Welcome to my September Income Report! Each 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!
If you want to learn step-by-step how to build a website so that you can start a side hustle and make money online, check out this blog post on how to get started!
View all of my income reports here!
Important things that happened in September:
- I sent out a market research survey to my email list.
- I blocked time for planning 2019.
- I launched the Web Designer Academy with an email series and a no-pitch webinar.
- I went to Austin for a long-weekend for a mastermind retreat.
- I brought on an intern.
- I brought on a new VA/project manager.
Notes I found to myself in my planner:
“I have another commitment.”
*Schedule MY time*
Review of my goals
My goal each month has been to generate $10,000 in revenue because my rough breakdown to replace my old paycheck, cover business expenses and pay taxes is:
- $5000 – Income to cover my old paycheck.
- $2500 – Expenses
- $2500 – Taxes
What I focused on in September
Coming off of August into September I was still totally in GO mode.
I was determined to plan out my entire 2019, so I blocked a few days in the first week of the year to review my metrics and send out a market research survey to my email list all about their opinions on the 5 Day Website Challenge and my Serious Side Hustlers membership.
In that first week I also contracted with a new virtual assistant who is all the things that I’m not: organized and detail oriented, and now I have enough hours of help every month.
I also posted a listing for an intern at a few of the local colleges and received a few excellent applications, and got some interviews scheduled for the end of the month.
I knew I would have to slow down enough at some point to train and onboard people… but instead of slowing down I just added more hours to my day.
The second week of September I immediately got to work on my Web Designer Academy launch – which coaches web designers through marketing their businesses and managing clients and projects.
In August I’d written a few blog posts related to running a freelance web design business and ran Facebook ads to them in an unsuccessful attempt to start building up an email list before my launch… More on that later…
And then in mid-September, I kicked off the launch using a strategy that I’d never tried before – a 3-week long email-only launch with a no-sales-pitch webinar in the middle of the launch.
The launch campaign itself was designed only to be sent to people who continually expressed interest in the content all along the way – instead of spamming everyone with irrelevant emails – which felt amazing to me!!
I spent quite a bit of time visioning my ideal client for the Web Designer Academy and writing emails that I felt would really speak to them and what they could get out of the program.
For the first time since I launched the program the very first time, it felt really authentic and not salesy.
During the launch I had several small client projects that booked, and also continued to work on the new project that was booked in August, and I was still recording 7 episodes of my podcast, Pep Talks for Side Hustlers, every single week.
Go. Go. Go.
And just as I was at the point of opening the cart for the Web Designer Academy, I hopped on a plane to spend a weekend in an AirBNB with 5 girls I’d never met before to mastermind and talk about the future of our businesses…
Which was the reset button that I needed. More on that later.
Upon returning from the mastermind weekend, I interviewed a few interns (although one really stood out and I hired her on the spot).
And then I wrapped up the most successful launch of the Web Designer Academy to date!
So with that, here’s how much I made in September of 2018, my ninth month of running my online business full time.
Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here.
Total Income: $11,314.27
- Passive Income Total: $7407.02
- Time for Money Total: $4267.25
Total Expenses: $4111.05
Net Profit: $7203.22
Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here.
Biggest Lessons Learned
I had a freaking awesome month revenue-wise. In fact, it’s the best month I’ve ever had in my business. I’m gonna pat myself on the back for this one…
My Web Designer Academy launch was the most successful yet, and it was the smoothest launch for me because I felt awesome about HOW I was promoting the program, and at the time of this recording we’re a month into the program and the students are amazing. That work fuels me!
But my “success” came at a physical cost.
At the beginning of the month, I was worn out physically. My eyes hurt and felt heavy. I was EXHAUSTED constantly. Even more alarming, my left thumb was really sore and it was hard to move my fingers on my left hand… Am I seriously working so much that I’m going to get carpal tunnel and have to wear a wrist brace like all the secretaries at my first job?
And then I went away to the mastermind weekend, and was challenged on the way I was thinking and working, and reminded that I’m in control of all of this, and I have to take control of it starting now.
I needed to take more time for myself. For self care. For the reason that I started this business in the first place.
And for me, that meant going from 7 podcast episodes a week down to 3 so that I could go to hot yoga twice a week and actually move my body aside from walking my dog.
And to put intentional effort into mentoring my team so that I have people I can rely on to help me.
Nine months in, I feel like I’m really hitting my stride, and despite all the ups and downs mentally and physically, I wouldn’t trade this or go back to my day job for anything!!
