Monthly Income Report – December 2011
Welcome to my December monthly income report!
Each month I am planning on publishing a detailed report of what I’ve been up to during the previous month, the income I’ve made online, and the things I’ve learned.
I find it’s a great way for me to motivate myself and others and to keep myself accountable for my actions over time.
The openness of this exercise has been quite confronting for me but over time I’ve learned that where there’s uncomfortableness there is progress.
Important happenings in December
This is the first ever report. I’m starting to write these reports as part of my big hairy strategic move to a product based online income rather than freelancing.
Hopefully things will work out well and the speed of progress will show in these reports. Least to say, I have lofty goals for the year of 2012.
Some things I’ve learned:
Knuckle under
Sometimes when the going gets tough you just have to knuckle under and hustle.
Last year I went through a phase of what I call “hustling”. It involved lots of early mornings and late nights, putting in extra hours around work but at the end of it all I ended up with my first product.
This month I will start working on my second product. It’s definitely not going to be my last this year either. I’m hopeful I can launch half a dozen products over the next 12 months.
January is going to be about rekindling that hustling mantra.
Diversify
Until I compiled this report I didn’t realise exactly how many sources I have bringing me income. Now I have a better idea.
In the past I’ve relied heavily on freelancing. Since that’s not going to be part of my strategy over the next 12 months at least, I’m going to have to replace it with several sources.
Freelancing can be quite lucrative, whereas building products, or getting money from affiliate sales and advertising can be quite slow to build as you’ll see from the figures below.
It’s painfully obvious – I really need to work on diversifying this mix over the next couple of months so I can find my next cash cow.
In a way, I kind of miss freelancing.
At one point it was an extra $1000+ per month and quite often more if a few invoices were paid all at once.
It’s surprising how quickly you can ramp up freelancing, which is also part of the problem.
You see, I’m one of those rare people who actually like their day job. So when the freelancing was getting too out of control – which I found was quite easy to do as word of mouth spreads quickly – it got really hectic and I burned out quickly.
I really hope this new tactic of productizing will help me change that.
I can scale it slower (whether by force, or by design) and I don’t think it will stress me out quite so much given I am working on this stuff out of business hours only.
Plus, there’s nothing quite like working on code for your own products rather than someone else’s project.
Income Breakdown
My online income is currently coming from varied sources as you will see below, including advertising, affiliate product sales, and sales of my own products.
Adsense
Total: $0.39
Last Month: nil
Difference: +$0.39
Affiliate Commissions
Amazon: $12.10
Bluehost: $65.00
Total: $77.10
Last Month: nil
Difference: +$77.10
Other Sources
EBay: $71.23
Total: $71.23
Last Month: nil
Difference: +$71.23
ThirstyAffiliates
Total: $236.00
Last Month: nil
Difference: +$236.00
Gross Total December: $384.72
Last Month: nil
Difference: +384.72
Given that I usually just add up the major ones like ThirstyAffiliates and maybe add on the Amazon earnings it’s surprising that I actually cracked the $300 mark this month.
December was a very slow month in terms of sales of ThirstyAffiliates – not from lack of trying, it just seemed people weren’t as willing to part with their money right around Christmas for products like mine. You can’t exactly wrap up a copy of ThirstyAffiliates and put that under the tree 
You’re probably wondering why EBay popped up in there. Well, most entreprenuers make up for their short months by hocking stuff on EBay. I’d be ignoring a good source of income if I didn’t do the same.
My strategy for EBay is a simple one, I buy valuable junk at a low cost from garage sales and sell it for more on EBay. For example: I bought two Twilight figurines in mint condition in the box for $1 each and sold for over $20 each. Do that 10 times and you have a healthy profit which makes it worth the time.
Obviously though, it’s not going to be a permanent fixture in my income streams and I fully expect that some months I probably won’t have time for it at all.
All the previous month totals I’ve made “nil”. Firstly, to make myself feel good by seeing lots of + signs and green text, but also to represent the fresh start and the new approach.
Here’s to a wonderful start to 2012 and let the games begin!
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Wow! Josh, you have been very honest with your income on this post. I know this must not take into account income from your freelancing work.
But, hey! all the best for a rocketing income year 2012.
Today, I went through almost every post from at this website. And you know what I just found EACH of your articles AMAZING!
You can now count you have got one more regular reader of your blog posts!
You write from your heart. And your posts are very motivating for your fellow entrepreneurs like me
All the best!
Thanks Prakash, that’s really nice to hear
Makes me feel like it’s actually worth writing.
Yes, the idea of this is that it’s brutally honest. Pretty much down to the cent.
I actually find it quite revealing and a little bit scary that it’s all there for the world to see. But in a way it’s liberating as well. My biggest fear at the moment is that I won’t be able to drive as many sales as last month and will have to report a lower number, that would look awful.
I have pretty much completely stopped freelancing at the moment which is why it doesn’t feature here. I may have some small jobs coming up in the next few months and I’m still debating with myself as to if I should include that income or not.
The only reason I’d do it is if I find I have some spare time and because it’s for an old client who I’ve been doing work for throughout last year. I actually find it really hard to say “no” when people call me up out of the blue.
Oh and also, for anyone who doesn’t know, all of this is done while I still have a fulltime job. It’s all extra money to me at this stage which is why I’m not too worried about the low numbers. It’s not paying my bills, but it’s buying my beer so to speak.
Good deal, Josh.
I love it when people report their online income honestly.
Thanks Paula, great to see you here.