Hey, there! If this is your first time stumbling across my income reports, please start with January 2015 to see why I’m doing this and how I plan to break each month down.
Each month I would like to share:
- How much I earned
- How many payments I received (Ex: 10 payments for 5 projects instead of 47 flyer design payments)
- How much I spent/invested
- What I spent it on (resources)
- What I learned
- How many hours I worked
- YTD Earnings
Please let me know if there’s anything you want me to include in the income reports. If it’s a general question about my finances, I’ll be happy to write a blog post on it.
The number in parenthesis will indicate the difference from the previous month
Red = Lower Than Previous Month
Green = Higher Than Previous Month
Black = Stayed the Same as Previous Month
Here’s Month 4.
April 2015: $3,860.18
Last Month: $6275.27
Year-to-date (YTD): $24,196.28
April 2015 Earnings (19 Payments Received):
Consulting: $325.00 ($75)
Contributing: $50.00 ($25)
Blogademics: $560.00 ($35)
Photography: $75
Design/Branding Projects: $2,925.18 ($2,405.09)
Total Gross Revenue: $3,860.18 ($2415.09)
April 2015 Expenses:
Design Intern/Contractor: $180 ($120)
DropBox: $9.99
Facebook: $11.56 ($6.49)
Twitter: $2.69 ($2.69)
CoSchedule (Social media automation): $10.00
Domain/Hosting: $56.02 ($35.86)
MailChimp: $15.00
MacBook (installment payment): $0 ($335)
Microsoft Office: $10.71
Envato (premium themes & plugins): $60
Creative Market: $20 ($20)
Adobe Systems: $32.16
Wistia: $25
Stock Images: $79
Google Storage: $1.99
Educational Workshops/Conferences: $275 ($41.80)
Coaching: $1,000 ($1,000)
InfusionSoft (CRM System): $898.50 ($898.50)
Total Expenses: $2,687.62 ($1,706.74)
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Total Net Profit: $1,172.56 ($4,121.84)
What I learned:
Well the first thing I learned is to copy and paste my post in a separate document before trying to save because WordPress deleted my entire income report after I tried to save the draft. *sigh* Anyhow… this month’s income was pretty low (in comparison to the last 3 reports). It’s kind of funny because I was sitting with my friends one day and said “I don’t even think I made $4,000 this month,” and they gave me a death stare. I understand that $3,800 is a lot of money. I think the number just freaked me out because of my expenses. Dishing out over $2500 in expenses was kind of scary, but fortunately the first 3 months of the year I was saving money like crazy and I never splurged on anything so I was covered.
This month I left town for 10 days, fired a client (which meant forfeiting almost $1,000 to keep my sanity), ended a contract with my corporate client (also to keep my sanity) and stopped accepting client requests until June. After attending a 4-day conference in Atlanta, I was motivated to move forward with things in my business that I had been contemplating. It’s literally the craziest thing I’ve done (this year), but while trying to make a transition into something bigger, I needed to be serious about moving forward and leaving some things behind.
The main thing I learned is that I love coaching and design, but I don’t like one without the other. I don’t like telling a client the best route they should take with their online brand and then seeing them have an ugly website. I don’t like building beautiful websites for clients but the copy on it is terrible. I’ve been working with a client on coaching and design, and it’s really fulfilling. In order for me to guarantee my clients real results, I feel best offering both services as a package.
I feel like I have stepped out of a comfort zone to experience something bigger, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it pays off. I’m learning that as you build your business, you will grow, you will get comfortable and then you have to leave that comfort zone. It’s all about pressing forward and refusing to get complacent.
[Tweet “In life & business you must press forward and not get complacent.”]
[Tweet “A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.”]
Things I need to improve on:
- I still need to be more open to being on the phone. I’m finally going to utilize my marketing plan that I wrote about last year, and offer to speak to these people on the phone.
Things I did well:
- I offered consulting with design.
- I made some big decisions that were scary but necessary… even in my personal life.
- Began planning a workshop on how to make money with your personal brand.
- Started #InfoBoMo by some awesome biz owners Regina, Brittany, Ashley, Jenna and Elizabeth.
Hours worked:
I’m still horrible at tracking hours, but I can say that I didn’t work that much because I left town for 10 days, ha. It was a good month.
YTD Earnings: 24,196.28
This month I encourage you to do something that is worthwhile especially if it scares you. What has been your biggest transition in business? What’s the last thing you’ve done to stretch and challenge yourself? I’d love to hear from you for some encouragement!
