“Sometimes the best investments are the ones you don’t make.” Donald Trump

Multiple revenue streams are extremely valuable assets for any business. Each revenue stream has to be positioned to address certain components of the overall strategy. Every revenue stream is not created equally, some are based on low margin and fast moving products/services while others facilitate growth of higher end products/services. The key factor to be addressed here is not only the creation of renewable revenue sources positioned for the right markets, but also correct investment into these streams. 

For example, if your business currently provides you three streams of revenue, you need to have certain measures in place to gauge the level of growth of each stream. These metrics will provide you critical data to measure which streams have the potential of exploding, as compared to others whose growth is relatively stunted. Without these metrics, we could make a fatal error of investing in wrong revenue streams which could have negative impact on the overall bottom line. Concentrating your investments on the right revenue streams is a strategy used by all successful companies. 

In my personal experience, one of the most telling signs of focusing on wrong revenue streams, is near the end of the quarter when the entire team has to push itself ridiculously hard to reach set targets. If this happens in a consistent fashion, quarter after quarter, you could be backing the wrong stream and costing the organization dearly. Develop flags for each of your streams and when things seem to be going off course consistently, look into revenue streams rather than blaming the economy or your team.

Are you investing in the correct revenue streams?