This month’s blogging income report is not what I had planned. The results certainly did not compare to January’s blog income report either. But I am always mindful of a time when I did not have blogging income to help balance our family’s finances.
February might have been a short month but it was packed with family and friends. Wonderful things. Difficult things. Distracting things. But, the joy of being a work from home blogger is having the flexibility to do what we need to do without the added stress of dealing with an employer.
Even so, it is super important to think of yourself as the boss of your business. If the boss takes too many days off, the business struggles.
In February, both of my boys had surgery. I focused a tremendous amount of time on moving the Inspired Bloggers University to the new platform at Rainmaker. I spent a weekend with other brilliant women brainstorming our businesses.
And I completely forgot my income plan… which brings me to something for you to remember:
1) Plan your income. Work your plan.
In December, I decided that I wanted to be a Six Figure Blogger. Using the Blog Success Planner Blogging Goals section, I planned how much money I needed to make each month in order to reach $100,000 in income by December 31, 2016.
From there, I created specific goals with action steps to make these amount happen. In January, I blew right past my goal. Then, February rolled around… and I got distracted.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe my first priority is my family and the time I spent with them was worth the time away from blogging. However, as THE BOSS in my business, I need to plan ahead for those days and delegate tasks to others if needed.
2) Establish multiple streams of income.
To grow a successful blogging business, you cannot rely on any ONE type of income. You need multiple streams of revenue fueling your blog. Sidebar advertising, your own products, coaching, sponsored content, direct sales, 3rd party stores (like Amazon, Teachers Pay Teachers, etc)… Get creative! The possibilities are limitless.
Multiple income streams are threads in a #bloggers security blanket. If one snaps, others hold together. @TabithaPhilenWhy do you need more than one type of income? Think of it as the threads in your security blanket. If one thread snaps, the others hold the blanket together. Since blogging as a business can be filled with unpredictable changes (algorithms, SEO updates…), you need to diversify your revenue streams.
3) Delegate to others.
There is no way I could do everything I need to do in a day without help. While I have always known this and been a huge fan of hiring a team, I had no idea how much I should hire out until I had a very real meeting with my to-do list.
As I sat on the plane flying home from my weekend mastermind retreat, I attempted to create blocks of time in my work hours for specific tasks. As I filled in the open spots with tasks, the obvious hit me.
There was no way to do it all. I would always be behind and overwhelmed unless I delegated some jobs and projects to my team.
Blog Income Report – February 2016
INCOME
InspiredBU Affiliate Earnings $192.00
InspiredBU Product Sales $1,103.47
Meet Penny Affiliate Earnings $2,574.38
Meet Penny Advertising $739.99
Meet Penny Product Sales $75.47
Total Income = $4685.31
February Goal = $6000
Difference = -$1314.67
EXPENSES
Advertising $1.42
Contractors $175
Paypal Fees $47.88
Email Service $119 (ConvertKit)
Travel $132.16
Office $554.03
Total Expenses = $1029.49
Net Profit = +$3655.82
My business mistakes
- I failed to market my products and this resulted in missing my goal for the BOOST class registration. I stopped using my to-do list and did not realize we were launching the course until three days before launch. HUGE mistake.
- When I moved to Rainmaker, I forgot to place “buy now” links on the Blog Success Planner landing page. So, people were browsing the page but had NO WAY of making a purchase and were too nice to say, “Ummm… you are missing something.”
- My store plugin on Meet Penny is not delivering the products when purchased. This cost me a chunk of change in refunds.
My business successes
- I made a profit of $3,655!
- My email sales funnels started bringing in my first successful sales off the free member funnel. So exciting to experiment with sales funnels and then see it work while bringing high quality content to those who need it.
- I realized that I had too much to do within my work hours and starting looking for new people to add to my team. Learning to let go and let others help is always a big win for this over-achieving perfectionist.
