The year 2020 has been extremely challenging for most entrepreneurs. The COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn have seriously disrupted some businesses and completely shuttered others. And at this point, it doesn’t appear like things are going to go back to normal anytime soon.

In light of this ongoing uncertainty and turmoil, you may need to rethink your revenue strategy in order to maintain your company’s long-term financial health. Here are 4 tips to help you with this process, which have been adapted from a Forbes.com article I was recently featured in.

1. Don’t focus on passive revenue
Focusing on generating passive revenue in your business so you don’t have to work can disrupt your long-term goals. Instead, focus on creating a sustainable revenue model that supports the work you are most passionate about—and allows you to work in the way that you want—for the long term. When done right, creating an income model based on doing what you truly enjoy, you may find that you don’t want to stop working in your business for a long time, if ever.

2. Put yourself in the right role
At first, you often find yourself taking on nearly every role to keep your operation running. Once you are able to hire others to replace you, instead of freeing you up, you may feel even more burdened by having to manage all of those people to ensure those jobs get done right and everyone gets paid.

That’s a sign it’s time to step into your rightful role as your company’s leader and visionary. Rather than trying to personally manage every individual department, such as marketing, sales, and fulfillment, you need to hire the right leadership team to take ownership of those departments, so you can focus on the work you truly want to do.

To further free up your time, energy, attention, and money (TEAM) resources, let us help you establish sound legal, insurance, financial, and tax (LIFT) systems for your business. These foundational systems will ensure the often tedious, yet vital tasks—crunching numbers, dealing with contracts, and figuring taxes—are properly handled, so you are free to focus on the bigger picture.

3. Let go of control, but watch the metrics
Learning to hand over control over key areas of your business to others is one of the most challenging aspects of achieving long-term sustainable revenue. You may not believe that anyone else can run those departments as well as you, but if you hire the right team leaders, you may find they are just as, if not more, capable than you.

Of course, you can’t rely on mere faith that your team leads can successfully run those departments, and that’s where metrics come in. By tracking the right business metrics for areas like sales, marketing and fulfillment, you’ll be able relinquish control of your business at the micro level, so you can stay focused on the macro level, while allowing the metrics to tell you if you need to reassert more control. Meet with a Family Business Lawyer®, for support in tracking the right metrics.

4. Pay yourself “enough” and invest the rest
Before investing in the team, systems, and technology you need to step into your role as leader, make sure you are paying yourself “enough” money. The first thing you need to determine is what “enough” means for you, so you have the right level of income to meet your needs, and—then build from there.

If you try to hire a team and build your business without earning “enough,” you’ll likely be coming from a place of scarcity and fear that can seriously hinder you, your team, and your company’s growth. Once you are paying yourself enough, you can then invest the rest of your revenue back into your business and resist the urge to constantly increase your pay or profit distribution.

If you are ready to uplevel your revenue model, ask a Family Business Lawyer® about the Money Map to Freedom™ and LIFT Foundation System™. These unique processes can help you determine exactly what “enough” means for you and your business, while enabling you to make the best choices about how you allocate your TEAM resources, which is the key to developing long-term, sustainable revenue.

Let a Family Business Lawyer® help
With a Family Business Lawyer®, they can help you build a business that creates—and sustains—the work you love to do with the people you love to do it with. And isn’t that what it’s all about? Contact one today to learn more.