If you currently provide one-on-one coaching services, you coach and get paid – then you have to provide the service again to get paid again. However, if you can turn your service into a tangible product, you can do that once and get paid repeatedly without too much additional effort. You could create a DVD, webcast, workbook, e-book or other kind of curriculum guide. You could design a new program for clients to use or attend and package it for dissemination. Your blog, newsletters and web site are primed to sell merchandise and events. Display your products where your audience can take advantage of them, and collect an income stream thereafter.

4) Lecture and teach. You have such valuable knowledge and skills – sharing that with others can market your business to new clients and pay you for the privilege as well. Look for live or virtual opportunities to be a guest speaker, teach at a community college or other education center, set up a series of seminars, or create your own classes on your site. Showing you are an expert in your field has so many positive ramifications for you in so many aspects of your business. It’s never a wasted effort.

6) Write a book. Yes, I mean a book that you buy in a bookstore or on Amazon. It’s not always easy to get it published, of course, but it’s not impossible. Books can be a long shot, but beyond income they have a variety of pay offs. They can polish your credentials, which help with the other items on this list. If publishing a book in the traditional way is too daunting, start by publishing e-books and set them up for sale – this can help inform the market for a traditional publication somewhere down the line and give you revenue along the way.

7) Try ads and affiliate marketing. If you have a blog or other kind of website, you can set up affiliate links to different services on the web where you get a percentage on advertising or sales revenue. This works especially well if your site and blogs have high traffic. You can also work this process in reverse with other sites for the products you want to sell.

I know these tactics will inspire you to create your own plan and good luck!

A few more hints:

· Focus on each income stream and make it profitable before going on to the next one.

· Be flexible! As you commit to a new income stream, remain open to change and new possibilities.

· Seek out income streams that produce the best return with minimum time and effort.

· Make your income streams work together.

· Consider how each of your income streams can promote or extend another, so that people may buy one product or service from you and be interested in something else you are doing – one stop shopping creates comfort and security for you in the natural ebb and flow of business.