Getting your online business off the ground, where it begins to be self-sustaining and profitable, is a fantastic feeling. However, don’t stop there; by replicating or expanding your business, you’ll be able to have multiple revenue streams which it vital for your ultimate success.

There are two major ways to bring in additional streams of revenue: either expand your current business or start over with a different business. If you sell a product or service and have only been using your site to sell it, consider expanding to other venues, fairs, wholesale, direct mailers, crafts sites, etc. Alternatively, you can begin a whole new site with a whole new unrelated product, beginning again from scratch, and making it viable.

Having these multiple streams of income is important. Since they can be inexpensive to set up, there is a huge opportunity for success. And as you either migrate to a new idea or expand your current one, be sure to let your current and previous customers know (via your newsletter you’ve hopefully been maintaining) to give your new adventure a jump start.

Having this diversity will help you if there is a slowdown in the overall economy or if one channel of income slows for some reason. Some types of sales go up and down depending on the season (lots of online shopping in the winter; more conventions where you can set up booths in the summer). Having multiple mediums for presenting your product or service allows for one stream to make up for another.

Perhaps the most important reason to have multiple streams of income is to create freedom and flexibility. If you’re dependant on one or two streams and they begin to struggle, you’ll be right back where you started. No revenue source is 100 percent passive, but by maintaining several sources at once, you won’t suffer as much if one doesn’t do as well.

Work hard and you’ll be able to reap all the rewards of multiple revenue streams.