181. [Re-Release] The Roadmap to Reliable Income for Every Solopreneur - Sound Bite Episode

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!

Being a solopreneur is awesome but it’s not easy. It's hard to get noticed. Most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone...until now. LifeStarr Intro gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one-person business.  So, if you are lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, or are having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even just lonely running a company of one, be sure to check out LifeStarr Intro!

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Episode Transcript

Carly Ries (00:00):
Today, we're diving into a game changing topic for

(00:02):
solopreneurs, recurring revenue.Whether you're running an online
course, offering subscriptionbased services, or building a
client retainer model, having asteady, predictable income
stream can be the differencebetween constant stress and
sustainable success. So let'sdive in, and we'll see how you
can create consistent cash flowand lasting peace of mind as a
solopreneur. You're listening toThe Aspiring Solopreneur, the

(00:27):
podcast for those just takingthe bold step or or even just
thinking about taking that stepinto the world of solo
entrepreneurship. My name isCarly Ries, and my cohost, Joe
Rando, and I are your guides tonavigating this crazy but
awesome journey as a company ofone.
We take pride in being part ofLifeStarr, a digital hub
dedicated to all aspects ofsolopreneurship that has

(00:49):
empowered and educated countlesssolopreneurs looking to build a
business that resonates withtheir life's ambitions. We help
people work to live, not live towork. If you're looking for a
get rich quick scheme, this isnot the show for you. So if
you're eager to gain valuableinsights from industry experts
on running a business the rightway the first time around or
want to learn from the misstepsof solopreneurs who've paved the

(01:12):
way before you, then stickaround. We've got your back
because flying solo in businessdoesn't mean you're alone.
So, Joe, something we hear fromso many solopreneurs is, oh, I
don't have enough time. I don'thave enough time. I also don't
know where my paycheck is gonnacome next month. I just know
it's coming this month. And it'sjust a planning and time thing

(01:34):
and working on the businessversus working in the business.
And so today, I really wanted toaddress recurring revenue and
how to get recurring revenue foryour business. Joe, you put so
much time and attention towardsthis. I would love to know your
thoughts.

Joe Rando (01:49):
I'm a huge fan and proponent of recurring revenue.
And it goes back to my days ofbeing in the shopping center
business. I would develop ashopping center and you do a
whole lot of work and it washard. I mean permits and signing
leases and building buildingsand blah blah blah. But then you
just collected the rent and paidthe mortgage.

(02:11):
And it was really shocking to mehow much easier it was to run
that business than it was to runother businesses that didn't
have recurring revenue. Later Istarted a SaaS company, software
as a service, with asubscription model as SaaS is
and same thing, it was reallyhard to build the software, it

(02:33):
was hard to get the customers,but if you kept them it was
really a lot easier than kind ofgoing out and having to you know
sing for your supper every weekto make to make a paycheck. So
I'm a huge fan.

Carly Ries (02:46):
So what tips would you have for people that are
just starting their own businessor are in their business and
really struggling to get thatrecurring revenue? What are some
steps that they should take?

Joe Rando (02:57):
Well, the way that I think about recurring revenue is
how much effort you have to putinto selling overall. And what I
mean by that is that if you cansell somebody once and then have
them stay with you for a longtime, that's a lot easier than
having to sell them over andover again or find new customers

(03:19):
over and over again. And we gotto be honest, are a lot of
solopreneur businesses thatdon't 100% lend themselves to a
subscription model. But thereare ways to get closer to that.
And what I mean by that isfinding ways to reduce how much
you need to sell in order tobring in a certain amount of
revenue.
So if you have something like abusiness where you're teaching

(03:43):
people something, then obviouslyyou can do nice things like
create online courses that youcan at least deliver with less
work and maybe less sellingbecause you could charge a lower
price. But you know if you're ina position where you're doing
work for people, know you'resome kind of a consultant or you

(04:04):
know freelancer concept whereyou're basically trading time
for money, there are ways thatyou can move toward a more
subscription model where youspend less time selling. Say for
example you could create somekind of a package deal or some
kind of a situation where peoplecould buy in bulk. So let's say

(04:26):
just for discussions sake,you're a graphic designer, and
people, basically pay you by thehour, maybe they pay you by the
job. But you say, look, if youcome in and you buy x amount of
hours from me now, I'll give youa discount.
And then as you need them, youcan use them and people like
saving money, and for you,you're basically building

(04:47):
yourself a situation whereyou've made maybe two or three
sales instead of one with thatone sales pitch. So these are
things that can kind of move youin that direction. I mean if you
have a product designed forsubscription, great. You know
software as a service, if you'vegot an app or something, or some
kind of recurring need whereyou're doing social media,

(05:11):
right? So you can sell basicallysay every month you're going to
pay me this and I'm going doyour social media for you,
great.
But there are a lot ofbusinesses, as I said, that
don't really lend themselves tothat, but there are ways to
package it up better so you're alittle more like recurring
revenue. Am I making sense here,Carly?

