Most small businesses are sitting on gold.
And it may just take a little push (like a global pandemic 😉) to dig through the dusty treasure chest to find it.
Journey with me on this story for a moment:
I grew up in the restaurant business.
My great-gpa is accredited with inventing the burger ( true story! ) and my family has been serving the original burger recipe in our restaurants for nearly 30 years.
But when the world shut down in 2020- restaurants forced to close their doors- my mom feared she'd lose the restaurant altogether. I'll never forget the phone call - the panic in her voice.
With a majority of sales coming from dine-in customers, how could the restaurant survive?
Well, the family jumped in and figured it out.
The answer for us: A diversified revenue strategy
In 2020, the restaurant survived on 1 main revenue stream:
Dine-in Restaurant
Today (2023), the restaurant has 8 different revenue streams:
Dine-in Restaurant
Curbside Carryout
Third-Party Delivery
"Mr. Beast" Ghost Kitchen
Food Truck Catering & Events
Partnership with Meat Markets
Partnership with Airport Restaurant
eCommerce Burger Spice Packs & Sauces
Many were born out of customer needs and wants.
Others are still in experimentation mode.
But regardless, today the restaurant is experiencing record-breaking numbers.
Now, words in a blog post make this sound easy.
It hasn't been easy.
There have been so many lessons learned & growing pains along the way.
But this is just one of many examples of a small business de-risking (and growing!) through a diversified revenue strategy.
So, there's no "5-step" plan on how to do this today.
Because honestly, I don't have one. I imagine it's different for every organization.
Instead, I encourage you to pull up your notes app and jot down a list of viable revenue streams within the scope of your business model.
Then, evaluate your options and consider taking the first step at tackling just 1.
Dip your toe in the water. - ZG
P.S. This one's for my solopreneurs 👇🏻
