October 2017 Money Manifesto Income Report

Welcome to the October 2017 edition of the Money Manifesto income report.

October was a typical month with the exception of an amazing last week of the month.

During the last week of the month, I attended FinCon17, a conference for money and media professionals. More on that later.

As always, I’m sharing these reports to keep myself accountable to my goals while inspiring others to try to start making income online.

What I Learned In October About Self-Employment

The biggest highlight of October by far was FinCon17. Every year I make sure to attend this annual conference because it is necessary for my business, but also a ton of fun.

Each year I talk with new potential writing clients, learn about how I can grow my blog and catch up with old friends while meeting new friends.

The relationships built at FinCon have easily been the biggest contributor to my success in running my own online based business.

This year I took a more proactive approach to FinCon than in years past. I went into the conference with the goal of finding ways to earn more income and I came away with some solid ideas.

I always come away from FinCon energized, but it only happens once per year. In the next year or two, I’ll be looking for another conference similar to FinCon to see if I can get that energy boost more often.

The key takeaway from this month was that sometimes it pays to invest in your business. I have to buy a flight, conference ticket and meals while attending FinCon as well as pay for a hotel room.

However, I end up earning my money back multiple times over based on the information and relationships I build at this conference. Hopefully I can find more ways to invest in my business that continue to grow my income.

October 2017 Income Earned – $3,648.24

October was another typical month where I beat my monthly income goal of $3,000 but didn’t have groundbreaking results, earning just $3,648.24 this month.

Thankfully, what I learned and the connections I made at FinCon this month should help me consistently grow my income beyond the $3,000 per month mark on a more regular basis.

Here are the main ways I earned my income this month.

Freelance Writing

Freelance writing continues to be my largest source of income. It’s nice because the income is fairly reliable.

I protect myself from big swings in freelance writing income by having multiple clients. That way, if one client decides they no longer want content, I don’t lose all of my freelance writing income.

Usually, it isn’t too hard for me to find another client or pick up additional work with a current client, so the income drop is usually short lived.

If you want to start earning money from freelance writing, I highly suggest Holly Johnson’s Earn More Writing course. It teaches you everything I’ve learned in my years of freelance writing experience and more.

The course even has plenty of great ideas for experienced freelance writers that can help you grow your freelance writing income. I took the course earlier this year and have already started earning more from what I’ve learned.

Branded Content

Branded content still provides a decent source of income for me, but it isn’t what my business is built around.

Basically, branded content is when a company wants to either share a post with my readers or have me share my opinions about a product or service with my readers for a fee.

If a great opportunity comes up to share information that will help my readers and earn me a bit of money at the same time, I definitely consider it. Of course, if it isn’t a good fit for my readers, I always turn down the opportunity.

Traditional Advertisements

Traditional advertisements haven’t been a huge source of income for me.

A couple years ago, I used to make a couple hundred dollars per month, but over time the income decreased. I tried Media.net ads which helped for a little while, but even that income eventually dropped to just $50 or so per month.

Last year, I tried out a new advertisement company, MyFinance, which helped a bit. However, over time, their results fluctuated wildly. Some months I earned next to nothing while other months I made hundreds of dollars.

At FinCon, I met with a company called MediaVine which manages display advertisements for websites in certain niches with at least 25,000 monthly sessions. I’m going to give them a shot in November and will report my findings.

Affiliate Income

Affiliate income is something I’m looking to grow in 2018. I was hoping to get to it this year, but I simply had too much other stuff on my plate.

I will definitely be taking Michelle’s Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course which I’ve heard rave review about. Hopefully it helps me up my affiliate income game in 2018.

Earning Income Online Started With My Blog

The beginning of my online income journey started with my blog. If you want to start earning income online, I honestly believe starting a blog is the first step.

Yes, it takes time and a lot of effort to make money blogging, but that doesn’t have to be your business model. You can use your blog as a portfolio to start freelance writing, a freelance photography business or one of many other possibilities.

If you’re going to start a blog, I highly recommend getting a self-hosted WordPress blog. Basically, a self-hosted WordPress blog gives you the opportunity to build your site exactly as you see fit without the limitations of many free blogging platforms.

Yes, it does cost money, but it is worth it in my opinion. If you want to get started, you can check out my step by step guide of how to start a self-hosted WordPress blog with SiteGround.

November should be an interesting month income wise with lots of big changes after FinCon. Make sure you check back in to see the results.

If you have any questions, as always, I’m happy to answer them.