If you’re new here I’ve posted income reports ever since I started this blog, four years ago. I initially had goals of making a few hundred dollars per month and then slowly growing that amount. Luckily, that’s what I’ve been able to do.
In 2012 I decided that earning money online was going to be the only way I could create the life I wanted living in a small town with no good job options. I dove in head first and started trying things out. I’ve failed at sooo many different things and have had great successes with others.
As of now I earn an income through being a freelance writer, virtual assistant, and blogger. (And yes, I know how crazy that sounds to most people!)
September 2016 Online Income Report
Last month I talked about how my income has been stagnant for a while. This month it’s a little different…it dropped.
It’s no surprise to me though. A month and a half ago I reduced the amount of ads on the site and instead have looked to make that income elsewhere. The ad income drop is reflected this month but next month my income should go back up, just in different areas.
For September I earned $6,428.63
The income broke down like this:
- Ad Networks – $2,503.14
- Affiliate Commissions – $2,425.49
- Freelance Income – $1,200
- Sponsored Post – $300
My expenses for the month came in at $853.63. Taxes are approximately $1,505.25. This makes “take home pay” $4,069.75.
Recommended Blogging Tools
If you’re wondering what tools I recommend for blogging, here’s a list:
Domains and Web Hosting –Bluehost. If you’re interested in blogging but haven’t yet started you can get hosting from Bluehost for as little as $2.95 per month PLUS a free domain name when you go through this link which is just for my readers. If you need help getting set up you can find a step by step tutorial here.
Social Media Scheduling – For Pinterest I use Tailwind. I started using this about a year ago with great results. Tailwind is affordable and super easy to use. You can get a free month of Tailwind with this link.
I’m also subscribed to Hootsuite as I used to use this for scheduling my virtual assistant clients Twitter accounts. I still use it for mine. Although, truth be told I don’t really love it and could probably do without.
For Facebook I just use the built in Facebook scheduler.
Bookkeeping – GoDaddy Bookkeeping. I absolutely love this bookkeeping software. You can read my full review here.
Photos – I find a good majority of my photos on Pexels. This site is free with copyright free images. If I can’t find one there I’ll buy an image off of 123rf.com or look for one on Haute Chocolate which I also have a subscription to.
I use PicMonkey to edit all of my photos.
Best Blogging Course – Elite Blog Academy. If you’re looking for the best blogging course I highly recommend Elite Blog Academy. It is expensive but it was what helped me go from a couple thousand dollars per month to at least $5k per month. (Join the waiting list or read my review here.)
Looking at Your Personality to Earn More
One thing I’ve recently been interested in is personality profiling in relation to business/career. Specifically, there are many areas where I’ve been struggling and it has a lot to do with being a “jack of all trades” and dealing with things I don’t like doing. (Like the constant influx of advertising requests, paperwork and phone calls that need to go along with these things.)
You need to know yourself in order to grow. I know that I personally can get bored with something really easily or distracted by the list of things I “should” be doing but have no interest in. And it’s not just that I don’t like doing some of these things it’s also that I’m horrible at them!
I am good at strategy and planning but can be bad at executing many of the tasks that are part of my plan.
Thinking of all this I felt reassured when I took the Sixteen Personalities test and got some reassurance when my results matched up to my problems. (I’m an INTJ. You can take the test for free here.)
The test plus all the thoughts floating around in my head have inspired me to find someone locally who can spend a few hours per week doing all the things that I hate doing but that they are good at and enjoy doing.
So, personality profiling – just some food for thought in case you’re feeling stuck or bored and want to read some insight into why you do the things you do.
Getting Started Online
Maybe you’ll take the personality test and see what type of jobs suit you the best. In case any of those are work from home or online jobs here are some posts that can help…
- 50 Legit Work From Home Jobs
- How to Make Money Blogging
- Work at Home Typing Jobs
- 5 Ways to Make Money with Amazon
How was your September? Also, if you’ve ever taken a personality test did you find the results helpful?
Hi Alexa, thanks for sharing your income report!
Outsourcing things that you don’t enjoy is a great idea. Then you can free up time for the thing you want to do. Is there a reason you’re looking for someone local versus a virtual assistant?
Yeah, I think I would personally do better having someone sit with me a few hours per week so I can better explain what I want done, bounce around ideas, etc. Also, I’d like to have someone locally handle all advertising and I’d just feel comfortable being face to face with that person.
I do appreciate virtual assistants but for what I need I think a few hours per week face to face will benefit me the most 🙂
Oh great idea on outsourcing tasks you don’t like to do. I think that’s one of the best ways to enjoy the business you are running. My September was down too!
Boo for Septembers lol. Hopefully our Octobers will be back up!
Good for you !
~ C
Thanks 😉
I’m an INTJ as well. I’m a Project Manager which is the perfect job for me. I’m also great at planning and strategy, and leave the large portion of executing that to my team, while I take care of everything else!
thanks for sharing about income report, this will help. and also I found this cool promotion of a $200 gift card. I seriously need this so I thought I’d share it with you too
https://gleam.io/KLkQv/spa-wellness-gift-card-giveaway
Thank you for sharing!
It’s great to be able to work on our goals together encouraging each other as a network of bloggers on a mission. I think you made some good points and I even checked out the personality test. That’s great you decided to get some help with some of the more tedious brings you boredom kind of tasks. You are still going strong. Great job!
Thank you so much for sharing income report. Very useful information.
Thanks for sharing your income report. As a full-time romance author and now a part-time blogger, one of the biggest struggles I have is income fluctuations. When I release a new book, I get an influx of money and then other months are lower. It evens out over the year. Thank goodness I learned to sock away the funds for “rainy days”. Oh, and self-employment taxes are the worst. 🙂
Oh they are! I hate self employment taxes. They’re such a bummer!
Congratulations Alexa! You’re doing great work! As a fellow single mom, I’m very proud of you. Keep up the great work!
Thank you!
Hi Alexa! I followed your blog in the past and just rediscovered it! So cool that you took a personality test I did the SAME thing earlier this year bc I couldn’t figure out why it was a lot harder for me to make certain move in business than other people. Totally worthwhile. I feel a lot less hard on myself now and able to use it to my advantage. Awesome income report!