6 Income Generating Activities For Solopreneurs To Add Into Their Work Week

Let me ask you this: are you working on your business or working to bring in business?

In other words, are you incorporating income generating activities into your work week? Any tasks planned specifically to bring in money?

Or are you three hours into testing 47 different shades of sage green on your website searching for “The One”? 

Or maybe you’re  “just organizing a few things” until you suddenly realize it’s 5 pm. Now the workday is over, and you’ve made a grand total of ZERO dollars, but damn if your Notion dashboard isn’t ✨ gorgeous ✨ 

NONE of these things are revenue generating activities.

As a new business owner, it’s soooo easy to fall into the trap of working on these background tasks all day. 

After all, they feel like productivity.

But they’re really just your brain’s way of avoiding the scary stuff – the emails, the offers, the “Hey! Let’s work together” DMs. 

These are all the things that make your stomach drop a little. 

Because what if you get on the call, put in all the effort… and they say “no”? 😣

The truth is, these behind-the-scenes tasks don’t do anything to move the needle forward and get clients knocking at your door. 

In this post, we’re putting the busy work behind us and actually getting TO work instead. 💪🏻

Consider this your not-so-subtle nudge to close out Canva (and Notion and Showit) and go make some money.

Pin this to your Business Board 👇🏼

What are Income Generating Activities?

Simply put, an income-generating activity or revenue-generating activity is any task that has the potential to help you sign more clients or get more sales for your business. 

Client deliverables and endlessly fine-tuning your offer don’t count. 

Deliverables are things you’re contracted to do to keep your current clients happy.

But delivering on what you promised doesn’t bring in new business. 

And neither does fiddling in Canva, working on your 4th digital product this year to “diversify your revenue” when you haven’t even mastered selling your service yet.

Income-generating activities are the things you do that can DIRECTLY lead to you getting more clients or more revenue from the products and services you already have. 

Anything else, like admin or behind-the-scenes work, might keep the cogs of your business turning – but income generating activities are the things that keep you in business. 

The Website Myth That’s Costing You Clients

When I first got into the online business space, something I noticed was everyone’s fascination with ✨buying the domain. ✨

One time, a woman came up to me and told me all about this amazing business idea she had. When she finished explaining it to me, she very coyly added, “And I bought the domain.” 😏

Owning your domain name can make your business feel very “official.”  

BUT you don’t need a website or domain ownership to have a business.

You have a business the second somebody pays you for performing a service or delivering a product.

The woman I was speaking to purchased the rights to her business’s name. Buuuut… she had no clients and no plans to get clients or make sales. 

Her priorities were pretty backwards there. 

For me, I didn’t wait around for a perfectly formatted website before signing any clients. 

In fact, I got my first client because an old boss asked me to run their social media account. My next few clients came because I pitched my services to them directly. 

And this was all before I had even an inkling of a website put together. 

To this day, so many years later, I still don’t depend solely on my website to get clients. 

Because I KNOW just how far you can get without one. 

So, stop trying to build the perfect website. Add some revenue generating activities to your work week and start bringing in money. 

➡️ Ready to stop guessing and start getting clients instead?

Take my free Choose Your Own Adventure training to figure out what YOU specifically need to do to get clients coming in from Instagram alone. 

6 Revenue Generating Activities to Add to Your Work Week

Take a look at your work week. On one hand, you have all of the things you HAVE to do. Non-negotiable things like delivering to clients and continuing to meet all your deadlines. 

But outside of that, how much time are you spending bringing new people into your world?

Maybe your business runs almost entirely on referrals right now. 

Maybe your clients stick around for years, and you don’t feel like you need to be marketing yourself that much. 

But one day you will, and you don’t want to be doing it from a place of desperation. 

The best time to market yourself is BEFORE you need it. That means income generating activities should be baked into your work week whether you’re desperate for new leads or not. 

Here are 6 that you can easily add to your weekly task list. 👇🏼

1. Turn Posting on Instagram into an Income Generating Activity

I can already hear the argument coming:

“But Jenna, you’re talking about income generating activities, but you post on Instagram all the time. Does that even count?”

YES. Posting on Instagram definitely counts as a money making activity.  

Personally, Instagram is my main lead generator. 99% of my clients started as an Instagram follower. 

But just posting all willy-nilly doesn’t count. If you want Instagram to be a TRUE revenue generator, there are 3 main types of posts you need to turn followers into clients:

• Growth content brings new eyes to your content.
• Nurture content builds trust and gets people to stick around.
• Sales content invites people to buy.

