These are my online business finances for September 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 | € 14,554 | $ 17,063 |
| Total Business Expenses | € 4,543 | $ 5,326 |
| Profit | € 10,011 | $ 11,737 |
🤑 Business Income
| Affiliate income (see below) | € 14,244 | $ 16,699 |
| Patreon 1 | € 273 | $ 320 |
| Book sales (via Amazon) | € 20 | $ 24 |
| eBiz Weekly coffee fund 2 | € 17 | $ 20 |
| Total Income | € 14,554 |
$ 17,063 |
| Previous Month | € 11,360 | $ 13,578 |
I was expecting my income to be around $12k, so September turned out better than expected 😊
👍 Affiliate Income
Affiliate payments in September came from…
(Btw, I don’t necessarily recommend everything I earn affiliate income from. Sometimes I’ll write a bad 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 | € 1,558 | $ 1,827 |
| Total | € 1,558 | $ 1,827 |
| Previous Month | € 921 | $ 1,101 |
📆 Monthly Subscriptions
| Surfer 4 | € 50 | $ 59 |
| Ahrefs 5 | € 23 | $ 27 |
| Zoom 6 | € 13 | $ 15 |
| YouTube Premium 7 | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Adobe Photoshop | € 9 | $ 11 |
| Google Drive storage (1TB) 8 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Virtual Post Mail 9 | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Copycall 10 | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Total | € 127 | $ 149 |
| Previous Month | € 124 | $ 149 |
🤓 Hosting & Domains
| Dreamhost domains 11 | € 27 | $ 31 |
| Kinsta 12 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 27 | $ 31 |
| Previous Month | € 17 | $ 20 |
📚 Books
| Shoe Dog | € 13 | $ 15 |
| The Ride Of A Lifetime | € 8 | $ 10 |
| Total | € 21 | $ 25 |
| Previous Month | € 20 | $ 24 |
- See my book ratings and everything I’m currently reading over at Goodreads
🏦 Transaction Fees
| PayPal fees | € 458 | $ 537 |
| Patreon fees 13 | € 34 | $ 40 |
| ClickBank fees | € 8 | $ 10 |
| TransferWise fees | € 3 | $ 4 |
| Respondent fees | € 2 | $ 3 |
| Total | € 506 | $ 593 |
| Previous Month | € 678 | $ 810 |
💻 Home Office Expenses
| MacBook Pro 14 | € 1,589 | $ 1,863 |
| Cable management box (x2) | € 24 | $ 28 |
| Cable clips (x2) | € 16 | $ 19 |
| Phone credit | € 14 | $ 17 |
| Power extension | € 12 | $ 14 |
| USB wall charger (x2) | € 12 | $ 14 |
| USB-C to HDMI cable | € 11 | $ 13 |
| Phone stand | € 10 | $ 12 |
| Floor cord protector | € 9 | $ 11 |
| HDMI cable | € 9 | $ 11 |
| Total | € 1,706 | $ 2,001 |
| Previous Month | € 162 | $ 194 |
📋 Admin Expenses
| Admin expenses | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Total | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Previous Month | € 12 | $ 15 |
🤷♂️ Miscellaneous Expenses
| Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card annual fee | € 384 | $ 450 |
| Newsletter giveaway 15 | € 92 | $ 108 |
| ProBlogger job post | € 60 | $ 70 |
| Brain Support Supplement (30 day supply) | € 18 | $ 21 |
| Nootropic Brain Boost (30 day supply) | € 18 | $ 21 |
| Skype credit | € 8 | $ 10 |
| FlexJobs membership 16 | € 6 | $ 8 |
| Amazon Web Services (storage) 17 | € 6 | $ 7 |
| Sendy 18 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| SocialBee 19 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Teamwork project management software 20 | € 0 | $ 0 |
| Total | € 593 | $ 695 |
| Previous Month | € 477 | $ 571 |
💸 Expense Summary
| Hired Help | € 1,558 | $ 1,827 |
| Home Office Expenses | € 1,706 | $ 2,001 |
| Miscellaneous | € 593 | $ 695 |
| Transaction Fees | € 506 | $ 593 |
| Monthly Subscriptions | € 127 | $ 149 |
| Hosting & Domains | € 27 | $ 31 |
| Books | € 21 | $ 25 |
| Admin Expenses | € 5 | $ 6 |
| Total Expenses | € 4,543 |
$ 5,326 |
| Previous Month | € 2,413 | $ 2,884 |
😢 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 |
| Total | € 53,943 | $ 62,294 |
🔮 Outlook For October
Expenses will be lower than September, probably between $3k and $4k.
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.
