One of the most challenging problems business owners face is inconsistent income patterns. If you find that your income seems to lack consistency–up one year and then down the next, then you are experiencing what is called an income sine wave. One year you have stellar results, your income goes up, and you think you have it all figured out to keep this upswing alive, then just like that, the wave drops back down, leaving you frustrated and confused. The good news is that there is a way to break this cycle and reach your income growth goals through a solid business strategy.
Understand What is Causing the Sine Wave in Your Business
The income sine wave has multiple factors that play into it and create inconsistency:
- If your business has been in the sine wave for several years, and it is not changing, then it is something that you are doing or not doing that is causing it.
- Some income sine waves occur due to the work pattern of the business owner. For instance, when the owner has the time to push it and work extraordinarily hard, income and clients go up, and everything is fantastic. The problem occurs when the owner reaches burnout and the income drops because one person is the driving force.
- Many businesses experience an income sine wave due to the lack of a business system focused on investing in developing a consistent income increase strategy. If business owners are not investing the money they make into a strategy to increase their income, they will never get out of the income sine wave; it’s simply not possible.
Invest In a Business Strategy
When your business is taking off, and you can really tell that something is happening, it is time to take the money you are making and invest it into a strategy to create lead generation. You cannot avoid this step because these activities bring leads that keep work in the pipeline. So, what does investing in lead generation look like? Typically, it means hiring subject matter experts in lead generation, such as a virtual assistant or a social media expert, and allowing them to develop a strategy for finding clients. If you want to stop the sine wave, you must take this step–hire more people.
Resist the Temptation to Operate in a Protective Mode
If you think you can continue to do what you always do and that one day your income is just going to increase into a quantum leap–it’s not. And the reason it will not work is that the formula you are using is actually causing the sine wave. No matter how much money you are making, from $100,000 to $10 million, the only way to overcome this inconsistency is to change the formula.
There comes the point where you have to commit to growth, and the commitment to growth comes at an expense, and it comes at a rapid change in business. Business loans are an excellent investment, but you must use them correctly. If you have $30,000 in your bank, that is money to drive your business forward; you must use it that way.
You must resist the urge to keep it in the bank “in case something happens,” that is not what the money’s for; it’s not a rainy day fund. This money is supposed to be used as an investment to create the systems and processes in your strategy to keep you from ever being in this position again. You need money to make money.
Find a Strategy that Brings People to You
The income sine wave results from your behavior – the things you are doing or the things you are not doing, which explains the critical need for a solid business strategy. Without a system in place that focuses on consistently bringing in clients, don’t be surprised when there are times you have clients and times when you don’t.
There are multiple strategies to place people in your pipeline, from network and referral strategies to basic lead magnet lead pages, opt-in pages that award free things, webinars, executive roundtables, and speaking engagements–the list could go on and on. What matters is that you have a growth strategy in place and develop a plan for where the money will come from to build these initiatives. I recommend that you plan three strategies so that once and for all, you can solve the problem of inconsistency in clientele.
At the Growth Architect, we want to help you breakthrough with strategies to take your business to the next level. My goal as a strategist is to help you get out of your protective mindset to build a plan to achieve your income goals. That’s what I do! If you want to hear more about overcoming your income sine wave, then watch my video, and contact me when you are ready to create your growth strategy!
Let’s Grow!
Beate
Beate Chelette is The Growth Architect & Founder of The Women’s Code, a training company specialized in providing companies an ROI on Balanced Leadership. She has been named one of 50 must-follow women entrepreneurs by the Huffington Post. A first-generation immigrant who found herself $135,000 in debt as a single parent, she bootstrapped her passion for photography into a highly successful global business and eventually sold it to Bill Gates in a multimillion-dollar deal.
Beate works with business leaders and supports organizations by developing and providing training the training, tools, and expertise to create and maintain a balanced, equal, and inclusive work environment that fosters creativity, employee engagement, and corporate growth.
Recent clients include Merck, Women’s Legislative Caucus of California, Cal State University Dominguez Hills, Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), NFTE, CreativeLive, the Association of Corporate Growth, and TracyLocke.
Beate is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome” a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.
To book Beate to speak or train please connect here. Your Time Is Valuable!
