The Roadmap to Reliable Income for Every Solopreneur

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Feeling like you’re constantly chasing your next paycheck or running out of time to grow your business? You’re not alone! In this short episode, Carly and Joe dive into the game-changing potential of recurring revenue for solopreneurs.

From Joe's firsthand experience building subscription-based businesses to Carly's actionable tips for keeping your pipeline full, you’ll learn how to create financial stability, reduce your selling time, and focus on doing what you love.

This episode offers creative strategies and insights to make recurring revenue work for you. So, be sure to tune in!

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Episode Transcript

Carly Ries: Today, we're diving into a game changing topic for solopreneurs, recurring revenue. Whether you're running an online course, offering subscription based services, or building a client retainer model, having a steady, predictable income stream can be the difference between constant stress and sustainable success. So let's dive in, and we'll see how you can create consistent cash flow and lasting peace of mind as a solopreneur. You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship. My name is Carly Ries, and my co host Joe Rando and I are your guides to navigating this crazy, but awesome journey as a company of 1.

We take pride in being part of LifeStarr, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneurship that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions. We help people work to live, not live to work. And if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you. So if you're eager to gain valuable insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around, or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who've paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone.

So, Joe, something we hear from so many solopreneurs is, oh, I don't have enough time. I don't have enough time. I also don't know where my paycheck is gonna come next month. I just know it's coming this month, and it's just a planning and time thing and working on the business versus working in the business. And so today, I really wanted to address recurring revenue and how to get recurring revenue for your business.

Joe, you put so much time and attention towards this. I would love to know your thoughts.

Joe Rando: yeah, I'm a huge fan and proponent of recurring revenue, and it goes back to my days of, being in the shopping center business. I would develop a shopping center, and you do a whole lot of work, and it was hard. I mean, permits and, signing leases and building buildings and blah blah blah. But then you just collected the rent and paid the mortgage. And it was really, shocking to me how much easier it was to run that business than it was to run other businesses that didn't have recurring revenue.

Later, I started a SaaS company, software as a service, with a subscription model, as SaaS is. And same thing, it was really hard to build the software. It was hard to get the customers, but if you kept them, it was really a lot easier than kind of going out and having to, you know, sing for your supper every week to make to make a paycheck. So I'm a huge fan.

Carly Ries: So what tips would you have for people that are just starting their own business or are in their business and really struggling to hack at that recurring revenue? What are some steps that they should take?

Joe Rando: Well, I mean, the way that I think about recurring revenue is how much effort you have to put into selling overall. And what I mean by that is that if you if you can sell somebody once and then have them stay with you for a long time, that's a lot easier than having to sell them over and over again or find new customers over and over again. We have to honest, there are a lot of solopreneur businesses that don't a 100% lend themselves to a subscription model. But there are ways to get closer to that. And what I mean by that is finding ways to reduce how much you need to sell in order to bring in a certain amount of revenue.

So if you have something like you know, a business where you're teaching people something, well, then obviously, you can do nice things like create online courses that you can at least deliver with less work, and maybe less selling because you could charge a lower price. But, if you're in a position where you're doing work for people, you know, you're some kind of a consultant or, freelancer concept where you're basically trading time for money, there are ways that you can move toward a more subscription model where you spend less time selling. Say, for example, you could create some kind of a package deal, or some kind of a situation where people could buy in bulk. So let's say just for the discussion's sake, you're a graphic designer, And people, basically pay you by the hour, maybe they pay you by the job. But you say, look, if you come in and you buy X amount of hours from me now, I'll give you a discount.

And then as you need them, you can use them. And for you, you're basically building yourself a situation where you've made maybe 2 or 3 sales instead of 1 with that one sales pitch. So these are things that can kind of move you in that direction. I mean, if you have a product designed for subscription, great. You know, software as a service, if you've got an app or something, or some kind of recurring need where you're doing, you know, you're doing social media.

Right? So you can basically say every month you're gonna pay me this, and I'm gonna do your social media for you. Great. But there are a lot of businesses, as I said, that don't really lend themselves to that, but there are ways to to package it up better so you're a little more like recurring revenue. Am I making sense here, Carly?

Carly Ries: Yeah. You are. And I'm glad you shed light on the fact that not all businesses are conducive to subscription models and all of that, but I think the biggest thing and we just had an interview with a gal Gosh last week and she was like, yeah, I left corporate and within a week I had my first client, I had them for a year and then the year was up and I Didn't know where my next paycheck was coming from So I think the other big thing with recurring revenue is never let your pipeline go dry.  Don't even let it get to 25 percent.  always be working on your lead gen, the way you're gonna get sales, and get ahead of those sales before they run out. Get ahead of getting more clients, getting more customers before they run out.

And this is especially true for those businesses that don't allow for those subscription models.

Joe Rando: Right. Yeah. If you've got something that can be made into a subscription, by all means, do it because it's much, much easier. I mean, what percentage do you think of solopreneurs like selling? What do you think, Carly?

Carly Ries: You're right.

Joe Rando: Probably a little less. Little more than 0, but close enough. And so, I mean, the idea here is if you can spend less time selling and more time doing what you do, you're probably going to be happier and you're probably going to have a higher income. So this is the kind of thinking that I think we really should all be doing in terms of what we're offering. I just don't see any downside to finding ways to basically make a sale last longer, if you will.

Carly Ries: Well, and I also wanna say you may be in a business that doesn't seem like a subscription model, but that may not be true. So just a little tip. I would say get chat gpt or your favorite AI or whatever. Type in the prompt, what are some subscription models based off of blank, based off of this business that you have, or what are some ways to get recurring revenue off of this blank? Get some ideas.  there are So many ways you could get this even like passive income for the business that you're running That you may not be aware of so just type that little prompt in the Chat GPT and see what it generates and go with that. I wouldn't say just because you think you're not a subscription business doesn't mean that you aren't.

Joe Rando: A great example, Carly, you know, coaches. Right? Usually, think of coaching as something that, somebody pays you for a session or something like that. But, people sell packages. You know, they sell, 6 month packages.

You want pay as you go, well, it's going to be x. But if you buy a 6 month package, you're going to pay y per session, which is less than x. And these are, ways for you feeling more confident that the money's coming in or is already in the bank, if you collect it all upfront, and that person gets a little, discount on what they're paying. But I'm not a big fan of discounting, as you know, but that kinda discounting makes a lot of sense because you're buying time. You have the time that you're gonna be spending selling, renewing, whatever process you need to go through to book the the deal, all that stuff gets saved and that's money.

So you're really not giving up that much if you discount buying in bulk.

Carly Ries: Well said. Joe, that is all I have for today. Do you have any other closing thoughts?

Joe Rando: Not really. Just, think in terms of recurring revenue. It'll never hurt you.

Carly Ries: Love it. And listeners, thank you so much for tuning in to this quick soundbite episode. We would love that 5 star review. The subscribe button is on all of your favorite platforms, including YouTube, and we will see you next week on The Aspiring Solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone.

In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community, community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.