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Hello everyone! Today is the big day… my first ever income report! Welcome to the July Income Report!
A little backstory: I’ve been blogging for just over a year now (woohoo!) but I didn’t start freelancing until a few months into blogging. It turns out blogging is a great way to showcase your writing talents (it’s like a really fun resume!) and, if people like you, they will reach out to you or recommend you for freelance writing positions.
While I started out with freelance writing, writing isn’t all that I do anymore. I do receive sponsored posts occasionally on this blog, if they’re well-written and make sense for my audience. Normally, I don’t receive many paid sponsored post requests, but since they do happen occasionally, I’ll include them on this income report.
I’ve also started doing some virtual assistant work, both with Gretchen from The Pinterest Assistant (check her out if you need someone to wrangle your Pinterest!) and with other clients. I’m busy quite a lot, but I love it and wouldn’t trade it for anything!
Okay, so now that you have the backstory, here are a few things to keep in mind when you read my income report:
- I’m not going to break everything out – Like Michelle from Making Sense of Cents, I’m not going to break out my clients by name or by what I do for them. For example, I categorize my work for the Pinterest Assistant as “virtual assistant”, but the Pinterest Assistant isn’t the only client I virtually assist.
- I haven’t paid taxes on any of this yet – Come April 2016, I’m probably going to want to kick myself, so just assume that 50% of this isn’t even mine – it’s the government’s.
- I don’t (yet) subtract out my monthly blogging expenses – I pay for my domain hosting yearly, and I just haven’t calculated my monthly expenses – yet.
Got all that? If you have any questions, leave them in the comments! Here we go!
July Income Report
This July income report breaks down as follows:
Freelance writing: $343
Virtual Assistant: $473
Sponsored posts: $67
Advertising on my sites: $7 (hey-o!)
Miscellaneous (not related to freelancing, blogging, or website related): $0
Total: $890 for July (remember: at least 30% of this is going away in the form of taxes!)
If you’re interested in hiring a freelance writer, virtual assistant, or having a sponsored post on this site, check out my Work With Me page here.
I didn’t actually even have a goal set for this month, which is crazy I know. It will be awesome to one day break the $1,000 in monthly earnings, but that day is not going to be August! 🙂
Next month, I’ll bring you another awesome income report (maybe breaking $900 that month? We’ll see!) and this time I’ll include my monthly expenses and my hourly rate (how much I make per hour based on the hours I put in). Is there anything else you’d like to see in this income report? I’d love to get your feedback!
Tonya@Budget and the Beach says
Congratulations! I don’t know how you balance it all but that’s not chump change! Best of luck breaking $900!
Melissa says
Thank you, Tonya! That means a lot coming from you! The hustle is real 🙂
Jessica says
That’s awesome! You will break $1,000 before you know it.
Melissa says
Thank you so much, Jessica! I really, really hope so!
Sarah says
Woo hoo!!! Congratulations!! Huge month, and I bet it’s only going to go up from here 🙂
Melissa says
Woohoo, I hope so too, Sarah! Then I can join you with the freelancing! 🙂
Shannyn @ Frugal Beautiful says
Wow, awesome job, and good luck getting to $900 next month!
Melissa says
Thank you so much, Shannyn!
Tre says
Congrats on your first income post! Can’t wait to see next month’s post.
Melissa says
Thank you so much, Tre!
Barry @ Moneywehave says
Great job!
I’ve slowly increased my freelance income over the last year and now I’m getting pretty consistent work writing. I thought about doing even more freelance work but I have a full-time job so time management is starting to become an issue.
I still need to check out the Pinterest Assistant, my Pinterest is weak.
Melissa says
Thank you so much, Barry! I definitely feel you on the full-time job + freelance work = time management crunch. Let me know if you figure out a magic bullet, like cloning yourself! 🙂
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Congrats on your side income! I will tell you the same thing I told Michelle. I only find value in these reports if they go into detail and tell more of the “how” you made your income. That does not involve naming clients imo, but I have found too many income reports of people side hustling simply share the amount they made by major category. If someone provided a bit more value by explaining HOW to do it, they would provide a lot more value to readers. I believe you have shared many posts in the past about freelance writing and other side hustles, which is great and really the content I’m (and I’m assuming others?) are looking for.
Melissa says
Thank you SO much for the advice and kudos, DC! I sincerely appreciate it 🙂
Gretchen says
Congrats on joining the ranks of “those crazy people who share all of their income.” – Haha! But seriously, congratulations! That first $1,000 is a milestone and you’re going to achieve it in record time! Also, nice job keeping 50% of it for taxes. You probably don’t need to hold back quite that much, but it’ll definitely be nice to get a “refund” from your account come tax time!
Stacy says
This is great info. I’ve been wanting to find out more about doing VA work!