Welcome to the fifth month of sharing my monthly income with the world as much as I feel comfortable with! Only, I’m not sure who I’m doing this for anymore. I haven’t been getting any comments on these posts, and I’m wondering if maybe they’re not helpful. Unless I hear otherwise, I’ll be concluding this series after six months.
First off—overall income. I’m getting a stair-step effect, but it’s deceptive, as usual. I worked a lot this month, and I don’t include the money I am expecting to get paid, which usually comes 30 days after I bill. Right now I’m owed several thousand. So probably November will be a better month regardless of how much work I do in it.
In other words, when you look at a chart like this and see freelance work taking up the smallest piece of the pie, it’s not that it’s taking up the smallest part of my time spent working. Instead, this chart shows what I’ve been paid for. And man, my part time job was weird this month. A billing error (yes, the second in two months!) meant I got paid double my regular rate. To make up for it, they’ll take it out of a later paycheck.
But that dark teal part of the chart is about to go away – entirely. I just gave my two weeks notice at my job, which means I’ll have worked about exactly a calendar year since my starting date on November 16, 2015. I’ll write more about that decision in a future blog post, but for now, I need to think about how it affects my finances. Basically, it was some padding against the ups and downs of self-employment, so now I’ll need to work harder on ways to ensure a stable, similar income every month.
Amazon is definitely going to help with that. October marked the beginning of my most profitable time of the year—the holidays. I’m hoping to break $1,000 for the first time this month.
I spent a little more than usual this month, because it was time to renew my Leadpages account. I use Leadpages to capture emails for my mailing lists and produce webinars but I haven’t been taking advantage of it well, lately. I’m hoping that after I quit my day job I’ll have more time to set up systems that make Leadpages work for me.
How did I do on my October financial goals? Badly on one, better on the other two. I had more freelance work than I’d predicted, so I did not spend 40 hours on my new project; it was more like 10. I posted three times, not four, on Gunpla 101, though I did post twice on Candle Fandom, which is quickly growing into its earning potential. If only I could pay the rent with free candles people send me, I’d be set! Somehow, I did meet my aggressive savings goal, too.
My November financial goals are:
- Complete my Gunpla 101 holiday shopping guide. This is the most lucrative time of the year, but only if I work at it!
- Try again to work 40 hours on my new business venture. Now I’ll have more time and fewer excuses.
- Set up better systems with my newsletters to make that Leadpages account worth it.
I’ll refrain from being a broken record and asking you to comment. But if you find these income reports useful, let me know on social media, email, or whatever is most comfortable for you.
Previously: