Online Income: $5,596 in January 2016

Hey guys! I can’t believe we are already well into the month of February now. January was a total blur and while I had a lot of fun on my trip last week, I can’t believe it’s over.

One of the things I spent some time pondering while I was out of town was the direction I want to go with my business. I think I have an idea of what I want to do, but now I just need to figure out how to make it happen.

That said, I’m still very happy with how my business has been performing income-wise.

In January 2016 I earned $5,596.92 with my online business.

Here’s how:

VA/Blog Management Services – $3,874.42

Writing – $1,722.50

Advertising on both my sites – $0.00

Bonuses, Tips, etc.- $0.00

A couple months ago, I started sharing my expenses with you too so you can get a better idea of how much I spend to keep my business going every month.

The expenses listed below are only what I pay out of my business account each month. You won’t see a charge for internet in the expenses below because that is something I would pay for even if I didn’t have an online business. (But yes, I do get to deduct most of it now that I have an online business.) So keep that in mind.

Staff Writer, VAs, Tech Services – $661.50

PayPal and Other Fees – $36.78

Podcast Expense – $15.00

Total Expenses: $713.28

Income less Expenses: $4,883.64

I’m glad that my January expenses were lower than December’s, but I have a feeling that February’s will be higher due to some business travel and because I paid one of my contractors to help me with some extra tasks while I was gone.

I did have one expense last month that is not listed above – quarterly taxes. But I don’t feel that I should be sharing that information publicly. Just keep in mind that I do save up for that expenses every month, so the payment I made in January didn’t all come from my January income.

It seems that once you reach a certain level of income (or work) that you have to start paying more business expenses in order to continue growing your business.

I did beat my income goal of $4,200, which is awesome.

As always, you need to know that I don’t count my online income until the month it gets deposited into my account, so this is from some work at the end of December through about mid-January. I have made some more since then, but it will be included on my next report since it didn’t hit my account until February 1st (or later).

Remember, that my online income has not yet been taxed, which means that about 30% of what I make is going to be taken by Uncle Sam. That “expense” is not included in the net figure of $4,883.64 listed above. Additionally, I’m saving some of my income to be used for FINCON16 and other business expansion projects in the future.

I’m going to set my February income goal at $4,400. This will be my highest income goal yet.

Here are some of my other online income reports:

• December 2015 – $5,372.08
• November 2015 – $5,062.21
• October 2015 – $4,190.15
• September 2015 – $3,372.10
• August 2015 – $2,357
• July 2015 – $2,502.60 – Last month as a side hustle!
• June 2015 – $2,130.25
• May 2015 – $1,873.40
• April 2015 – $1,691.51
• March 2015 – $2,131
• February 2015 – $1,534
• December 2014 – $1,503.50
• July 2014 – $285

For kicks and giggles I decided to average my monthly online income for the 19 months I’ve been freelancing. Even with the smaller months at the very beginning, my average monthly online income (gross) is $2,257.45. My 12 month (gross) average is $3,151.10.

Did you make any online income in January? Is there anything else you’d like to know about how I run my business or make income online? Let me know, I’d love to help you out!