Welcome to my August 2019 Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way!
View all of my income reports here!
Important things that happened in August
- I decided to stop taking 1:1 web design clients for at least 6 months, maybe longer.
- I continued working on my “Jumpstart Your Website Traffic” evergreen course.
- I released a private member podcast for my Website Marketing Lab Students.
- I moved all my websites from my good ol’ Bluehost Shared Hosting to their WP Pro Optimize WordPress hosting.
- I booked a photographer to get new brand photos taken for the first time since 2016!
- I redesigned my Website Marketing Lab, Web Designer Academy + individual courses dashboards.
“The how presents itself once the commitment is made.” Corrine Crabtree
Review of my goals
My target revenue goal is $15,000 a month.
My minimum baseline is to make around $2500 to cover my normal monthly expenses, I set aside $2500 a month for taxes, I pay myself $5,000 a month and I want to build up a reserve so that I can invest in my team, give myself a raise, have a cushion to cover the ebbs and flows of revenue and eventually cover my husband’s salary.
So my minimum baseline is $10,000 a month, and as I mentioned in my income report last month, I want to hit that first $15,000 month by March of 2020.
So with that, here’s how much money I made in August of 2019.
Total Revenue: $12,243.69
- Affiliate Income: $2381.30
- Courses: $3574.39
- Done For You & Consulting: $6288.00
Total Expenses: $1953.78
Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here.
Net Profit: $10,289.91
Biggest Lessons Learned
So I’d mentioned in my July income report that I’d cleared my schedule to work on content and that I only kept a few pre-scheduled meetings and blocked my calendar from anything else being scheduled.
And let me tell you, it felt like a vacation. Even though I worked every single day, weekends included, it did not feel like work at all.
It was invigorating.
Because I was making my own schedule, setting my own priorities, and having full control and flexibility over my days.
And that’s why I started this business in the first place!
If you’ve been around here any amount of time, you know that my business is about 50% scalable income through affiliate revenue and courses, and 50% time-for-money through consulting and 1:1 web design work.
And back in February and March, I’d gone through Nathalie Lussier’s AccessAlly advocate training to get certified to be listed on her website as someone approved by their company to build membership sites and online courses for their AccessAlly customers.
And that led to a TON of new client inquiries and opportunities to work on some really cool projects…
And also a ton of drama in my mind.
Because my calendar starting getting booked again with tons of meetings. I started waking up with major anxiety on all the things I had to get done that day.
I started working every evening and weekend and saying no to spending time with family and friends because I needed time to get my stuff done.
I’d had a few meetings with a potential client with a really big and lucrative project.
They had outgrown their current course platform and wanted to move to AccessAlly.
And just a side note to those of you who want to build an online course someday…
Consider starting on a platform that can grow with you. Plug and play platforms like Teachable and Thinkific are great for your budget when you’re starting out, but know that you’ll pay the piper when it comes time to move because it’s not easy. There’s a LOT of moving pieces involved.
Anyway, I had several meetings with this client to understand their needs and fully spec out their project and give them an estimate, and as I was calculating the number of hours it would take me, and then looking at my calendar to see where I’d fit this project in, I realized that in order to get it done in their requested timeline of 2 months one – it just wouldn’t be possible without me bringing on a team and getting them up to speed, two, I would have to press pause on my entire business for 2 months and focus exclusively on this client. And if I didn’t bring in help, I’d need to press pause on my business for 4 months.
And deep down in my gut, I didn’t want to do it. But I thought, “You know, I need to still give a proposal, and I just need to put a price on it that would make it worth it to me to do it. And then I just delay my Website Marketing Lab and Web Designer Academy launches, or I can just fit my stuff in on the evenings and weekends.”
And in that moment, I realized that I’d made the scalable revenue side of my business my side hustle, and prioritized the instant gratification and relief that comes with getting that first deposit from a client in my bank account.
It was the same fear that prevented me from quitting my day job in the first place.
Why do I keep telling myself that I want to grow the scalable revenue side of my business, the side that I love, that doesn’t feel like work, that gives me total freedom, and yet my actions are to continue to take on 1:1 clients and treat my stuff as my side hustle?
So I made the decision to let this particular client know that I wouldn’t be submitting a proposal because I wouldn’t be able to meet their timeline and give their project the undivided attention it would need to be successful.
I updated my sales page for my 1:1 web design package to notify people that I’m not accepting projects until February of 2020 and directed them to my Web Designer Academy Expert Directory.
I updated my Acuity Scheduling availability to accept consultations to 1 hour a week (and after a conversation with Rana Rosen in Episode 249, I realized that by doing that, I left the door cracked open JUST a little bit to breaking my commitment to myself.
And then I did last week’s interview with Amy Eaton, Episode 251, all about her journey from freelance photographer, trading her time for money to creating a massively successful online course teaching makers how to take photos of their products.
It was an amazing interview. We talked about how you have to be crystal clear on what you want, and how we both wanted freedom more than anything else and that’s why we do what we do.
And then she said that she made the decision to stop taking clients so that she could focus on growing her scalable revenue, and when she got inquiries, she’d say “I’m not taking any new clients right now…” and to me, those sounded like magical words. I’d never thought of saying them before.
Because it still leaves the option open for me to make a different decision should I want to.
And then she said something at the end of our interview about how she had to stop playing small.
You can go back and listen to it – it was SO GOOD, but in that moment I realized that by continuing to accept 1:1 web design clients so that I didn’t have to feel the fear of maybe not making enough money – I was playing small.
By not going all in on the scalable income side of my business and always having one foot in client work and one foot in my courses, I’m keeping myself safe. I’m staying small and not taking any risks.
I’ve been crystal clear on what I’ve wanted from the moment I started this business, but I keep cheating on my dream every time I accept a new client project.
So in August, I made a decision.
I’m not taking any new clients right now.
I worked on finishing up the ones I have, and I started sending new inquiries to my Web Designer Academy grads who are listed in my expert directory.
And starting in September, I’m focusing exclusively on marketing my Free 5 Day Website Challenge, my free Jumpstart your Website Traffic Mini Course, and opening the doors to my Web Designer Academy twice a year instead of once, and doing consistent promotions for my Website Marketing Lab.
It really feels like I quit my day job again. I’m cutting the cord and letting go of that security of the big payday to go all in on marketing myself and growing my audience.
And I’m 100% confident that I have the right system, strategies and support in place to do it.
So if you want to follow this new chapter of my journey, including all the wins and mistakes I make along the way, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you don’t miss an episode.
Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you right here next week with my guest Kim Wensel from the Pattern of Purpose Podcast all about how to pivot to find your purpose.
And if you need a website but have no idea how to get started, go to https://shannonmattern.com/5day and sign up for the 5 Day Website Challenge and learn how to create a website for your side hustle.
And if already have a website and you want to learn how to get traffic to it, go to www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com and sign up for my free 6-part mini-course that’ll walk you through how to get started getting targeted traffic to your website.
