Ep. 314: October Income Report

Speaker 1: Hey there. Shannon Mattern here and welcome to pep talks for side hustlers, a podcast that brings you a side hustle, success stories of motivation and actionable advice to help you go from side hustle to self-employed without taking a pay cut. Welcome to episode 314 of pep talks for side hustlers, which is my October, 2020 income report.

So every month I take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how I make it, how much I spend and all the lessons that I learned along the way. So I started my business back in 2014, doing freelance web design as a side hustle. I completely burnt myself out on that because I had no idea what I was doing. I completely undervalued myself. Um, I knew how to build websites, but I did not know how to manage projects, manage clients, get content on time, say no charge properly, all of that stuff. So I was like, this is not working, but I still want to figure out how to start my own business so that I can quit my day job and have the freedom of flexibility and financial independence that I craved. So I decided I was gonna teach people how to do it themselves instead because I used WordPress. I loved WordPress.

Speaker 2: I knew how, um, DIY and beginner friendly it was, but there was just no good training out there for it. So I decided to create my own and I created it. I, um, decided to give it away for free in exchange for an email address. And I make money on that through affiliate commissions, uh, for the products and services like web hosting and themes and things like that, that I recommend in side of the challenge. So if you need to build a website for your side hustle or, you know, someone who does, you can get your hands on that@www.free five day website, challenge.com, sign up for that free training. And I'll walk you through how to build your website, uh, from start to finish. So that's how I got my start back in 2014. And then, um, my, my DIY students were like, well, how do I get traffic to my site?

Speaker 2: How do I market myself online? How do I, what do I do with this traffic that I, um, that I'm getting once I have it, how do I actually sell my stuff? So I started teaching people how to do that. And so I started teaching them how to, how I was marketing myself online without relying on ads, without being on social media, um, all of that stuff. And so if you want to learn more about how I do that, I have a free training for you called how to market yourself online, which you can get@howtomarketyourselfonline.com. So after, you know, teaching people how to market themselves online after earning affiliate commissions through the five day challenge, I also started teaching web designers how to market themselves and get clients and run projects and, and run a profitable web design business because, um, throughout all of people started asking me like, Hey, it's great that you want to teach me how to DIY, but I don't want to DIY will you do my website for me?

Speaker 2: And I was like, ah, that's weird that you want me to do it for you when I'm teaching you how to do it for free. Um, but they didn't want to do it. There are so many people out there that no matter how much free training there is out there, they just don't want to do it themselves. And there's a huge, huge market for web designers out there, but they get burnt out just like I did because they don't have systems. They don't charge enough. Um, you know, I now understand that all of the things that I went through back in the day are so extremely normal. Um, and I created a training, uh, to help web designers actually work through all of that stuff so that they can run profitable, um, fun, rewarding, uh, businesses. And so if you are a web designer, uh, you can find that training at start a freelance web design, biz.com, all that.

Speaker 2: Stuff's also linked up at the show notes - shannonmattern.com/314. And if you're listening to this in Apple podcasts, all you have to do is just like scroll up on this episode. And they're all right there on your phone.

And before I dive into October, 2020 numbers, if you are listening on Apple podcasts and you haven't yet left me a rating and review, I would. So, so, so appreciate you taking the time to do that. Um, you can just go to Shannon modern.com forward slash review. It will take you in iTunes to the, or Apple podcasts now to the exact place, to just leave a rating and review. It means the world to me. Um, those help me get in front of more people that are searching for podcasts to help them grow their business. So, uh, Apple's algorithm likes rating and ratings and reviews on shows.

Speaker 2: So that just helps me, um, get in front of more people that need like the real story about how to grow your business from $0 without going into debt, without spending money on ads. And that's really what I share in this podcast. You know, my own journey from starting at zero, not running ads, not going into debt to grow the business. And also all of this, like so many different stories of other, uh, side hustlers who have gone to self-employment and how they did it. Everybody has a different story. You're going to find one, that's going to resonate with you. So like I said, I break down my numbers once a month, every month, um, on this, uh, on this, on the podcast. And so I love to start out with like the baseline. So after six years in business, actually, it's almost seven now, which is crazy.

Speaker 2: Is it six or seven? I started in 20, late 2014. So you can do the math on that. But my minimum baseline revenue that I shoot for every single month is $15,000. That's how much money I need to bring in to pay myself. I pay myself two paychecks of $3,000 each on the, on the 15th and the 30th of every month to pay my business expenses, to pay my team members and to pay for mentorship, um, and taxes to pay taxes. So that's, that's that number that I need to hit in order to cover all of that. Now I did not start there. I remember having my first $5,000 a month, which took many, many months and thinking, Oh my gosh, okay. Like I cannot believe I made this much money in one month. That's crazy that my first $10,000 a month, that my first $15,000 a month, then my first, like almost a $20,000 a month.

Speaker 2: And just having those firsts, um, I started at zero. I started at $0. I started at zero email list subscribers, zero traffic to my website. And, um, I, I figured it out. I figured it out all along the way. And you can too, and it doesn't have to take you as long as it took me because like, I did not pay for mentorship. Like I refused. I was so stingy with my money. I refuse to pay for mentorship. And so I had to learn all my lessons the hard way I had to learn them all by thinking, I knew what I was doing, going, taking action, making mistakes, um, figuring out that I needed to do something different and try to do something different. So I still learned a lot of the lessons, but there were so many lessons that I could not have learned without paying for mentorship.

Speaker 2: And now that is a very important part of my budget is, um, making sure that I have the money to pay for the help that I need to get, where I want to be. Like, I'll talk a little bit more about this. But the biggest lesson that I have learned is like to stop trying to figure this all out on my own. Um, you know, I love problem solving, but I do not need to figure it all out on my own. That's the frustrating, long, hard way to go. So, you know, it it's, I could put the same effort that I put in, uh, trying to figure it all out on my own to implementing tried and true strategies that work, that my coaches are teaching me and I will go so much farther, so much faster. So anyway, I can't yet dive into my numbers for October, 2020, because unlike every other income report, I haven't run them yet.

Speaker 2: So I have to say old habits die hard. If you've listened to my previous income reports, you know, that I have some lingering issues around my money mindset and the way that I normally structure these income reports is that I will like run my numbers like the first week of the month. And I'll figure out the revenue, the expenses, the net profit at all, like categorize everything out. And then I'll, um, write the income report and I'll write the intro. And I'll sh and then I'll write all the lessons, like all the things that happened that month and all the lessons that I learned. And then after I write that whole thing, then I record the podcast episode. So it's getting to a point in October where I have to get this, uh, income report finished to keep on schedule with our podcast production schedule.

Speaker 2: And so I'm like, I I'm gonna start writing this, but I don't have my numbers done yet. And I felt like I had a really good excuse, right. I was like, Oh, we just moved. We just moved into our new house. You know, I just took two weeks off, quote, unquote, I'm doing air quotes right now. You can't see me. Um, but we, I just took two weeks off for this move. And you know, I've got to get all this stuff done before I can look at my numbers, but like I said, old habits die hard. I have some money mindset issues. And I was like, okay, Shannon, you have got to, um, log into your accounts and download the transactions for October to like prep for this income report. And as I was like doing that, I was like, I don't know if I want to see this.

Speaker 2: I feel like October, wasn't that great of a month. I know my credit card bill was pretty high and I don't feel like I saw that much revenue come through. And I know I paid out a lot to affiliates this month and I started feeling this dread and it was almost like the dread that I feel sometimes when I'm stepping on the scale, when I know I've been slacking on my planning, my food, and I've been overeating and overdrinking, and not managing my mind around it. And if you're like, what is she talking about? I'm in this, um, weight loss program called the no BS weight loss program with Corrine Crabtree. Life-changing amazing. Go check out her podcast, losing 100 per pounds with Corrine. One of the main reasons I started this business was to, uh, because I had this false belief that I didn't have enough time to do healthy things for myself, um, like workout and eat well.

Speaker 2: And if I just didn't have this day job, uh, taken up all my time, then I would be able to finally lose the weight. Well, I started the business to replace the day job and magically, I did not start spending more time on, uh, the things that I needed to do to lose weight. Um, and then, you know, like most people who are overweight their whole life, um, you know, you just start to think, well, maybe this is, you know, maybe this is my destiny. Maybe I can't lose weight. Maybe it's genetics, maybe it's this. Um, and then I came across Krenz podcasts, losing a hundred pounds and it was like, Oh, it's just how I think it's how I'm, it's my mindset. It's my thoughts. Um, all of that stuff. And so I started following her plan and, Oh my gosh, I weigh, like I lost 40 pounds, 30 pounds, 40 pounds so far.

Speaker 2: Um, I have about 15 more that I want to lose. And, uh, imagine that, and it's easy and I'm not like doing any crazy like keto or anything like that, which I used to do all the time. Um, so anyway, it's almost like me. So I'm going to like look at my numbers and it's almost like how I feel when I'm like, Oh, I don't want to step on the scale. I just don't want to see it. And it's because I'm not managing my mind around it. It's like, it doesn't mean I'm a lazy slacker. If I gained a few pounds, it means that I need to figure out why I'm not doing what I know I need to be doing and start with the low-hanging fruit. So anyway, here's why I think this is coming up. This me not wanting to look at October's numbers.

Speaker 2: Like I was just like, I'm sitting here. I am about to like, pull these numbers together and I'm having this dread and I'm like, I've got to talk about this. I'm just going to pull up the October income report doc and start writing. And as I'm writing this, I'm standing in the kitchen of my new house. And it's been 13 days since we moved out of our old house and into our camper to await construction, to be complete, like it was 95% complete when we had to move out of our old house. And I am so grateful that we bought our camper as a wedding gift to each other back in 2012 when we got married, because it's so much more convenient to be just parked, like in my side yard right now and using the house, even if we're not living it. But we finally were able to move in.

Speaker 2: And, um, you know, I'm standing in the kitchen of my new house. And yesterday I was standing in this exact same spot and I had a spreadsheet open and I was like pulling together the final numbers for the house. So we closed on the old house and sold that. And I was like pulling together all the numbers. And this part might be super boring to some of you. Uh, so you may want to fast forward, but I'm going to share it anyway. Um, because we wanted to stay in our old house while building the new one. We didn't want to like sell it, move into an apartment, wait, you know, live in the apartment until the new house was done and like moved twice and everything that comes with that. And one of the reasons for that was the numbers work out better if we didn't have to do that financially.

Speaker 2: But also because I run this business from home and it's a significant portion of our livelihood. And I wanted to keep that consistency to keep the business uninterrupted, especially in 20 where there's the COVID pandemic and everything that's going on, but we needed the equity out of our current house to use as a down payment to build the new house. So we ended up doing a blanket loan where we borrowed against the value of our, uh, of our old house, the land that we'd bought back in 2018 to build a new house on and the value of the new construction. So I talk about this in past income reports. If you want to go all the way back to 2018, where I'm like, Hey, we bought some land, um, you totally could go back and listen to that. But basically we put every asset that we owned up for collateral and rolled it up into one big, massive, giant loan to pay for building this house.

