I’m writing this at the start of 2023, but you can apply these ideas any time of year, whenever your business bank account needs a bit of a boost.

Here are nine ways you can kick-start your cash flow.

#1. Follow up with past leads

You know, those people who were thinking about it, or were coming back to you, or needed to see how something had panned out.

You’re not being pushy. It is simply polite to get in touch with them, tell them what availability you have and the options they have to work with you, and ask them if they want first dibs before you throw your 2023 calendar open to the general public.

.

#2. Follow up with past clients

Basically same message as above, but you can also offer them a referral fee or thank you gift if they send any other clients your way. Don’t wait for those Word of Mouth referrals to come to you, give them a little nudge to help them along.

.

#3. Announce your availability as a short-term batch

This is super simple to do, but a bit fiddly to explain, so I made a short course about it called Booked In Blocks (it’s £7 and I’m v-e-r-y confident you’ll earn that back pronto, and if you don’t feel like you got your money’s worth, I’ll happily refund it).

.

#4. Team up with another business owner

Is there someone you can collaborate with to create something way more awesome than either of you could create solo, for a limited time?

If you’re a copywriter, could you team up with a website designer and offer complete sales page creation? If you’re a nutritionist, could you team up with a hypnotherapist?

If you’re a parenting coach, could you team up with a relationship coach?

It’s the kind of thing you don’t want to commit to long-term, but a short limited availability offer combining your skillsets could give you both a great kick-start to the year.

.

#5. Do you have something kicking about that you can sell?

This was inspired by a question Lizzy Goddard asked in her Facebook group about ideas that never made it out into the real world.

I remembered I’d created a short course called Prepare For Launch Pep-Talk but had never released it.

When I went back to check on it, I happily discovered I had already set up everything - the sales page, thank you page, emails, access automation, the works - I just needed to tell people that it existed (and it’s only £7 and it’s really good).

.

#6. Pre-sell that idea you’ve been sitting on for ages

Do you have an idea for something you could sell before you create it?

This is like #5 but in reverse.

How about you pre-sell your thing at a bargain early bird price, and then create it.

You could even use your customers as a sounding-board for what should be included.

There’s a blog post from Elizabeth Goddard on launching a new idea in 24 hours and she also has a free training on How To Create And Sell Something Before You’re Ready. Those are both affiliate links.

.

#7. Make the most of the time of year/current trends

What does your audience need right now?

Do you have something that already exists that you could make extra especially tasty right now?

Throw in a bonus. A discount. Run a live event that helps them with that particular problem.

.

#8. Create a secret menu item

Is there a 1-1 service that you don’t normally offer, or wouldn’t want to offer long-term, but you know people would jump for if they had the chance?

It’s totally fine to create offers that are never normally mentioned on your website.

If you don’t want to go to the hassle of creating a full sales page for them, you could create a Google doc, or a Canva PDF or a simple presentation that walks prospects through what it is, what’s included and how much it’ll cost.

You can use the same key points that you’d include in a sales page, but deliver it in a quicker-to-produce format.

#9. Take deposits or payment plans for future work

I’m adding this to the blog post in July 2023.

I have a whole list of people who have said they’d like to join my mentoring program in September.

I have limited spaces on the program.

I also would like some cash flowing into my business over the Summer.

So this week I created an extended payment plan for the mentoring, which meant people can buy now, spread the payment over more months, secure their start date, and defer their start date to whenever they want in September.

I’m also giving them instant access to all my courses, and they can book their onboarding call as soon (or as late) as they like, so they can get started before the mentoring officially begins.

Could you do something similar? Start taking deposits to secure a spot in your schedule, or set up a payment plan so people can spread the cost?

.

Where would you like to go next?

7 questions to help your checkout page make more sales >