When you have all three working together in harmony, your Instagram becomes one of the hardest-working parts of your business. 

➡️ New to posting on Instagram for your business? Read my post Instagram for Beginners: How to Get Started & What to Post First for everything you need to get the ball rolling. 

2. Sell Through Instagram Stories

Speaking of your Instagram strategy, let’s talk about your Stories for a moment. 

Instagram organizes your Stories feed in order of who you watch the most. That means, the people watching your Stories are the ones who are INVESTED in you and your business. 

They’re your biggest fans. 

Call it a little parasocial, but the people watching your Instagram Stories probably feel like they know you. They follow all of your regular content AND the unpolished version you show off in your Stories.

And when people feel like they know you, they are way more likely to buy from you. 

Which means there’s a whole lot of untapped revenue in your Stories. 

This makes them one of the easiest income-generating activities to add to your week if you’re not using them to sell yet. 

The warm leads watching your Stories are already the ones giving you their undivided attention. All they need is an actual invitation to work with you.

By regularly pitching in your Instagram stories, you can take these warm leads and nurture them into clients.

➡️ Not sure how to turn the people watching your Instagram Stories into clients?

 If you’re already using Stories and you have people watching them, try my Strategic Stories 5-Day challenge! In this challenge, you’ll create 5 days’ worth of Instagram Stories designed to boost your Stories engagement and get more people FIRED UP to work with you.  

3. Make Your Lead Magnet Work as Hard as You Do

Remember that lead magnet you fiddled around with for hours? Don’t let all that hard work go to waste!

Once you start posting strategically on Instagram, put that lead magnet to work!

Now, you might be wondering, “HOW can giving away freebies like that possibly help you generate more income?!”

Here’s the deal – every time you promote that amazing lead magnet, not only are you building yourself up as an authority, you’re also gaining subscribers on your email list. 

Then, once they’re on your list, they’re officially a part of your funnel (aka the step-by-step journey that takes someone from just discovering you to a paying client). 

My funnels go from my lead magnets to inviting you to enroll in my Magic Marketing Machine program or purchase a small $20 minicourse. 

Either way, they’re doing A LOT of work. 

Many people create a new lead magnet, promote it a few times, and then let it rot in their link in bio forever. 💀 

But the most successful business owners are the ones who make promoting their freebie and email list part of their weekly routine. That can look like:

• Adding a promo post to your Stories (be sure to save at least one as an Instagram highlight!)
• Creating at least one post per week that promotes either your email list or lead magnet
• Mentioning both every time you do a podcast episode or collaboration 

If you need more tips, check out my blog all about how to grow your email list.  

4. Send Emails to Your List Regularly

Now that your email list is well stocked with new subscribers, the next step is to start emailing your brand new email fam! 

Now, I get that it can feel really salesy to email people about your offer all the time. But think about the emails you like to get from other businesses. Chances are they aren’t all just selling.

Emailing your list works best when you nurture your audience too. 

Give your audience something to enjoy. Share tips, give an update, or tell a little story that shows your most recent client win. 

THEN pitch your offer. 

Even something as simple as “Hey! Here’s how I can help you!” counts. 

The best thing to remember about your email list is that everyone on it CHOSE to be there. Each one of them WANTS to hear from you. So don’t be afraid to hit send. 

It’s one of the easiest money-making habits you can add to your weekly routine.

5. Collaborate with Others in Your Network

Here’s an example of a revenue generating activity that doesn’t involve posting or emailing – reaching out to people in your network to team up. 🤝🏻

Is there someone out there with the same ideal client as you, but who offers something totally different?

That’s your person. Reach out to see if they want to team up for a you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours type of collaboration. 

You can work together to come up with some kind of referral system or joint venture partnership. 

A collaboration with another business owner can also look like:

• Guesting on podcasts
• Guest teaching to each other’s audiences
• Doing a blog or email swap

This is your chance to share what you know with someone else’s established audience pool. Then, funnel them somewhere like your email list or your Instagram (or both!) where you can nurture them and hopefully 🤞🏼 turn them into a shiny new client!

6. Turn DM Conversations into Sales 

One of the simplest revenue generating activities you can easily incorporate into your day is just making time for conversations.

I’m not talking about sleazy cold pitching! Instead, focus on your warm network (aka the people who already know you). 

