December Online Income Report

Time to talk about the income I earned in December! December was a pretty challenging month because my main goal was to balance meeting year-end deadlines at my day job, finish up with my freelance work, and spend at least a week away from online hustling and blogging so I could relax and enjoy the holidays with my family.

Oh, and on top of that I was working on a new collaborative project with some blogging friends of mine. We just launched our new podcast, Financial Conversation. I would be truly grateful if you would give it a listen during your free time and subscribe via iTunes. Details are in the left sidebar and you can learn more about it here.

I pulled a couple of late nights, but I met all of my goals for December and was even able to take the last 2 weeks off from blogging and side hustling.

If You are New Here

I recently started publishing the income I earn outside of my full-time job through online side hustles as a way to motivate myself and others and earn more to meet financial goals and work toward financial freedom. At first I started trying to earn extra income as way to help me pay off my debt and got hooked. I paid off more than $11,000 of debt last year and wouldn’t have been able to do so without earning extra income.

None of this would have been possible if I hadn’t started my blog last year. It’s been truly life changing and quite rewarding to do something I’m passionate about an earn an income from it. If you’re interested in starting a blog of your own, you can review what I’ve learned after just a few months of blogging here so you can have a nice head start and avoid making any mistakes I’ve made, and you can also check out my guide to starting your very own blog in just a few minutes.

Currently most of my income is earned through freelance writing and while I absolutely love to write, I’m also on a mission to earn more from my actual blog.

I’m by no means earning as much some of the veterans who have been hustling online for years but I’m hoping my income reports answer some of people’s questions about working online, inspire others to start side hustling as well, and offer a deeper insight as to how I’m making my financial goals and dreams a reality. To see how my income has grown, here’s a quick recap of the previous months’ income reports:

August: $765.65 -My very first income report!
September: $920
October: $1564
November: $2260

So let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

In December 2015 I earned: $2,364.36

This is income I actually received in the month of December and it’s before taxes. I usually set aside about 25% to 30% of whatever I earn for taxes.

Here’s How this Total Breaks Down

Freelance Writng: $2,169.36
Virtual Assistant Work: $120
Sponsored Posts: $75
Affiliate Income: $0
Adsense: $0

It’s a bit of a step up from last month, but I was a bit surprised myself because I didn’t expect to earn that much after taking two weeks off to rest.

I actually lost about two clients last month but ended up working on a new writing project that make up at least a third of my income for December. I also did not track my hours worked in December…whoops! I guess I was too anxious to finish up my assignments and it just slipped my mind. I’m back on track with logging my hours worked each day for January though.

I did practically nothing to boost my affiliate income toward the end of last year, but I’m expecting a payment in January and I need to work on and I’ll discuss that more below.

I truly enjoy writing and it’s something I’ve been passionate about since I was little, but I also enjoy the other aspects of running and managing a blog as well.

Goals for My Blog and Online Income

I’m still participating in Sarah’s challenge of growing your side hustle income in 2016 so I’d love to earn at least $5,000 per month in online income by the end of the year and I’d like to be halfway there by the end of the 1st quarter. In addition to this, I have a few other specific goals.

Work on my affiliate income strategy: I guess this isn’t really a strategy per se. I just need to be more open to working with brands and providing top quality content on here while promoting things I truly care about and that will actually help people. I get emails from companies from time to time, but not everything people send me seems worthy enough to mention on this blog.

A few weeks back I had to decline a company’s offer for me to write about their diamonds as an affiliate on my site. I doubt any of you guys are dying for some new diamonds (correct me if I’m wrong). I’m definitely not and I’m getting married in four months 🙂

Find a Few More Freelance Clients: Yes, I’m still taking on new clients. In November my goal was to obtain one new client and I did that. It was the second time someone actually reached out to me so it was pretty nice. My time has opened up a bit though since I lost a few clients and I like to stay pretty busy.

While writing is my forte, I also do virtual assistant work like social media management along with blog management and professional marketing copy like newsletters, landing pages etc. So if you know anyone who needs some help online, hit me up.

Increase my social media following: I’ve done little to work toward this goal and need put more effort into my social media strategy. I’m always posting about misc. stuff on my personal Facebook page…I need to post on my blog’s social media as well! I also want to transition my Instagram to focus more on my blog.

Did you earn any extra income in December? What’s your big game plan to boost your income in 2016?