These are my online business finances for October 2020.
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 | € 15,313 | $ 17,844 |
| Total Business Expenses | € 2,145 | $ 2,499 |
| Profit | € 13,169 | $ 15,345 |
🤑 Business Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 14,795 | $ 17,240 |
| Patreon 1 | € 487 | $ 567 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 31 | $ 36 |
| Total Income | € 15,313 |
$ 17,844 |
| Previous Month | € 14,554 | $ 17,063 |
I was expecting my income to be at least $12k, so October turned out well 😊
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments in October 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 | € 1,192 | $ 1,389 |
| Total | € 1,192 | $ 1,389 |
| Previous Month | € 1,558 | $ 1,827 |
📆 Monthly Subscriptions
| Surfer 3 | € 51 | $ 59 |
| Ahrefs 4 | € 29 | $ 34 |
| Zoom 5 | € 13 | $ 15 |
| YouTube Premium 6 | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Adobe Photoshop | € 9 | $ 11 |
| Google Drive storage (1TB) 7 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Virtual Post Mail 8 | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Copycall 9 | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Total | € 135 | $ 158 |
| Previous Month | € 127 | $ 149 |
🤓 Hosting & Domains
| Dreamhost domains 10 | € 14 | $ 16 |
| Kinsta 11 | € 4 | $ 4 |
| Total | € 18 | $ 21 |
| Previous Month | € 27 | $ 31 |
📚 Books
| The Hard Thing About Hard Things | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Mastering The Rockefeller Habits | € 10 | $ 11 |
| Storyworthy | € 9 | $ 10 |
| University Of Berkshire Hathaway | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 29 | $ 34 |
| Previous Month | € 21 | $ 25 |
- See my book ratings and everything I’m currently reading over at Goodreads
🏦 Transaction Fees
| PayPal fees | € 570 | $ 664 |
| Patreon fees 12 | € 51 | $ 60 |
| Credit card fees | € 9 | $ 10 |
| ClickBank fees | € 2 | $ 3 |
| TransferWise fees | € 2 | $ 2 |
| FlexOffers fees | € 1 | $ 1 |
| Total | € 636 | $ 741 |
| Previous Month | € 506 | $ 593 |
💻 Home Office Expenses
| SIM card + Phone credit | € 14 | $ 16 |
| Monitor stand | € 12 | $ 14 |
| USB-C to HDMI cable | € 11 | $ 13 |
| USB hub | € 9 | $ 11 |
| Floor cord protector | € 7 | $ 9 |
| Internet | € 7 | $ 8 |
| Total | € 61 | $ 71 |
| Previous Month | € 1,706 | $ 2,001 |
📋 Admin Expenses
| Admin expenses | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Previous Month | € 5 | $ 6 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| Skype credit | € 17 | $ 20 |
| TheLotter lottery tickets 13 | € 15 | $ 17 |
| Ultimate Shopify Dropshipping Mastery Course 14 | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Lotto Agent lottery tickets | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Shipping | € 9 | $ 10 |
| Multilotto lottery tickets | € 7 | $ 8 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 15 | € 6 | $ 7 |
| Sendy 16 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| SocialBee 17 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Teamwork project management software 18 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 73 | $ 85 |
| Previous Month | € 593 | $ 695 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Hired Help | € 1,192 | $ 1,389 |
| Transaction Fees | € 636 | $ 741 |
| Monthly Subscriptions | € 135 | $ 158 |
| Miscellaneous | € 73 | $ 85 |
| Home Office Expenses | € 61 | $ 71 |
| Books | € 29 | $ 34 |
| Hosting & Domains | € 18 | $ 21 |
| Admin Expenses | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total Expenses | € 2,145 |
$ 2,499 |
| Previous Month | € 4,543 | $ 5,326 |
😢 Biggest Regret?
Nothing significant.
🗓 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 |
| Total | € 67,112 | $ 77,639 |
🔮 Outlook For November
Expenses will likely be much higher than October, as I’m hiring more help and have another big expense due. I might spend as much as $8k.
Income should be at least $11,000.
📲 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.
