September 2016 Income Report: An Overview
September’s income report requires a little bit more of an explanation than usual. After my crazy month of August, I made an executive decision that it was time to drastically slow things down. I was extremely burnt out, and needed a huge break from everything business-related.
Luckily, in August, I reached my big goal for 2016 — make more profit in one month than I did working a full-time job.
Achieving that felt amazing, and allowed me to feel comfortable relaxing a bit. Having another $4-5k month would totally have been possible for me, but honestly I am no longer interested in the money. So I am not embarrassed that September resulted in so much less profit than August, because my goals have changed.
Right now, my biggest goal is simply to focus on self-care and working on my passive income products.
While I’m doing that, instead of marketing myself to new clients and working my butt off for crazy hours each week, as long as I can reach at least $700 in profit each month, I will be able to pay the bills and survive (due to my husband Brent’s and my part-time jobs). So that is good enough for me at the moment! I no longer feel the need to make more and more and more than previous months. I am officially happy and feeling successful right here where I am.
A FEW HIGHLIGHTS:
- I “fired” a client for the first time — I don’t love that term, but I did part ways with one of my clients for of a few different reasons. It was a long time coming, but I really struggled with feeling guilty about it. I love to help people so much that it was very hard for me to come to terms with choosing not to do that for someone anymore. But the decision does align with my new goals, and ultimately I’m happy with my choice to downsize.
- I started a Facebook group for The VA Collective! — This was probably the best and most exciting thing to happen in September. I started a new Facebook group specifically for aspiring VAs, and I am having a ton of fun with it so far! Even with the small number of members, there is so much interaction going on right now.
- TV Shows (my guilty pleasure) — Brent and I just finished season 2 of Narcos on Netflix, which was so good! I have also just started the first season of Catastrophe on Amazon Prime, which I am undecided about right now. Weirdly for me, I also switched it up and watched two movies this month, Deep Impact and Armageddon, both of which were really good.
Business Goal Setting
My Goals For September 2016: Success or Failure?
Business Goals:
- Don’t work so hard! Delegate more and stop stressing out. — So much SUCCESS! I’m really happy that I managed to do a good job with this goal. I had a much less stressful month than in August, and that felt amazing. I do still need to work on delegating better, but that always seems to be a work in progress for me.
- Finish the ADdicted training and implement strategies learned. — FAILURE. I am on Lesson 2 right now. I am hoping to finish it in October.
- Get landing page up and in-depth outline done for October’s passive income product. — SUCCESS! This one is still under wraps, though, so I can’t say too much else about it.
Personal Goals:
- Get my name changed on my license (because, seriously, you need to do this). — Whoops? FAILURE.
- Work up to and walk the complete figure 8 path in the park near our house. — SO close to succeeding on that one. We have done the big overall circle, but not the figure 8 yet. FAILURE.
- Meditate at least 5 times. — SUCCESS! Well thank god I succeeded in one personal goal this month haha.
My Goals for October 2016 — Let’s Do This!
Business Goals:
- Launch one of my upcoming passive income products.
- Complete two webinars.
- Get the problem with my email sequences sorted out.
- Keep expenses under $1,000.
Personal Goals:
- Get my name changed on my license (because it’s been four months since you got married, woman!).
- Work up to and walk the complete figure 8 path in the park near our house (another same goal as last month, I really want to do this one!).
- Go out on a date night with Brent.
September 2016 Expenses
**Annual expenses not included (such as Tailwind, hosting costs, and LeadPages).
- Design Elements = $0.00
- ConvertKit = $49.00
- Software (Adobe CC, BoardBooster, Buffer, etc.) = $153.38
- Paypal & Wave Transaction Fees = $69.40
- E-Courses & Ebooks = $238.00
- Ads & Marketing = $26.74
- Office Supplies = $33.00
- Team Member Payments = $339.72
Total Expenses = $929.24
September 2016 Income Report
- Affiliates = $13.80
- Google Adsense = $6.00
- Passive Income + Coaching = $93.00
- Client Work = $2,219.10
Total Income = $2,331.90
Total Net Profit = $1,402.66
September 2016 Income Report: All the Stats & Analytics!
- Number of blog posts = 5
- Monthly blog page views = 6,497
- Email list subscribers = 1,780
- Facebook page followers = 327
- Instagram followers = 1,765
- Twitter followers = 4,425
- Pinterest followers = 2,490
- Google+ followers = 37
Final Notes on my September 2016 Income Report:
At the end of August, I remember feeling like I just ran a 30-day-long marathon. It was ridiculous. I was exhausted and burnt out like I 
never had been before.
On the flip side, September was extremely refreshing. I focused on self-care and relaxation. I read actual books for the first time in months, and I got to spend extra quality time with my husband. I even initiated a new rule: Saturdays are my official day off!
To put it in “income report” terms: I am guesstimating that I worked at least 40% less than I did in August…and still managed to make enough to pay the bills! In fact, it was my second-highest month ever. I still don’t feel like I am making anywhere near close to what other online entrepreneurs are making.
But I feel successful. And I feel happy. For me, for now, that is enough.
My thoughts are that, right now, I am at a point in my career as a virtual assistant where I need to figure out a long-term solution for working a normal amount of hours each week and balancing everything with my personal life. This month was perfect. I proved to myself that it’s totally possible to work a not-crazy amount and still make enough money to survive!
My goal is to continue this trend over the next few months, and hopefully get on my way to figuring out the secret to working a not-crazy amount and making more than enough to survive!