Speaker 2: Like the amount of this loan just gave me sticker shock. It's more money than I like ever would have thought in my life. And someday I'll look back on it and be like, Oh, isn't that cute? You thought that was a lot of money. Like you make that in a year now, but I am not quite there yet. It seemed like a lot of money to like sign the paperwork, um, and be like, really like, we're borrowing this much money, like who in their right mind would let us borrow that much money, but Hey, they do their due diligence. I guess they thought we were good for it. But anyway,

Speaker 3: So we signed those loan documents

Speaker 2: Two weeks into the pandemic shutdown. So I talk about that decision back in episode 284, my March, 2020 income report. And it was not a decision that was made lightly. It was made in full awareness of the fact that like, there's a pandemic. The world is shut down. But ultimately I decided like, no matter what, if my business tank to Floyd lost his job, all of our money disappeared, we lost our current house, our land, our new home

Speaker 3: House. We'd be okay. Yeah,

Speaker 2: No, I was talking to my, I was talking to my dad about it. Like, I don't know if we should do this. I, maybe we should wait. And he's like, he's like, it would take a long time for you to lose everything. And I know you and you would never let it happen. So, you know, I think you should go for it. And then one of my friends was like, Oh my gosh, if you did lose everything, you could live in your camper in our driveway. And we would have a blast. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, that does sound like fun. Let's go for it. So there was a lot more to making the decision than that, but it really makes me think of this Chris Stapleton song that my husband and I have had on repeat, since it came out, we love Chris Stapleton. He's a country singer. If you don't know who he is, we got to meet him at a concert once. Um, but the song is called, starting over. And there's a quote from it that I love where he says, nobody wins afraid of losing. And the hard roads are the ones worth choosing someday. We'll look back and smile and know it was worth every mile. So I would sing that for you, but you would like, your ears would start

Speaker 3: To bleed. But

Speaker 2: I just love that. I love that quote, like nobody wins afraid of losing and the hard roads are the ones worth choosing, so

Speaker 3: We'd go for it.

Speaker 2: Right. And so everything like that was back in March. It is now October. Um, we're waiting on a few things to be finished with the house and we are, um, we're like about to move in. I'm standing in the kitchen, I'm pulling together the final numbers. Like what was the final cost for construction of this house? What did we net after selling the old house? How much do we owe to pay off the blanket loan? How much rural our new mortgage be? How much do we have left? How much is in our savings? Like on one hand, like all the numbers were like pretty much exactly in line with what we would projected them to be. So that's awesome. No surprises. Like we did a good job, um, sticking to our budget. But on the other hand, I see that old scarcity thinking creeping in like, how much do we have leftover as if there's like never any more money come in coming in and we're going to run out and we're going to run out because I spent so much money on October and I probably didn't make enough money to offset it and my business and blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2: And this is, what's like running in the background of my brain in October. Like as I'm sitting down to run the numbers for this income report,

Speaker 3: And it's just so low

Speaker 2: Key back there that it's like making me feel dread to even look at the numbers. So it's just like,

Speaker 3: I

Speaker 2: Wanted to start writing this income report because I noticed that I was thinking this way, and I want you guys to know that, like, I don't have it all figured out all the time. Um, you know, I really don't and I, I'm just kind of sharing with you what's happening as, as I go and I freak myself out about stuff all the time. Um, and so I just, I was like, I just need to get all this out so that I can actually do this income report. So I needed to like tell you this so that I would actually legit run the numbers. Um,

Speaker 3: But the truth is like,

Speaker 2: You know, I think how much, how much do we have left over? It's like the truth is there's always more where that came from. I fully believe in the value of what I offer now. It wasn't always that way. I, but now I know my programs and trainings are transformational for the people that, um, that decided to join them. And I understand why it is imperative that I need to charge the right amount of money for them, regardless of whether I personally need the money or whether I don't need the money. And it's because the transformation only happens when there is risk on your part to make not succeeding, not an option. So let me say that again, the transformation only happens when there's enough risk on your part to make, not succeeding, not an option. And I think about like, you know, we didn't go into building this house lightly or, or, you know, that whole process of getting the blanket loan like lightly.

Speaker 2: It was like, that was enough risk for me to make, not succeeding, not an option. Like I would do whatever it takes to make that happen. And I think that this might be the biggest lesson I have learned. The second biggest lesson I've learned in 2020, if not in my entire business, it's that the amount of money you charge for your programs and services is completely unrelated to how much money you want, want or need to make, or how much money you think your client can or can't afford. It's relative to their level of risk that your client needs to take to make failure, not an option for them and to get the transformation or result that they ultimately desire. So that's why it doesn't matter what my numbers are for October. And it doesn't matter how much is left over from the sale of the house.

Speaker 2: I know that no matter what I will make it happen, I know that money is a flow. I know that more is on the way and not in like this. Woo. I just sit here and visualize it and it appears kind of way, but in a very practical, I know exactly what actions to take to make more money. And I know that if I don't do these things, I don't make more money. And I, if I do do these things, I do make more money. And I also know what actions to take that are going to plant the seeds for more money later, even if they don't resolve an immediate money. And so I know all of this, but sometimes I just need to remind myself, I know that when I'm like avoiding doing my income reports, something's going on there, that I need to like dig into.

