Have you ever had that feeling that someone should pinch you to see if something is real or if you’re dreaming?
I’m kinda feeling that way about March – wondering if it’s too good to be true…
Not only did I have a record-breaking month, I BLEW my last income high out of the water. By like $6,000 or more than 30%.
In one month. Crazy, right?
So what happened? Read on for the full lowdown.
A Little Freelance Income Report Backstory
I keep a profit-and-loss statement for each month, as well as a rolling total for the year. I enter in income as it is received (rather than as it is billed) and do the same for expenses.
2015
2014
I started looking into freelancing in April, 2014. I launched this site in May and secured my first client in June, 2014. My total income was $16,512 – $3,782 expenses = $12,730 total profit for 2014. During this time, I also worked full-time at my day job.
Additional Deductions
Taxes: 25% of net income
I continue to transfer 25% of my net monthly profit into a separate savings account for taxes. Fully Booked VA was established as an S-corp in May, 2015 and we recently began payroll practices. (Guess we’re legit, huh?)
Tithing: 10% of net income
I split my tithe to our church and this missionary family in Costa Rica, both of which are extremely important to me. The latter makes a direct impact into the community – they recently established a daycare to take care of migrant farm worker’s children, so their parents don’t have to bring them with to pick coffee beans, which surprisingly can be very dangerous!
Side note: I 100% believe that my success is God’s doing and that He is blessing my obedience. I’m just listening and taking action.
March’s Results
Gross Income: $24,893
A 33% increase month-over-month, and most definitely my best gross income month yet!
Business Expenses: $9,860
Yep, still continuing to make big reinvestments into my biz. (See the expense section for the full breakdown.)
Net Income: $15,033
(After expenses, but before tithe/tax.) This is a 61% increase month-over-month!!
Income Breakdown
Obviously, this was a big month for Fully Booked VA! The interesting thing, is that the percentages of where my income came from didn’t shift a ton, even though the overall total did.
- Writing: 12%
- Virtual Assistance Work: 26%
- Course Sales: 45%
- Coaching: 7%
- Other: (Affiliate, MM Svc, etc.): 10%
Services:
Writing: I got paid on two big writing projects in March, which meant my writing income came in at ~$3,000.
I’d be comfortable at this level going forward, but it’ll probably dip down in April. I did increase one of my writing retainers recently and am in talks with a new writing client though, so you never know!
VA: I’m continuing work with all three of my VA clients and enjoying it. I learn so much about online business from seeing the inside of their successful businesses. Can’t beat getting paid to learn!
This month’s VA total came in slightly higher than “usual,” because one of my clients pays me weekly and there were five paydays in March. I don’t anticipate my VA income changing much over the course of the rest of the year.
Course Sales
Course sales remain strong and a large part of my income. A few things are contributing to its success:
- We had a successful beta launch of The Course Course.
- My free courses are starting to convert semi-regularly.
- My affiliate sales are strong and remain at ~50% of sales overall (thanks guys!).
I spent a lot of time in March on version two of 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success. I’m moving the course from email delivery to a courseware, adding video, quizzes, certification and more. The content is more than double and I’m confident it’s one of the best VA courses around!
Side note: If you’ve been thinking about taking it, now is the time to enroll! You’ll get access to both the current and the new course (for $1 more) for the current low price, even though prices are going up pretty substantially.
Coaching
Coaching remains pretty status quo. I’m not really taking on any new 1:1 clients, but am excited about what my current coaching clients are accomplishing. I’m also still acting as a mentor for Double Your Freelancing Clients.
Ariel and I opened the Mamapreneur Mastermind for a couple of weeks and welcomed some awesome new mamas. If you missed the enrollment period, but want to join some like-minded lady bosses ready to kick butt and take names, hop on the waitlist here and we’ll let you know when the doors open for new applications again.
Other
So my “other” category is growing and representing more things… makes it a bit more confusing, but I’ll break it down for you:
- Affiliate: $953 (not huge, but nothing to be ashamed of)
- Course Upgrades: $920 (technically could be in course sales, but…)
- VA MatchMaking Service: $594 (I’d LOVE to see this each and every month going forward)
Expense Breakdown
I’m actually happy about my expenses for March. They stayed inline with the month before, but I made more money, so I’ll consider that a win!
If I could keep them under $10k and maintain or continue growing my income going forward, that’d be great! Of course, I just started doing some Facebook advertising, so I’m thinking that April’s might be higher… we’ll see!
Note: I could keep my expenses fairly minimal (like less than $200 per month if I wanted). But if I did this, I would have to do almost EVERYTHING myself and likely wouldn’t be able to grow as quickly as I have been.
What’d I spend it all on?
- Tools (Subscriptions, Books, Training): 10%
- Advice (Coaching, Marketing): 22%
- Support (VA, Writing, Website): 42%
- Affiliate Payouts: 19%
- Fees (PayPal/Stripe): 6%
- Miscellaneous (Travel, etc.): 1%
The only “abnormal” expenses were a new laptop and I purchased identity theft protection through LifeLock (thank Ariel!). I also commissioned quite a few guest posts, subcontracted some writing work and had my first full month of paying three VAs. (Worth every penny!)
2016 Goals Progress
My ‘A’ Goal: $250k+ gross income ($61,928 YTD) – ON TRACK!
My 3 ‘B’ Goals:
- Pay-off land loan (4/1/16 – $21,878)
- $20,000 in savings (4/1/16 – $6,000)
- 20,000+ newsletter subscribers (4/1/16 – 4,496)
Remember, We’re Totally in This Together
If you’re currently hustling to build a freelance business, we’re in this together. I’d love to support you, if you’re willing to do the same.
Leave a comment letting me know we’re in the trenches together or a place that I can go to support you. Fan my FB page, connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Google+ to stay in touch! We’ve got this!
How did March fare for your online business? Leave a comment and tell me what went well or what was most challenging about it.