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Want to know how to create monthly recurring revenue as a coach, consultant or online expert? For many businesses, monthly recurring revenue is the holy grail. There are so many examples of businesses that have changed their business to a subscription model, or specifically created a new product or service, so they can generate monthly recurring revenue. But if you are a coach, consultant or online expert you might be questioning whether it is possible for you to make monthly recurring revenue too. And the answer is YES! Keep on reading to find out the 6 ways to create monthly recurring revenue as a coach, consultant or online expert.
This page may include affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I may earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you.
What is monthly recurring revenue (MRR)?
Before diving into HOW to create recurring revenue as a coach, consultant or online expert I want to make sure we are all on the same page about what monthly recurring revenue (often referred to as MRR) actually is.
Monthly recurring revenue is the total amount of revenue a business makes within a month based on subscriptions. It is most commonly used by subscription and SaaS companies. These companies may have numerous different subscriptions, with different numbers of subscribers at each level. MRR takes that all into consideration and provides one overall figure.
Why is creating monthly recurring revenue so popular amongst businesses and why might you want to consider creating a monthly recurring revenue stream for your business?
Monthly recurring revenue is popular for two reasons. Firstly, once someone subscribes they are likely to continue, especially when they’ve entered their credit card or debit card details and the payment is automatic. Virtually everyone has a subscription that they aren’t really using but continue to pay for. This allows a business to make more money than they’d potentially make if someone was charged a one-off fee.
Secondly, businesses love monthly recurring revenue because of predictability of income. Most businesses experience fluctuations in revenue. It is perfectly normal and I talk more about how to manage inconsistent revenue here. However, there is no denying that inconsistent revenue does require closer financial management, especially from a cash flow perspective. Having monthly recurring revenue makes it easier to predict monthly revenue. When combined with knowledge of monthly expenditure it enables a business owner to have more confidence in their financial forecasting. This means they are can make decisions around money from a more confident position.
The likelihood is as a coach, consultant or online expert you are primarily drawn to the second advantage of monthly recurring revenue – predictable income. As a coach, consultant or online expert it is likely that you experience highs and lows in relation to the revenue you receive on a monthly basis.
You could be a consultant who gets paid 50% upfront and then 50% at the end, but the project is due to take 3 months so in that middle month you won’t receive any money.
You could be a coach that offers 3 months and 6 months packages, which clients pay for upfront. You get paid once and then have to work for months and months.
It is fairly common when you are paid in the type of ways mentioned to experience highs and lows in your monthly revenue. And whilst you can learn how to manage it, many decide to focus on creating monthly recurring revenue instead. Having monthly recurring revenue will mean you have a level of predictability about the level of revenue you can expect in the forthcoming months. This level of predictability helps with a number of things such as:
- Paying yourself
- Hiring team members
- Making investments in coaches, mentors, etc
6 WAYS TO CREATE MONTHLY RECURRING REVENUE AS A COACH, CONSULTANT OR ONLINE EXPERT
By now I’m sure you are eager to find out how you can create monthly recurring revenue in your business and take advantage of having a predictable income stream. Here are the 6 ways to create monthly recurring revenue as a coach, consultant or online expert.
Monthly Recurring Revenue Option 1: Membership
In many ways this is the most obvious option – create and run a membership. In a membership people usually pay on a monthly or annual basis to continue to have access to the membership.
This is a traditional subscription business in the sense that a membership can continue to run for years and years. Once you get members signed up your job is to keep them happy so that your churn rate (the number of people who leave each month) is low.
There are memberships for anything and everything so no matter what niche you are in I bet there is a way to make a membership work.
Monthly Recurring Revenue Option 2: Mastermind
Another way to generate monthly recurring revenue as a coach, consultant or online expert is by running a mastermind. Whereas most memberships aren’t capped in terms of the number of members a mastermind usually will be. Masterminds are common in the coaching world and will usually be positioned as the closest way to work with the coach in a group context.
Monthly Recurring Revenue Option 3: Group Programme
As a coach, consultant or online expert you might be able to find a way to support a group of people simultaneously with a specific focus over a specific length of time. Whereas in a membership people are signed up on a rolling basis and leave when they choose usually a group programme has a fixed duration. This means that it won’t be a limitless monthly recurring revenue stream, but easily could be used to generate monthly recurring revenue for 3, 6 even 12 months. And whereas group programmes were traditionally done in cohort style now there are increasingly more businesses running them in a rolling style on evergreen (rather than having to do launches).
