These are my online business finances for May 2021.
I spent the entire month in Tbilisi, Georgia, save for a couple of day trips outside the city.
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 | € 22,635 | $ 27,683 |
| Total Business Expenses | € 4,175 | $ 5,106 |
| Profit | € 18,461 | $ 22,577 |
🤑 Business Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 22,403 | $ 27,399 |
| Patreon 1 | € 214 | $ 262 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 13 | $ 16 |
| Tip Jar 2 | € 5 | $ 7 |
| Total Income | € 22,635 |
$ 27,683 |
| Previous Month | € 14,953 | $ 17,994 |
I was expecting my income to be around $15k and I almost doubled that, mainly because a big chunk of overdue affiliate payments finally came through.
Btw, that’s a new personal best for income 🥳
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments in May 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 | € 2,861 | $ 3,499 |
| Previous Month | € 1,969 | $ 2,369 |
📆 Subscriptions
| Brainiac (annual) 4 | € 122 | $ 149 |
| Dynamite Circle (quarterly) 5 | € 120 | $ 147 |
| Cloudflare Pro Plan (monthly) 6 | € 16 | $ 20 |
| YouTube Premium (monthly) 7 | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Adobe Photoshop (monthly) | € 8 | $ 10 |
| CriticalCSS (monthly) 8 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| EasyCron (annual) | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Virtual Post Mail (monthly) 9 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Copycall (monthly) 10 | € 5 | $ 7 |
| AAWP (annual) 11 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Ahrefs (annual) 12 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| ConvertBox 13 | € 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 | € 308 | $ 377 |
| Previous Month | € 135 | $ 162 |
🤓 Hosting & Domains
| Dreamhost 23 | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Kinsta (annual) 24 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Previous Month | € 137 | $ 165 |
📚 Books
| Amazon Unbound | € 12 | $ 15 |
| The Outsiders | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Limping On Water | € 8 | $ 10 |
| The Road Less Stupid | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Remote Working 2 | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 41 | $ 51 |
| Previous Month | € 8 | $ 10 |
- See my book ratings and everything I’m currently reading over at Goodreads
🏦 Transaction Fees
| Transaction fees 25 | € 737 | $ 901 |
| Previous Month | € 604 | $ 727 |
💻 Home Office Expenses
| Internet | € 6 | $ 8 |
| Total | € 6 | $ 8 |
| Previous Month | € 55 | $ 66 |
📋 Admin Expenses
| Admin expenses | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| User Reviews | € 172 | $ 210 |
| Reddit Ads | € 14 | $ 17 |
| The Last Amazon Course 26 | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 27 | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Total | € 209 | $ 256 |
| Previous Month | € 22 | $ 26 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Hired Help | € 2,861 | $ 3,499 |
| Transaction Fees | € 737 | $ 901 |
| Subscriptions | € 308 | $ 377 |
| Miscellaneous | € 209 | $ 256 |
| Books | € 41 | $ 51 |
| Hosting & Domains | € 12 | $ 15 |
| Home Office Expenses | € 6 | $ 8 |
| Admin Expenses | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total Expenses | € 4,175 |
$ 5,106 |
| Previous Month | € 2,940 | $ 3,538 |
I was expecting to spend about $3k overall, so I went a good bit over. Paid for a bit more hired help than I had planned for.
😢 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 |
| Total | € 65,335 | $ 78,764 |
🔮 Outlook For June
I expect expenses to be around $5000.
Income should be around $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.
