Welcome to my December 2024 income report!

I’m excited to share how my online business journey unfolded this past month (spoiler alert! I earned $8,542). In this post, I’ll break down exactly where this income came from, what worked well, and the challenges I faced this past month.

I hope this transparency provides inspiration, insights, and actionable ideas for anyone looking to build or grow their own online business.

You Can Read All of My Previous 2024 Income Reports Here:

• January: $13,338.33
• February: $10,616.89
• March: $10,663.22
• April: $9,450.00
• May: $14,410.47
• June: $11,802.66
• July: $10,317.08
• August: $9,829.90
• September: $8,515.20
• October: $9,278.20
• November: $12,678.40

A Quick Recap

December was amazing! After the whirlwind of November, which was full of family visits and running tons of Black Friday sales for clients, December brought the spaciousness I was craving.

I took two full weeks off at the end of the year and embraced a slower pace. I watched Christmas movies, went on late-night walks to look at the Christmas lights, ate copious amounts of chocolate, read for fun, stayed up late and slept in.

December – you were fantastic!

How Much Money I Made:

Total Income for December: $8,452

 Where that money came from:

• Client Work: $8,447.50
• Affiliate Income: $4.50

My Expenses:

Contractors: $377

This is for one virtual assistant, a podcast editor and a website designer who sometimes helps me update pages on my website. All of their hours vary month to month. Some months I need a lot more support and other months are more minimal.

Credit Card Processing Fees: $234.94

This is the cut Paypal and Stripe take out when a client pays me or I sell a digital product.

Software: $12.20

You can see the full list of all of the tools I use to run my business below. I pay for the full year at once for most of the software I use, but these expenses were for my podcast hosting service (Libsyn) and my Gsuite account which gives me storage through Google for my business and allows me to have an email @marakucirek.com

Coffee: $5.36

I bought a latte while I was out working at a coffee shop.

Website hosting: $34.22

The domain for my website renewed this month (through Namecheap) and I paid for two years this time.

Total Expenses: $663.72

Total Income for 2024: $129,352.35

I am so, so happy about this number. This year was tough. I started the year with a three month baby at home, in the depths of postpartum life. I wasn’t sleeping. I was super stressed out about how I was going to earn as much money post-baby as pre-baby business Mara.

It feels good to look back on the year and send past Mara a lot of good vibes that everything turned out ok!

How did my December goals go?

1. Spend the day at a coffee shop reviewing my 2025 goals and planning for next year – DONE!

This was wonderful. I spent the afternoon at a local coffee shop working on setting my goals for next year and reviewing how 2024 went.

2. Buy a play kitchen for my daughter – Done!

This was so much fun. I spent all month researching different play kitchens. We ended up getting her the IKEA DUKTIG. While I am obsessed with the Pottery Barn play kitchens and if I ever win the lottery you’ll know because I’ll have one in my house – the Ikea kitchen is a great price, has a bunch of functional pieces and we can customize it in the future.

3. Enjoy Christmas and take two weeks where I’m working very limited hours – Complete!!!

…and it was so good! I’ve done this the last several years in my business and it’s always the best.

My Goals for January

1. Record a new podcast episode.

2. Go look at houses (we’re considering buying one in 2025!)

3. Write out a list of changes to make and software to add to my tools and resources page.

Current List of the Software and Tools I Use to Run My Business:

A quick note – Some of the links below are affiliate links which means I may get a small kickback if you use them. There’s no additional cost to you and all of these products are things I actually use in my own business.

Business Money Tools:

• Relay – Online business banking
• Bookkeeping Spreadsheet – This is the spreadsheet I use to keep track of all of my business expenses and income
• Capital One Spark Credit Card  – My business credit card 
• Chase Freedom Credit Card – My second business credit card. The Capital One card has slightly better rewards so I use that one more, but this one is good too.
• Dubsado – For invoicing and contracts 
• Profit First System – For managing business expenses and savings.

Personal Money Tools:

• Ally Bank – For checking and savings
• Wealthfront – A high yield savings account where I keep our long-term savings (emergency fund, house down payment fund, travel funds) 
• Alliant Visa Signature – The main credit card we use in our personal lives. This one pays 2.5% cashback.
• You Need a Budget – The budgeting software I use to keep track of our personal finances. It’s been a game changer and saved us thousands of dollars each year but knowing exactly what is coming in and going out.

Productivity and Goal-Setting Tools:

• Asana – For project management and staying on top of my to-dos
• Timer Cube – To stay focused on your work
• Full Focus Planner – For planning my week and daily to-do list 
• Bullet Journaling – For planning out my long-term goals and to-do lists (I use this inexpensive notebook as my bullet journal) 
• Dynalist – To create lists and organize my thoughts

Social Media:

• Your Template Club – Canva templates for Instagram and Facebook that you can easily customize 
• ManyChat – For sending automated messages on Instagram and Facebook
• Metricool – To schedule posts on Instagram and Facebook  
• Tailwind – For scheduling Pinterest pins 
• Canva – To create graphics
• Ring Light – The ring light and tripod I use to film content

Podcasting:

• Riverside – Recording podcast episodes and interviews 
• Libsyn – Where I host my podcast episodes 
• Microphone – For recording podcasts, events and videos 
• Calendly – To schedule guest interviews

Email Marketing:

• ConvertKit – The software I use to send emails
• Flodesk – I personally prefer ConvertKit for my business needs, but Flodesk is an incredible low cost option that’s a good fit for most business owners
• Liz Wilcox’s Email Marketing Membership – $9 a month membership that gives me access to hundreds of email templates.
• Interact – For creating quizzes in my business like my Find Your Perfect Course Creation Match

Website:

• Showit – The website builder I use 
• Elizabeth McCravy’s Showit Templates – Super easy-to-use website templates for Showit 
• Convertbox – For pop ups and additional forms embedded
• Namecheap – My favorite place to buy domain names (and usually the cheapest place too!)

I also have loads more tools and resources here if you want more ideas and recommendations.

Other disclosures:

Relay Bank: Relay is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and FDIC insurance are provided through Thread Bank, Member FDIC. The Relay Visa® Debit Card is issued by Thread Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa® debit cards are accepted.