Since launching my Unautomate Your Finances back in March, I’ve been providing monthly income/expense reports in order to help promote financial transparency.
Last month, I missed posting any report for July, so as August wraps up here’s the “business” side of things around here. I’m not going to lie and tell you that I’m o.k. with the last two months. They are much, much lower than I wanted to be at this point! Part of transparency is showing both good and bad month… both the set-up and the launches. Here are the numbers:
July’s income/expenses:
Net from UYF Sales: $330.99
- Total Guides Sold (June): 26
- Income (less Paypal fees): $420.82
- Affiliate Payments: -$89.83
Additional Income: $1161.11
- Freelance Writing: $200.00
- Thesis/ScribeSEO: $234
- Unconventional Guides: $612.51
- How to Live Anywhere: $114.60
- Amazon: $0
Direct Expenses: -$364.74
- Hosting: -$14.95
- Aweber: -$29.00
- E-junkie: -$5.00
- VodBurner: -$9.95
- Domain Names: -$26.41
- iStock Photos: -$73.00
- Design Royalties: -$6.43
- Website Tech work: -$200
Net (Income – Expenses): $1127.36
August’s income/expenses:
Net from UYF Sales: $328.57
- Total Guides Sold (June): 27
- Income (less Paypal fees): $436.52
- Affiliate Payments: -$107.95
Additional Income: $494.00
- Freelance Writing: $200.00
- Thesis/ScribeSEO: $0
- Unconventional Guides: $238.68
- Language Hacking Guide: $29.41
- Amazon: $25.91
Direct Expenses: -$154.19
- Hosting: -$14.95
- Aweber: -$29.00
- E-junkie: -$5.00
- VodBurner: -$9.95
- Domain Names: -$11.62
- Shipping: -$20.22
- Skype: -$10.00
- Techsmith Software: -$53.45
Net (Income – Expenses): $660.67
Counting these two months, the average over the last 6 months of monetization: ~$1650/month
Keep in mind that by the nature of this business, most of the numbers above are from work (or lack of work) in the two months prior. For example, I’ve done thousands in freelance work during August, which I will not see until October. Also, the Sell Your Crap launch will create a spike of income, but will be from work put in over the last 4-5 months. 🙂
September Business Plans…
September will finally see the launch of the Sell Your Crap guide. I know I’ve been saying that for months, but that is part of the transparency game. I’d love for everything to line up perfectly… that’s not how it works! 🙂
The launch date is September 14th. Ready or not, here it comes. I have my own goals for launch it terms of business, traffic, and income. While I won’t share my goals, I’ll be sure to continue the transparency at the end of next month! 🙂
Thanks for hanging with me as we get things back to normal. The new Militia newsletter has been fired out over the last 3-4 weeks. Blog posting has picked up and SYC is finally going to go live.
September is going to be a big month around here. One that will define the direction of the site and business. Thanks for all your support!
Xoxoxo,
-Baker
photo by restlessglobetrotter
Still not so bad earning over $1,500/month Baker! Your subscriber count has really shot up in this time too. Can you share your thoughts on subscriber count growth and monetization?
Good point about the delayed (and up and down) compensation of this type of business. I’m just finishing up a book which is great, but my blog income has suffered over the last few months because of the time I’ve allocated to the book.
Will it pay off? Only time will tell. 🙂
Mike
Looking forward to September!
I be interest in hearing about sub growth too.
So I gotta ask, just in case the upcoming post hasn’t already addressed it.
What do you you do if you’ve ALREADY sold your crap?
Thanks!
Why don’t you find people you know and offer to sell their crap for a 25% fee on sales…
I’d hire you! I hate to even go through my stuff- non the less sale it. Took five hours to go through six boxes this morning. Silver pieces, teacher manuals, vintage clothing, rugs…AGGGG! Twenty two countries, sixteen moves- we have lots to sale before we move to our final 1200 sq ft!
I’d happily help you!
Sounds like we have similar interests, from the silver to vintage clothing.
Feel free to find me through my website. I’d love to hear about what you’re sorting through!
I agree with the folks who say — sell other folks’ crap. You can also join “Professional Organizer” organizations for a small fee. Write your own Ebooks (Peter Walsh has an Empire –and you can too)! People want to hear from someone who has been there done that. Agreed — getting paid to help others deal with their crap is HUGE in this economy. Just having someone there to deal with the emotional wreckage but give tough love guidance and if that someone (you) knows how to help them organize a plan and carry it out with all the selling options — Garage Sale, C-List, Ebay, etc… I’m looking around and seeing that people really need an organizer/seller like that… and they are paying for that service! Be a CrapBeGone Godmother and help others that way! Congrats on already selling your crap!!
WOW! Thanks everyone!
Just came back to this thread to see if I had any responses to find a goldmine of ideas and info.
Now I’m really thinking about constructive ways to offer organization services. I’m good at it. And I enjoy it.
Thanks again!
Love the financial updates Baker!
Put up some Adsense and you’ll be rich bro– ahah just kidding! I love these reports that you and Pat (of Smart Passive Income) post. I’m looking forward to your next guide because I have crap that I’ve been meaning to sell for a long time now.
Thanks for your sharing 🙂
I think that is fantastic! When you can combine passive income with a little bit of active income you can really start to enjoy life.
Thank you so much for sharing! Not many people are willing to be transparent like this. I hope September is a very successful month for you. It sounds like you’ve been working very hard and it will be fun to see your numbers reflect all the time and energy you’ve invested in these projects!
Perfect timing on the “Sell Your Crap” guide! This is also the month I’m doing the Shedventure with Bindu Wiles to help me get rid of extra stuff: http://binduwiles.com/buddhism/shed-project/
Interesting statistics, You are one of the fastest growing blogs out there it took you 6 months to make about $1,600/month You get about 1000 visits a day which is amazing.
Average goal is to make $5000/month so that is a LOT OF WORK no wonder most people give up.
Great post
Marios
The reason I really like these is because we are on a similar level. (Actually, you’re working harder than I am, and pulling down a bit more.) So, it’s a realistic picture of where I need to head. I like the realism. My amazon account also fluctuates wildly. I think that’s just the nature of that particular beast. Adding other revenue sources is my next step.
I pulled about $80.00 this month. Now to increase.
It’s also very realistic that the work today pays off tomorrow. There is a delay in nearly all payments. We no longer can pay our rent by just selling a few things locally. We need to think ahead to how long it will take to ship and turn around books and other hard goods.
Thanks for the gift of transparency; it’s too easy to come to a site like this that obviously represents real life time to you and not take the time to acknowledge the work, the time invested. So thanks, kudos on the reality check as well as the hope you hold out for those earlier on in the process; its appreciated!
Great to see you are still at it Baker. Looking forward to seeing the sell your crap guide. I did a post about that (well, diff title!) on Zen Habits. It’s liberating to free yourself of all that stuff. It’s like a ball and chain. Less stuff = more freedom:)
I’ve been trying to sell my crap and my mother-in-law’s crap for over a year now. It’s just not working, and I am loaded down with crap. I’ve tried all the venues mentioned plus estate and garage sales. I’ve made about $500 for my MIL. I have spent more, in packing stuff, than I have made for myself. I’ve recently dumped a bunch of stuff. This selling online is not working for me.
I have books on Amazon right now. I have sold nothing for a couple of months. I have only sold around one book a month before that. People selling the books I’m selling (some quite old) are dropping the prices so low, it isn’t worth trying to sell a lot of them any more. I’m on the verge of giving up.
The whole thing has been a waste of my time. 🙁