Welcome to my first monthly income report.
I'm nervous about this, so bear with me! People often ask me how to make money blogging, which is why I'm excited to finally publish an income report.
I know I've said that I don't like income reports, but I've decided to try it out at least once and see how it goes.
Are you interested in starting a blog and becoming a full-time blogger? If so, check out my FREE 7-day course that will tell you everything you need to know, including how to create your own blog from scratch, essential blogging tools successful bloggers use, how to monetize your blog, grow a loyal audience, and so much more!
Related articles:
- How I Went From $1,000 to $10,000 Per Month On My Blog In 1 Year
- 5 Things I Did That Exploded My Traffic From Pinterest
- 6 Educational Tools That Helped Me Become A Full-Time Blogger
A little about me.
I started FITnancials back in 2013 as a hobby blog and to document my 60-pound weight loss. I spent around an hour a week on it and sometimes didn't touch it at all. One year ago, I decided to go full-time on the blog and also quit my day job that was bringing me great income for someone my age.
Now, I'm making a steady $4,000 a month from my blog, and I get to work from home. My income has increased dramatically since October of 2016! I'll be making a post about my earnings for the first full year of full-time blogging soon. 🙂
Apart from blogging, I'm a senior in college with a 6-year background in the special needs community. I have been a Paraprofessional, Behavioral Therapist, an in-home caregiver, and more. I absolutely love this field, but after 6 years, I became incredibly burnt out.
However, I miss working in the field and sometimes think about becoming a special needs teacher. However, I love my blog and the life it gives me too much to give it up.
Reasons why I've decided to post an income report
1. To keep track of my goals, income, recaps, and also show all you what I've learned every single month from blogging.
2. To be transparent with my readers and show that it is possible to make a full-time income from a blog.
3. To show people that making $5,000 a month from blogging is something to be proud of. There are bloggers out there that think it's not enough. I'm guilty of this, especially since I have a sister who has already made a million dollars from her blog this year.
How much time do you spend on your blog?
I spend around 20-30 hours a week on my blog. When traveling, the hours tend to be all over the place.
How to make money blogging
There are many ways you can make money blogging. Some of these are:
- Sponsored posts
- Affiliate income
- Ad revenue
- Creating and selling your own products
How much money can you make from a blog?
The amount of money you make from blogging is up to you. A vast majority of bloggers out there make no money, while others are making millions every year.
How much did you make in August of 2017?
Sponsored posts: $2,900
Affiliate Income: $576
Virtual Assistant: $900
Ad Revenue: $431
Free Products: $240
Top affiliate companies
- Ibotta
- Pinecone Research
- Nielson Computer
- Raw Till Whenever
- Maxbounty
- Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
- $5 Meal Plan
- Swagbucks
- Ebates
Free products
I asked GlassesShop.com to send me a few glasses in exchange for a product review.
Glasses are expensive. This online shop makes it more affordable to get prescription glasses. I received both regular eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses. All but one of the pairs fit well.
Are you already a blogger? Below are the courses I absolutely LOVE and would recommend to my friends!
1. The Blogging Blueprint
The Blogging Blueprint is the one course I wish I had when I started blogging.
The Blogging Blueprint lays out everything you need to know about blogging in detail, one step at a time. If you have dreams of becoming a full-time blogger, this is the course to take! You can even sign up for a FREE preview of the course. I can't say enough good things about this course!
2. Make Money Blogging For Beginners
If you're a new blogger or you've been blogging for awhile and barely making any income from it, you'll want to check out Make Money Blogging For Beginners.
Learn how to do everything the right way from the very beginning. This course will teach you how to make your very first $1,000 from the pros. Alex and Lauren are some of my favorite bloggers because they're not afraid to be blunt and honest with you.
Blogging is hard work, but they teach you how to use your time efficiently and make money with awesome strategies that actually work.
Check out Make Money Blogging For Beginners here.
3. Pinterest Traffic Avalanche
Pinterest is an absolute MUST if you're a blogger. Pinterest Traffic Avalanche taught me strategies that actually work. My reach has been 2+ million for the past year and continues to grow. You'll learn how to successfully drive 100,000+ monthly visitors to your blog, which means more readers which equals more money! Get started with Pinterest Traffic Avalanche here!
4. How I Went From 17k to 400k+ Monthly Page Views In 9 Months
This eBook includes 21+ strategies to use to dramatically increase your page views. If your page views have plateaued, decreased, or you're simply ready to take your blog to the next level, you need to read How I Went From 17k to 400k Monthly Page Views In 9 Months!
5. Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
You'll learn absolutely everything you need to know about affiliate marketing from a 7 figure blogger. Find out how to become an affiliate legally without breaking any laws, strategies you must implement to make six figures, and soooo much more! The course also gives you access to a private Facebook group, which in my opinion, is worth the cost of the course alone. Get started on the course here!
6. Strategies Worth Sharing
Strategies Worth Sharing – In 70 pages, Brittany gives all the information to know to gain traffic on your Facebook page. She went from 2,000 fans to over 100,000 in 5 months (amazing!!). Having a large following on Facebook can be tremendously beneficial to blogs, as it can send thousands of page views to your blog, which means a lot more money each month!
7. Six Figure Blogger
Learn from the pros who started their blog only 2 years ago, and now make $50,000 PER MONTH from their blogs. If you're a blogger who is ready to create a product to sell on your blog, you need to take this course. You'll learn strategies to sell thousands of products successfully. This is another course that I can't say enough good things about!
Get started with Six Figure Blogger here!
8. Pinteresting Strategies
I just purchased another Pinterest ebook and I can’t believe how helpful it was! I’ve taken 3 courses in total related to Pinterest, and they ALL shared completely different tactics and tips. See, the thing is, Pinterest is friggin weird and everyone reacts to it differently.
You need to learn what works for you. In Pinteresting Strategies, Carly talks about how she only manually pins to Pinterest, and what she does to get crazy results. She gets anywhere between 5-10k views per day with her relatively new blog and shares all of her tips in her ebook, Pinteresting Strategies.
Popular posts from FITnancials this month
- 6 Free Monthly Budget Printables That Are Proven To Help You Pay Off Debt
- How To Teach English From Home And Make $14-$18 An Hour
- 50 Ways To Save $500+ Each Month
- 20 Side Hustles Perfect For Stay At Home Moms
- Healthiest Foods For A Tight Budget
- 10 Free Or Cheap Things To Do In Cancun
Blog related posts
- How To Start A Blog – Beginner Edition
- How I Doubled My Pageviews In 1 Month
- How My Sister Went From $0 Affiliate Income to $50,000+ A Month
- Officially A Full-Time Blogger + Tips For You
Recap
The summer is generally a slower month as far as blogging goes. Most people aren't spending their time on a computer. Instead, they're outside and enjoying the weather. My website usually doubles in page views in the winter, which I'm looking forward to.
I'm also struggling with page views, and can't seem to get past the 75,000 mark. 6 of my main group boards all disappeared. Those 6 group boards were also my highest performing.
Life before I was a full-time blogger
I couldn't be more happy with my life.
Before I was a blogger, I was attending college and working 3 jobs. Life was tough because I rarely got sleep and worked at a job that was stressful. I was a special education teacher, a nanny, and worked around 5 or so hours a week on my blog.
Waking up every day was a pain. I wasn't making good money and did not enjoy my job. When I wasn't at work, I was sleeping or working on school work. I thought that's how life is, and you had to suck it up and get used to the cycle.
Don't get sucked into the cycle!
College Life
Some of you may be wondering why I'm still in school. I'm so close to graduating and don't want all those years of school to go to waste. I want to get my degree in case I decide to use it one day.
I also like the idea of teaching English abroad in Asia or Europe. Generally, you need a bachelors degree to do that (and you get paid better compared to not having a degree). We plan on moving abroad one day, and having a bachelors degree makes it easier to get a visa in certain countries.
Blogging Friends
I made a new blogger friend this month, Lisa at Not On A Budget. She's helped me with SEO and ranking on Google.
I also want to mention my first ever blogging friend, Tiffany, from Beautiful Dawn Designs. She designed most of my printables that you can check out here. If you're a blogger, you'll definitely want to check out her blog where she shares amazing content related to being a successful blogger. She's helped me a ton with Pinterest and increasing my page views.
Fincon
I will be at Fincon this year, so please let me know if you're going! I won't know anyone there besides Michelle (my sister).
My plans for my blog
1. I'd love to start working on a digital product. The health and fitness field is saturated with fitness products, so I'd want to create something in another field.
2. I started a free resource library on my blog and it's doing REALLY well! The library currently contains 10+ printables. There are monthly budget planners, meal plan templates, travel checklists, daily planners, and more.
3. I'd love to do more collaborations and partnerships with other blogs.
4. I'd love to start a YouTube channel. I've always thought about doing this, but people on YouTube are so brutal in the comments. I don't have thick skin, and I already get enough mean comments on my blog, so I'm scared! Natalie Bacon has been such an inspiration for me, and I love watching her channel, which you can check out here.
