Which revenue stream are you REALLY GOOD at?

Diversifying revenue sounds cool but one stream always wins!

Author

Lex Roman
March 20, 2024

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I once had a coworker who believed in Bigfoot.

Bigfoot photos adorned her monitor.
Bigfoot figurines sat along her cubicle.
Bigfoot was a frequent topic at lunch.

If you’re not familiar, Bigfoot is a mythical creature who inhabits forests. Some believe they have seen him out there in the wilderness. Who am I to say? I don’t play much in the paranormal realm.

But, believing in Bigfoot is starting to feel as reasonable as believing in “diversified revenue streams.”

Stay with me.

I’m not saying that diversifying your revenue streams is a myth. What I am saying is that it is the same wishful thinking, don’t ask too many questions, stuff of legends that powers both of these ideas.

What I am finding is that even when the revenue streams are “diversified,” one is always the primary. By a long shot. And sometimes, the others are distractions.

Such is the case for Head of Design turned UX Playbook founder Chris Nguyen.

I interviewed Chris last week about his revenue and what’s driving it.

Chris technically has 5 revenue streams going, but digital products is a CLEAR WINNER. Digital products make UX Playbook at least 50% to upwards of 75% of the revenue depending on the quarter.

Chris shared this revenue look back at his last three quarters (keep in mind Q1 is incomplete and still happening!)

Chris sees a lot of promise in sponsorships and good signal in services too, but a lot less easy traction in live cohorts and affiliate income.

Rather than try to play across all 5 revenue streams equally, he’s anchoring into what he’s clearly really good at: selling digital products.

But HOW did Chris crack what I have come to believe is THE HARDEST revenue stream?

Lucky for us, he was willing to explain it! He shares 9 tests in depth: 5 winners, 4 losers in this week’s episode of Low Energy Leads.

This is a BONUS episode of our Selling Digital Products series. Wait ‘til you hear what Chris has to say about his product names 👀

P.S. Just for you, Chris put together this Canva board you can follow along while you listen. It includes his revenue charts and what’s working/what’s not. Wasn’t that nice of him! Head over to LinkedIn and give him a follow to thank him.

📰 Classifieds

  • Dive into the minds of your target audience with Deep Research.
    Guest of the pod Abhishek Kumar wants to help you figure out what your customers would pay for.

  • Need reviews? I use Senja to collect better video and text testimonials. Their plug-in widgets have helped me sell more digital products and attract more new members.

  • 100 Ways to Share Your Work Without Social Media 💯 Get the FREE toolkit from Off the Grid podcast.

📓Last call for Quarterly Planning Party with Devin Lee

We often pretend we’re gonna make a plan and then we don’t and we wonder why we didn’t hit our goal. Devin Lee and I invite you to roadmap your vision with us this quarter!

Quarterly Planning Party is for you if you:
1) Feel like you’re “windmilling through your business” (Devin’s words 😂)
2) Are moving too fast to turn things into repeatable systems
3) Aren’t sure where to focus your time these next three months

Join us TOMORROW March 21 from 11a-2p Eastern. Get your ticket

💸 Selling digital products? Here’s 3 things you need

I spent all February and most of March looking at how creators sell digital products (templates, guides, ebooks, courses, etc).

Here’s three things all the success stories had:
1️⃣ Good product names: a name that made sense to their audience, usually descriptive over being cute. This can really get in the way of sales as Chris and I both learned with our products.

2️⃣ Loads of reviews: seriously. LOADS of them. At least 20, and often times, many more. We dove into this in detail last week.

3️⃣ Audience sizes over 10k: for creators who make a decent income on digital products, they have a combined audience of at least 10k people. (I’m defining a decent income as minimum of 10k/year USD but it’s all relative to your goals)

Did you have a different takeaway from the series? Smash reply! I want to hear it!

🏆 Ready to make marketing bets you can win?

Here’s how I can help you book more clients with less wasted time

  1. Become a Growthtracker: join a community of practice where creatives, consultants and coaches make smarter marketing bets together NOW ENROLLING FOR APRIL!

  2. Run a test together: spend two weeks focused on one marketing test with my help all along the way

  3. Shop my templates for shortcuts on getting clients

  4. Pay what you think it’s worth call for your most pressing pipeline panics

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