At the end of this May, I will have been an entrepreneur for over 13 years. Based on the last 13 years of experience, I can tell you two things for sure…
#1 There is nothing more exciting or fulfilling then running your own business. Creating something from scratch, putting your vision, passion, and strengths to work, and making your customers lives better are three amazing benefits of running your own business. And don’t forgot the freedom to work when you want, with who you want, and where you want.
#2 Running your own business can be hard. I am not going to lie to you, it can be an absolute roller coaster financially, physically, and emotionally. You quickly realize the stress of unpredictable sales, staff, and income.
Because business can be so unpredictable, the lifeblood of every successful business is having repeat customers. So how do you ensure a steady flow of repeat business? The best way I have found is by creating a subscription-based product or service.
So what exactly is a subscription product or service? A good example of a subscription service is Netflix. When you sign up for Netflix, you immediately get unlimited access to Netflix’s enormous library of streaming movies. To get access, you set up a subscription to pay Netflix $9.99 per month via your credit card every month until you decide to cancel.
Every month, Netflix knows actually how many subscribers it has and how much income they can expect to receive. This makes for more predictability, better planning, more consistent income and less stress. It also creates a more simple business model. Netflix only needs to focus on two things; keeping their current customers happy and signing up new customers. As you can tell, I am a big fan of keeping things simple.
Now you might be thinking to yourself, “Chris, my business is not even close to the size of Netflix and is much different than providing streaming videos.” Those two things may be true, but I am convinced that you need to consider a subscription model no matter the size of your business or the industry you’re in. Below are 3 of the many reasons that subscribers are better than customers.
3 Reasons Why Subscribers Are Better Than Customers…
- Get Paid Automatically-in a subscription, you get paid upfront and don’t waste time, money, and staffing on bill collections or waiting 60 days for payment.
- Make Your Customers Sticky-subscribers have to take action leave vs. customers have to take action to stay.
- Limit The Guessing Game Of Demand-no more guessing too high and being strapped for cash or guessing too low and losing out on sales and disappointing customers.
So why should you listen to me? A lot of my early business experience was in the personal training industry. I can’t think of a more unpredictable and stressful business. I learned quickly that there had to be a better business model out there than what everyone else did. Over the course of 7 years, I was determined to find a better business model and spent a small fortune learning from industry leaders and business experts. The most common strategy they recommended was implementing a subscription model.
After successfully implementing several subscription products and services myself, I now help other coaches and consultants setup up their own successful subscription business models. They range everywhere from personal training studios to social media marketing companies.
Be sure to check out my next article, 3 Subscription Business Models You Can Use about the different types of subscription business models (Netflix is only one type of subscription model).
I would love to hear your questions around this topic of subscription-based products or services. Click on the “Ask Chris A Question” button below to ask your questions and I will respond to you as soon as I can.
Chris Rudolph is a husband, father of 3, and a Freedom Business Coach for Digital Marketers. He specializes in working with those who are underpaid, hustling around the clock or missing out on valuable family time build their own Freedom Agency. He helps them grow their income, scale with a team and enjoy more time with their family.
Connect with Chris Rudolph on Twitter, Facebook, and on LinkedIn
