Welcome to September’s online income report where I show you how I made money online last month. It’s time to look at this month’s update and track how I did.
If you’re new here, you may be wondering why I would want to publish my online income report each month. You can simply skip to the next section if you’re not new here.
This all started out as my extra income report because in the beginning it was all about the money I was earning from my side jobs. In my side income reports from the beginning, I included all of the income I made except for what I made at my day job.
However, I left my day job as a financial analyst in October of 2013 and now my monthly income reports consist of the many ways I make a living each month.
Many have asked why I would ever want to publicly post my income each month. Some think I’m crazy, whereas some are glad I’m open about what I’m doing. Whatever you think, I enjoy publishing my monthly online income reports and I share them publicly for three main reasons:
- Before I started blogging, I knew nothing about side hustling and making money online. I didn’t think side jobs were worth the effort, and I thought the only way to significantly increase your income was through raises and promotions at your full-time job. If it weren’t for others publishing their monthly income reports each month, I don’t know if I would have ever tried side hustling. I want to help show others the positives in side hustling and how it can change a person’s life. There are many different ways to make money online, and I like to share my story each month to help motivate others to improve their financial situation by making more money.
- Secondly, I like to publish my income reports because it’s a way for me to look back, learn from my mistakes and actually see what areas need improvement. I use my monthly income reports as a way to track how I’ve done and I treat it sort of like a journal.
- Lastly, I like to show others that making side money is possible and that there are many legitimate ways to make money from your home. If you are looking for information on the many ways to make money online, I published the article Monthly Income Report Roundup – My Favorite Income Bloggers that showcases many successful bloggers who are kind enough to share their income with the public each month.
I know I say this every month, but it’s the truth. Life is great now that I’m my own boss. I look forward to each and every day and it’s a wonderful feeling. I truly love waking up each and every morning.
Above are just a few of the reasons for why I enjoy publishing my monthly income reports. I like to show others that you don’t have to hate your job and hate your life. You can make changes to your life and make money in a way that allows you to truly enjoy the life you are living. I’m not saying that you have to LOVE your job, I’m just saying that your job should at least allow you to do what you like to do outside of work (whether that be spending time with loved ones, painting, hiking, etc.).
How was my online income in September?
September was an amazing month for business income. September was an extremely busy month for me as we spent almost the entire month staying with friends and family, and then a few days at FinCon. I didn’t get much work done, but this is why it’s so great to work ahead.
When I first switched to self-employment, everything was extremely hectic. Lately, that has not been the case at all.
Even though my income has increased significantly over the past few months, I’ve noticed that I’ve actually been working less. I’ve been a master at work-life balancing lately and it’s really paying off!
The business is going well and I am very happy with it. Things around here seem to be improving and I have no complaints whatsoever. I have been catching myself saying “Life is really good” a LOT lately. And, I mean it – life is actually really good.
I’ve always been very excited about my business, but I am more excited than ever for the future. I have so many plans and everything is going well.
Anyway, in September I earned $31,030 in business income, before expenses.
If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.49 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free website domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, if you are asking yourself “Can you make money blogging?” – my top tip is to be self-hosted. This is essential if you want to monetize your blog as you will appear more professional and this will help you monetize your blog tremendously. My blogging income did not take off until after I switched to self-hosting.
Related articles:
- How To Make Money Blogging
- How I Make Working From Home Work For Me
- How To Become Financially Stable and Keep The Job You Love
- Becoming a Work-Life Balancing Master
The number above is for the month of September and before any fees and expenses (some fees and expenses that lower the amount above total around $2,200 (rounded up), which include virtual assistants/staff writers for my other websites, technical assistance on my websites, newsletter expenses, PayPal fees, etc., however, this does not include taxes) being taken out. After expenses and fees, I made approximately $28,830.
Below are some of my other monthly side income reports. I publish an online income update every month but only included some of them below as it would be a very long list. If you head on over to my extra income page you can find all of my monthly income reports from the past few years.
- $672 extra in May (2012)
- $6,523 in January Extra Income (2013)
- $11,927 in October Income – I Finally Left My Job
- $12,640 in January Income (2014)
- $23,758 in February Income – My Monthly Online Income Report (2015)
- How I Made $25,138 Online In July Plus My 4 Year Blogiversary
Blog news – I won an award for Best Personal Finance Blog For Millennials.
In September, I attended FinCon and that was a lot of fun. There were several great sessions, I met many great bloggers, hung out with old friends, and more. FinCon is my favorite conference and I highly recommend every blogger attend it.
I also won a Plutus Award at FinCon for Best Personal Finance Blog For Millennials. Thank you, everyone!
Pinterest is still one of the main ways I receive referral traffic each month. I’m still using Tailwind and I highly recommend anyone who is interested in Pinterest to try out Tailwind. Tailwind has saved me a ton of time and the analytics the site provides are great.
Overall, traffic remained the same in September and I received around 300,000 page views.
