With inflation and the cost of living continuously climbing, a lot of freelancers and creators are feeling the pressure. If you’re not one of them, congratulations. Still, all of us need to think beyond one-time projects and even long-term clients. We all need to be focused on diversifying our income streams.

One way to do that is to add sources of recurring revenue. And, no, I’m not trying to peddle some passive income dream. What I’m referring to isn’t even intended to replace your main source of income but rather to complement it. Now, if it just so happens that an alternate revenue stream grows to the point that it can become your primary source of income, play that hand as you wish.

So, type of things could possibly get you there? And where can you get started?

Ebooks: Ebooks are one option for recurring revenue. Although writing a book requires time, one of the pluses is you can get your books on the market with little to no financial investment. Platforms, like Draft2Digital, allow you to upload your book  and the system formats and distributes it to various vendors, such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble and a list of others. I use Draft2Digital for a fiction short. (If you want to peek inside to see the formatting options I chose, go here.)

And even if you aren’t a writer, many creators are earning money with low-content books, such as journals, planners, coloring books. If you have photography skills, you can publish photo books too.

Video channel: Monetizing a YouTube channel with ads, affiliate marketing, or sponsorships can turn your videos into a steady income source. Once your channel grows, your library of videos can be a long-running moneymaker.  It takes time to build up to the point, but if you post on Rumble, you can start earning almost immediately. So whatever traffic you can push to the page counts. And you can publish on Rumble and YouTube.

Podcasts: If you’re into podcasting or think you could be, you can earn money through sponsorships, ads, and listener support. Again, you’ll need to invest the time in creating episodes and promoting your work but once your podcast gets traction, you can continue raking in revenue.

Again, there are platforms where you can record, conduct guest interviews, edit, create and manage a website for your podcast, connect with advertisers and do a variety of other related tasks– all in one place. Two examples are Riverside and Podbean. Both offer some free access. So, you don’t lose anything giving it a try.

Courses: Another option for recurring revenue is courses, or at least a course. This is an option that will likely require quite a significant time investment. But then again, some people cut the time by repurposing blog posts, podcasts, and even their past freelance work.

Hustling courses was a prime moneymaker during the pandemic. And one thing about this option is many creators put a price tag on their courses that keeps them from being too worried about needing to sell a large quantity.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting you sell expensive junk. I’m just saying, if you invest in creating a quality project, you charge a decent price and be comfortable even if you only sell a small number per month. However, to do that also tends to require having or building an audience that views you as an authority.

As with other recurring revenue options, there are platforms to help you create and manage your courses, such as Teachable, Thinkific, and Udemy.

Leverage your assets…

The good thing about each of these revenue streams is you can use them to drive traffic to your other ventures. You can plug links to your blog posts into your courses or links to your videos into the description of your podcasts. And vice versa, you can use your main source of income to drive traffic to your recurring revenue streams.

Take advantage of the ability to create that kind of ecosystem.

One last suggestion…

Any time you’re venturing into a new revenue stream, start out with free tools.

You may think you’re sure that what you’re about to do is something you’ll continue to do, and you might be right. Still, while you’re laying the foundation take advantage of a forever-free tool or a free trial. Since you probably won’t be making money in the beginning, there’s no reason to start spending before you have to.

LISTEN TO: If You Have Multiple Revenue Streams, Here’s Why You Need to Say Less