Goals for FITnancials
1. Get to 20,000 followers on Pinterest.
2. Hit 100,000 page views per month. Pass!
3. Get 2 months ahead of blog posts.
3. Get to 3,000 email subscribers. Pass!
4. Get to 5,000 likes on Facebook.
Life Goals
J.D. has 2 years left of school, and then we're off to who knows what. We have a lot of ideas in the air, such as full-time RVing, moving to Europe or Canada, or moving to Arizona. Neither of us has ever been to Arizona, but it's been calling out our name for awhile it seems like.
We like that Tuscon is both bike-friendly, has mountains, is vegan-friendly, and is super duper cheap. We plan on being pretty aggressive with our student loan payments once we graduate.
See you next time
If you would have told me that by age 24, I'd be making $5,000 a month working at home, I would've laughed SO hard at you. There are days when I'm in shock by the fact that I work at home. I'm my own boss at 24. It's. So. Friggin. Cool.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who has been a follower since I started this blog. If you're trying to become a blogger, I hope I could help you a bit with how to make money blogging.
I'm not sure if I'm going to continue income reports, but I figured I'd post at least one to see how it goes. How do you think I did this month? What else would you have liked me to cover in my income report?
Do you have an income report? Leave it in the comments!
Like this post? Pin it!
How To Start A Profitable Blog - FREE Email Course
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Congrats on all your success so far, Alexis! Thank you for deciding to do the income report and for sharing so much info. with us. I would be ecstatic to one day get my blog to the $5k/month level. Here’s to your continued success.
Cody @ Dollar Habits recently posted…How to Harness the Power of Habits
Thanks Cody!
Congrats on having such a great month and for writing your first income report. Way to go. Your article was great – well written and helpful.
I have not (nor do I intend to do) sponsored posts, especially as it doesn’t fit in with my blog, its purpose and overall strategy. Instead, I am doing freelancing where I blog for others and it seems to work much better for me and my style (and it’s been fairly consistent in the last several months).
In the meantime, I continue to build passive income, so later, I can also gradually shift my time.
That sounds great. I’d love to find more freelance opportunities, too.
Wow that is so awesome! I love all the detail you went into, thank you for all the information! My three favorite blogging courses are MSAF, Carly’s book and Lena’s course–all three have helped me immensely.
I’ve done three income reports but decided to stop. I just feel too weird. I love reading them though!
I had a question about the group boards you mentioned that have disappeared- I’ve had that happen too, do you have any idea why? Did the person shut it down or were they banned from pinterest? It’s so weird.
Gemma recently posted…10 Tricks for Lowering your Heating Bills
Right? I do feel kind of weird doing them. I have my September income report in a draft right now! Haha.
Hey Alexis!
I thoroughly enjoyed this post and have shared it on Pinterest. I’ve read many of your posts in preparation for starting my own blog. You and other bloggers are motivational to us beginners. Your sharing tips and resources is beneficial. As you know, start up can be costly, confusing and scary.
The clear way that you have of explaining things, I think you could make some additional money as a mentor…..on terms of your choosing. Just a thought.
Congratulations on your success and I look forward to more great blog posts!
Thank you so much, Sharon!
Hey! Heading to FinCon as well- there is a discussion on the FinCon Community Facebook page about BBQ and there are quite a few vegans posting – I bet you could get a group to head to Spiral Diner! Try the FinCon slack channel as well. 🙂
Yes, I am on that thread, too! I’ve heard about Spiral Diner like crazy (from Austin).
I loved reading your blogging income report. It’s so inspiring for newbie bloggers like me. I will be at FinCon as a first-timer and would love to meet up!
That’s awesome! I’m so excited for Fincon.
Enlightening! Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading your path to where you are now. I look forward to more!
Ben recently posted…How to use ETFs in your portfolio
Thank you!
Thanks for the motivation! I keep coming back to your site! I love how clean and well organized it is. You are doing so well for yourself without coming across as spammy or salesy. Can’t wait to see you hit all those goals!
Renee recently posted…Becoming Minimalist: 3 Thoughts Keeping You in the Clutter
Thank you so much!
This is so awesome and I can’t wait until I get to that point! I am finally making just about $1000/month and almost been blogging for a year (with a few months that I took off due to life changes) and it feels like a lifetime until I am able to make $5000/month with my blog. By the way, do you use a network to get sponsored posting opportunities or do you reach out to companies and brands yourself?
daniella recently posted…26 Cheap Crock Pot Meals
Hey Daniella! You’re doing awesome and making more progress than most people!
I do use a few networks, but many of my sponsored opportunities are from people reaching out to me.