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Monthly Recurring Revenue Option 4: Retainer
Is there a way that you could package your services and charge people or businesses a retainer? Retainers have been used by service-based businesses for years but you do have to be careful. A downside of retainers is that you can end up in a situation where you are working more hours than you are being paid for. This means when you are defining your pricing you have to be clear about what the client gets and ensure that the pricing ensures that if they take advantage of everything you offer the price still works for you.
Monthly Recurring Revenue 5: Affiliate Marketing
Depending on your business another way to create monthly recurring revenue is through affiliate sales.
Some affiliates will pay you a one-off fee for clients or customers you drive their way. However, some affiliates, usually those that bill monthly themselves, will offer recurring revenue.
This can be a great option.
For example, in my business, I’m an affiliate for Kartra and Repurpose.io, which both offer recurring revenue. Kartra is a one-stop shop for online business owners and makes scaling through memberships and group programmes easy peasy. It is the software I use in my business and given that I help business owners to scale it makes sense for me to be an affiliate and recommend them.
Repurpose.io automatically repurposes videos and publishes them on other platforms. I work with time-poor solopreneurs and small business owners, and I’m a big advocate of using video in your marketing. Therefore it makes sense for me to be an affiliate for software that will help more business owners to use video marketing in a time-efficient way.
Have a think for your business. It could be that you are already recommending something. Check to see if they have an affiliate programme or referral scheme. Or have a think about what companies, products or services it makes sense for you to be an affiliate for. This isn’t about you becoming a professional affiliate marketer and spending every day promoting weird and wonderful things. Instead, it is about finding products and services that are perfectly aligned with your business.
Monthly Recurring Revenue 6: Payments Plans
I wouldn’t technically class this as a monthly recurring revenue stream since it usually won’t last for many months, but if you are currently charging your clients for a service upfront, or 50% upfront and 50% on completion, and your service lasts for longer than 2 months you can consider offering a payment plan.
A payment plan is where rather than paying upfront a client or customer can pay in instalments. In this case, the focus would be on monthly instalments so you can create that monthly recurring revenue.
When it comes to pricing your payment plan there are two approaches. Some business owners will simply divide the original price by the number of months. Some business owners will make the total amount of a payment plan slightly higher. The reasoning behind increasing the cost is because of additional administrative costs, additional merchant fees and the fact that in some cases people don’t honour their commitment and will leave partway through a payment plan.
This is how it would look.
A financial coach has a 4-month programme and originally had been charging £3,000 upfront. They decide to offer it as a payment plan with 4 instalments of £800 (Making £3,200 in total).
How to choose the right monthly recurring revenue stream for your business?
I’ve given you 6 different ways that you could create a monthly recurring revenue for your business. Now it is time to decide which one is best for your business and what you want to go forward with.
Often I’ll get asked “What is the best way to create monthly recurring revenue?” and the honest answer is it depends.
To make the right choice for your business you’ll need to consider what your long-term goals for the business are, what else you are currently selling, your financial goals and your current brand awareness.
For example, memberships are often priced lower than a group programme or mastermind. If your goal is to create a £2,000 monthly recurring revenue stream and you are going to price the membership at £20 per month that means you need to get 100 people signed up. Now if you are new to business with a very small online community and little brand awareness that is going to be very different to an established business with a mailing list of 10,000 people. However, if your long-term goal is to impact millions and therefore having a lower-priced way to work with you is important then the membership would make sense.
Hopefully, that example shows why making these decisions take consideration. Without the full knowledge of your business’s current position and an understanding of your business’s future goals, a recommendation can’t be made.
That’s it. 6 ways to create monthly recurring revenue as a coach, consultant or online expert.
Being able to generate monthly recurring revenue in your business should allow you to have a higher level of confidence in your income to make better decisions about paying yourself, making investments and growing the business.
As you’ve seen there are numerous ways that you can add a monthly recurring revenue stream to your business. But the question is “What recurring revenue stream will you add?”.
Share in the comments the monthly recurring revenue stream that interests you the most.
| WANT TO SUCCESSFULLY GROW YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS?
Choosing your monthly recurring revenue stream is just the start. What will you price it at? How will you market it? How will it work alongside everything else you already sell and deliver in your business? I have a tried-and-tested process that I’ve used for years that ensures that in just one day I can help business owners to create a plan for the whole year ahead. All you have to do is fill in a questionnaire beforehand and then turn up on the day. I’ll then lead you through the whole process and write everything down – making it super easy for you! For more information, and to apply, click here.
Prefer ongoing support? You can check out my other services here. |
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