Speaker 2: And if you avoid looking at numbers in your business, I invite you to think about what is going on there that you don't want to look at and that you don't want to think about. And I even think about like thinking, Oh gosh, my credit card bill this month was high quote, unquote, those things that I spent money on were not frivolous in my business. They were deliberate investments in the future of my company. That just makes me think of that quote. Nobody wins afraid of losing. Like I have been keeping myself small in a lot of different ways, um, because I'm afraid of losing or I'm afraid of something. But, um, but because I'm failing ahead of time by doing that, or I'm, I'm cutting off the opportunity ahead of time. Um, I'm losing ahead of time. So

Speaker 3: I need to stop doing that. So

Speaker 2: That's my little pep talk for myself. I am done with that. I'm gonna pause this podcast recording and go run my numbers, be,

Speaker 3: Be right back. Okay.

Speaker 2: I'm back. I have done my numbers. And just as I suspected, they were lower in October than in the previous few months, which is O K like some of the revenue in previous months was way higher than expected. It all evens out. Um, but I just, I need to manage my mind around it sometimes. And I think it's just the, you know, conversion or the intersection of like the transition with the house and different things like how, and, and bringing on team members and just different things that had me freaked out, which it is what it is, you know, and I'm just going to keep moving forward. So let's dive in to those numbers for October, 2020. So my total revenue was $13,888 and 56 cents, which is what about $1,100 shy of that $15,000, uh, benchmark? So my affiliate income was $3,356 and 54 cents, which is pretty well in line with, with normal.

Speaker 2: Um, my site in a snap templates, $3,960 and 35 cents. That's my half that I get to keep of the total sales after paying out my partner, Kristen Rappaport, who is amazing. And Laura Comark, who does the divvy version of the templates. Um, so that's, that's my take after that, um, my courses 4,900, $5 and 67 cents. And that is pretty much just, um, recurring subscription payments for those. I did not make offers for my courses and get, I don't think I got any new students in October because I didn't try to get any new students in October. So we'll talk a little bit more about that later. Um, but that has an impact on my revenue. Um, one-on-one work in consulting $0, cause I don't do that anymore. And I really needed to just remove that line item off this income report and my tech masterclass bundle, um, $1,666, which is just an upsell that I offer people after they, um, by citing a snap, I'm like, Hey, do you also want to get your hands on 20 tech trainings for $49?

Speaker 2: Um, and it's something that's really only available, uh, to people that purchase other, other things. And sometimes I promote it separately and all that. So that was $1,666. So that all added up to $13,888 and 56 cents in revenue. So my total expenses or investments as they like to call them because they do bring me more money. Um, they don't just cost and not have a, have a return tools that I use to run my business. These are things like web hosting, um, you know, like all co everything and you can get a full breakdown of everything that I, uh, use to run my business. If you go to Shannon maddern.com forward slash three one four, um, there's a link in that revenue and investments section to a spreadsheet that shows you everything. Since I started tracking it publicly in 2018, so that was $1,288 and 90 cents just in tools that I used to run my business training, coaching and mentorship, 1675, like I said, that's just a super important part of my business to me is investing in, um, making sure that I have the right, uh, education, but it mindset and peers and mentors to get where I want to go, which I'll talk about where I want to go.

Speaker 2: Um, a little bit later, my team, that's a significant increase, 1813, $1,813. I think it's generally around 750 in October. I really, uh, was like, I need more help if I'm going to get where I wanna go, I need more help. And you'll hear me talk about that a little bit more in, um, upcoming interviews, uh, in episode three, 15 and three 16 in the next couple of weeks, um, about, you know, investing in help and building a team and then affiliate payouts $555 and 98 cents. This is money to my affiliate partners who promote my free five day website challenge. They basically promote all my free stuff. And then when people, their referrals make a purchase, they earn a commission, which is awesome. And I've had this thing where like, shouldn't, I just be spending that money on Facebook ads, but I'd rather have people in my community make that money, then give it to Facebook.

Speaker 2: I'm just like, I can't, I still haven't wrapped my mind around, like when will it be worth it for me to give Mark Zuckerberg more money? Like I can't, I just can't get there. Um, maybe that's me making it harder on myself. I don't know, but we'll see. We'll see. I just kind of have this. Sometimes I just have these really strong, um, opinions about things that are kind of out there. And one of those things is just like paying for ads with a company with these big, I love tech, don't get me wrong. And when I say big tech, I'm not saying that they're evil, but, and I don't think that they are, but I also just have this like, ah, there's just something a little off about social media. I don't know. Anyway, I guess maybe that's why I don't spend a whole lot of time on it, but so I'll get off of that tangent here for a second, but just like I thought, Oh, my net profit, $8,555 and 60 cents out of which I pay myself $6,000.

Speaker 2: Um, so that leaves $2,555 and 60 cents, which is going to go straight to taxes. So I pretty much broke even, um, in October, which is fine. Like, I'm good with that. Like, that's, that's good. Good with me. Like I'm not in the hole, so it's all good. So just like I thought my revenue was less than $15,000. And like I said, what was different in October from previous months is that I did not send out any emails, inviting people to watch my free trainings and that then invite them to join my programs. I didn't like launch anything new. I did one flash sale for sight in a snap, but I didn't like promote anything. Like the previous couple of months, I was like, Ooh, I have this tech master class bundle. Like I didn't really make any offers in October. And so that was the biggest difference.

