Many information product authors look at booklets, audio CDs, workbooks, ebooks, and the like as a way out. It’s a way out of earning money in exchange for time. It’s a way out of certain aspects of customer service. It’s a way out of having to be articulate and brilliant every waking moment. It’s a way out of keeping someone else’s schedule.

In lots of definitions, yes, it is a way out. And, like everything else, it needs to feed a part of you in order to sustain you and it. For you, it may need to be interesting, lucrative, motivating, comforting, easy, varied, unlimited, and a few other things. Only you know (or discover) what those requirements are.

It reminds me of the whole conversation about whether a move to a new location or a change in a relationship is going from or going toward something. I’ve done both and you probably have, too.

Developing, marketing, and selling products might look like a way out for you if you’re feeling limited and burdened by either a solely/primarily-service business or by being employed by someone other than yourself. No question that there are many rewards in product development. Don’t be surprised, however, when you notice that it could be just different challenges, easier challenges, more satisfying challenges, and challenges nonetheless. These challenges are probably a whole lot more manageable.

Re-purpose your knowledge into hard copy and digital products. Start today with one product and let your imagination and your market guide your way out of limitations and toward endless possibilities.

It’s never a good thing when you rely on one stream of income. That stream dries up and you’re, ahem, up that creek without a paddle.

That’s why having multiple streams of income is so valuable. One stream dries up, you’ve got a few other ones to depend on.

(On another note, have you noticed how money is often referred to in water terms? Cash FLOW, multiple STREAMS of income or just income STREAMS. Just something to think about.)

But talking about getting multiple income streams and actually implementing them in your business are two entirely different things. That’s why today I’m going to share 3 quick and easy ways you can start adding more streams right now.

1. Information products. Creating a product based on your expertise is a fabulous way to start diversifying your income. This is especially good if you’re a service provider — now you’re providing other ways for your customers to work with you rather than them paying you to work with them one on one.

But information products doesn’t mean you have to sit down and write a book. You can do a teleclass or a series of teleclasses. Or maybe you do a video. Just make it easy for you to create. (The idea here is NOT to spend months or, worse, years crafting your product — the faster you get it done the faster you’ll make money on it.)

Still feeling stuck? Try this. What’s the biggest problem your customers come to you to solve for them? Can you do a teleclass or write a special report walking them through how to solve it themselves? Granted working with you would probably get the faster, better results, but remember not everyone has the money nor even the inclination (there are a lot of do-it-yourselfers out there, and you don’t want to exclude them.)

2. Licensing or certification programs. Do you have a special process you take your clients through? Why not package it up and sell it to other consultants like you? Lots of people are looking for proven methods and systems they can add to their business income streams. So in essence helping other people add income streams to their business while you’re also adding income streams to your business.

Now this one may not be all that quick to do, but I wanted to include it so you weren’t just thinking “info products” as your only option. Open yourself up to other options to making more income.

3. Offer advertising or sell other people’s products. With this one, you’re capitalizing on an asset you’ve built — your list. You have people who follow you, right? They’re on your list, they’re following you on social networking sites, they listen to your podcasts and/or teleclasses. Well, with this one you make money either by promoting someone else’s products and getting a commission, or you charge for advertising.

For advertising, think bigger then just selling spaces in your newsletter or web site or blog. What about offering sponsorships? Sponsorships aren’t just for corporate — they can also be your colleagues who want to reach your target market.

Of all the options, this one is definitely the fastest to pull together and takes the least amount of time for you to manage. However, if you don’t think it through, it does have the potential of diluting the impact you have with your list. If you’re interested in this option, do your homework. Find one or two people who have successfully offered this and ask them about it.

There are many ways to become a coach. But regardless of which path you take, here are the top 5 questions you want to answer for yourself before starting a coaching business:

1. Do you have any specialized knowledge, experience, or expertise?
Most coach training organizations will tell you that you don’t need to be an expert on anything, and that having coaching skills will be enough to be successful. The reality shows that every successful coach is also an expert on something else in addition to coaching. Whatever you are currently doing at your job, as part of your other business, or in any area of your life experience, you can turn that knowledge into a specialty that people will want to pay for. Coaching skills is not expertise – it’s a tool you can use to deliver your expertise, and you must specialize in a niche.

2. Do you understand that coaching is a business?
Some people believe that coaching is a profession, a calling, or a career. The fact is, coaching is a business. Just like in any business you will need to reach and become desirable to your target clients. This means investing in your marketing materials, such as a web site, a payment processing system, and a newsletter publishing program. This also means establishing your credibility and building your platform through holding workshops, creating special reports educating your potential clients, setting up strategic alliances, and using other strategies to attract new clients. You are responsible for creating your own opportunities.

3. Do you have good communications skills?
Regardless of your specialty or expertise, you must be able to communicate clearly in writing and speaking. You’ll be using your communication skills when enrolling a prospect, coaching a client, negotiating with a potential referral partner, speaking to a group of interested prospects, and in many other situations. The ability to clearly express your ideas and the value you bring to the table can become your best friend in building a business.

4. Do you understand that coaches are not guaranteed referrals?
Unlike doctors or therapists, coaches are not guaranteed client referrals. No one will refer clients to you just because they know you or just because you’re certified. You need position yourself as an expert in your field and establish a relationship with people who can refer business to you. You may even want to create a strategic alliance revenue sharing structure to reward for referrals.

5. Do you understand the importance of marketing?
As a business owner your time would be divided between coaching your clients and marketing to get new clients. Most people believe they can spend a few hours a month marketing their business and they’ll be successful. The reality is that truly successful coaches spend at least 30%-50% of their time marketing their coaching programs and services, or they hire a marketing assistant to help them.

