These are my online business finances for August 2020.
I spent the whole month in Tbilisi, Georgia.
I’ve been tracking everything I earn and spend since January 2011, just a few weeks after quitting my day job. Every month since, I’ve published one of these finance reports.
Sharing this info publicly keeps me accountable and hopefully gives you some insight into how I earn a living online.
Patrons get to see each new report before anyone else.
💵 Summary
| Total Business Income | € 11,360 | $ 13,578 |
| Total Business Expenses | € 2,413 | $ 2,884 |
| Profit | € 8,947 | $ 10,694 |
🤑 Business Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 11,116 | $ 13,287 |
| Patreon 1 | € 222 | $ 265 |
| eBiz Weekly coffee fund 2 | € 4 | $ 5 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 18 | $ 21 |
| Total Income | € 11,360 |
$ 13,578 |
| Previous Month | € 15,705 | $ 18,562 |
I was expecting my income to be a little more than $10k, so August turned out better than expected.
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments in August came from…
(Btw, I don’t necessarily recommend everything I earn affiliate income from. Sometimes I’ll write a bad review of something and people will still sign up to it via my link. Humans are weird like that.)
Here’s a progress chart for affiliate income since starting eBiz Facts…
Note that, to keep things simple for myself on a day-to-day basis, I practice cash accounting rather than accrual accounting.
“Under the cash method of accounting, sales are recorded when cash is received, and expenses are recorded when cash is sent out. It’s straightforward and intuitive. The problem with the cash method, however, is that it doesn’t always reflect the economic reality of a situation.” – Accounting Made Simple
The economic reality of affiliate marketing is that some companies pay their affiliates every month, while others have irregular payment schedules. As a result, my affiliate income can look more inconsistent month-to-month than it actually is.
💸 Business Expenses
🤝 Hired Help
| Hired Help 3 | € 921 | $ 1,101 |
| Total | € 921 | $ 1,101 |
| Previous Month | € 317 | $ 375 |
📆 Monthly Subscriptions
| Surfer 4 | € 49 | $ 59 |
| Ahrefs 5 | € 23 | $ 27 |
| Zoom 6 | € 12 | $ 15 |
| YouTube Premium 7 | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Adobe Photoshop | € 9 | $ 11 |
| Google Drive storage (1TB) 8 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Virtual Post Mail 9 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Copycall 10 | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Total | € 124 | $ 149 |
| Previous Month | € 127 | $ 151 |
🤓 Hosting & Domains
| Dreamhost domains 11 | € 13 | $ 16 |
| Kinsta 12 | € 4 | $ 5 |
| Total | € 17 | $ 20 |
| Previous Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
📚 Books
| Everybody Writes | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Play Bigger | € 9 | $ 11 |
| Total | € 20 | $ 24 |
| Previous Month | € 4 | $ 5 |
- See my book ratings and everything I’m currently reading over at Goodreads
🏦 Transaction Fees
| PayPal fees | € 427 | $ 510 |
| ClickBank fees | € 188 | $ 225 |
| Patreon fees 13 | € 28 | $ 34 |
| Transferwise fees | € 23 | $ 27 |
| Upwork fees | € 8 | $ 9 |
| Fiverr fees | € 3 | $ 4 |
| ATM fees | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 678 | $ 810 |
| Previous Month | € 617 | $ 729 |
💻 Home Office Expenses
| Office chair | € 130 | $ 156 |
| Internet | € 19 | $ 23 |
| Phone credit | € 7 | $ 8 |
| Power extension | € 6 | $ 7 |
| Total | € 162 | $ 194 |
| Previous Month | € 18 | $ 21 |
📋 Admin Expenses
| Admin expenses | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Total | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Previous Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| Trends Trial + Trends 1 year subscription 14 | € 251 | $ 300 |
| Income School’s Project 24 15 | € 166 | $ 199 |
| LastPass 16 | € 40 | $ 48 |
| Neuro Prime Brain Booster Supplement (30 day supply) | € 13 | $ 16 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 17 | € 7 | $ 8 |
| Sendy 18 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| SocialBee 19 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Teamwork project management software 20 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 477 | $ 571 |
| Previous Month | € 34 | $ 40 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Hired Help | € 921 | $ 1,101 |
| Transaction Fees | € 678 | $ 810 |
| Miscellaneous | € 477 | $ 571 |
| Home Office Expenses | € 162 | $ 194 |
| Monthly Subscriptions | € 124 | $ 149 |
| Books | € 20 | $ 24 |
| Hosting & Domains | € 17 | $ 20 |
| Admin Expenses | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Total Expenses | € 2,413 |
$ 2,884 |
| Previous Month | € 1,117 | $ 1,320 |
😢 Biggest Regret?
Nothing significant.
🗓 2020 So Far
Here’s how my business is doing this year in terms of profit and loss:
| January | € 84 | $ 94 |
| February | € 3.424 | $ 3,776 |
| March | € 3,366 | $ 3,710 |
| April | € 3,240 | $ 3,542 |
| May | € 4,246 | $ 4,717 |
| June | € 6,037 | $ 6,782 |
| July | € 14,588 | $ 17,242 |
| August | € 8,947 | $ 10,694 |
| Total | € 43,932 | $ 50,557 |
🔮 Outlook For September
I’m looking to buy a few more things for my home office in the coming weeks, and I might be signing up for some new courses to review. Expenses should be in the $2k to $3k range for the month.
Income should be similar to August, probably around $12,000.
📲 How I Track All This
Curious as to how I track everything I earn and spend? Check this video…
💬 Feedback Welcome
Thoughts? Questions? Speak up in the comments below.
🗂 Archived Finance Reports
I’ve been posting these monthly finance reports since January, 2011. You can view all my old reports via this page.