Speaker 2: And I didn't do any partnerships like I had done in September with, with Casey Morris. So that was kind of like a month of like, here's how much money comes in if you don't really do anything, which that's good to know. And I don't want to keep not doing things, but like, that's, that's good to know that like I can take my foot off the gas and still break even. Um, I don't think I could do that sustainably for many months. Um, but I certainly can do it when I'm doing something as important as, uh, selling my house, packing up the whole house and moving when you have a husband that is like, Oh no, we don't hire movers. We're too proud to do that. We are moving everything ourselves. And I'm like, but I'm 40, I'm almost 41 years old. And I want to not be moving my own boxes.

Speaker 2: I feel like I have earned in my old age to not have to move, but he is just like, when you stopped doing things for yourself, like he's just that have that mindset. And I'm like, okay, cool. Like we'll do it all ourselves. And I'm glad I did because I got to do it on my own timeframe, but it took a lot of time and I took some time off and um, all that good stuff. So let's talk about it. Like what happened in October? So one of the first things that I did, um, in the month of October's on the first I did this thing called the immunity to change workshop and my new friend, Alicia st. Germain hosted this, uh, this workshop, which was a total game changer. She walks you through this process of figuring out, like, what is this underlying belief or assumption that you have that is preventing you from getting what you really want?

Speaker 2: And so one of the things that we were talking about is, um, you know, I, I want to, uh, I have, I want to grow my business, right. But I, I felt still felt super wishy-washy about like, do I want to grab my business? Do I not? Do I just want to like, slow down and enjoy what I have? Um, what would it mean for me to make more money? What I turned into an entitled snob, if I had more money, um, you know, all of this mindset stuff. But one of the things that we worked on is, you know, I need to let go of tasks that are my strength, so that, um, so that we can, um, uh,

Speaker 3: So that we can let go of tasks that are my strengths so that I can

Speaker 2: Do more of the things that I need to do to, to make money. So we had that workshop back on, uh, back in September, and then Alicia and I met for this thing called a honing session where she went through and we looked at like my big assumption, which is my big assumption is that if I make a lot of money, people won't like me basically, like people will talk behind my back. They won't like me, like all this stuff that kind of goes back to elementary school, right. When, um, you know, just that primal need to be liked and to fit in. And somewhere deep in my mind is buried this idea that like, if I make big money, that people won't like me. So we, um, had this honing session and she invited me to join her program. And I was like, yes.

Speaker 2: Um, because I'm all about putting myself in positions where I am being shown my limiting beliefs so that I can see them and understand them and work to overcome them. And all the work that Alicia does is all about that. So she's going to be coming up on the podcast. Um, in the next few months, we're doing some trainings, we're doing some exciting things together, but like so far, my experience with her has been a game changer. So that's how I kicked off the month of October is, um, really getting clear on what these beliefs that I have are that are, that are preventing me from, you know, really going all in. And, um, I was, as I was saying this, I was sitting here thinking, I bet that's why I think I'd rather give my money to affiliates than to Mark Zuckerberg, because I know that if I scale my business with ads, I'll make a lot of money and I'm afraid too, of what people will think of me if I make a lot of money.

Speaker 2: So anyway, interesting stuff. Um, another thing that I did in October was I met with my mastermind girls, um, by my friends who I met in Texas at a conference and we formed a mastermind together and we did our, our plan for 2020. So we put together, you know, what are all the things that we were proud of in 2020? Um, what are the things that we want to do for the rest of the year and, you know, and, and ongoing. And one of the things that kind of came out of that for me is that I want to, um, really equip my team to do all those things that I love to do, but I should not be doing. And so what that meant for me is, um, you know, developing my, my SOP is my standard operating procedures, getting all of that written down and then just like getting, asking people to help me, like these team members that I've brought on now, it's time to start delegating.

Speaker 2: Like they are smart, smart women. They don't need me to tell them, like click by click, by click, how to do this thing that I want them to do. Um, and so it was just a matter of like, just hand it over and then let them ask me the questions and I will answer them and we will get it figured out. And I've got to tell you since I started doing that, Oh my gosh. Like the amount of time that I have has freed up, it's just such a relief to know that I've got like these powerhouse women backing me up. It is. It's amazing. So, um, so that was one of the things that kinda came out of my mastermind is like for, um, Q4 of 2020, I wanted to, um, I wanted to transition these things that I've been doing off of my plate so that I could focus on moving and getting established and, um, and all of that.

Speaker 2: And then one of the other things that I wanted to do, which I have decided not to do was to, I've been working on a rewrite of my web designer Academy training. This is the best program I have ever put together. Um, it's amazing. My web designer Academy students, current students have gotten, uh, access to the new program. They are just like, this is mind blowing. This is, you know, a game changer. They, they are like, man, I thought the other one was good. This one is amazing. And I'm like, yes, like check the box. Like that is the reaction that I wanted. So what I was going to do is launch it in, uh, in October. And I don't know why I thought I could also like sell my house and move and launch a brand new program. Sometimes I, uh, think I am superwoman.

Speaker 2: But, um, so I was, I was like, okay, I'm going to do this. And then I get on a coaching call in my accelerator program. So I'm in this program called the accelerator with Morag cause, and I'm like, Hey, so I want to launch this program and we're talking and she's like, Oh, she's like, you've structured a high ticket program. And that program doesn't get sold the same way that you sell it. Now it gets sold completely differently. And I would like you to consider, um, joining my high ticket hybrid program so that you can learn how to offer this as a high ticket program, because you are doing yourself and your clients a disservice by selling it at this lower price point. And I was like, Ooh, you know what, you're right. Because I really have started to believe in this. Um, I know it's true for myself.

