EXPENSES BREAKDOWN
Tools:
AccessAlly (Membership plugin for all of my courses) – $79.00
Acuity Scheduling (Done For You Consultations) – $10.00
Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.) $64.48
Bluehost (Web Hosting) – $59.40
Dropbox (File Storage) – $19.99
FreeConferenceCall.com (Coaching & Client Calls) – $3.00
GoDaddy (Domain Names) – $36.51
GSuite (wp-bff.com Email) – $10.76
Infusionsoft (email marketing, automation, e-commerce & customer management) – $353.80
ManageWP (WordPress Site Management for Clients & WordPress Protection Package) – $90.77
Soundup (Alexa Flash Briefing Hosting- $9.99
Templates, Graphics, Fonts, Etc. – $54.81
Vimeo Pro Video Hosting – $199.99
Zapier – $15.00
Misc Plugins – $8.00
Marketing:
Bonjoro (Video Welcome Service) – $25.00
LinkTree Pro (Instagram Profile Links) $6.00
Recurpost (Social Media Scheduling) – $25.00
Help:
Subcontractors (VA Team, Graphic Designer, Web Developers, Pinterest Specialist) $2377.00
Learning/Mentorship:
Business coaching: $2,400
Travel:
Social Media Marketing World Hotel & Uber – $882.66 (I use Southwest points for all of my flights).
Total Expenses: 6731.16
NET PROFIT: 3151.11
BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED
By the time I hit March and I was watching my bank account and my sales and expenses, it was pretty clear to me that my expenses were way too high and I could not continue at this level of spending and still meet my goals.
There were a few places that I needed to either cut back in order to make ends meet… or I needed to significantly raise prices and bring in more one-on-one clients to offset the imbalance.
But since my time was already maxed out, in my mind all that would end up doing is adding more to my subcontractor expense because I’d have to outsource the work anyway to make ends meet.
If I’m making $3093.86 on Done For You Projects but I’m turning around and paying out $2000 to subcontractors to help with them and I’m spending 60 hours and month working on them myself, that means I’m making $16.67 an hour.
Not why I left my day job, and not sustainable.
So it was time to raise prices significantly on Done For You projects – or consider pressing the pause button on them altogether because I’m losing money on them, and put my time into more scalable revenue streams.
I felt very overwhelmed and confused about what to do, and even though my business coaching is a pretty big expense each quarter, it’s critical to me that I have the guidance to help me work through this stuff for as long as I can swing it.
I also came pretty close to burnout in March. Maybe I actually reached it… I don’t know. What does someone do when they are burnt out? Ignore it and keep pushing? That’s what I do…
As I look back through my planner, I can see that I had not yet implemented my new practice of blocking my time and I was trying to cram in way more work than humanly possible into every single day.
I was distracting myself from dealing with the emotions of losing my aunt by putting my full attention into Pep Talks for Side Hustlers (I’m sure there are more unhealthy ways of avoiding emotions than working, but still not something I want to make a habit)…
And here’s why I tell you all of this:
We see so many people talking about how much money they are making online, but we never see the behind the scenes. They don’t share the emotional toll or how much it costs them to make that much money. We don’t see the mistakes and missteps, and it’s just not possible that you and I can have the exact same outcomes, even if we follow the exact same steps, because LIFE!!
I just want to pull back the curtain, take off the makeup, and let you see what this really looks like for a real person behind the scenes.
So to end this income report on a positive note, March was a profitable month, and I’m very glad I had a cushion in my bank account for months like this when I don’t hit my profit goal.
I accomplished quite a bit, I planted many, many seeds for future growth with my podcast and other projects, and I’m learning how to run a business as I grow.
And as you’ll see in April, May and June income reports, I’ve got some tough decisions to make ahead of me…
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!
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