Photo Credit: Doug Wheller
Welcome to the first income report of 2013! I am excited to reveal January’s activity to you as I have really started the year with a bang.
Since it is the time for New Years resolutions, I am guessing that there are plenty of you out there who have resolved to establish an online business and quit your job in 2013. You’ve got eleven months left to do just that. Seem intimidating? Well, you’ve still got a four month head start on my position in May 2011 when I finally decided to quit my job. It took me about six months to start making any money but I ended up quitting my job in December 2011 and haven’t looked back since! Now it’s your turn.
If you take anything away from this income report, I hope it is that awesome things are possible in a pretty short space of time if you apply yourself and remain determined and patient. I’m certainly not successful by many people’s standards but I am by my own, and you are the most important person to listen to when setting out on the path to leaving work behind.
What Happened in January?
I started the year full of new resolutions just like everyone else and succeeded in some and failed in others. None however have fallen by the wayside — those that have not yet paid off are getting careful consideration and will no doubt be re-approached from an alternative angle. I don’t believe in “temporary” resolutions 
In December 2012′s income report I said that the month was “the calm after the storm.” That made sense and didn’t concern me in the slightest because I launched my information product in November — I expected there to be a spike in earnings around the launch.
Well, in danger of getting too tangled up in metaphors, it would appear that December was in fact just a lull in the storm because January’s earnings have completely wiped out November’s record earnings of $5,776. Let’s take a look at the details.
Monthly Income Report — January 2013
- Freelance writing:
- Income: $4,927.39
- Expenditure: $79.36
- Profit: $4,848.03 ($89 per hour equivalent)
- Websites:
- Income: $8.57
- Expenditure: $0
- Profit: $8.57
- Affiliate Marketing (Leaving Work Behind):
- Income: $565.14
- Expenditure: $118.61
- Profit: $446.53
- Information Products:
- Income: $1,678.30
- Expenditure: $171.40
- Profit: $1,506.90
- eBooks:
- Income: $82.51
- Expenditure: $20
- Profit: $62.51
Total profit for January 2013: $6,872.54
To say I’m pleased with my earnings this week would be an understatement. Everything really came together in January — it’s amazing what momentum can do for you if you persist.
Freelancing
This the most I have ever made in a month from freelancing by quite a distance — to an extent because I did five week’s worth of work for many of my clients (which is down to a peculiarity of the Gregorian calendar) but also because I took on more work from existing clients and started work with a new one.
I do not want to take on any more work and as such am now in a position where I can be very picky with future clients. I have great existing group that I love working with so any new clients will have to be something special to compel me to work with them. Also, I have noticed that I am receiving more and more enquiries for content marketing services as opposed to just straight writing. This is something that I am really enjoying working on and has the potential to be more lucrative than just straight writing, but I have never actually advertised myself as a content marketer, which seems rather odd. I think that people are approaching me because they think I can help them — not because I’m trying to tell them that I can. The takeaway here is key — reputation is far more important than marketing (tweet this). If you work hard to create a good reputation you will reap the rewards.
Affiliate Marketing
I have occasionally said in the past how I am left a little puzzled and overwhelmed by affiliate marketing. It was tough enough to make any money from it, let alone a decent amount. However, I have made more from affiliate marketing this month than in any other so I hope that it marks a bit of a turning point in terms of my effectiveness.
I feel like I have turned a bit of a corner in my understanding of how a holistic and natural approach to affiliate marketing can be of great benefit to both you guys and me. The key is, of course, to always be open and honest in my approach. If my success in this area continues to grow I’ll definitely be sharing my thoughts.
Information Products
Well — I wasn’t expecting my guide to do so well this month, given the numbers from December. My gross sales nearly doubled from one month to the next which is pretty astonishing.
I put this down to a few things:
- An increase in traffic to the site (beating the previous record by 35%!)
- The introduction of a new sales page that has had a good impact on conversion rates
- The introduction of a lower price point
This outcome only strengthens my opinion that most established bloggers should look to produce their own information products. I’ll certainly be revealing more specific information about how I have got to this point (and how I intend to proceed) soon.
eBooks
My Kindle eBook.
This part of my business is very much in its startup phase. After the failure of my first Kindle book I resolved to take a completely different approach and I am relatively happy with how things have started out.
The key will be in releasing a number of books and cross-linking them so that people might buy one, then another, then another. I am quite confident that this could turn into a nice little earner over the next six months or so — the key will be in consistently releasing new books on a regular basis.
What’s in Store for February?
In short — a lot! I’ve got a fair bit of work on my plate at the moment and this month is going to be one of consolidation. I actually said that about January in last month’s report but it didn’t end up panning out that way! I have a lot of what I think are great ideas on the back burner (discussed here) but I’m not going to launch myself into them until I can get a little ahead on my existing work and take stock of the time available to me.
As I have said before, I am not in a rush to get rich and would rather take a breather than continue to pile more work on top of myself. With the freelance writing, Leaving Work Behind, my information product, eBooks and my authority site all ongoing concerns, I run the risk of spreading my weight too thinly if I start up another project at this point.
In reality I doubt that I will beat January’s earnings this month, but I hope to be relatively close. The key will be in getting my house in order and ascertaining what available time I have. With that decision-making done, March may be the month to kick back into gear.
Tom – wow, well done! Impressive to say the least. Let me ask you this if you don’t mind – do you think the free-lancing work is scalable? I was thinking about this over the holidays. $89/hour is nothing to sneeze at in the least, but some of us have kids in college, etc., so, it would need to be scalable if we were to consider writing full-time as we would need more total monthly income.