Speaker 2: I don't just believe it because someone else has told me it's true for myself that the more money I invest in something, the more committed that I am and the bigger results that I get, I have seen this time and time again. And that's what I want for my web designer Academy students, you know, I want them to, um, you know, feel like they are so committed to the process and I want to be able to give them even more of myself. And in order for me to give them more, I need to have a team. And in order to pay my team, I need to charge more. And so it's just all the way around, better for all of us. So I'm going to be relaunching the web designer Academy, but it's going to be at a way bigger price point than I've ever, uh, offered it before.

Speaker 2: And I'm extremely thrilled about that. I'm not even nervous about it. I feel like it's like finally the right thing to do. And, um, and so I'm so glad that I did not move forward with, uh, the soft launch of it in, in October, like I had planned. I'm so glad I spoke with this is the thing, what I would do before is like, just move forward with something and not ask the people who, who are the experts for help. I'm like, I'm paying for access to these experts. Why am I not asking for help? It's because I'm impatient. I want to do stuff right now. I want to get it done. And I was like, no, no, no, you need to slow down. And he needed to get on this coaching call and you need to ask for some advice from the experts and lo and behold, my whole way of thinking about what I was gonna do was gonna keep me stuck, right where I am.

Speaker 2: And so that's going to be happening. The relaunch of that's going to be happening. Um, in November, December, by the time he listened to this episode, the doors on the current program are probably going to be closed, um, to prepare for this transition, which I am so excited about. And then I'll be like retooling some of my things for, um, some of my offerings for 2022 to like get my product suite, um, lined up. So another thing that came out of that mastermind that we did on, uh, at the very beginning of October is my email list goal. So right now I'm at 5,000 subscribers. I want to double that in the next year. So I want to increase to 10,000 subscribers. I'm going to do that through, um, strategic partnerships through my podcast, um, through a virtual summit and just that's, that's what I, that's how I'm gonna grow my list this year.

Speaker 2: Just doing the same things that I've been doing, but more of them, because I can, because I have a team, which is awesome. And then by September of 2021, I want to double my monthly revenue. So I want to have my first $40,000 month. So that's what I said back in October of the, like in the early days of October, I was like, Oh, first $40,000 a month. So many things happened in October that I'm like, why not just go for my first $80,000 a month because it's $80,000 a month that, uh, make a million dollar business in a year. Which like, I can't even believe that I'm saying this, but I think I've decided not, not. I think I have decided to go all in to growing this business to a million dollar business. And I have never said that before. I feel a little trepidation even saying publicly on this podcast, but I have been like, so wishy-washy about like, what is that next big dream?

Speaker 2: Right. I talked about how my friend Nellie who's in my Columbus change agents mastermind challenged me to, like, she told me, I outgrew my dream. I outgrew my dream and that's why I could not figure out what was next. And I was just like, do I really want a million dollar business? Do I want all that comes along with that? That seems really hard. That seems like something that I wouldn't really want. And so I was kind of like contemplating that, plus I have this big assumption, right? That like, if I make a lot of money, suddenly everyone that I, that loves me now will stop loving me, which is ridiculous. Like, it's just so crazy to me that I would, that I would think that, but Hey, you know, at least I know now that I have that operating in the background, preventing me from, you know, going for these, these big dreams.

Speaker 2: But so it October we're at our October mastermind. So, you know, we have this whole, I I've outgrown my dream conversation. And then Nelly was like, you know what? She was like, I'm going after growing my business to a million dollars in revenue in 2021, because 90% of all millionaires are men and screw that. And I was just like, what? I don't know if this status true. You guys, I did not check it out, but just even thinking about like 90% of all millionaires are men, even if that's not true, I don't know. But like, why not me? I was just sitting here thinking like, why am I feeling like so bad about wanting to make money? So greed, ISA, whatever. I just, I think that, like,

Speaker 3: I think about

Speaker 2: It in one way, but then I think about it in a completely different way where it's like, if I could go from starting a business that made $0 with zero email list subscribers, and I could chart the course for someone else

Speaker 3: To do that

Speaker 2: As well, to replace their income, then make their first six figures, then make $250,000 a year, then make half a million, then make a million. Why would I hold myself back from that journey

Speaker 3: To

Speaker 2: Prevent myself from being able to show someone else how to do that? You know, I feel like economic freedom is agency. Like I was talking to one of my friends the other day about this. I was like, the reason that I'm so happy that I have this business is that like, I get to opt out of the traditional, uh, corporate lifestyle where, when something happens in the world, like a pandemic or an election that's outcome is uncertain and, or the economy where we can, you know, when I have economic freedom where I know no matter what that not one person is in control of my income, I can like opt out of playing by those rules. I don't have to, I don't have to, to, um, be in that system. I can create a whole new set of rules to play by. And so I feel like that is what really drives me, is creating that economic freedom. It's what drives me to help other people that want that, um, to create that for themselves. And so why not go for it?

