These are my online business finances for December 2020.
I spent the whole month in Tbilisi, Georgia except for a few days exploring nearby towns and countryside.
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 | € 17,974 | $ 21,979 |
| Total Business Expenses | € 3,996 | $ 4,887 |
| Profit | € 13,978 | $ 17,093 |
🤑 Business Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 17,698 | $ 21,641 |
| Patreon 1 | € 253 | $ 310 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 15 | $ 18 |
| Tip Jar 2 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Total Income | € 17,974 |
$ 21,979 |
| Previous Month | € 9,822 | $ 11,745 |
I was expecting my income to be at least $12k. Brought in way more than that. Received some overdue affiliate payments from November and had a couple of bonus payments come through as well. Also, my SEO traffic continues to grow nicely, which tends to result in more revenue down the line.
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments in December came from…
(Btw, I don’t necessarily recommend everything I earn affiliate income from. Sometimes I’ll write a negative 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 | € 1,777 | $ 2,173 |
| Total | € 1,777 | $ 2,173 |
| Previous Month | € 1,855 | $ 2,219 |
📆 Subscriptions
| Ahrefs 4 | € 742 | $ 908 |
| Surfer 5 | € 394 | $ 482 |
| Hexowatch 6 | € 80 | $ 98 |
| Elementor Pro 7 | € 30 | $ 37 |
| Zoom 8 | € 12 | $ 15 |
| YouTube Premium 9 | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Adobe Photoshop | € 9 | $ 11 |
| Google Drive storage (1TB) 10 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Virtual Post Mail 11 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Copycall 12 | € 5 | $ 6 |
| SocialBee 13 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Teamwork project management software 14 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 1,298 | $ 1,588 |
| Previous Month | € 180 | $ 216 |
🤓 Hosting & Domains
| Kinsta 15 | € 72 | $ 88 |
| Total | € 72 | $ 88 |
| Previous Month | € 52 | $ 62 |
📚 Books
| Building a StoryBrand | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Total | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Previous Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
- See my book ratings and everything I’m currently reading over at Goodreads
🏦 Transaction Fees
| PayPal fees | € 424 | $ 519 |
| Patreon fees 16 | € 32 | $ 39 |
| TransferWise fees | € 31 | $ 38 |
| ClickBank fees | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Dreamhost fees | € 2 | $ 3 |
| Currency exchange fees | € 2 | $ 2 |
| FlexOffers fees | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Respondent fees | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 501 | $ 613 |
| Previous Month | € 527 | $ 630 |
💻 Home Office Expenses
| Samsung A51 Phone | € 236 | $ 289 |
| Phone credit | € 11 | $ 14 |
| Internet | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Headphones | € 7 | $ 9 |
| Total | € 264 | $ 323 |
| Previous Month | € 1,630 | $ 1,950 |
📋 Admin Expenses
| Admin expenses | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 1 | $ 1 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| Lean SEO 17 | € 65 | $ 79 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 18 | € 7 | $ 9 |
| Total | € 72 | $ 88 |
| Previous Month | € 3,314 | $ 3,963 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Hired Help | € 1,777 | $ 2,173 |
| Subscriptions | € 1,298 | $ 1,588 |
| Transaction Fees | € 501 | $ 613 |
| Home Office Expenses | € 264 | $ 323 |
| Hosting & Domains | € 72 | $ 88 |
| Miscellaneous | € 72 | $ 88 |
| Books | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Admin Expenses | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total Expenses | € 3,996 |
$ 4,887 |
| Previous Month | € 7,560 | $ 9,040 |
I was expecting to spend under $5k overall so happy enough with how it shook out.
😢 Biggest Regret?
Nothing significant.
🗓 2020 In Review
Here’s how my business did through 2020 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 |
| September | € 10,011 | $ 11,737 |
| October | € 13,169 | $ 15,345 |
| November | € 2,262 | $ 2,705 |
| December | € 13,978 | $ 17,083 |
| Total | € 83,352 | $ 97,427 |
YouTuber Matthew Morgan also put together this video about my revenue and profit earned from eBiz Facts in 2020…
🔮 Outlook For January
Expenses should be less than $4,000.
Income should be at least $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.
Hey Niall,
Are u switching from iphone ?
Yeah, after 10+ years I think. I don’t use my phone all that much so it didn’t make sense to spend a small fortune on another iPhone.
Hey Niall, congrats! If I remember correctly, you kicked your business plan’s ass right? Don’t remember the exact figures, but think you were planning a bit more conservatively than the actual figures, good job and well earned. Been following your progress since 2011 and if there’s one person who deserves his hard work to come to such fruition, it’s you.
Hope you and Rita are well in Tbilisi. Should this year’s travel restrictions be less strict, we might come and visit with my new VW Sharan camper :).
Hey Lukas,
Thanks for that. Yeah, I was hoping the site would be at $10k/month by the end of 2020, so it definitely exceeded expectations 🙂
Hopefully 2021 will allow for a lot more travel. Georgia is a good place to come visit.
Nearly a 6-figure year for you! What’s coming for the website this year?
More of the same really! I’d like to get a quiz set up at some point as well, as a better way to help people figure out which type of online businesses to consider.