Hello everyone!
I’m ready to share my income for the full calendar year of 2024 and let me tell you it feels good to tie all the loose ends up in a bow and to finally KNOW what that number is.
It’s not a big number, we all know I’m not a 10K a month type of business owner or content creator.
I also know that’s why a lot of you are here, with me, instead of elsewhere with the Colossal Number Crew. I am thrilled for those people, (in case that’s not clear) and I’m happy to celebrate, genuinely (I promise), the success of lots of wonderful and very lovely people I follow online whose income way, way surpasses my own.
But we’re all different and we’re all striving for different things.
As I close in on my 45th birthday I find frequently that I’m not striving at all and nor do I wish to.
I’m frequently deciding that’s okay.
Then at other times I get a little buzz of excitement about an idea or a project and I just plunge into whatever it is head first and just give it a go.
I like this. It fits with the sprint/rest way I work.
I’ll soon be sharing my monthly budget/spending plan for 2025 with members (and giving you my budget spreadsheet as a freebie) which basically outlines how I can live a rather nice life on £1100 per month.
I’ll go into my usual caveats and explanations about how that is the case in the budget post rather than this one, but I mention it to put the 2024 income report in some kind of context.
The number will look low, but for me it’s high enough and a fairly comfortable amount to live on.
I’m actually thrilled - as you’ll see in the video 😆
Now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t plans afoot to increase it for next year - I’m currently still in my PJs writing this and drafting out some plans for the rest of the year.
I can’t wait to share them with you to see what you think!
My Big Thing at the moment is reworking my schedule because I REALLY want to get to the point where this membership brings you a free tool, resource or mini-course every quarter, but I can’t quite get the work to “fit” with the way I currently organise my time.
I have a Baldrick-esque cunning plan which if all goes well will mean I can maintain and grow what I’ve already got set-up and also add in some extra things - I have that cosy mystery to write after all 📖 🕵🏻 🧐
Still to come in the Clubhouse this month:
A chatty catch-up because I've got some business thoughts that I need to talk through with you
My spending diary for January
I’m also working on a deep dive report into my vintage shop/reselling business, but I’m not sure if that will be complete in time for the end of the month. It might be a February drop instead.
So let’s get to it. The income report. The numbers. It’s all here.
The video goes through how much I made from each of my 8 (or is it 9?!) income streams and measures the actual profit against the target profit I set for myself.
Then I take a look at my profits for each quarter of the year - there was a surprising set of results here.
Then I show you my half-year results.
Then finally the total turnover and profit for the whole year and a short reflection on the overall results.
***My income report is a special conversation that I need to have in complete safety with my members, so only the first two minutes of introduction in the video are available to subscribers on this occasion***
I’ll outline my usual context for the income report below this line.
Next week I will come back to this post and add in the graphics I use in the video, so if you want to return to this income report and look something up you will be able to do so without having to scroll through the video to find what you want.
Income Streams
Vintage Shop (reselling)
Youtube
Adsense
Affiliates
Amazon KDP
Redbubble and Society 6 (Print on Demand)
Substack (membership)
Coursework moderation for exam board
I will be sharing the amounts that were paid into my business account during the calendar month, rather than what was earned. I often earn money in a month that doesn’t pay out for a further month or two. Mixing the two together could get confusing so I will stick to the above for consistency and because that’s how my bookkeeping is done.
Amounts will be given in GBP (as a rule of thumb USD and the EURO is a third higher, Canadian and Australian dollars are ROUGHLY double GBP).
Please use an online currency converter for a more precise figure if needed.
What I’m showing you now is essentially my bookkeeping. In the UK you can use cash-basis accounting where all you have to do is input what comes in and what goes out and all your taxes etc. are calculated for you. There’s a wee bit more to it than that, but honestly not much.
The screenshots in the video (from my ever-evolving spreadsheet) show the numbers mostly in the way they will be used for my tax return.
So that’s it guys. I’ve shared. It’s been a big “eeshk” at times showing you what I’m making every month. It takes courage to not just show the good months, but also show when things aren’t going great. I have given myself a pat on the back for sticking with the income reports for the whole year (even August which was pretty dire 🤣)
IF the income reports have helped you this year it would be so helpful to hear HOW they help.
I can then come back and remind myself when things take an inevitable down turn next year, that there IS value in sharing when things go wrong (perhaps more so?).
Thanks so much for being here, for your encouragement, your polite curiosity and your gentle and thoughtful feed back. It does not go unnoticed.
Until next time (probably next week 😂)
Mel x