Speaker 3: Why not go for it? See, I will, I'm sure

Speaker 2: I will learn a lot all along the way. I will have to do a lot of hard work on myself to figure out why I'm so afraid of what people, why I'm so worried about what other people will think of me, whether that's for making a lot of money or not making enough money or all of this stuff. Like, why am I so worried about what people who I don't even know,

Speaker 3: Uh, think of me and if people think horrible things about me,

Speaker 2: Why would I care if I know that I'm in integrity with,

Speaker 3: To myself? So there's just a lot of work to do on that. And I think that's probably

Speaker 2: Probably the most important thing about like that. My next goal is to grow this business to a million dollars because you know, it's about who I'm going to become on the way to that goal and all of the things that I'm going to have to work through that I do not have to work through when all I want to do is replace my income. And all I want to do is, you know, make $20,000 a month versus $80,000 a month. Um, so it's, and then, you know, one of the things that I've been working on with my coach, Alicia inside of the, her profit accelerator is just really just owning what I want without justifying it, you know, without saying, Oh, I want to make a million dollars because it's all about the person that I will become along the way and the journey versus I want to make a million dollars because I want to, and I can, and I'm not quite there yet, but that would be the goal is to, is to, to get there.

Speaker 2: And just because I know me, I'm gonna do it in integrity. Um, I'm gonna, and I'm gonna do it in integrity because I want to show normal people who aren't just like me, who grew up with divorced parents. Middle-class, um, paycheck to paycheck life, no family money, no, nothing like literally made my own way. Um, from the moment I could get a job, um, you know, no parents paying for college, like none of this to being able to like build this house that I'm sitting in here, I'm recording this podcast episode. And it just, I do get a little emotional about it because

Speaker 4: Yes,

Speaker 2: It's just, it's important. And I think that it's, it's the, I know I can make anything happen that I want to make happen. And that is just so powerful. And I want anybody listening to this to know that they can do it too, um, that, that they really can, so I know I'm jumping around a lot, but typically I pre-write these income reports. Um, and this time I was like, you know what, I just want to dive in and, and go for it and talk about, um, talk about everything that happened. So, um, also in October, I, um, I moved, so I, we packed up our old house. We moved everything into the garage of our new house and lived in our camper for a couple of weeks. And that transition was really, really interesting. Um, I kept saying like, Oh, I would love to live in my camper and travel the world.

Speaker 2: It's like, no, not really. I I'm good. I'm good. After two of, of, uh, living in the camper, there's just logistics about that, that aren't that dreamy and glamorous, like, you know, Blackwater tanks, things like that. Um, but during that, uh, during, uh, living in the camper, I really like dove deep into planning out our side hustle to self-employed summit, which we're hosting in February, February 4th, through seventh 2021. One of the amazing things about this podcast is I've developed really great relationships with, with, um, a lot of the guests. And I made a list of 25 of them. I wish I could have asked every single one of them, cause they're all amazing, but I made a list of them and I was like, Hey, do you want to speak at my summit? And they were like, yep. And so for me to like get guests for, for my summit was so, so easy.

Speaker 2: And it's just like, it's amazing that, um, all of these people are going to come together for the collective benefit of, of you to really chart your course. Like I say, plan your roadmap to, um, replacing your day job income in 12 months or less like I want, I feel so strongly about you being able to have economic agency, um, and to not be worried about who's president, who's not president the economy, a pandemic. Um, so many things that we worry that are going to control that are going to affect our livelihood laws changing. I mean, that was one that was one for me that like a law in my state was going to change that would have basically put our business, our organization out of business. And, um, you know, there's, there's just so many things that I, I don't want your life to be in the hands of anybody, but you, and so I'm pulling together, uh, 20 to 25 people to, um, to share all of their best stuff with you over three days on what it takes to go from side hustle to self-employed like strategic tactical, um, inspirational motivational, all like basically this podcast on steroids, um, for, for three straight days and very actionable.

Speaker 2: So if you want to make sure you could get your free ticket for that go to side hustle to self-employed dot com. So another thing that I did in October is I decided that it was time to move my websites off of self hosted blue host, um, and on to WP engine. So if you know anything about web hosting or you've followed me for any amount of time, I recommend blue hosts, um, shared hosting, shared WordPress hosting to every person who signs up for my free five day website challenge, uh, to get their website started. And that's what I use to get my website started. And I became an affiliate for them, and I proudly, proudly, proudly promote them, um, to, to new, um, new DIY or as new entrepreneurs, people building their website. And I will never, I will never change that recommendation. I have had other, um, hosting companies contact me.

Speaker 2: I experimented with recommending a different hosting company alongside of Bluehost. Last year, didn't work out. They really were not as, um, not as good customer service, not as good price, not as good. Um, so I will wholeheartedly, um, recommend blue host, even though I have moved my sites to WP engine. And here's why I moved my sites to WP engine. Um, I have my courses site, so I have my free five day website challenge, my web designer Academy by website marketing lab, all of those, um, all of those courses. And I have about 10,000 students, um, in those courses. And the tech that is required for that is a database that has 10,000 records in it with a record of, you know, that student's account everything that they have access to everything that they've accessed, all of the content for all of the courses that I've created.

Speaker 2: Every single replay of my weekly live Q and A's is eight dry normous site. There's a lot of pages. There's a lot of content. There's a lot of files. There's just a lot. And I basically outgrew, um, blue hosts shared hosting. I noticed that my site was running pretty slow. I had done a lot of work to optimize it. And at the end of the day, the, the caliber of my site or the functionality that I was, um, that I was creating, just not necessarily made for, for shared hosting when you start to get into the 10 thousands of users. So I made the decision that I needed to, um, I needed to basically pay gosh, 20 times as much every single month, 20 times as much 20, um, every single month for shared hosting or for not for shared hosting for WP engine, which is like this optimized hosting for WordPress.

