Yellllooooo and welcome to another edition of “what the heck happened”! I’m your host, Bailey, and I truly have no idea what happened last month. Time is FLYING by so quickly and I can’t believe I’m almost at 6 months blogging full-time. It feels like just yesterday I was working a million hours a week trying to get to this place, and here I am, still working a million hours a week! Maybe that’s why it feels like just yesterday, eh?
Alright, so, May updates! First, if you’ve never read an income report before, read more about why I’m doing them. The short of it is that before I started this blog, other blogger’s monthly reports were so helpful for me when I was learning the ropes. And I’ve wanted to do it since the first month this blog started, the month I made $0.27, as a personal blog diary about all I’m changing, growing and learning along the way.
I really hope the information in this post gives you a little insight and motivation if you’re new to this whole blog thing. And check out my post on how to start a blog for a step-by-step of how I did it if you’re interested in giving it a go too! If you’re worried about being a little fish in a big massive blogger pond, don’t be. That was my biggest hang up but if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that there’s room for EVERYONE to succeed and do well. The opportunity is yours if you want it enough!
May really was kind of a blur. I’ve been so focused on working on our podcast launch coming soon (our meaning Jen and I), AND the rebranding that’s happening soon(!!) on Paleo Bailey, and designing the total overhaul of this site that the month came and went without me really noticing. I can’t wait to fill you all in on all of the details, but just know it’s been in the works since, like, February, and I’ve got the BEST designer and developer on the project with me. They’ve seriously made this experience as painless and dare I say it, as fun, as possible! And really, it should be fun. I’m moving toward something I feel so much more connected to as a brand, something designed with YOU in mind, and I think you’re going to love it!
So there’s that! I’ve also been working on the post-launch of the new site and setting up everything I need to for the week and month after that happens. Which, honestly, is more work as the design/development stuff itself. Setting up all of my accounts with the new info, business accounts, syncing the new stuff with quickbooks, EIN number with the good ol’ government, etc. Just lots of time needing to be spent on the backend stuff. I’ve also been having to update my current partnerships with the changes, doing all of the posts for post-launch so I don’t have to focus on that part and don’t see as much of a hiccup in my SEO traffic, setting up a super fun launch week, all that stuff.
The nice thing is though that once it comes time to go, I’ll have all of my posts scheduled and ready to self-publish for a whole month. And by THAT time, I’ll be working even MORE in the future, giving myself even more of a buffer. PRAISE BE!
I’ve really implemented my batch working the last month/month and a half and I can now start seeing some of the benefits in that. Working so far in the future is giving me a little more freedom and feeling more in control. Now that I’m planning and creating content for August and September already, I’m much less stressed when it comes to all of the deadlines I have going on.
So, income, shall we?
Income is counted as what I have physically received in the month of May, not for the work I did. Typically sponsored posts don’t pay out for 30 days, affiliates don’t pay out for 30-60 days, and ad networks don’t pay out for 60-90 days.
Meaning, income from ads this month was in relation to my page views from February.
Income:
Sponsored Posts: $2,000
Affiliates: $1,561.92
Ads: $1,628.01
Total: $5,189.93
EXPENSES:
Food: I’m working on 2 big projects that I’m buying food for right now as well, so between that and the blog (3 sources), I didn’t separate out what amount of money went to which.
Assistant/Content Manager: $630.00
MailChimp: $30.00 (monthly)
Tailwind (Pinterest scheduler): $10 (monthly)
Lightroom/Photoshop: $10 (monthly)
Total: $680
*I want to note a LOT of my income the last few months has gone directly back into the business in the form of this redesign that’s happening. It’s a BIG investment (like 8k if we’re putting it all out there), but one I’m excited about and think is so, so worth it for you AND me!
Exciting things that happened in income blog land this month:
You’ll see my “assistant” expense there. And it is WORTH EVERY PENNY because I’m now totally hands-off Pinterest and Facebook. Two of my biggest pain points and time sucks. It’s allowing me to focus on my content and all of the projects I have happening and I couldn’t be happier with that.
I added another long term partnership to my current brand partnerships. I’ve talked a bit about long term partnerships in past income reports and what the pros and cons are of them. Overall, I love them. Especially when it’s a brand I seriously love and couldn’t be more excited about. Which is the case for ALL of my partnerships, if I don’t love it – you don’t hear about it. However, when it’s longterm, it means my audience gets more aquatinted with them, and will hopefully love them as much as I do too! I also like them because it’s income I can plan for and know I have coming. Which makes entrepreneurial life a lot easier.
I got my first sponsored travel partnership! WOOOO! So funny story here. I’ve ALWAYS believed in “manifesting the things I want” and the whole “universal pull” stuff. Mostly because, well, it always works for me. I put the stuff I want out there, truly believe and expect it will happen, work like hell, and then it does. It’s been that way in school, in my relationships, travel experiences, and my business. I do work for what I want of course, but maybe a lot of that work ethic comes from a place of believing it’s already mine to be had? Anyway.. Back to the story.
So I was at a coffee shop with my assistant working, and travel came up. As we were leaving I turned back and said “give me a year and I’ll be doing travel partnerships.” Sure enough, I KID YOU NOT, 2 days later I received an email from one of the brands I work with asking for just that. Dreams do come true, friends!
I hope you know I’m not saying this to sound like I’ve got it all or anything, because, trust me. There’s anything but glam over here. I don’t ever want to give the impression that I take any of this for granted, take you for granted, or come off as flippant about it. I LOVE what I do, and I LOVE serving my community in a way that helps them grow and change their life. I really just hope that this inspires YOU to go after the things you want. That’s my intention.
Speaking of un-glam-ness, a few annoying parts of this is that I have income from April I’m still waiting on. It’s now June. So, not having money I thought I was going to have means that I don’t do much else so I can pay the bills and make mortgage payments. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows. Lots of days it’s tracking down money that’s owed to you for work you did, wearing the same shirt 3 days in a row, testing recipes and having them be disgusting, paying insane taxes every 3 months, figuring out where and what to reinvest into the business, working more than I ever did at a “normal” job, being so overwhelmed by emails and DMs you just close your laptop, saying “no” to fun things because you have deadlines.
But, all of the other freedom that comes with running your own business is honestly 100% ALWAYS worth the effort I put in. It means I get doing something I love out of it. I read something this month that said, “First it will feel like a sacrifice, then it will feel like the grind. Then it will feel like life. Then it will feel like freedom.”
Pretty sure I’m in all 4 of those stages at once, but it’s true nonetheless.
CAN YOU MAKE MONEY BLOGGING?
Yes! Like I mentioned earlier in this post, there’s room for everyone. I’m still SO NEW at this compared to a lot of people and even I’M telling you, go for it! I’m more than happy to help you, too! I have a really detailed step-by-step guide to setting up a blog, and a growing list of blog resources that I use on my own blog. If you need any further help, don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments!
‘Til next month!
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Dana says
Thank you so much for what you do! Your recipes, your inspiring words, your dogs ???? it’s all so wonderful! Your info about starting a blog is what has pushed me to go for it!
paleobailey says
Hi Dana!! Thank you so much! This means so much to me, and I’m so happy for you for goin’ after it! <3