One of the less appealing aspects of freelancing is its perceived reputation for unreliable income. Some months, a freelancer can have lots of clients and a healthy cash flow, and the next, they face a slow period where funds are dwindling or negligible. Whether this is due to the short-term nature of one-off projects or the freelance feast or famine cycle that many freelancers experience, it can be unsettling, to say the least.
One way to combat this is to have recurring revenue streams so your freelance income is more predictable.
With this in mind, here are 3 recurring revenue business model ideas.
1. Retainer agreement
A retainer agreement in freelancing is generally an arrangement whereby you produce a set amount of deliverables (or hours) for a client in return for a set fee each month. In addition to deliverables, you could also set up a retainer agreement where you agree to be on call if needed. How you set this up will very much depend on the nature of your work and your client’s specific needs.
As well as offering retainer agreements and packages of this nature to new clients in your freelance proposals, you may also want to offer this to current or regular return clients. You already know the type of work they require and the solutions they are looking for and have already built up trust, so it’s worth reviewing all your clients and even contacting ones you’ve worked with previously to see if they’d be open to a retainer arrangement.
If they have a repeating issue and a long-term budget, they would likely be great-fit clients you can continue building relationships with and serving.
2. Subscription service
The subscription business model works by charging a monthly (or longer) subscription in return for your product or services. Subscription services in the past tended to lend themselves well to physical products, especially those that need replacing regularly (think food boxes, coffee, and toiletries, etc.), but nowadays, they can work just as well for professional services. Examples include website maintenance subscription, online memberships and communities serving your niche, and exclusive access to digital downloads such as skills and content libraries to name just a few.
Another example of a subscription business model is paid newsletters, where you share your expertise and exclusive content with your newsletter subscribers. These can work well even with smaller audiences if you have valuable information and insights to share. These can be email newsletters or even traditional printed versions sent in the mail.
If you really want to notch things up a bit, consider combining your expertise with an online membership that also delivers a monthly physical product. This could work well for arts and crafts, where you teach people online, and they get sent the kit or supplies to create what you are teaching (or have the option to purchase it).
For more subscription business ideas, see our post here.
3. Affiliate and referral programs
Affiliate and referral programs can be a great way to add an extra income stream to your business. Affiliate programs pay a commission for promoting services or products and are typically promoted by bloggers, influencers, content creators, and professional affiliate marketers. Referral programs reward existing customers for referring new business to them, so the user base spreads the word.
Affiliating and referring products can be pretty lucrative, especially if you promote products you know and love that are useful to your audience. You can share your referral and affiliate links in your email newsletters, email signatures, social media, blog posts and more. You can even share affiliate services as part of your service package.
The Invoice Ninja Referral Program pays a 50% commission for 3 years. This means that if you refer 100 Pro Plan users, you get a $6K recurring annual commission.
Even better – It’s simple to get started. Find out more here.
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Naturally, you’ll need great invoicing software for your recurring revenue streams.
That’s where Invoice Ninja comes in. Invoice Ninja is a leading invoicing software for small business invoicing, online payments, tracking expenses and billable tasks. You can set up client subscriptions and recurring or auto-billing invoices so you get paid effortlessly and fast.
Find out more about subscriptions here and try Invoice Ninja out for free here.
