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Published: December 1, 2020

6 Comments Finance Reports

November 2020 Finance Report

Everything I earned and spent in my business

These are my online business finances for November 2020.

I spent the whole month in Tbilisi, Georgia except for a few days holiday in Borjomi.

First time seeing one of these finance reports? Click here for a quick intro.

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

November 2020 finance graph

Total Business Income € 9,822 $ 11,745
Total Business Expenses € 7,560 $ 9,040
Profit € 2,262 $ 2,705

🤑 Business Income

November 2020 income chart

Affiliate income (see below) € 9,522 $ 11,386
Patreon 1 € 283 $ 339
Book sales (via Amazon) € 17 $ 20
Total Income € 9,822
$ 11,745
Previous Month € 15,313 $ 17,844

I was expecting my income to be at least $11k. Brought in a bit more than that.

👍 Affiliate Income

Affiliate payments in November came from…

Affiliate Related Content
Amazon Best Business Books For Online Entrepreneurs
Authority Hacker Authority Hacker Review
Consulting.com Sam Ovens Consulting Accelerator Review
ConvertKit ConvertKit Pricing vs. Popular Alternatives
Income School Income School Project 24 Review
PaidViewpoint PaidViewpoint Review
PrizeRebel PrizeRebel Review
Respondent Respondent Review
SafetyWing Digital Nomad Travel Insurance
Savage Affiliates Franklin Hatchett Savage Affiliates Review
Sendy Recommended Resources
Survey Junkie Survey Junkie Review

(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…

eBiz Facts affiliate income progress – November 2020

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

November 2020 expense chart

🤝 Hired Help

Hired Help 2 € 1,855 $ 2,219
Total € 1,855 $ 2,219
Previous Month € 1,192 $ 1,389

📆 Monthly Subscriptions

Ahrefs 3 € 83 $ 99
Surfer 4 € 49 $ 59
Zoom 5 € 12 $ 15
YouTube Premium 6 € 10 $ 12
Adobe Photoshop € 9 $ 11
Google Drive storage (1TB) 7 € 8 $ 10
Copycall 8 € 5 $ 6
Virtual Post Mail 9 € 4 $ 5
Total € 180 $ 216
Previous Month € 135 $ 158

🤓 Hosting & Domains

Dreamhost domains 10 € 27 $ 32
Kinsta 11 € 25 $ 30
Total € 52 $ 62
Previous Month € 18 $ 21

📚 Books

Total € 0 $ 0
Previous Month € 29 $ 34

🏦 Transaction Fees

PayPal fees € 389 $ 465
TransferWise fees € 99 $ 118
Patreon fees 12 € 36 $ 43
Respondent fees € 3 $ 4
Total € 527 $ 630
Previous Month € 636 $ 741

💻 Home Office Expenses

MacBook Pro 13 € 1,612 $ 1,927
Phone credit € 12 $ 14
Internet € 6 $ 8
Total € 1,630 $ 1,950
Previous Month € 61 $ 71

📋 Admin Expenses

Admin expenses € 1 $ 1
Total € 1 $ 1
Previous Month € 0 $ 0

🤷‍♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses

Media liability insurance (12 months) 14 € 3,106 $ 3,714
Modafinil € 112 $ 134
Depositphotos AppSumo Deal € 33 $ 39
Matein backpack € 32 $ 38
Sendy upgrade 15 € 24 $ 29
Amazon Web Services (storage) 16 € 7 $ 8
SocialBee 17 € 0 $ 0
Teamwork project management software 18 € 0 $ 0
Total € 3,314 $ 3,963
Previous Month € 73 $ 85

💸 Expense Summary

Miscellaneous € 3,314 $ 3,963
Hired Help € 1,855 $ 2,219
Home Office Expenses € 1,630 $ 1,950
Transaction Fees € 527 $ 630
Monthly Subscriptions € 180 $ 216
Hosting & Domains € 52 $ 62
Admin Expenses € 1 $ 1
Books € 0 $ 0
Total Expenses € 7,560
$ 9,040
Previous Month € 2,145 $ 2,499

I was expecting to spend about $8k overall so I didn’t go too far over that considering the unplanned $2k laptop expense.

😢 Biggest Regret?

Annoyed that my laptop got stolen out of the rental car. I was away from the car for 10 minutes and was sure I’d locked it, but apparently not. Reported it to the police but three weeks later and no update from them. I called 5 days after the theft and they’d yet to check the security cameras on the street.

Stings even more because I’d only bought the laptop a few weeks earlier; it was practically brand new.

Lesson learned to always always always double-check that I’ve locked a door before I leave it.

🗓 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
September € 10,011 $ 11,737
October € 13,169 $ 15,345
November € 2,262 $ 2,705
Total € 69,374 $ 80,344

🔮 Outlook For December

Expenses should be much lower than November. No more laptops to buy and no big insurance payment. I will be spending quite a bit on hired help, but should come in under $5k total expenses.

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.

About The Author
Niall Doherty – Founder and Lead Editor of eBiz Facts Born and raised in Ireland, Niall has been making a living from his laptop since quitting his office job in 2010. He's fond of basketball, once spent 44 months traveling around the world without flying, and has been featured in such publications as The Irish Times and Huffington Post. Read more...

6 thoughts on “November 2020 Finance Report”

  1. Amazing work Niall

    When I saw “affiliate income” I had just presumed you ran some successful niche sites with this kind of income

    Well done!

    Reply
  2. Hi Niall,
    Your finance reports are quite motivating and I really love that you have been doing this for a long time.

    I have been a great fan of your work especially your viral video about leaving the dream life of traveling (still my best video till date).

    Between, I was thinking if you’d like to write about your blogging process? And do you build links to your site? You pretty much focus on quality content, so I just thought if link building is something you also get your hands dirty with?

    Thanks and Merryc Christmas in advance

    Take care.
    Eniola.

    Reply
    • Hi Eniola,

      Thanks for the comment, and the kind words.

      I’ve done very little link building for this site. Some small bursts of outreach here and there but I don’t enjoy it and it feels spammy, so I decided to let links to this website build naturally, which seems to be working out well so far.

      I was thinking if you’d like to write about your blogging process?

      At some point I might do this, but lots of other topics to tackle first!

      Reply
  3. Can’t believe you’ve had to drop more on another Macbook! I presume you have some software like Prey so you can remotely wipe/lock your stolen device?

    Reply

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