March Blogger Income Expense Report 2016

Is it possible to make money blogging? Absolutely.

Through blogging, I have managed to more than double our family’s income. This year I committed to prove it by sharing my blog income reports each month.

Blogging income is not a predictable science. Deposits can vary based on traffic, promotions, and so much more. But this doesn’t mean we should not plan or set monetary goals.

Plan and Perform

During my planning week, I sat with my Blog Success Planner and wrote out my monthly income goals. Writing down a number is easy, but without a plan, your number is just a day-dream. You must put action steps to your goal.

Income goals are easy but without a plan, your number is a dream. #blogging (CLICK TO RETWEET)

So, I flipped over to the calendar and wrote down my plans for blog series and product launches. For me, creating a product, marketing the product, and generating sales for the product is the precipice on which all of my goals are constructed. All of these steps must be planned and performed in order to make my income goal a reality.

Assess and Adjust

When I wrote my financial goals at the beginning of the year with plans to be a six-figure blogger, I planned to have ten to twelve people going through the Blog Success Mentorship program during each session. I also planned to have multiple sales funnels generating traffic to my products.

It’s amazing what we learn in just three months. 

 As I worked through the first Blog Success Mentorship session, I quickly realized that it took a lot more time (and energy) for each client. So, before launching the second session in March, I altered the number of people I would accept. However, I did not change my income goal… because I forgot.

Now, at the end of the month, I find that I fell short of my goal and I am totally bummed. (Pardon the 1980’s coming out of me.)

So… it’s time to adjust.

I can either change my goals… or I can change my plan.

I would rather change my action steps and increase my efforts than give up on being a six figure blogger.

Blog Income Report – March 2016

INCOME
InspiredBU Affiliate Earnings $0
InspiredBU Product Sales $4,064.63
Meet Penny Affiliate Earnings $221.28
Meet Penny Advertising $1,468.46
Meet Penny Product Sales $106.75

Total Income = $5,861.12
March Goal = $7,000
Difference = -$1,138.88

EXPENSES
Advertising $195.78 (Facebook Ads)
Contractors $325
Paypal Fees $139.57
Email Service $178.52 (ConvertKit)
Office $1,446.29 (Images, Paid Content)

Total Expenses = $2,285.16

Net Profit = +$3,575.96

My business mistakes

• Feeling bummed that this is the second month in a row I have failed to reach my goal. Part of that is because of poor marketing. Part is assuming I would have more students to mentor. However, as I have seen how much time it takes to adequately mentor other bloggers (and to do it well), I cut back on the number of people I would accept. I just never changed my annual goals to reflect those changes.

My business successes

• Although this was my largest expense for the month, I consider buying blog content to be a huge success. I have always been obsessive about doing everything myself. However, as I noticed the traffic at MeetPenny.com begin to slide and knowing that I did not have time to devote to generating two posts each week on multiple blogs, I let it go and bought quality articles that fit what my readers need.
• I have ONE completed sales funnel with ConvertKit, and it is amazing me! I make money every day and do nothing. It runs by itself, completely passive, and sells my products while I focus on other details of my blogging business.