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Fluctuating income is, to some point, a part of every freelancer or small business owners life. There will be good months and not so good months. But, if your income fluctuates wildly, or you’re only having one good month and then several bad months, it might be time to look more deeply at your business.
Building a sustainable business should be every business owner’s priority. A business that performs only part of the time isn’t one that you can depend on. If you want a business that truly supports your life, it must perform at least somewhat regularly.
I’m not promising consistent five figure months here (though that is not impossible by any means!), but I am saying that you need to have more good months than bad months to make it work. So how can you do that?
Build Systems Into Your Business
Humans can only do so much. We need to eat and sleep, and to stay happy and sane, we need to spend time with people we love. So there is a limit on the amount of time we can spend working, and the amount of effort we can put into our work.
That’s where systems come into play. Your business might be struggling with consistency because it’s too dependent on your personal output. Personal effort will vary depending on your health and mood- but systems will work even when you’re tired. Implement things like automatic invoices, email funnels, and scheduled social media can pick up some of the slack right away.
From there, focus on building bigger systems that can scale to earn you more and consistent money.
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Understand and Commit to What You’re Selling
It’s easier to get someone to buy something from you when you’ve already bought into it. You must absolutely believe in what you’re doing with your business, or no one else will. Today, customers want authenticity over almost everything else. It’s why influencers have risen to such importance in the marketing industry; they have audiences that believe in their word over traditional ads.
Having an audience that believes in your products is crucial to consistent sales. Make sure that you walk the walk and show how much you believe in what you’re selling.
Price For the Future
When you sell something today, you should be pricing it for your rent next month. What I mean by that is; think through your expenses in detail and consider that in your price points. If what you’re selling isn’t enough to support your lifestyle, you’ll never have a successful business.
The goal is to move as far away from the ‘famine’ months, and to have as many ‘feast’ months as you can. Build a business that can thrive and then give it the opportunity to do so. Fluctuating income might be a consistent part of your world, but you can minimize by how much your income fluctuates.