Carly Ries (05:31):
Yeah, yeah, you are. And I'm glad you shed light on
the fact that not all businessesare conducive to subscription
models and all of that. But Ithink the biggest thing and we
just had an interview with agal, gosh, last week. And she
was like, yeah. Like, I leftcorporate.
And within a week, I had myfirst client. I had them for a
year. And then the year was upand I didn't know where my next

(05:54):
paycheck was coming from. So Ithink the other big thing with
recurring revenue is never letyour pipeline go dry. Don't even
let it get to 25 percent. alwaysbe working on your lead gen, the
way you're gonna get sales, andget ahead of those sales before
they run out. Get ahead ofgetting more clients, getting
more customers before they runout. And this is especially true

(06:15):
for those businesses that don'tallow for those subscription
models.

Joe Rando (06:20):
Right. Yeah. If you've got something that can be
made into a subscription, by allmeans do it because it's much,
much easier. I mean, whatpercentage do you think of
solopreneurs like selling? Whatdo you think, Carly?

Carly Ries (06:35):
You're right.

Joe Rando (06:37):
Probably a little more than zero, but close
enough. so, I mean, the ideahere is if you can spend less
time selling and more time doingwhat you do, you're probably
going to be happier and you'reprobably going to have a higher
income. So this is the kind ofthinking that I think we really
should all be doing in terms ofwhat we're offering. I just

(07:00):
don't see any downside tofinding ways to basically make a
sale last longer, if you will.

Carly Ries (07:09):
Well, I also wanna say, you may be in a business
that doesn't seem like asubscription model, but that may
not be true. So just a littletip, I would say get ChatGPT or
your favorite AI or whatever.Type in the prompt what are some
subscription models based off ofblank, based off of this
business that you have, or whatare some ways to get recurring

(07:29):
revenue off of this blank? Getsome ideas. There are so many
ways you could get this, evenlike passive income for the
business that you're runningthat you may not be aware of.
So just type that little promptinto ChatGPT and see what it
generates and go with that. Iwouldn't say just because you
think you're not a subscriptionbusiness doesn't mean that you

(07:49):
are not.

Joe Rando (07:50):
A great example, Carly, you know, coaches. Right?
Usually think of coaching assomething that, somebody pays
you for a session or somethinglike that. But, you know people
sell packages, they sell youknow six month packages. You
want pay by as you go, well it'sgoing be x, but if you buy a six
month package you know you'regoing to pay y per per session

(08:11):
which is less than x.
And these are you know, ways foryou feeling more confident that
the money's coming in or isalready in the bank, if you
collect it all up front, andthat person gets a little
discount on what they're paying.But it's that you know, I'm not
a big fan of discounting as youknow, but that kind of

(08:31):
discounting makes a lot of sensebecause you're buying time. the
time that you're gonna bespending selling, renewing,
whatever process you need to gothrough to book the deal. All
that stuff gets saved and that'smoney. So you're really not
giving up that much if youdiscount buying in bulk.

Carly Ries (08:50):
Well said. Well, Joe, that is all I have for
today. Do you have any otherclosing thoughts?

Joe Rando (08:55):
Not really. Just, you know, think in terms of
recurring revenue. It'll neverhurt you.

Carly Ries (09:00):
Love it. And listeners, thank you so much for
tuning in to this quickSoundByte episode. We would love
that five star review. Thesubscribe button is on all of
your favorite platforms,including YouTube, and we will
see you next week on theaspiring solopreneur. You may be
going solo in business, but thatdoesn't mean you're alone.
In fact, millions of people arein your shoes, running a one

(09:23):
person business and figuring itout as they go. So why not
connect with them and learn fromeach other's successes and
failures? At LifeStarr, we'recreating a one person business
community where you can go tomeet and get advice from other
solopreneurs. Be sure to join inon the conversations at
community.lifestarr.com.