Hey friends!

I’m back with another monthly income report!

In full transparency I’m actually writing this one a month late. Usually I post my income reports in the first five days of the new month but last month was a bit of a whirlwind for me: traveling, multiple big client launch projects and just general daily life with an eight month old who loves to move.

In this post I’ll cover:

• How my business makes money
• How I did on the goals I set for the month
• My exact income and expenses 
• What’s working well and what’s felt challenging
• My goals for the upcoming month 
• All of the tools and resources I use to run my business

You Can Read My Previous Income Reports Here:

• January: $13,338.33
• February: $10,616.89
• March: $10,663.22
• April: $9,450.00

Total for the year so far: 44,068.44

How does my business make money?

I’m an online course designer and launch strategist. My business mostly makes money by working one-on-one with clients to help them launch their online courses and digital products.

I also earn some affiliate income through using affiliate links for products I love and I make money through coaching, speaking and selling my own digital products.

How Did My May Goals Go?

Overall not terrible! Here’s a recap of the goals I set for May.

1. Enjoy my birthday – Done!

I got a massage, went out to brunch, took a walk on the beach and enjoyed a delicious homemade cheesecake.

2. Launch a new client’s online course website – Done!

For one of my long term clients and business friends, we separated out her online course to have its own brand and website! You can view the finished product here.

3. Work on a new batch of podcast episodes – Nope!

I barely did this at all. I LOVE my podcast, but my to-do list these days has been extra chaotic and there’s something that just had to come off of my list so for now my podcast is still on hiatus until we figure out a better childcare solution.

4. Batch marketing emails for the entire summer for THREE of my clients – DONE!

I worked with three clients to pre-write all of their weekly emails for June, July and August which means everything is scheduled for the rest of the summer. It feels amazing!

My May 2024 Income: $14,410.47

Client Work: $13,592
Coaching Calls: $250
Affiliate Income: $567.47

This was a BIG and great month for me, but I was also super busy with multiple overlapping client launches. I love the income number. I don’t love how much I worked.

My Expenses: $1,309.56

• Credit Card Processing Fees: $539.86
• Virtual Assistant: $450 
• Dolly Delong’s Incredible Bookkeeping Spreadsheet: $49.50
• Pin Potential Course: $37
• Descript: $15
• Calendly: $12 
• Website Domain Fees For Some Yearly Domain Renewals: $42 
• Office Supplies (a new planner, pens, notebooks and new headphones): $157 
• Gsuite: $7.20

What’s Working Well

1. I’m obsessed with this bookkeeping spreadsheet that I purchased from Dolly DeLong.

I completely overhauled my business finances and I now have a much better picture on how much money I am earning and spending each month.

2. Putting everything on my Google Calendar and asking others to do the same.

If someone else needs me to do something or I need to be somewhere I’ve been super strict about asking people to send me a calendar invite. This has helped a lot with my mental work load, especially the weird personal life things that take up time but don’t actually get scheduled.

3. Protein shakes!

Having something drinkable that I can take on walks, in the car or drink while working has been so helpful in the last month. I enjoyed these Aulani Protein shakes last month. 

4. Getting really specific on what I could use help with

I’ve become a lot better about specifically asking for help with some things like asking my husband to fully research and make a decision about our renter’s insurance. The key is to also ask your support people/partners to make the decision themselves, not just email you a bunch of ideas and research.

What’s Been Challenging

1. Childcare

This one is probably going to be on my list for the rest of forever. Right now I’m working full-time and my husband is working part-time. Our life is a constant tetris schedule of who is on baby duty and who is working/sleeping/cleaning. Things feel really tight on time right now and I would love a long term solution for some more support, but we haven’t found the right long term solution yet.

2. My Email Inbox

I just did a big declutter yesterday and found lots of random emails I had accidentally missed which is very out of character for me. The sheer volume of emails I’m dealing with is getting pretty overwhelming. I’m going to try simplifying my inbox and possibly bring my VA in to help declutter some of the stuff I don’t need to be personally reading.

 My Goals For Next Month

I didn’t set any! I’m writing this income report a month late, so I never set goals for June which honestly ended up being completely OK! Sometimes you just need a break from the more formal goal setting stuff.

All of the software and tools I’m currently using 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 For Business Banking 
• Dolly DeLong’s Bookkeeping Spreadsheet
• Capital One Spark Card  – Business Credit Card
• Dubsado – For invoicing and contracts 
• Profit First System – For managing business expenses and savings

Personal Money Tools:

• Ally Bank – For my everyday checking and savings account
• Wealthfront – Long term savings like my emergency fund and future house down payment fund.  
• Alliant Visa Signature – My personal credit card that receives 2.5 cashback. We use these for most of our everyday expenses.

Productivity and Goal-Setting Tools:

• Asana – Project Management
• 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 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:

• Convert Kit – The software I use to send emails
• 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 – My website host
• Elizabeth McCravy’s Showit Templates – Super easy-to-use website templates for Showit

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.