How to launch your new revenue stream in 6 steps

Part Four: Future-Proofing Your Freelancing

So far in the Future-Proofing Your Freelance course, we’ve talked about what a diverse income looks like, which revenue stream might be right for you and how to actually go about getting started on one. 

By this point, you should have an idea of what you want your new project to be. So now it’s time to turn your idea into a reality!

Here’s your six-step launch plan for getting your new revenue stream off the ground. 

1. Write a mission statement 

A mission statement may sound cheesy, but it’s really important to get super clear on what your revenue stream will actually do. 

Maybe you’ve decided that you want to start a paid newsletter, consulting service or teaching, well now it’s time to get specific about what you’ll actually do and how you’re going to articulate it. 

When thinking about your mission statement, a great place to start is by thinking about what problem you’re trying to solve. 

For example, if you want to start copywriting think about what problems your potential clients might face. This might be a small business that wants to raise awareness of their brand through engaging website copy or blog posts, but they don’t have the time or resources to write that material in-house. Enter: you!

If you don’t know what the problem is – ask! Go to potential clients and just ask them what challenges they face in their business. You can also read trade publications to get a sense of the issues facing businesses within specific industries. 

Knowing what problem you’re solving will make writing your mission statement easy. And by the way, it doesn’t have to be pages long – one sentence is perfect. Just try to hit these three points: What your revenue stream is, what it does and who it helps. 

For example, the mission statement for this newsletter is: The Professional Freelancer is a newsletter and community that helps creatives make a sustainable self-employed living.  

Your mission statement might look like the following:

• My consulting service helps PR professionals learn how to communicate effectively with journalists 

• My copywriting services helps small businesses raise brand awareness through engaging content 

• My journalism helps readers understand the changes happening in the business and technology sector

2. Set a goal 

Once you give yourself a goal and a deadline, suddenly everything starts to feel very real. 

Start by picking a date when you plan to launch your revenue stream. Choose a date that’s manageable – one that gives you enough time to get all your ducks in a row, but not too far off in the future that it never happens. 

If you need external accountability, tell a trusted freelance friend and set a time to check in with them to make sure you’ve done what you said you would. You can also post about it in our Slack group and hold yourself accountable that way. 

As well as a deadline, you need a reason why you’re even doing this in the first place. Set yourself an overall goal for the revenue stream. 

It might be: 

• I want to land one new copywriting client within the first month 

• Within six months, my goal is to make 10% of my income from my new revenue stream 

• I want to explore a new commercial opportunity in order to plug the financial gap left by the work I’ve lost because of coronavirus 

• I want to land an anchor client within the next three months 

Your goal might be entirely financial or it might be more process-driven. Both are absolutely fine, just be specific about exactly what the goal is, why you’re setting it and how you will measure its outcome. 

3. Make a timeline 

You set your launch deadline and your goal, now it’s time to work backwards and start plotting the steps you need to take to get there. Take your goal and break it down into individual tasks that you need to complete. Get specific and assign mini-deadlines to your action points.

For example, if your goal was to land one new copywriting client within the first month, here are some steps you can take each week: 

• In week one, I will reach out to someone I know who does copywriting to ask them where they find their clients 

• In week two, I will reach out to my existing network to ask for introductions to potential clients

• In week three, I will update my LinkedIn and pitch two new clients

• In week four, I will cold pitch five new clients 

And a quick note on tools. Don’t spend too long faffing on the “right” tool for your timeline, just go with whatever is easiest for you to use. That might be a project manager tracker like Trello, a calendar, a spreadsheet or a good old-fashioned piece of paper will also work just fine.

As you go through the remaining steps in this plan, also plot them onto your timeline. 

4. Make the thing 

At some point, you actually have to make the revenue stream itself. 

If your revenue stream is a product – for example, a digital course – you need to factor in time to get it all set up. If you’re planning on starting a paid newsletter, you will need to write your posts. 

It’s a good idea to do some research before you start the making process, but don’t get bogged down in spending too long on this stage. Do some initial research by spending an hour googling and reading a few blog posts (also check the TPF archives!). Once you have a grip on the basics, then ask any specific questions you have of someone who’s already done the thing you’re trying to do.   

If your revenue stream is a service, prepare a template “service list”. This is a description of the pieces of work or types of projects you will do. For example, if you plan to consult for companies, what will you offer them specifically? A content audit? A workshop? A content strategy? 

Again, don’t spend too long writing pages of detail, as most likely you’ll end up writing a bespoke project brief for each client anyway. Instead, sketch out the skeleton of your services so you have some detail about what it is you’re offering.  

5. Tell people about the stream

Build it and they will come… worked for no one, ever.

As mortifying as marketing is, at some point, you’ll have to actually tell people about what you're doing.  

If you’ve already written your mission statement, the hard part is over because you know what it is you’re telling people. Now, you just have to tell them.

Some good strategies include: 

• Update your social media bios and website

• Post announcements on LinkedIn/Instagram/Twitter/your email lists 

• Personally email contacts in your direct network (as Penny Jones said in our workshop “tell your inner circle first”) 

• Cold pitch potential clients  

• Paid ads on Instagram/Facebook/Google

You don’t have to do all of these steps, or may you add different ones. The trick is to be thoughtful and consistent about your marketing strategy. If you don’t think your Facebook friends are your likely customers, you don’t need to post about it there. Instead, focus on the appropriate channels 

6. Measure and adjust 

The best way to grow is to learn as you go along. Have a document where you can dump any notes about lessons learned. Every time I’m doing a big project, I have a Google doc labelled “Things I’ve Learned” and when something comes up, I make a note of it so that I can course-correct in the future.  

And lastly, remember that goal you set for yourself in step two? You’ll need to check back in to see how you did with it at some point. Stick a reminder in your calendar to review it.

If you met your goal, make sure to celebrate that achievement. If you didn’t, look at what you can learn and celebrate any wins you did have. When you review your goals – indeed, when you go through this whole process – do so with compassion and curiosity.