These are my online business finances for July 2021.
I spent the entire month in Georgia (the country), mostly in Tbilisi.
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 | € 13,504 | $ 16,028 |
| Total Business Expenses | € 4,515 | $ 5,358 |
| Profit | € 8,990 | $ 10,670 |
🤑 Business Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 13,291 | $ 15,775 |
| Patreon 1 | € 198 | $ 235 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 15 | $ 18 |
| Total Income | € 13,504 |
$ 16,028 |
| Previous Month | € 15,762 | $ 18,680 |
I was expecting my income to be around $12k for the month, so I did a bit better than expected.
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments in July 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 2 | € 3,547 | $ 4,210 |
| Previous Month | € 3,032 | $ 3,593 |
📆 Subscriptions
| JotForm (annual) 3 | € 242 | $ 287 |
| Cloudflare Pro Plan (monthly) 4 | € 17 | $ 20 |
| YouTube Premium (monthly) 5 | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Adobe Photoshop (monthly) | € 8 | $ 10 |
| CriticalCSS (monthly) 6 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Virtual Post Mail (monthly) 7 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Copycall (monthly) 8 | € 6 | $ 7 |
| AAWP (annual) 9 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Ahrefs (annual) 10 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Brainiac (annual) 11 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| ConvertBox 12 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Dynamite Circle (quarterly) 13 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| EasyCron (annual) | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Elementor Pro (annual) 14 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| ExpressVPN (annual) | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Google Drive storage (annual) 15 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Hexowatch 16 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Readwise (annual) 17 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| SocialBee 18 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Surfer (annual) 19 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Teamwork project management software (annual) 20 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Trends (annual) 21 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Zoom (annual) 22 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 300 | $ 356 |
| Previous Month | € 83 | $ 99 |
🤓 Hosting & Domains
| Dreamhost 23 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Kinsta (annual) 24 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 20 | $ 24 |
📚 Books
| The Courage To Be Disliked | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Total | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Previous Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
- See my book ratings and everything I’m currently reading over at Goodreads
🏦 Transaction Fees
| Transaction fees 25 | € 414 | $ 491 |
| Previous Month | € 490 | $ 581 |
💻 Office Expenses
| Coworking in Tbilisi | € 54 | $ 64 |
| Skype credit | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Total | € 62 | $ 74 |
| Previous Month | € 60 | $ 71 |
📋 Admin Expenses
| Admin expenses | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
🎁 Gifts & Donations
| CAMFED 26 | € 143 | $ 170 |
| Previous Month | € 380 | $ 450 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| User reviews | € 23 | $ 27 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 27 | € 13 | $ 15 |
| Bright Data | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 37 | $ 44 |
| Previous Month | € 457 | $ 542 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Hired Help | € 3,547 | $ 4,210 |
| Transaction Fees | € 414 | $ 491 |
| Subscriptions | € 300 | $ 356 |
| Gifts & Donations | € 143 | $ 170 |
| Office Expenses | € 62 | $ 74 |
| Miscellaneous | € 37 | $ 44 |
| Books | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Hosting & Domains | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Admin Expenses | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total Expenses | € 4,515 |
$ 5,358 |
| Previous Month | € 4,523 | $ 5,360 |
I was expecting to spend under $5k overall, so I went a bit overboard.
😢 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 |
| March | € 12,845 | $ 15,085 |
| April | € 12,013 | $ 14,456 |
| May | € 18,461 | $ 22,577 |
| June | € 11,239 | $ 13,320 |
| July | € 8,990 | $ 10,670 |
| Total | € 85,564 | $ 102,754 |
🔮 Outlook For August
I expect expenses to be under $4000.
Income will probably be down 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.
