These are my online business finances for February 2021.
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 | € 15,669 | $ 18,916 |
| Total Business Expenses | € 3,876 | $ 4,680 |
| Profit | € 11,792 | $ 14,236 |
🤑 Business Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 15,414 | $ 18,609 |
| Patreon 1 | € 227 | $ 274 |
| Tip Jar 2 | € 16 | $ 20 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 11 | $ 14 |
| Total Income | € 15,669 |
$ 18,916 |
| Previous Month | € 14,539 | $ 17,647 |
I was expecting my income to be at least $15k. Brought in a nice bit more than that.
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments in February 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 | € 2,470 | $ 2,982 |
| Previous Month | € 1,708 | $ 2,073 |
📆 Subscriptions
| Cloudflare Pro Plan (monthly) 4 | € 16 | $ 20 |
| YouTube Premium (monthly) 5 | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Adobe Photoshop (monthly) | € 9 | $ 11 |
| Virtual Post Mail (monthly) 6 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Copycall (monthly) 7 | € 5 | $ 6 |
| AAWP (annual) 8 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Ahrefs (annual) 9 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Elementor Pro (annual) 10 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Google Drive storage (annual) 11 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Hexowatch 12 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Readwise (annual) 13 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| SocialBee 14 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Surfer (annual) 15 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Teamwork project management software (annual) 16 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Trends (annual) 17 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Zoom (annual) 18 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 49 | $ 59 |
| Previous Month | € 678 | $ 823 |
🤓 Hosting & Domains
| Dreamhost 19 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Kinsta (annual) 20 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 1,321 | $ 1,604 |
📚 Books
| Superforecasting | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Previous Month | € 19 | $ 24 |
- See my book ratings and everything I’m currently reading over at Goodreads
🏦 Transaction Fees
| Transaction fees 21 | € 702 | $ 848 |
| Previous Month | € 541 | $ 656 |
💻 Home Office Expenses
| Phone credit | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Internet | € 6 | $ 8 |
| Total | € 19 | $ 23 |
| Previous Month | € 12 | $ 15 |
📋 Admin Expenses
| LLC Renewal 22 | € 103 | $ 125 |
| Previous Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| ConvertBox 23 | € 410 | $ 495 |
| Business credit card annual fee | € 79 | $ 95 |
| Criticalcss 24 | € 14 | $ 17 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 25 | € 9 | $ 11 |
| Skype credit | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Total | € 520 | $ 628 |
| Previous Month | € 35 | $ 43 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Hired Help | € 2,470 | $ 2,982 |
| Transaction Fees | € 702 | $ 848 |
| Miscellaneous | € 520 | $ 628 |
| Admin Expenses | € 103 | $ 125 |
| Subscriptions | € 49 | $ 59 |
| Home Office Expenses | € 19 | $ 23 |
| Books | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Hosting & Domains | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total Expenses | € 3,876 |
$ 4,680 |
| Previous Month | € 4,315 | $ 5,237 |
I was expecting to spend under $4k overall. Went over mainly because of expenses related to improving website speed.
😢 Biggest Regret?
Nothing significant.
2021 So Far
Here’s how I’m doing this year in terms of profit and loss:
| January | € 10,224 | $ 12,410 |
| February | € 11,792 | $ 14,236 |
| Total | € 22,016 | $ 26,646 |
🔮 Outlook For March
Expenses should be less than $4,000.
Income should be at least $15,000.
📲 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.
Hi Niall,
Gamarjoba, my names Gunnar and I’m so happy to find that you’re spending your time in Georgia. Before diving deep into your articles I planned on moving their post graduation. One of the most amazing things about your site thus far was seeing your income over the past years. I’m surprised that from month to month you don’t spend that much money. I also saw those transaction fees and was wondering if you used Transfer-wise (now called Wise) to pay your employees and do the bills. I imagine you’re fully distributed and paying people in different places and different currencies as well as receiving that.
I hope we can bump into each other in June. I might move into an airbnb in the city and find a place I can own soon after. By then I’m hoping I’m working full-time for a company you helped connected me to. You recommended dynamite jobs and it drove me in the right direction toward remote jobs in Tech Operations where there is plenty to learn, but some of the regularity of having an U.S. employer. Either way I need to cover my bases and keep networking and applying.
My networking muscle tells me you should meet this VC investor Johnathan Tower who I have a two degree connection with. As of a week ago he was on Georgian news in Georgia for the sake of investing in Georgia as an emerging market. Their portfolio specializes in foreign investing rather than U.S. , which has always made sense to me.
My question for you after looking for work for myself is how I might be able to break my Georgian friends into the same job market. Many of my Georgian friends are English speaking, master-level students, but don’t all want to leave Georgia and work in the U.S./EU. Is there any special support I can offer them that will help them gain higher wages in remote work? The only idea I’ve had thus far (actually rattling around my head) is focusing on starting a business that employs as many Georgians as possible rather than helping them get jobs one a time.
Hey Gunnar,
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I do use Wise quite a bit, both for transfers and as an online bank sometimes.
Glad to hear Dynamite Jobs worked out well for you.
As for your Georgian friends, short of creating a company and hiring them yourself, I think it’s ultimately up to the individual. There’s plenty of well-paying work out there for people who are skilled and hungry for opportunity, especially if they speak good English. They could do what you did and apply for jobs on sites like Dynamite Jobs. If they do that consistently and keep improving their skills, they’re likely to find a well-paying online gig eventually.
Niall, thanks again for the weekly email, and the monthly reports!
I learn tons, and the content is always on point.
I was wondering, now that your net-worth is growing significantly month over month, what are you investing in? How do you grow your saving?
I am very much into passive income, investment, and the FIRE movement – what’s your take on these?
Thank you and keep up the great work – your growth has been an impressive journey.
Hey Dean,
Thanks for the comment.
I don’t have much to say/share about investments as I’m very much a novice. But I am trying to save a good chunk of my earnings and making regular deposits with a robo-advisor.