Welcome to my February Income Report! Each month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and show you exactly how much I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way!

Important Things That Happened in February

I opened enrollment for Websites That Make Money for the first time since the beta launch last fall. I purchased Amy Porterfield’s Webinars That Convert Course and spent a significant amount of time following it to the letter in order to create and promote the webinar. It also helped me to craft my presentation for my first live speaking event as well.

I held a webinar to promote Serious Side Hustlers Membership Program again in February.

I booked two new Done For You clients in February and began to test my new Done For You Method out. I significantly changed the structure and timeline of the projects because I was having trouble moving projects forward to completion. I also put significant effort into completing some projects that had gone on longer than I expected (I wasn’t able to wrap up all the client projects I had wanted to in January – I was a little too ambitious!)

I had my very first ever live, in-person speaking engagement in Austin, Texas where I shared my SEO strategy for bloggers.

While I was in Austin, I also met with the Bluehost team to discuss my affiliate marketing strategy in 2018.

Bluehost welcomed me to their office with an authentic Texas BBQ lunch, and their entire team met with me for a few hours to give me feedback on my website and help me reach more people. They also cheered for me when it was my turn to speak at the conference. It feels totally amazing to have a crew like that in my corner, and I’m just so proud to promote them to my community!

Review of My Goals

My number one goal in February was to again have $10,000 in revenue because my breakdown to replace my paycheck, cover business expenses and pay taxes is:

• $5000 – Income to cover my paycheck.
  $2500 – Expenses
  $2500 – Taxes

I also set the goal to have 500 people sign up for my Website Monetization Master Class, have 150 people attend live, and have 10 sales.

What I Focused on in February

February 2018, my second month of self-employment, was a very interesting and exciting month. I made intentional effort to spend more time with friends and family now that I don’t have to work evenings and weekends – which feels amazing!

But that anxiety about making enough money to hit my monthly revenue goal crept in during February a few times. Thankfully my business coach, Vicki Fitch, told me to expect it to show up and that the first 3-6 months would be my most vulnerable time.

The first time it showed up was during an annual weekend away with friends. Every year we rent a cabin in the woods and just hang out with our friends all weekend, playing cards, having drinks around the fireplace, eating great food and hanging out in the hot tub.

It was Sunday on our way home that the anxiety about making enough money started to creep up on me. I couldn’t wait to get home so I could “work”. My husband and friends noticed that I wasn’t relaxed anymore, and I shared with them all the racing thoughts going on…

“What if I don’t make enough money this month? What if this was a mistake? I shouldn’t have bought that course. Maybe I should cancel my trip to San Diego for Social Media Marketing World next month so I don’t have an $800 hotel bill…”

And I’m so grateful that I have awesome friends and a supportive husband, because my best friend told me to just STOP and to look at how far I’ve come and there’s no way I wouldn’t make it, and my husband said STOP, we will be fine, we have enough in savings to weather the ups and downs and to quit putting so much pressure on myself.

I also held two webinars for the launch of one of my programs, and I had major tech issues with both of them which may have affected my sales results – and I totally let the bully in my head, as my business coach Vicki Fitch calls it, get to me.

“I can’t believe I wasted so much money on Facebook Ads and then these webinars were a disaster! Nobody wants this program. I don’t even know if I should promote it anymore…”

The truth was it wasn’t a disaster at all, it just wasn’t perfect, and that’s no reason to pour gasoline on it and burn it down. I just needed to look at what went wrong, what went right and make changes for the next time. And stop judging myself for every little thing!

Finally, my bully tried to come with me on my trip to Austin Texas for the Thrive Creative Conference, a conference for food, fashion, mommy and all kinds of bloggers.

For the few weeks before I left, it was nagging me. “What are you going to wear to speak in front of a 100 fashion bloggers? You know you can’t wear yoga pants, right? You still shop at American Eagle. Find something better to wear.”

So I went shopping, and I found outfits at *gasp* Old Navy that I felt super comfortable and confident in, and guess what? That’s me. I’m casual, I like classic styles, and I knew if I was going to get up and speak in front of 100 people for the first time, I needed to feel great about my outfit.

I left my bully in Columbus and went on to have an amazing time in Austin, meeting some people that I know will be important parts of my journey moving forward.

So I tell you this because I want you to know that there will be obstacles, yet the most rewarding thing to me has been overcoming them. Building this business has been the absolute best thing I’ve done for personal growth, and it’s having a positive impact everywhere in my life.

So here’s what my income looked like in February:

Income Breakdown

Passive Income:
Affiliate Income – Bluehost – $170.00
Affiliate Income – Elegant Themes – $257.50
Affiliate Income – ConvertKit – $32.10
5 Day Challenge Upgrade – $68.00
How to Start a Freelance Web Design Business Upgrade – $0.00
Serious Side Hustlers – $667.00
Individual Courses – $0.00
Web Designer Academy – $694.00
Websites That Make Money Beta  – $594.00
WordPress Protection Package – $459.42

Passive Income Total: $2942.02

Time for Money Income:

Done For You Projects – $3164.16
Website Therapy Coaching Beta Test – $349.00
Consulting – $2500

Time for Money Total: $6013.16

Total Revenue: $8955.18

Today’s pep talk is brought to you by Bluehost. Go to www.shannonmattern.com/bluehost and get 36 months of web hosting for just $2.95 a month. That’s less than one trip to Starbucks a month – and if you’re anything like me, you’re at Starbucks more than that!

Then you can sign up for my Free 5 Day Website Challenge at www.shannonmattern.com/5day and I’ll show you step by step how to get started building your new website for your side hustle.