Speaker 2: It's expensive and it's expensive for a reason because it's highly engineered to work with WordPress and it works with what I, what I need. So I have been putting this off for a while because I'm like, how am I going to tell people to build their sites on blue host when I don't build my site on blue host? Well, I will tell you this, if you want to start with your first six years in business and conserve your resources and, um, save your money and have low expenses go with blue host to start, like you can grow your business to $250,000 a year. Um, like I did, I think I'll be pretty, pretty dang close to that. Um, in 2020, um, $250,000 a year on shared hosting, that costs you $2 and 95 cents a month. I think that that's a great way to start. And then when you get to a point that your, uh, you're, you're like, okay, this is actually kind of not functional for me anymore.

Speaker 2: I don't think you should always get to the point where it's like not working, but I could tell that if I kept going, it was going to get bad, then you can move on to something that is like dedicated WordPress hosting that costs 40, you know, 40, or am I paying $70 a month? Something like that. So you don't ha don't start. I don't, I just don't feel like people have to start at the end, you know, if you have that kind of money laying around. Sure. But so that's, that's kind of where we're at, but I tell you this to tell you that normally I would be in charge of moving those sites. And this is one of those things where it's like, Oh, just because you're good at it. You know what to do, um, you know how to fix any problem that might arise.

Speaker 2: You should not be the one doing this. Do you need to delegate this to your techie team member, Laura, who would freaking love just as much as you would to move these sites and all of the technical nuance that comes to that, like sub domains and email changes, and just like all of the, all of the things it's not just moving a site, all of, all of that stuff. So I was like, I talked to her and I was like, this is going to be so hard for me, but I want to move these sites and I'm going to need you to do it. And there, that was like ripping the band-aid off for me to hand over the tech to someone else. And it was like a good, a really good move for me because it was a lot of work. And so I had her doing that.

Speaker 2: I had her setting, I had her set up my summit website, which also was really hard for me to delegate because I would've loved to do that. Um, I had her setting up all like loading all the new web designer, Academy modules, all of those things, like all the things that I love to do that would keep me over working with my eyes hurting and my joints hurting, not drinking enough water and sitting at my desk and not moving. Um, I handed it over to Laura and she knocked it out of the park. And I, the only thing I had to manage my mind about is like, when these things were getting done, so they didn't have to be done until the end of November, but I just kept wanting everything to be done all at once. And I'm like, Oh, this is why I overwork because I think of something and the discomfort of it not being done weighs on my mind.

Speaker 2: And so then I just do it instead of managing my mind and being patient about it, getting done. So, um, Laura got everything done in a more than reasonable amount of time. It was all perfect. I woke up one morning, my sights were moved. It was amazing. Everything's running really, really well. And I feel like these are the things, when I say that I have lots of lessons to learn, to get to a million dollars. This is one of those lessons, patients asking for help. Um, letting people help me, um, you know, just all of those, all of those things that are gonna really, um, go into what it's going to take for me to go to a million dollars in revenue. And then also, you know, thinking about what kind of leader I want to be. And I was struggling with this, like, Oh, I, I don't want to be in charge of people.

Speaker 2: I don't want to be in charge of their livelihood. Well guess what, that's another one of those uncomfortable risks that I'm going to take, right? Like if I'm gonna put, um, someone's, you know, if I'm gonna commit to paying someone, that's just like me committing to spend money on a expensive program or me, um, you know, going building this house and like wrapping all of my assets up into alone, like I'm gonna make it happen. So instead of being scared and just not wanting to get help, because I'm afraid of not being able to pay them, I am going all in and making that commitment to them, which means I need to do what I need to do on my side to make sure that I can pay all of us and that we all thrive and that I can bring even more people on who are, you know, would love to work in an online business like mine, but don't necessarily want to be an entrepreneur.

Speaker 2: So that's really, I mean, those are the things that happened in October. There were a lot more things that happened in October. I'm just kind of thinking about like the move and all of those types of things. Those things were, um, eventful. And I've mentioned those in a, in a couple of my emails, but I think the biggest thing is really me stepping into like what it's gonna look like to get to this next level. So that is it for my October income reports. Um, if you have any questions, please head on over to Shannon maddern.com/three, one four, leave me a comment. And again, if you haven't left a rating and review on the podcast, go to Shannon, modern.com forward slash review. Let me know what you think of the show. And I will see you in next week.

Speaker 1: This episode, well, BFF, that's all I got for you this week. So you can head on over to Shannon mattern.com forward slash podcast to get your hands on the show notes. And all the resources mentioned in this episode. And if you need a website and you have no idea how to get started, head on over to www.free five-day website, challenge.com. That's the number five and sign up for my free DIY web design course, where I'll walk you through how to build your websites. Step-by-step even if you're not techie. And if you already have a website, but you have no idea how to market yourself, how to get traffic head on over to how to market yourself online.com. I have a free training for you. That's going to walk you step-by-step through how to get started getting traffic to your website. And if you're a web designer listening to this, or you're a want to be web designer, I have something for you to head on over, to start a freelance web design biz.com and take my free training on how to get started with your freelance web design business and how to get your first client.

Speaker 1: And finally, if you love the show and you haven't already left us a rating and review, please take a second to do so. It would mean the world to me. And it helps me get this podcast in front of more side hustlers who need it. So if you're listening on Apple podcasts, you can just swipe up on the show notes, and there's a link there that you can tap, and it'll take you straight to the place to leave a review, or you can go to Shannon matter.com forward slash review. And if you're listening on Spotify or iHeartRadio or Amazon music or anywhere else, this podcast is available. Just leave a rating and review, write in that app. And I will love you forever. So thank you so much for listening this week and I'll see you next week. Bye

Speaker 5: [inaudible].