Why wait until your business’s next cash drought before fixing its finances for good?
There are many ways to keep the wheels of your company rolling, even when there’s a lull in its revenue flow. For instance, you may try to charge upfront or sell old inventory at lower prices.
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Here’s another route you can take: open up passive income channels from which you can plug the funding gaps at your main business when they come. It’s an idea we usually associate with boosting personal income. But it turns out we can also set those up to bolster business finances as well.
More than just a fix for drying cash coffers, some of these passive income solutions could also form extensions of your business activities.
Some of the better strategies for expanding your company funding sources are discussed below.
1. High-Interest Accounts
You can place your business’ earnings in high-interest savings accounts. Depending on the bank you choose and the amounts you keep with them, you may earn up to 7% on savings annually. These accounts give better interest deals than most regular savings accounts in the country.
There’s a list of some of these high-interest savings accounts here.
2. Real Estate
You may go the route of buying and reselling property or developing and renting it out for commercial or residential purposes.
But even if your business doesn’t have the resources to do this, there’s a third option. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) offer real estate assets that can be bought by individuals and businesses. These assets are either traded on the stock market or put on sale outside of that system. They are somewhat similar to mutual funds, except that the poll you’d be investing in will be made up solely of real estate assets.
REITs in Nigeria include the Union Homes REIT and UPDC Funds.
3. Stakes in Performing Companies
This isn’t something for the big corporations and venture capital outfits alone.
There are numerous profitable businesses seeking funding and partnerships that could help them expand even further and increase their profits. You may seek these out and see if they are worth putting your company’s money in.
Of course, you’ll have to do some background checks to ensure that they are safe. Look out for the business founders’ credentials and experience, the business’s track record with earnings and corporate integrity, etc.
If you want to go the more formal route, you can buy shares in other companies on the stock market. This article tells you a few things you should know before doing that.
4. Crowdfunded Investments in Agritech
Platforms like FarmCrowdy and ThriveAgric are giving regular people the opportunity to invest in profitable farms and reap returns on those investments. Some of these platforms offer double-digit rates- something you’ll struggle to find elsewhere.
5. Investment Apps
You can also earn interest upwards of 10% on savings and investments you make with mobile apps like PiggyVest and CowryWise. The great thing about these apps is that they make it easy for anyone to invest in mutual funds and earn handsome returns without having to visit a bank hall or financial adviser.
Find our comprehensive listings of businesses in Nigeria here
6. Affiliate Marketing
You could set up a website related to your line of business or area of expertise and put up content on it that your kind of target audience will want to read.
The content (blog posts for instance) will include links to products on sites with which you’ve registered as an affiliate marketer. If your readers click that link and purchase the linked product through it, you’ll get a fraction of the money they paid for it.
Note that you’ll need at least these two things to kick start your affiliate marketing journey:
•Register with a company or platform that has an affiliate marketing program.
•Have a website with content that’s related to the products sold on that company’s online platform.
Local companies with an affiliate marketing program include Jumia and Konga. You can also have a look at Amazon or Alibaba if you’re looking for an international platform.
7. eBooks
These days, you don’t have to get a contract with a publishing house before putting out a book. There are online platforms that let you make and sell your books to the world at little cost.
If you’re convinced that you have unique expertise to share with other people, you could make money off it by packaging it into ebooks and selling them on sites like Okadabooks or Amazon. Just upload your ebook with them, and have interested readers buy off these websites. The platform takes a fraction as commission; the remainder will be yours.
Featured image source: Cbcghanaltd
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