3 Ways to Build a Successful Business and Create Multiple Revenue Streams
Audio transcript.
See blog post, video, and audio clip here.
Hi there – Belma from Work Bigger here – helping you do work you love that makes a difference in the world without burning out.
If you’re curious about entrepreneurship and supplementing your current income, you’ll want to stick around to the end.
Last month in the Work Bigger Community we talked about what it takes to start a business and build multiple revenue streams. We had one of our members, Alexandra Fay Hampton, who is a serial entrepreneur, share what she’s learned about starting and growing multiple businesses.
Alexandra started her entrepreneurship journey as an independent consultant alongside her 9-5. And a couple of years later she joined husband in building and running Portsmouth Paddle Co. which is their local paddleboarding company in Portsmouth, NH. Her experiences with their company quickly inspired her to found her own seasonal yoga business (SEAVASANA). Seavasana is focused on providing accessible movement and mindfulness experiences in nature. And now, in her household (between her and her husband), there are four growing businesses!
Today, I’m giving you a sneak peek of what our conversations are like at Work Bigger. Because Work Bigger members are brilliant, and they have so many valuable lessons to share when it comes to building a career you love. Every month we have calls led by members, and it’s an opportunity to come together as a community and hear about each other’s experiences, challenges, and how each member is working through the ups and downs of life and career. The insights are invaluable and tangible – and I’m sharing them here.
So here are 3 lessons to starting a business and building multiple revenue streams so that you can increase your earnings all while making an impact.
#1 Make it personal
It’s no secret that when something painful happens in our lives our initial reaction may be to bury it or ignore it. Today I want to challenge you – What if you didn’t ignore it or bury it? I believe your mission and the work that you’re meant to do in this world can sometimes be connected to your most challenging life experiences. The difficult moments can connect to your deeper purpose. I’ve done a lot of personal and professional development work these past few years, and for me, building Work Bigger is healing parts of my childhood that were really painful.
On the blog, I shared “How to Work with Discomfort,” which is all about working through rejection.
Alexandra first started exploring the wellness space because of the curiosity she had around her own physical and emotional healing. During her first year out of college, Alexandra suffered a neck injury at the hands of a yoga teacher. This completely crushed her spirit but also led her down this new path. Eventually, she started to re-explore different movement practices to build her physical strength and confidence, picking-up stand-up-paddle boarding and Barre. After a long 7 years of growth, set-backs, additional injuries, and new confidence, Alexandra decided to become Barre and Yoga teacher herself.
The experience eventually led her to launch Seavasana. I’m sharing this because leaning into your emotional triggers and working through them – rather than avoiding them – can be extremely powerful.
There’s growth and self discovery on the other side, and often times these experiences connect us to our mission
Now, #2 – It takes time
You have to stay in it, and you have to give yourself time to learn and grow.
For me, this has been the most challenging lesson because I’m impatient, and I want to see results a week ago.
But on the community call, Alexandra was really honest about the time she put into learning before launching.
Before launching SEAVASANA, Alexandra had two solid years of market research. She spent time getting to know the wellness industry, learning the different business models that different studios were using and also understanding the role she played in the industry. She had to stay IN it and stay the course to build on her learning and eventually that’s what got her to where she is now.
Success really doesn’t happen overnight. And if you watched the last call we did about Leah’s career transition from real estate to art, we shared a similar message. I’m going to also link to that in the transcript.
Lastly, lesson #3, Listen to the customer
This might sound slightly like business school speak but hang on… How often do you see businesses that feel slimy and one sided – like their primary intention is to make a few bucks? I think we’ve all seen this. But to me, entrepreneurship is so exciting because it’s an opportunity to make the world a better place. There are almost no limits to what you can create, and when you’re focused on creating value, so much is possible. You make an impact on someone else’s life and as the founder, you can embark on an experience of self actualization, growth and innovation. This is what Alexandra is doing. And she’s doing that by putting the customer first.
So on the call – Alexandra shared how as a small business, they’re constantly evolving and pivoting and it’s a result of listening to the customer, understanding the barriers to their participation and learning how to address those barriers. So they had some customers who were really hesitant to try paddleboarding and yoga and they understand what was getting in the way
I believe you should have this mindset and approach whether you’re an independent consultant, you’re running a 10-figure business or you’re working in an organization.
And you can do it in a number of ways: surveys, phone calls, 1:1 conversations
It’s really about listening and prioritizing what the customer needs.
So to recap, here are the 3 takeaways to starting a business and building multiple revenue streams:
- Make it personal – When you’re connected to your why and when you’re healing parts of yourself, the journey is really meaningful.
- It takes time – stay the course and focus on learning b/c that’s what leads you to success
- Listen to the customer – this is why we build businesses in the first place. Stay adaptive to the customer needs.
Now I’d like to hear from you. Which of these 3 lessons speak to you the most?
Share with us in the comments, and if you have any questions I can give you some extra coaching on it.
That’s it for today Work Bigger! I’m really looking forward to hearing from you and if you’re dreaming of starting a business, this is your chance to start putting these lessons into action today.
See you next time!
And go to https://workbigger.co/join-us/ to learn more.