September 2018 Blog Income Report

Hi, my name is Michelle Jackson and I am addicted to passive income. Seriously. This weekend marked the first time that I received royalty payments for the book that I wrote and published in July. It was GLORIOUS getting my payout notifications. There is something somewhat addictive to waking up and having money in your account that you’ve earned separate from a job, side-hustle, or a freelance writing gig. Here is my September 2018 blog income report where I break down what I earned, what I learned, and what I will be doing moving forward.

*In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*

September 2018 Blog Income Report: $2,694.12

Ok, a couple of things. I have some rules for my blog income reports.

• Money I actually got paid!I only report money that has actually hit my account.

• Freelance writing not included-I believe that what you focus on grows. I do not want to really grow freelance writing so I don’t add those earnings in my reports.

• Partial earnings-Have no place in my report. I find them confusing and weird. Why report that I earned .75 cents if it will take a year to hit the actual payout threshold?

• Passive income only-Which…in all seriousness is not passive. Especially in the beginning. I’m working my butt off.

The Breakdown: $2,694.12

• $2,129.25–Make Money With Ebooks course sales

• $506.79–Autumn Stone Ebook royalties from July. Need a fun romance? Pick up a book today!  Not all of my royalties paid out at the end of September. I received additional payouts this week from Great Britain and Australia.

• $58.08-Amazon Affiliates earnings

$3, 197.30-With pending September Ebook Earnings

I have $503.18 in pending Autumn Stone Ebook earnings that will pay out at the end of November. If I were to include that in what I’ve earned in September $3,179.30 would be my total earnings. This is actually the most that I’ve earned passively and there are some things to note from the ebook number:

• I didn’t publish any books in September and still made $503.18 with ebooks.

• No marketing-I used some strategic keywords for the books and that’s been about it. I was supposed to participate in an online book fair, but that was cancelled.

• September was my lowest ebook payout, but I am very happy with earning over $500. If only earned $500 a month that would be an extra $6,000 for the year. I could do a lot with that money.
  • Pay off debt
  • Save
  • Invest
  • Go to South America for three months

• Selling a course is a great way to bring in income. I’ve had a ton of fun connecting with my students and supporting them on their writing journey.

The Reality

Here’s the thing, I earned almost $3,000 in paid out passive income. But, I have one affiliate that is a well known person that had me in their group. A lot of courses sold when I spoke their group, but those courses were at the beta price. I had originally planned to raise the course price at the end of the year but that didn’t make sense because I plan on doing a launch.

Instead, I’m raising the price now so that the prices match the value and will still earn money for both my affiliates and myself when it goes on sale Thanksgiving weekend.

If I really want the courses to sell-I need to market. If I want to grow my passive income-I need my page views to grow.

All of this is a lot of work. Anyone who tells you any differently is lying. And, something to think about when building courses to sell.

You have to account for the following:

• Affiliate payouts for your courses (if you have affiliates-which you should)

• Taxes

I’m raising the price for my course and breaking it into 3 different options in the next week or so. Grab it now if you’re on the fence-here’s the link “Make Money With Ebooks.” I’ve worked out:

• Perceived and real value to my students

• Payouts for affiliates-they will receive a minimum of $70 a payout even though I’m changing the affiliate payout to 30%.

And, my students are rocking it!! Some of the lessons learned from this summer and my September earnings.

• Pay attention to how you authentically solve problems for people that you know.

• Take risks! But, take risks that are cheap to make. In fact, Alan Donegan from The PopUp Business School that I took in September at Mr. Money Mustache’s headquarters made a similar point “Fail cheap and fast.” I would have lost time and about $50 to launch this course. Not a big deal if it didn’t work out.

• Market, market, market! My goal is to be seen everywhere for the next year. I’m not messing around. Have a podcast you think I would be great on? Let me know! Have a YouTube channel you think I should be interviewed on? Let me know! This year I’m taking NO PRISONERS.

• Be audacious! My goals starting from October 1, 2018 until October 1, 2019 are really audacious. In fact, my goals for the next 12 months kind of freak me out. And that’s how I know I’m pushing hard enough.

By the way, it has taken me FOREVER to get to this point LOL! Anyone who tells you that building passive income, a business, or a brand is easy-is full of sh$t. It’s hard work. How did your September treat you?

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Michelle

I am an obsessive foodie, but not self-righteous with it, love travel, meeting new people, helping you look good, and am freaked out by people who don't enjoying reading...something! Grab a Perrier, read my blog, feel free to drop me a line! Hope to hear from you soon.

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