Below you’ll find all my finance details for October 2019.
I spent the whole month in Bali, mostly in Ubud.
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 Income | € 971 | $ 1,086 |
| Total Expenses | € 2,244 | $ 2,510 |
| Profit/Loss | € 1,273 | $ 1,424 |
🤑 Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 818 | $ 915 |
| Patreon 1 | € 134 | $ 150 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 19 | $ 21 |
| Total Income | € 971 |
$ 1,086 |
| Previous Month | € 333 | $ 364 |
Not a great month for income, but still a decent improvement from my woeful September.
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments in October came from…
Here’s a progress chart for affiliate income since starting eBiz Facts…
💸 Expenses
🍽 Food & Drink
| Eating out | € 357 | $ 399 |
| Groceries | € 238 | $ 266 |
| Total | € 595 |
$ 666 |
| Previous Month | € 462 | $ 505 |
🏡 Housing & Utilities
| 1 month at Ubud villa | € 367 | $ 411 |
| 2 nights at Kuala Lumpur Airbnb (December) | € 83 | $ 93 |
| Total | € 451 |
$ 504 |
| Previous Month | € 452 | $ 494 |
💪 Health Care
| SafetyWing travel insurance 2 | € 33 | $ 37 |
| 1-hour massage (x4) | € 32 | $ 36 |
| Total | € 65 |
$ 73 |
| Previous Month | € 53 | $ 58 |
🛫 Travel & Transport
| Flights: Bali to Kuala Lumpur round-trip (December) | € 182 | $ 203 |
| 1 month scooter rental in Ubud, Bali | € 82 | $ 92 |
| Indonesia social visa extension | € 52 | $ 58 |
| Bali taxi | € 32 | $ 36 |
| Scooter fuel | € 4 | $ 4 |
| Parking | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 352 |
$ 393 |
| Previous Month | € 165 | $ 180 |
💻 Business Expenses
| Outsourcing 3 | € 265 | $ 296 |
| Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing 4 | € 176 | $ 197 |
| ClickBank University 5 | € 42 | $ 47 |
| Pigeon 6 | € 26 | $ 29 |
| Ahrefs subscription 7 | € 19 | $ 21 |
| Modafinil | € 19 | $ 21 |
| Patreon fees 8 | € 18 | $ 20 |
| Dreamhost domain renewals | € 14 | $ 16 |
| Zoom 9 | € 13 | $ 15 |
| YouTube Premium 10 | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Google Drive storage (1TB) 11 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Virtual Post Mail 12 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Phone credit | € 8 | $ 9 |
| Copycall 13 | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 14 | € 4 | $ 5 |
| PayPal fees | € 4 | $ 5 |
| Respondent fees | € 4 | $ 5 |
| Upwork fees | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Dreamhost web hosting 15 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Kinsta web hosting 16 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Sendy 17 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| SocialBee 18 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Teamwork project management software 19 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 648 | $ 725 |
| Previous Month | € 2,021 | $ 2,210 |
🎁 Gifts & Donations
| Effective Altruism Fund 20 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Flowers | € 3 | $ 4 |
| Monthly Love & Courage podcast donation 21 | € 5 | $ 6 |
| SamHarris.org subscription 22 | € 4 | $ 4 |
| Patreon: The Blindboy Podcast 23 | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Patreon: Úna-Minh Kavanagh | € 3 | $ 3 |
| Total | € 26 |
$ 29 |
| Previous Month | € 28 | $ 31 |
📚 Books 24
| Founders At Work ***** | € 13 | $ 15 |
| What Have You Done *** | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Total | € 15 |
$ 17 |
| Previous Month | € 5 | $ 6 |
👕 Clothing
| Total | € 0 |
$ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 0 | $ 0 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| Anjuna Deep Open Air: Bali (concert) | € 20 | $ 23 |
| Laundry | € 19 | $ 21 |
| Sunscreen | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Netflix subscription | € 11 | $ 12 |
| Monthly banking fee (Hong Kong bank) 25 | € 8 | $ 9 |
| Entry to waterfalls in Bali | € 6 | $ 7 |
| Quarterly banking fee (Irish bank) | € 6 | $ 7 |
| Toiletries | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Kitchen supplies | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Monthly banking fee (Dutch bank) | € 2 | $ 2 |
| Total | € 92 |
$ 103 |
| Previous Month | € 87 | $ 95 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Business Expenses | € 648 | $ 725 |
| Food & Drink | € 595 | $ 666 |
| Housing & Utilities | € 451 | $ 504 |
| Travel & Transport | € 352 | $ 393 |
| Miscellaneous Expenses | € 92 | $ 103 |
| Health Care | € 65 | $ 73 |
| Gifts & Donations | € 26 | $ 29 |
| Books | € 15 | $ 17 |
| Clothing | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total Expenses | € 2,244 |
$ 2,510 |
| Previous Month | € 3,273 | $ 3,579 |
I was expecting to spend less than $2000 for the month, and it was a little bit of everything that pushed me well over that mark.
😢 Biggest Regret?
No one thing in particular I can point to, though in hindsight I was probably eating out a bit too much.
🗓 2019 So Far
Here’s how I’m doing this year in terms of profit and loss:
| January | € 653 | $ 747 |
| February | € 529 | $ 601 |
| March | € 242 | $ 272 |
| April | € 240 | $ 269 |
| May | € 171 | $ 196 |
| June | € 1,906 | $ 2,163 |
| July | € 45 | $ 50 |
| August | € 173 | $ 190 |
| September | € 2,940 | $ 3,215 |
| October | € 1,273 | $ 1,424 |
| Total | € 5,124 | $ 5,679 |
📊 Where That Leaves Me
I had €11,490 / $12,563 to my name at the end of September.
Taking into account all my October income and expenditure, and the most recent exchange rates – I have accounts in EUR, HKD and USD – my total bank and cash balances now work out to €10,168 / $11,376. 26
🔮 Outlook For November
We’re ten days deep into the month as I’m writing this. Affiliate income is looking very good and expenses are relatively low.
If there are no refunds, my affiliate income should be about $2500 by the end of November.
Expenses should be under €2,000. I have a trip to Chiang Mai in November but that’s mostly paid for, and nothing out of the ordinary apart from that.
📲 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.
You’ve got nerves of steel Niall. How much cash-on-hand would force you commit to something more lucrative/reliable?
Hey Chad,
That’s a nice way of putting it 😛
I’m going to see how November and December shake out, and then I’ll decide if I should pick up some freelance work so my savings don’t get too low for comfort. My goal was to be earning $3-4k per month by the end of the year. I might still be able to manage that.
One thing I keep reminding myself of is that many people take out massive loans or take on other kinds of debt to start a business. So I don’t need to be too stressed when I still have money in the bank and I can pick up some freelance work on short notice if needed.