September Income Report

Well, well. Welcome to self-employment.

Everyone who was excited over last month’s blog income report, take a gander at this one.

This is the reality of working for yourself — at least for me this year.

As always, I am a month behind on my income reports.

This is so I can get all of the paperwork and balance the books before pulling all the figures.

This report helps me tremendously, so I want it to be completely accurate.

Last month I got a not-so-nice comment about sharing my income.

First off, I did struggle with the decision to post income reports at first.

I even wrote a post about the pros and cons of posting income reports.

Ultimately I decided to do it for a few reasons.

For one, I love to read them on other blogs and find them extremely motivating.

Second, they help ME realize what the heck is going on with my own blog.

Third, now that I share blog tips on occasion, I feel like I should be transparent about how I am doing.

Who the heck wants to read tips from a person who isn’t experiencing at least a little bit of success?

Finally, why do other bloggers care what I post?

Personally, I don’t care if you write an article on how to pick your nose properly – it’s your blog.

And why the hell aren’t we supporting each other?

I celebrate other bloggers’ successes not tear them down.

(Sorry, can you tell I don’t do well with nasty comments?)

Monthly Blogging Income Report from September 2016

These numbers are for cash received during the month.

In my bookkeeping reports, I choose “cash basis” instead of “accrual” to get these numbers.

So, it doesn’t include work done during the month unless they pay right away.

Many networks pay 60-90 days so money can come in from work done months ago.

September Blogging Income

• Sponsored Posts:
  • Linqia: $10.00 (Referral income)
  • Wolf Best Buy: $250.00 – Paid in gift cards.
  • IZEA: $250.00
  • Other Sponsored Posts: $1,630.00
• Social Posts:
  • IZEA: $0
  • Other Social Posts: $100.00
• Twitter Parties: $400.00
• Affiliate Income:
  • Shareasale: $331.51
    • See how you can earn from two-tiered referral income.
  • Amazon Associates: $105.15 (Part of this is from Amazon CPM ads)
• Ad Networks:
  • The Blogger Network: $92.71 This is probably the last month for them since I switched to Mediavine for ads.
  • Marfeel: $21.54 – Mobile ads.
• Sidebar Widget: $300.00 – Paid in gift cards.
• JustSweep.com: $85.00 – My giveaway directory site.
• Shelley’s Income: $1,575.00 – What Shelley made through the blog on her own.

Income Total: $5,150.91

September Blogging Expenses

• Photoshop/Lightroom: $10.61
• Virtual Assistant: $80.00
• The Hungry Jpeg: $13.50 – Fonts and graphics.
• ConvertKit: $29.00 – Newsletter.
• CoPromote: $49.00 – Promote social shares. There’s a free version, as well.
• ManageFlitter: $12.00 – Manage Twitter followers.
• Jaaxy: $49.00 – Tool I use for SEO keyword research.
• United States Treasury: $440.00 – Estimated taxes to soften the blow come tax time.
• WiredTree: 625.95 – Blog hosting fee for my dedicated server. I pay quarterly.
• Shelley: $165.74 – What I paid my sister directly.

Total Expenses: $1,474.80

Net Income: $3,676.11

I added Shelley’s income like last month.

The income total includes what the blog made as a whole.

Subtract Shelley’s direct income and it’s $2,101.11.

Last month I said the remainder was what I made personally, but that’s not entirely true.

That money stays in the business bank account.

What I can realistically withdraw for myself to pay the household bills is not the same number.

Take that a step further and realize that $550 of that total is gift cards, which are fabulous, but do not pay the bills.

What I Learned from this Report

This report scares me.

Since I made the decision to be self-employed, I have been in a constant state of worry when it comes to finances.

This report tells me that’s valid.

However, it also makes sense since we rebranded and made some major changes.

Also, a lot of payments in September would be from June work, which is a slow month.

This dip in income is just another reminder to save money when you have a really good month.

On another note, Shelley and I are focused on doing a lot more than just sponsored work.

We have started to open up and get a lot more personal on the blog.

It’s a great feeling and makes us finally feel like a “real” blog. LOL

That in itself has value.

If you post a blogging income report, please let me know.

I’d love to read it, or maybe even link up!