My toughest transition has been identifying my voice behind my blog. I know what I want to offer and when I blog I love it. I had written a lot of content and I had to go over it and realize that I wanted to say more. My actual voice wasn’t coming out. Well lately I have been working on that and I beginning to actually put things into action that scare me. I am planning a webinar and I also linked up with INFOBOMO. The fact that I am doing and not just dreaming is a huge transition for me. The way I am challenging myself is not to spend much idle time. I do not watch TV during the day, but in the evening (lets not elaborate) I have challenged myself to spend time investing in my business more. It can be writing, reading an educational book, or researching ways to become better in my craft. I am starting to use my resources wisely.
That’s so awesome, Shaquinta! From dreaming to doing is a bigger transition than a lot of people realize! Super proud and impressed by you! Keep it up. 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
That’s still awesome. These “low” months are probably going to happen a few more times and that is the growing part of being a business owner. I’m sure May will be much better for you – money wise and work balance wise with focusing more on what you want to offer and having ended professional relationships with those clients you had mentioned. Good luck! 🙂
Thank you, Aukele! You’re so right. This was definitely the growing stage of my business. The fact that knowing these low months can happen more than once is the scary, exciting and somewhat unpredictable parts of entrepreneurship. I’m praying that May will be better as well. Thanks for the encouragement!
This is great Maya! I love the transparency of these posts and even though this was a lower month financially I bet it was high on inspiration and intention. I followed your tweets while you were at your conference and I’m sure what you learned over last month will propel forward. #infoBomo is definitely one thing that is motivating me too and I look forward to seeing what you create in May! Thanks for these posts 🙂
Thanks for your comment, Chivon! It was definitely high on inspiration and I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone – including myself – does for #infoBomo!
This is really cool and really important info. Thanks for being awesome enough to share. So many I am sure like myself are trying to figure out exactly how we would be able to make up the income in the event we actually quite our full time jobs. So seeing the variation of your projects as well as expenses is really dope. I guess my biggest transition was finally meeting with my accountant to file my LLC paperwork. I’m back tracking of course. lol. But hey, finally getting there and preparing to be able to really make some business moves this year. Oh yeah and doing my first writing workshop and actually using infobomo to help me with the content for a short workbook.
That’s so exciting, Ashley! Getting your LLC and opening up your business bank account is a really exciting feeling. 🙂 Congrats on the workshop and workbook! All really awesome stuff! Sounds like we’re on the same page!
The insight and transparency you’re offering through your post here is so encouraging and motivating. I’m still getting a lot squared away with my business and find myself overwhelmed many of the times. I’m a mom first, so I sometimes find it hard to balance everything and still have time for my business. I see that sometimes you have to make changes to accomplish the things you wants in life, but other times you have to just do it despite your situation. That’s what I need to do, just do it (but of course making sure I have my priorities in order first)! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Thank you for your comment, Tenns! So glad that you find this to be helpful! That’s my goal. 🙂
I love this, Maya! I also LOVE that you mentioned how you prefer working with clients on both consulting and design. I think that was a light bulb moment for me because I feel the sameeee way. It really irks me when I create a well-branded design, but then the website owner uses it poorly, or when I do blog coaching sessions, but their design is holding them back. I love that you offer both as a package. You’re a genius. 🙂
Thank you, Melyssa! I feel like we’ve been somewhat on the same page the last few months! You’ve definitely been inspiring me. 🙂
This series is a great idea and it works because 1) you’re transparent 2) you’re reflective about what worked and what didn’t. Keep it up.
Thanks, Dennis! So ironic that you just commented. Having a conversation about income reports on Twitter right now with several people. 🙂
Hey Maya,
Been reading through your previous income reports – well done on your hard work and earnings, very inspirational!
I’m currently putting together a big list of income reports from a number of bloggers and startups and would love to feature your blog on there too.
I’m currently gathering data for May reports and was wondering when your May numbers will be published?
Let me know and I’ll get them included in my roundup.
Thanks
Raj
Thanks so much, Raj! I’ve been procrastinating on May’s Income Report because they take so long to do!! Will complete it this week, though. 🙂
That’s good news Maya,
My research has shown that bloggers who consistently publish income reports generally achieve more traffic and higher conversions – so it would be great if you kept doing them. Your right they do take a lot of time to put together but that’s why not everyone does them, they are hard work but the people who do the hard work are the ones that stand out and become successful.
Can’t wait to see your May numbers and I’ll let you know when I publish my roundup Maya.
Thanks, Raj! It’s finally up. June MIGHT be better hahaha (as far as lower expenses). Looking forward to your feedback!