Top new posts on Making Sense of Cents last month:
- Why You Should Never Have Unused Vacation Days
- Paying Off Debt And Budgeting: Tricks For Staying Motivated
- Should You Rely On Credit Cards For Your Emergency Fund?
- 6 Free Online Survey Sites To Join For Extra Money
- 5 Home Businesses You Can Start Right Now
- Living In The RV Full-Time – Should We Do It?
Featured Question: How long does it take to earn money blogging?
Featured Question: I feature one question from a reader in each monthly income report. Please leave a comment below if you have a question you would like me to include.
There is no one answer to this question.
As you can tell from my past income reports, I started earning a few hundred dollars a month from my blog less than one year after I started. After just two years of blogging, I was earning several thousands of dollars from blogging and that was all on the side of my day job.
I know some who started making thousands of dollars a month after just a few months of blogging. There are bloggers out there who started a year or two after me and are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. There are also other bloggers who aren’t making any money.
As you can see, blogging is not a get rich quick scheme. However, if you are serious about it then you never know what it may turn into.
It all depends on you, the effort you put into it, whether you have the time to learn how to monetize your blog, and more.
Past questions:
- How do I increase my affiliate income?
- Do I need millions of page views a month in order to make money blogging?
- How do you build websites up to sell them?
- Do only celebrities make money through owning websites?
My plans for my website and making money online.
Without any plans and goals, I think it would be very hard to run a business. Constantly working towards something can help keep a person motivated.
Below are some of the areas I am currently working on:
- Promote more – I am doing much better at promoting my articles and I’m definitely noticing an improvement. One area is still Pinterest – Pinterest brought around 90,000 clicks to my blog just in the month of September.
- Create a book – I actually recently had a book publisher contact me and I may start writing a book. More to come on this in the next few months
- Accept more interviews. – I took on a few interviews in September and I am happy with that. I am trying to respond to each and every one I receive!
- Stop being shy – This is one of my goals for 2015. I am such a shy person and it’s something I need to work on if I want to grow my business.
Staff writing.
Staff writing is a service I still enjoy providing. My newest client is H&R Block and my first piece was published in September.
I’m still writing for GoRVing and I’m loving it. Writing about RVing and traveling is extremely fun – especially when I write about personal finance 99% of the time. I still love writing about personal finance too, though!
Related articles:
Website management.
This will probably be the last month I include this section in my monthly income reports as it’s not something I am really focusing on anymore.
Blog and social media management are others services I still enjoy providing to my clients. I plan on keeping the clients I currently have, but I am no longer expanding this service to new clients due to time constraints, though.
Many have contacted me recently which made me want to reopen this service, but I am trying to focus on what is currently on my plate while also managing a good work/life balance. If this is a service you are looking to find someone for, I do have contacts I can refer you to, though.
My goal right now is to further grow the sites I currently manage and own, spend more time on my blog/website coaching service, and grow my income here so that I can be more of my own boss. This will mean that I will be less diversified as most of my income will be coming from this website and related services, but I do think this is what I am truly after with my business.
Related articles:
Affiliate income.
As each month passes, I get more and more excited about affiliate income. Why I waited around three years to be active with affiliate income is something I will never understand!
The somewhat passive income I’ve been making this year has been great. Knowing that I can travel in my RV and still earn a living is a great feeling.
Anyway, I earned around $23,000 in affiliate income in September.
I won’t see the payments I earned in September until 60-90 days later for most of the affiliate programs I am in, so you won’t see those amounts reflected in my monthly income reports until then.
My main form of affiliate income is through Bluehost with my How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost tutorial. However, I am looking to diversify my affiliate income and I have been researching other affiliate programs so that everything isn’t so reliant on Bluehost. I have been doing somewhat well with diversifying my affiliate income so far, though, with around $7,000 last month coming from other affiliate programs.
Breakout of the actual payments I received in September ($31,030, before expenses)
- Staff writing and website management- $2,400
- Blog coaching and consulting – $790
- Website-related (from the 3 websites I own – advertising and partnerships) – $11,715
- Affiliate income (from Bluehost (main source), Republic Wireless, etc.) – $16,125
- Selling items from our home – $0
- Miscellaneous (not related to blogging and online income) – $0
- Mystery shopping – $0
When you see my monthly income each month please keep in mind that I work for myself. This means I have to cover taxes (which are over 30%), health insurance, and all other benefits/expenses that an employer may provide.
Comparisons and 2015 online income total (before taxes)
- Total business income for September : $31,030
- Income in August: $23,992
- Difference: +7,038
- Total in 2015: $217,545
How was September for you? Are you interested in earning income online?
If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.49 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free blog domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, you want to be self-hosted. This is essential if you want to monetize your blog as you will appear more professional and this will help you monetize your blog tremendously.
This post contains affiliate links. All opinions and statements are 100% mine and links are only placed to help you with your own blogging journey.
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