Welcome to my July 2013 freelance income report!

This is the second post of my freelance income report series where I’ll be sharing my monthly progress with my freelance business. I’ll first cover the important happenings of the month that may have effects to my earnings. Then, I’ll break down the sources of my income and conclude the post with what I have planned for the future.

I choose to do these posts not only to help myself keep track of my freelance business’s progress, but to also show other freelancers what’s working and what’s not working for me.

I believe in complete transparency in my writing, and hope that it can give you some inspiration.

If you’re just starting out, please understand that finding clients and making money online is not something that happens overnight. It takes a lot of time, hard work and dedication.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave those at the bottom of this post or shoot me an email to chat in private. Thanks!

Important happenings in July

July was another successful month in my eyes. There were a lot of pivotal moments. I’ve seen growth with my business, and that excites me.

Unfortunately, I suffered too many unproductive days, and that’s majority my fault. It's something I need to stay on top of at all times. It’s just too easy to open a new tab and check all of my online accounts for updates, which most of the time lead to procrastination.

On a more personal finance note, I spent a lot of days sorting out my bank accounts and setting financial goals. I set up a new structure for how I will split my income to help save more. I’ll be splitting my income into four parts: personal compensation, personal savings, business, and business taxes. My plan is to save more from here on to get closer to my saving goals.

A big change I made in relation to my freelance financing is that I signed up for a paid Freshbooks account! I hardly ever sign-up for paid services, because that’s just another recurring expense, but since I’m taking my finances more seriously, I feel like it’s a necessity for my business. So far it’s been worth it! If you’d like to give it a go, here’s my affiliate link to sign-up. If you do choose to click through my link and sign-up, I greatly appreciate it!

I’ve still been planning the Start Your Freelance Career eBook as well, and I hope to be finished with an outline this week. I just want to make sure I cover everyone’s unanswered questions. To help with that I sent out a survey to my eBook subscribers. The responses I’ve received so far have been extremely helpful to the planning of the eBook’s content. As soon as I’m finished with the outline I’ll be sure to share it with all of my eBook subscribers. If you’d like to partake in the process of this eBook, sign-up for updates!

Now what’s been most exciting in July is watching the growth of my blog. The daily page views have grown a bit, and the overall interaction I’ve been having with my online presence have been amazing!

Check out that traffic spike! All thanks to Chris Beaudin for posting my previous freelance income report on Reddit.

One of my goals last month were to put more focus on my online shop. I tried a couple fun promotions, which didn’t prove to work very well, but I feel like that's mostly due to the small selection of products available. I had intentions to create a couple more digital products, but those got put off to the side so I could focus more on my new eBook and other side projects. However, it is still on my long list of things to do. On a side note, I had this photo sent to me of JT Woodruff from Hawthorne Heights, reppin my Stay True shirt at Warped Tour in Cincinnati – which is awesome!

As for client work, it has been going well and I’m happy that I haven’t ran into any serious complications. I would’ve had a record breaking month if it weren’t for two projects falling through the cracks, but there was nothing I could do to officially land them. Unfortunately, there are many project briefs that make it my way that either immediately die or take another turn. Just another thing I’ve learned that you have to deal with as a freelancer. I always try to inquire the reasoning behind dropped projects, and thankfully it’s never due to me or my services. That always helps take any stress off my shoulders.

‍To summarize the happenings in July: my client work was light, I lacked in productivity a bit too much, my shop didn't succeed as much as I'd hope, but my blog and side projects have been very fulfilling. I have some important goals to meet this month that I’m looking forward to, which I’ll cover after my report.

Freelance Income Report – July 2013

Disclosure: some of the links in my report are affiliate links that I may earn commission on if you choose to click, sign-up and/or purchase through them. If you do, I greatly appreciate it, and if you ever have any questions about the products or services, please feel free to contact me!

Also, I think it’s important to mention that my business expenses do not include the amount I personally save for my business taxes.

Freelance Services: $1,263.41

Client Projects: $1,018.41

Microlancer : $245

Previous Month: $1,983.39

Difference: -$719.98

Blogging: $0

Previous Month: $77.44

Difference: -$77.44

Affiliate Marketing: $13.49

E-Junkie : $13.49

Previous Month: $22.49

Difference: -$9

Online Marketplaces: $21

Creative Market : $21

Previous Month: $31.50

Difference: -$10.50

Gross Total in July: $1,303.09

Previous Month: $2,117.40

Difference: -$814.31

July Expenses

Domain registration: $4.18

Freshbooks: $20.11

Postage & Shipping: $10.59

Total Expenses for July: $34.88

Net Total in July: $1,268.21

A quick note about this month's earnings: My freelance earnings have dipped a bit this month, but that’s the life of being a freelancer for most. I’m not here to brag, as you can see – I’m here to track my progress and share with those who are interested on how I’m trying to diversify my income.I have a lot of plans that I need to take action on this month, so here are the changes I’m going to take to hopefully grow my earnings.

Plans for August

My productivity is something I need to get back on top of for sure!

Aside from any client work I have and the continued promoting I’m going to do for my online shop, my main focus this month will be to make huge progress on my two eBooks: a free all-in-one package of my process with bringing an idea to life and the Start Your Freelance Career eBook.

I have some HUGE plans coming in the near future that will change my entire focus on the content I create. Trust me, it’s a good thing, and it will only better the content I will produce. If you’re interested in getting these posts, plus exclusive updates and offers delivered directly to your inbox, sign-up for my newsletter. My newsletter is the number one way I connect with those who read my content. So far I’ve been able to reply to every response I get, and I plan on sticking to that.

I feel humbled just knowing I have a handful of individuals who value my work, and that’s what makes it all worth it.

‍Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I value every page view, subscriber and follower I receive.

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