Would you envision the rate carrying on at a scale of 30, 40 or even 50 hourse a week – or do you think it might fall off or decline if attempting to take on more work, clients, etc. were desired? Thanks Tom!
Hey Kent,
I definitely think its scalable — without a doubt. I have built up these kinds of earnings over 15 months or so and I haven’t approached a client since November 2011 — they’ve all come to me. I think there is huge potential for growth in my freelance earnings but I have no interest in working more on that side of the business than I do at the moment.
This is of course speculation, but I believe that I could have built up a $100,000-$150,000 freelancing business by now if I had really dedicated myself to it.
Cheers,
Tom
Great job Tom! Keep up the good work.
Thanks Dennis!
Nice work Tom! Reputation *is* marketing, in my way of thinking at least… and yours is paying off!
Quite right you are — I was expecting someone to mention that but I think you understand my meaning
Hi Tom,
That’s a really impressive performance, congratulations!
Your posts are always really informative which no doubt is a big part of your success.
I’m looking forward to implementing your ideas when I start my own blog soon – might even buy some of your products!
Thanks again,
Mary
No problem Mary; it’s my pleasure!
Congratulations Tom!
Thanks Rael
That is awesome! You totally inspire me. I bought your guide a few weeks ago and really enjoying it.
Glad to read it Julie — let me know if there is anything I can do to help!
Congrats on a rising income report! Its a blast reading these and seeing that people are doing great. Keep it up. Is all about discipline.
That it is…discipline, patience and determination.
Congrats Tom! It’s AWESOME to see how you’ve progressed through this and your transparency is a total breath of fresh air
Thanks for your support Lis!
Congrats tom excellent work, again.
I’d love to hear how you promote your premium product are you using PPC, banner advertising, virtual assistants, etc with the expenditures? .
The expenditure is mainly affiliate payments and one-off graphic design costs — the product is promoted organically through the blog.
Good job on the progress Tom!
Thanks Billy!
I’d be curious as to what you consider ‘content marketing’ – for example most of my freelance blogging is for company blogs rather than typical publishers; would you consider that CM?
No — I consider content marketing to be the creation and/or implementation of SEO, social media, content publishing, design, outreach, and so on. It’s everything you need to effectively build an online brand in one package.
Really nice and hard work! I love reading about this inspiring histories, can’t wait for anther income report! Keep up the hard work
Will do Andreas! Thank you!
Congrats Tom, that’s nice to see you’re growing fast!
Thank you Remi as always!
That’s great Tom! Congratulations!
I agree with you that reputation it’s really important, but I guess that having both reputation and marketing can only help
Quite right you are!
Have you done any more podcast interviews where you talk more about your background?
Loads…but if you want to know more about me and my story the best place to start is my About page and the links from that page to other posts.
Congrats, Tom. Your success is just another kick in my butt to get my interviewing product out there. Thanks!
Thanks for the support Mike — be sure to keep me in the loop about your product!
Very inspiring! I’m glad your first month in 2013 turned out great, Tom! I’m looking forward to a nice month myself, provided everything continues to flow as it is.
Best of luck to you Nida!
Congrats, Tom. Really glad of all you’re accomplishing. It’s really inspiring…even to people outside of the “online marketing” or “copywriting” niche. You provide such great information and “thought process” type posts that keep me subscribed and interested. It’s one of the main reasons I love Pat Flynn so much and you’re right behind him in my book. (All he’s got on you is a few years advance). Here’s to a fantastic 2013! Cheers!
Thanks Steve! I’m glad you like the “thought process” stuff because I love writing it! And I do hope to broaden my horizons in terms of income streams which almost certainly means I’ll be stepping out of the usual MMO/blogging niches.
Cheers,
Tom
Hey Tom, my first comment here, but I’m following you for a while.
I like so much your articles and your style, because you admit when you fail, and you share with us what you learn from that!
And I read a few blog marketing, but I can’t miss those of Pat Flynn, Spencer Haws and yours.
Cheeeeers,
Ago
Hi Ago!
You’re very kind — I’m honored to be mentioned amongst the likes of Pat and Spencer!
Cheers,
Tom
Good stuff man! This really cool of you to post transparency is beautiful thing. I wish you the best success this year.
May do this for an upcoming business I’m launching.
Thank you Dwayne!
Great stuff Tom. It’s great to see your businesses are on the incline. Good luck with 2013, I’m sure you will kill it
Thanks Alex!
Nice to see another great month on the books for you
And I definitely agree about the growing interest in content marketing. My full-time writing gig is with a digital marketing agency, and the amount of interest we’re seeing in this type of service is staggering. It’s definitely something that smart writers can cash in on!
I think so — if I can fall into it by accident then that’s a good sign!
A real motivation for all of us
Thank you for sharing Tom, exciting and inspire to see the progress and return in what you have done. By sharing this, it helps me know that you have a Kindle eBook! — i did not know that before — another good lesson idea to enhance blog marketing strategy to me.
But for now, I am going to check out your Kindle ebook
Enjoy Paul!
It’s really great of you to post this for the public. In the least this gives hope to the newbies out there. I wish you all the best with your ebook!
Thank you Ellen!
This post is motivation for me, thanks for all the detail. I’ll refer to this when my spirits are low.
No problem
Hi Tom,
It’s my first time to visit you blog and I must say that I’m really impressed!
Well done on your earnings. I’m also aspiring to earn that income very soon. Right now im still working and blogging. Thank you for inspiring me…
More power to you!
Louie Sison from Make Money Online Philippines
My pleasure Louie — thanks for commenting!