Why am I sharing my earnings with you? If you haven’t noticed already the online world is rather transparent. I like that. Money shouldn’t be a taboo topic. If you work hard you’re going to earn more. I read about bloggers making tens of thousands a month and I’m inspired and motivated to do the same one day.

The regular earnings and expense updates are a way to stay accountable to my goals, keep a record, and share my journey with you.

The Australian Financial Year runs from July 1 to June 30, which means that it’s tax time in my part of the world. I like this time of year, generally, I’m pleased to find I get a decent tax refund. I’m sure if I had to pay June 30 and I would not be friends.

Unfortunately, June wasn’t the best month for income but I did sell a few books, so that’s great. I also hired a VA to help me out with a few things and am trialling a new editor for book 4 of my Lexi Ryder Crime Thriller Series which I hope to have out by the end of August.

To stay organised I keep folders for each financial year and I’ve also started a separate one for my business. It’s all under a sole trader. I don’t need the expense and complication of having a company (or corporation) just yet. Keeping things under my name, tax file number and business number is enough.

My record keeping isn’t fancy. I have a spreadsheet I use for my income, expenses, pitch submissions, blog schedule, etc.

HOW MUCH DID I MAKE AND SPEND IN 2015/16 FY?

2015/16 Earnings = $955.76 (freelancing, paraplanning, book sales)

2015/16 Expenses = $2,604.94 (this includes personal development courses, business coaching, editing and cover design. It does not include stationery, internet or home office charges).
(Obviously, I also earn money from my day job which I don’t include here but it does pay the bills at home!)

WHAT DID I DO TO EARN THIS CASH?

Not enough. Marketing and pitching were not high on the priority list this year. That obviously is going to change. Year one was more of a test run to see whether I’m interested in this gig long term. Yes, yes, I am.

I submitted 53 pitches, so about one pitch per week.
I had 24 responses.
I received 5 assignments and 1 sponsored post.
I sold 77 books and gave away 1210 books.
I’ve set up some affiliates but haven’t done much promotion. (You can’t make much money with affiliates if you don’t have traffic coming in!)
My website stats are small but I have big plans for the next financial year.

My expenses are 2.5x that of my income. Which sucks but that’s my fault. Not enough pitching and not enough marketing. I wasn’t going to do this post, the figures are embarrassing. But I want you to see that it’s not all rosy profits in the online world, not unless you’re really willing to work your butt off. I didn’t calculate all the hours I’ve put in but on average I can say that I’ve worked about 10 – 15 hours per week (approx. 624 hours per year) on my side business. Unfortunately, it wasn’t smart work. I’ve reassessed and I’m going to make sure financial year 2 is profitable.

2016/17 Financial Year Goal

Make at least $10,000 in writing income from a combination of book sales, freelancing, blogging and affiliates.