My Monthly Income Report — April 2013

Celebrate any progress. Don’t wait to get perfect. ~ Ann McGee Cooper (tweet this)

I constantly remind myself that life is short and one should live each day accordingly, but conflicts often arise from this way of thinking.

For instance, life is short so I should strive to earn money so that I can afford all of the things I would love: a bigger house, a better car, and so on. Yet at the same time, life is too short to spend all of your time working, isn’t it? Therefore, what each of us must find is our own personal equilibrium — a balanced and ultimately satisfying involvement in every aspect of our lives.

That is something I have been working hard on in April and will continue to work hard on through May and beyond, and it could have a direct impact on my earnings. Read on to find out how I got on last month and what the future may hold for me.

What Happened in April?

Although it may not seem the case now, I may look back on April as one of the most influential months of this year, or possibly even my life.

Why? Because it’s the month I made my most deliberate and committed step towards getting in shape ever by starting the P90X Program. Over the next three months I will eat healthily and work on every aspect of my fitness in an attempt to get in better shape than I have ever been.

Although I am hoping for big results within the three month program, I am also hoping that my involvement in P90X will act as a foundation for a lifestyle of healthier and fitter living. If it doesn’t then at least I will know that I have tried.

My thinking is simple: I do not want to get to sixty years of age having never truly been in shape and not having known what it would’ve taken. If I get in tip top condition and decide that it’s not worth the sacrifice, fair enough. But I want to give myself at least a chance of knowing what it would be like, so that I can make an informed decision.

In other news, my home office was finished in April, as I revealed to my Facebook page a few weeks ago:

I’m really happy with it, although I need to get some things up on the wall plus a nice plant! Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments section 🙂

In terms of my business, April was actually pretty low-key — I didn’t do a great deal beyond my “normal” scope of works. That seemed to align with my prediction in last month’s income report that April would not be a record month, but how did it end up? Let’s see!

Monthly Income Report — April 2013

1. Freelance writing:
   • Income: $5,191.84
   • Expenditure: $19.95
   • Profit: $5,171.89 ($131 per hour equivalent)
2. Websites:
   • Income: $10.12
   • Expenditure: $0
   • Profit: $10.12
3. Affiliate Marketing (Leaving Work Behind):
   • Income: $1,943.89
     • Start a Blog That Matters: $331.91
     • Amazon: $24.95
     • Freelance Writer’s Den: $54.75
     • TweetAdder: $169
     • Westhost: $1,310
     • Keyword Researcher: $22.79
     • Point Blank SEO: $40.72
   • Expenditure: $325.48
   • Profit: $1,618.41
4. Information Products:
   • Income: $1,236.56
   • Expenditure: $134.88
   • Profit: $1,101.68
5. eBooks:
   • Income: $75.56
   • Expenditure: $0
   • Profit: $75.56

Total profit for April 2013: $7,977.67

I’ve managed to squeeze by with yet another record, surpassing last month’s previous best by over $500! I also narrowly avoided breaking the $8,000 mark. I was really happy with this outcome, especially given its unexpectedness.

I put this month’s new record down to three things:

1. Solid freelance earnings: I continue to attract new clients, increase my rates and optimize my workflow to make more money.
2. Westhost affiliate earnings: This month I made a concerted effort to promote Westhost with some minor tweaks and by publishing this post. It paid off! You can expect more information on my approach to affiliate marketing in a future post.
3. Information product earnings: These continue to tick along at a fairly healthy level. I’m happy if earnings stay above $1,000 but I would like to see them increase.

You may also notice my paltry eBook earnings. My journey into Kindle publishing has not been a successful one, and while I could probably do more to optimize my efforts and make more money, I simply don’t think it’s worth my time.

I put my failure down to two things:

1. A lack of reviews: A handful of the thousands of people who downloaded my books for free were extremely generous in giving them positive reviews (in fact, I don’t think I’ve received a single review below four stars), but I’ve only managed to attract 32 reviews across all five books that I published. That’s simply not enough to get them to rank highly for key terms.
2. The subject matter: quite simply, I just don’t think enough people are interested in online freelance writing to make it a sexy prospect. Or perhaps if they are, they’re searching for different terms on Amazon.

I think now is the time to cut off my involvement with Kindle publishing. I may return to it in the future, but for now I have bigger fish to fry.

At this point I feel that while I can continue to build my affiliate and information product earnings steadily, if I want to earn considerably more I need to do something new and different. So that’s what I’m focusing on.

My Authority Site

Longtime readers of Leaving Work Behind may remember that I launched the One Hour Authority Site Project back in September 2012.

In the eight months since then it has consistently been neglected due to my focus in other areas (such as my information product and Kindle eBooks). I have mentioned in more than one income report that I intend to make good on my intentions to give it a fair crack of the whip, but I have yet to do so.

With that in mind, I’m not going to make any promises — especially given the amount of work I have on at the moment. However, what I will say is that I have an interesting idea for the site that could help me to develop it further with minimal time input. It may involve you. Stay tuned!

P90X Journal

A big new project of mine is my new blog: P90X Journal.

It will represent what I believe is an unprecedented look at the trials and tribulations of following the P90X program. I will journal everything from my food intake, to my workout results, to my thoughts and feelings about my journey to peak fitness.

My primary reason for doing this is to hold myself accountable to my commitment. I am determined not to give up on my endeavour, and going public with it will make it all the more difficult for me to do so.

However, I do a have a secondary goal. If I am successful in getting fit and healthy with P90X and can demonstrate radical results, the blog could become a potential source for affiliate referrals. I am not working towards this at present (I’m not even using affiliate links) but it is something I have in the back of my mind.

This will be taking up a lot of my time over the next three months, but I do also hope to have time for something I am really excited about.

Leaving Work Behind: The Book

For a very long time I have aspired to produce a manifesto for Leaving Work Behind — a handbook for those who want to quit their jobs and build a successful online business. As time has gone on and I have spent time outlining this project, it was become more apparent to me that I have a book on my hands.

However, it wouldn’t be just another “make money online” book. I would delve deep into the underlying principles behind the Leaving Work Behind ethos and its often contrarian approach to business and life. I would only publish it on the basis that I strongly believed it could change lives. There are so many people out there who may have all the determination in the world but simply don’t have what I perceive to be the correct outlook. I want to help those people apply themselves in the right way.

I see the creation of this book as a huge step in rounding out the Leaving Work Behind brand. It would make clear everything that this blog stands for and would hopefully vastly increase Leaving Work Behind’s exposure within the blogosphere and to the world in general.

It’s a huge project, no doubt, but one that I am very excited about.

What’s in Store for May?

I need to get my house in order this month.

P90X is a little like having a part-time job and I have yet to find a way to effectively integrate it within my working days without it having a pretty major impact on the available hours I have. It has become clear to me that with P90X on my radar, I simply won’t have as much time to put into my business. What effect this has on my earnings remains to be seen.

Otherwise, I will be soldiering on as per usual with my freelance writing work and I may even get some time to work on my book project. I have so many ideas and so little time in which to implement them, but if I keep my eyes on my current projects I am excited about what could result!