Try starting up a conversation with a past client. Don’t open with a sales pitch. A quick “Hey! How’s it going?” works just fine. You’d be amazed by how many people are ready to work with you again OR might refer you to someone who could use your services. 

The same thing goes for warm leads. These are the people who have DM’d you before, who comment on every post, or have shown interest but haven’t hit the “BUY” button yet. 

Starting up conversations and communicating directly with people can go such a long way. 

Selling through Instagram DMs can be surprisingly efficient. The conversations don’t even have to be all that complicated. Just think of them as another way to stay top of mind with people who already like you. 

P.S. – All 6 of these income generating activities work whether you’re running an online-only or in-person local business. If you run a local business and need marketing help, check out my blog packed to the brim with Instagram marketing strategies just for local businesses.

How Seriously Are You Taking Your Goals?

I saw something online once that asked, “If someone watched you all day long, how serious would they think you are about your goals?”

That question hit hard – especially for us online business owners who work solo from home most of the time. 

It is soooo easy to slip into scrolling on TikTok or fiddling in Canva, instead of really digging in and working on the things that move the needle. 

So, here’s a fun mental trick to help you go full send all the time: act like someone’s watching. 

Pretend there’s a camera crew following you around for the day and capturing every choice you make.

Would you keep scrolling, or would you go do the things that move your business forward?

Taking your business goals seriously does NOT mean working 24/7 or never resting. It means when you do sit down to work, you’re spending your time wisely and checking off a few income generating activities every day.

At the end of the day, doing stuff just to feel productive isn’t going to pay you. Instead, focus on the work that you know will bring money in. 

Time Audit Checklist 👇🏼

How well are you spending your time each week? Look back at your week so far and answer “Yes” or “No” for each day:

• I kept up with my client deliverables and deadlines.
• I did NOT spend more than an hour on behind-the-scenes tasks instead of spending time on revenue generating activities. 
• I did something to market myself multiple times this week. 
• I did things that could directly lead to a sale more than once this week.
• I did some direct outreach whether to a past client, to a warm lead, or for a business collaboration.
• If I made money at any point during the week, I can track that back to the exact activity that caused it. 
• At least one piece of content I shared (whether in a post, in Instagram Stories, or in an email) was designed to sell and generate income. 
• I looked at my work week ahead and already planned revenue generating activities into my task list.

If you answered mostly YES, congratulations! You’re building great money making habits into your work week already. 

If you answered mostly NO, it’s time to take a closer look at what tasks you’re prioritizing throughout the day. If you don’t have income generating activities set up throughout your week, start adding some now.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How many revenue generating activities should I do per week?

There’s no magic number to answer this. However, you should aim to do at least one income generating activity every day. 

Your business needs money flowing in to survive. That’s the truth, plain and simple. 

Your best bet is to aim for 5-7 a week to make sure you keep that cash coming.

2. Do I need to be doing all of these income-generating activities every week, or can I rotate through them?

Not at all! You definitely don’t need to cram all six of these examples into your work week!

Some of these, like emailing your list and posting regularly on Instagram, are great to have on weekly rotation. But other things like building out a lead magnet and reaching out for a collab can probably be done on a monthly or even quarterly basis. 

Basically, your goal shouldn’t be to do EVERY income generating activity each week, but to just make sure you have some sprinkled in.

3. I don’t have an email list, or my email list is really small. Does it still count as an income generating activity if my list is so small?

ABSOLUTELY!! Everyone’s email list started at zero at some point – even mine! But even if your email list only consists of your mom, your sister, and your great-aunt Sally, it still counts! 

The size of your list isn’t what matters. After all, even your family counts as part of your warm network of leads. Plus, you never know, what if great-aunt Sally has a bingo league that needs your services? (Hey, you never know, right??)

Regularly writing and scheduling emails to go out to your list means you’re building a habit of consistency and popping up in your audience’s inbox. 

I just have one final question for you: if you HAD to make $500 by the end of the day, what would you do? What could you do?

Whatever answer you give – whether it’s sending a flash sale out to your email list, reaching out to past clients, or promoting your most recent lead magnet all over Instagram – all of it counts as income generating activities. 

And if you haven’t done any of those things this week, run a quick audit of how you’ve been spending your time. If it’s been mostly spent fiddling with background work (or scrolling on TikTok 🫣), prioritize more money making habits for next week. 

Want a revenue generating activity you can do right now?

Download my free Sales Caption Template! This is the exact caption template that got us 10 sales calls in just 3 hours. All you have to do is fill in the blanks. Go grab it and get that $500 today!