2018 has been a pretty intense year for me, in more ways than one. There’s been some pretty big ups and downs, and a lot to reflect on.
But I’m also looking forward to starting the new year and hopefully making it the best yet!
As 2018 winds down, I decided to compile my first-ever side-hustle income report and put it out there for all the world to see.
Related: Transformative New Year’s Resolution Ideas That Will Stick
** My blog posts contain affiliate links, which means that I may earn a commission on purchases you make after clicking on those links. (At no extra cost to you!) Full disclosure here. **
My website is still less than a year old but I wanted to start doing quarterly income reports for a few reasons:
- Use as a benchmark for measuring my progress
- Hold me accountable for sticking to my goals throughout 2019
- Show others that it is possible to make a side-income while working full-time
That last one is really important to me. Because for a long time, I wanted to start a freelancing side-biz but I would get so overwhelmed any time I researched it online. I’d come across people’s income blogs where they made $20+k a month. (Which, kudos to them, wow!)
But it would just seem so unattainable.
As you will see, my online side-biz is pulling in considerably less than these inspirational webpreneur tycoons.
But that’s what I want you to see: that making extra money online is totally attainable. It doesn’t have to be a six figure business to be a success, orto make a difference in your life.
My hope is that if you’ve been thinking about starting a blog or side-biz, you will see these numbers and realize that it’s totally attainable to bring in extra money just by putting in some work on the weekends.
And if you want to grow it bigger than that, that’s totally attainable too! But so often, we get stuck looking at the peak of the mountain only to get overwhelmed and quit before we even start.
To stay motivated, it’s best to focus at the next step that’s right in front of you.
Alright, that’s it for my motivational pep-talk. Without further ado, here is my first ever quarterly income report!
Here’s a breakdown of the revenue earned:
Freelancing/client work: $1007.73
Affiliate Sales: $119.08
Ads: $4.35
Total: $1131.16
Totals are in Canadian funds and don’t include taxes.
Let’s look at each of these in a little further detail:
Client Work
Obviously, this is where the vast majority of my revenue came from. (Thanks to Horkey Handbook!) That averages out to about $335/month give or take, and 90% of it I do in a few hours on the weekends. I found December was a bit slow because of the holidays but I’m confident things will pick up in January!
Affiliate Sales
I’m really new to affiliate marketing so I’m pretty happy with this number. Amazon affiliate sales make up only about $10 of it, and the rest is through affiliate links for courses I’ve taken and recommended.
Ads
Clearly the weakest link of the three income streams, I only just started putting ads on my site recently through Media.net. To be honest I haven’t done a lot of homework in this department because I’m more concerned with beefing up the quality content on my site. Ad placements have kind of been put on the back burner. Also, I don’t want to decrease the user experience by putting ads everywhere.
For a biz that’s only been around for a few months, I’m pretty happy with these numbers and think it’s a great start. It’s really only since this past spring that I decided to get serious about building an online business, and considering everything that’s gone on in my life this year, I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress!
I have some big goals for 2019 and one of them includes taking my blog and side-biz to new heights! But I’m going to focus on 2019 just 12 weeks at a time.
Why? Because I want to stay focused on that “next step” and not the peak of the mountain. 😉
I will be publishing an income report at the end of each quarter throughout 2019. In each report, I will also set goals for the next quarter. This is to both keep myself accountable and hopefully inspire a few budding entrepreneurs along the way.
My focus for the next three months will be:
A minimum of 15 new posts by end of March: As a newer website, I’m still building my repertoire of content, so regular posting has to remain a priority! 15 new posts work out to a little more than 1 per week.
Increase revenue by a minimum of 15%: I have room to take on a couple more clients, so prospecting and pitching will be a priority in January. Continuing to grow my web traffic is the other part of this. I’m also going to do more homework on SEO since the majority of my traffic comes from Pinterest and it’s better not to keep all my eggs in one basket!
So the magic number for Q1 is 15!
How is 2018 winding down for you?
And what are your goals for Q1 of 2019?
Share in the comments and let’s cheer each other on!