Did you answer YES to every question? If so, then you may find “Coaching Millions Quick Start” and “Getting Started in Coaching” helpful in building a successful coaching business right from the start.

Imagine — money flowing into your business from all sorts of places. That’s what it’s like to have multiple streams of income. Your business isn’t dependent on one stream of income but instead you can make money from a variety of places.

Is that what your business actually looks like? Or are your streams limited to one or two?

Especially for you service providers out there, I know it can feel a little daunting to think about creating other streams of income. But the reality is, if you don’t do it you’re really going to be limiting your growth.

So, with that said, if your multiple streams of income look more like trickles or maybe a ditch filled with water, you’re in the right place. Below are 3 reasons why you aren’t making any money from multiple streams of income and what you can do to fix it.

1. Start selling something other than your services. Okay, this sounds really obvious but we got to start somewhere. And this might be the reason why your business doesn’t look the way you’d like it to.

So which category do you fit in? Are you working on the same info product or book for the last 6 years and are (almost!) done with it? Or do you create products the way you change your clothes but you never actually put a marketing system around them so you actually sell a few?

Regardless, you need to stop what you’re doing right now and take stock of what you have. If you’re still struggling to finish your first product, remember good is good enough, and you’re losing money every day you’re not selling that product. Ditto for the too many products and no way to sell them. Put a plan together to get them on your site so you can start getting some income in the door.

2. You have info products but they aren’t selling terribly well. There could be a number of things wrong, but here are some of the top problems:

• You don’t have a sales letter (or the sales letter you have isn’t very good)
• You don’t have anyone visiting your sales letter on your web site
• You don’t have the RIGHT people visiting your sales letter on your web site (i.e. those who would actually be interested in buying your product)
• You’re selling something your target market isn’t much interested in buying

You may need to hire an expert to help you pinpoint which one (or ones) is the problem.

3. You’re not thinking outside the box. There are more ways to get multiple streams of income then selling an info product. There are group programs, licensing, certifications, classes, events and more. Or maybe you need to vary your service offerings or offer a high-ticket program.

There are a lot of different ways you can package what you sell, and depending on your prospect, they might want something different than your usual offerings.

My guess is you have a bunch of loyal fans following you, but if you’re not packaging what you offer in a way that’s attractive to them, they won’t bite. They need to feel like what you’re offering is a fit for them.

So try mixing it up. Offer some out of the box things and see what happens. Who knows, you might discover a whole new product line out of it.

The biggest complaint we hear from professionals is that their website and ezine don’t do anything to bring them new business.

Do you know why?

No findability! Your ideal client may be looking for someone exactly like you and your business. But when they type keywords into Google or Yahoo, you don’t show up until the 3rd or 4th page.

Over 50% of U.S. businesses aren’t even on the web. And of those that are, very few come up on the first pages when prospects do a search for that business product.

If you are a small business owner, service professional or entrepreneur, you know you “should be on the Web.” With over 1 billion Internet users world-wide and growing every day, you can’t afford NOT to be on the Internet. You also know by now that a brochure-type website is not going to do the trick.

Have you figured out why your Internet marketing isn’t working like it should? Here are the most common reasons we find from an informal survey of business professionals.

5 Top Reasons Your Internet Marketing Isn’t Working

1. You have a blog, or website, or a newsletter but they don’t bring in new clients or revenues; readers don’t take action. Either it isn’t clear what you want them to do, or you don’t provide a simple way for them to get something for free in exchange for their email address.

2. You have to wait for your web designer to respond each time you want to update your site. You don’t have the skills to do this yourself and feel like you are being held hostage by the web guy (or gal).

3. You love your business and want to spend time with your clients and customers doing what you do best; instead you spend too much time keeping a database and following up with leads; your marketing isn’t automated.

4. You have a great product and a good business model, but your site doesn’t get enough traffic. You know you need links back to your site in order to rank better with the search engines, but don’t know how to generate these.

5. You have a vision to double or triple your revenues in the next year or so, but you don’t have a funnel of products or services to reach your goals. Either you are selling services, and don’t have any information products people can start with; or, you sell products, and don’t have low price or free information products people can try first.

If you are like most professionals, when it comes to your Internet marketing you are tired of so-called experts who tell you what you should be doing. Most gurus don’t actually help you implement the steps required to set up and use the tools you need; you know what you should be doing, but you don’t have an organized plan for breaking things down into do-able steps.

Here’s some good news…

You don’t need a big budget, a “geek” on staff, or any computer programming knowledge. You can get on the Web with no experience or special tech skills. Why? Because there are many new tools that make Internet marketing easy for everyone. Around 2004 things became really easy for the average business person to have a strong Internet presence that really works.

If you can write and send an email you have what it takes to bring in new clients and new money. Yet most professionals and small business owners get lost in a sea of Information overload when it comes time to put their business online.

5 Simple Tools That Make a World of Difference

If your Internet marketing isn’t working, you may not have these simple online tools in place, and optimized for growing your business:

1. A database marketing system

2. A blog so prospects can easily find you on the Web

3. A newsletter and autoresponders so you stay in touch with potential clients

4. Press releases and articles using your keywords submitted to PR and article directories

5. Products and services for free or low fee so prospects can get to know and trust you

These are important foundation pieces for leveraging the Internet to grow your business. If you don’t have them, you will spend unnecessary time and energy for nothing. If you do have them, you need to use them properly. All five work together to automate your Internet marketing tasks.

If you notice, a website isn’t even on this list. If you already have a site, it needs to be integrated with your marketing plan; if you don’t have one yet, start with a blog; you will find you will get better traffic and results faster.

The good news is that simple online tools exist to make Internet marketing accessible and effective for the average business person.

The bad news is that very few professionals take the time to learn how to make their Internet marketing easy, automated, inexpensive, and organized. Those that do grow their businesses exponentially and thrive.