Income Report for September 2018: How I Made $5030.25 Last Month

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Sep 2018 Income Report - 99signalsWelcome to my September 2018 income report. Last month I recorded my highest side income earnings so far.

I was able to generate total earnings of $5030.25 in September and a net profit of $4638.22.

Before I share my earnings and net profit breakdown for the month, here are a few important updates from September.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, check this out!)

The Launch of 99signals App

Embracing the mobile-first approach, I launched the 99signals app on iOS and Android in September. I used the BuildFire platform to develop this app. The team at Buildfire is still fixing a few bugs, and as such, I've been a little slow in terms of promoting the app. I want it to be 100% functional before I have users on the app.

Nevertheless, I'm really glad I took this step and I'm looking forward to building a robust strategy around the mobile app.

99signals iOS App Screenshots

Here's what's included in the 99signals app:

  • Access to 99signals' 'Hall of Fame' content which includes long-form articles and in-depth guides on a wide range of marketing topics
  • Free eBooks on SEO, Blogging, and Marketing
  • Access to our weekly Marketing Mantra podcast
  • Get notified when we publish new content and read the 10 latest blog posts at 99signals
  • Information on the latest marketing deals (updated weekly) to help you save money on your favorite marketing tools and software
  • 'This Week in SEO' & 'This Week in Social Media' Video Series (updated weekly): Get the freshest news in the world of SEO and Social Media Marketing
  • Video Tutorials
  • Marketing Quizzes and Calculators

You can download the free 99signals app on your iOS device from here.

If you own an Android device, download it for free from the Google Play Store.

Marketing Mantra Podcast 

I wasn't able to spend much time on the Marketing Mantra podcast last month. I was able to record and upload just one episode, but I'm trying to make amends in October. I've already released two new episodes of the podcast this month and I've three more episodes queued up.

 

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The Marketing Mantra podcast currently has six episodes in total and you can listen to all of them on any of these podcast platforms below:

Google Podcasts // Breaker // Radio Public // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Anchor // SoundCloud // Stitcher // Acast

If you've listened to any of the podcast episodes, please share your feedback and suggestions at podcast@99signals.com. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge

2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge

In last month's income report, I shared an update on the 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge where I made a pledge to read 100 books in 2018, and at least 25 of them to be business/entrepreneurship books.

I read eight books in September and two of them were business books. That takes my total reading tally to 44 for the year.

The two business books I read were:

Enjoyed reading both these books. I'd strongly recommend Chris Guillebeau's Side Hustle for anyone who's interesting in starting a side hustle and earning income on the side without quitting your day job. Despite side hustling for over two years, I learned a lot of new things from this book.

 

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One of my key takeaways from the book was spending 10 percent more time on the most important tasks and spending at least 25 minutes a day doing one thing to grow my side hustle.

Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss is a mammoth 580-page book which features tips and lessons from more than 100 successful people from all walks of life. Tim Ferriss advocates asking good questions to gain uncommon clarity and results, and he does a great job selecting 11 questions to ask the mentors in this book.

Here are a few questions from the book which I think were excellent and the answers to these questions from mentors was illuminating to me as the reader:

  • What is the book you've given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
  • What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months?
  • What is an unusual habit that you love?
  • In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life
  • When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

I enjoyed reading almost all the 100+ interviews in the book since the answers to these questions revealed so much about the mentors. But some of my favorite advice in the book came from Terry Crews, Debbie Millman, Soman Chainani, Max Levchin, Neil Strauss, Adam Robinson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jason Fried, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jerome Jarre, and Yavul Noah Harari.

I'm currently reading Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss and Trust Me, I'm Lying by Ryan Holiday.

Content Creation

Updates, updates, and more updates!

I've long believed in the power of evergreen content. And when I realized a few older, more popular articles from the blog needed updates which were long overdue, I put extra effort towards updating these posts and republished them with fresh new content.

Here are all the posts I updated and republished in September 2018:

Now moving on to fresh, new content on the blog. Here are all the long-form articles I published last month:

99signals on YouTube and IGTV

Here are all the videos that were uploaded on 99signals YouTube:

Tutorial Video

The following video were also uploaded on 99signals' IGTV channel in native formats:

This Week in SEO (Weekly Video Series)

This Week in Social Media (Weekly Video Series)

Update: I've decided to revert to monthly SEO and social media news round up videos as it's much more viable than weekly roundups which make for short blog posts and videos that provide little value.

Quotes I'm Pondering (Sep 1 – 30, 2018)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss' Tribe of Mentors, you'll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in September. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist." — Oscar Wilde (Irish poet and playwright)

"We create stress for ourselves because you feel like you have to do it. You have to. I don't feel that anymore." — Oprah Winfrey (American media executive and talk show host)

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." — Eleanor Roosevelt (American political figure, diplomat and activist)

Income Report

Now let's move on to the heart of the matter which is my income report for September 2018. Below are my affiliate earnings, followed by other income, monthly expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

Other Income

Expenses

  • MailChimp (Recurring) – $50
  • AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49
  • Google Ads – $36.76
  • Facebook Ads – $42.30
  • Flickr Pro (Recurring) – $5.99
  • Reddit Gold (Recurring) – $3.99
  • Alexa Subscription (Recurring) – $19.99
  • Buildfire (Recurring) – $54
  • Apple Developer Account (Annual) – $100
  • Google Play Developer Account (Annual) – $30

Net Profit Breakdown

  • Affiliate earnings: $4780.25
  • Other income: $250
  • Total expenses: (-$392.03)
  • Net Profit: $4638.22

That wraps up the income report for September 2018. If you have any questions about this month's income report, please feel free to ask them in the comments section or via Twitter.

Hope the profit trend continues in October as well; and to all the bloggers and solopreneurs out there, keep crushing it! 👊

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

If you're interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

 

Sandeep Mallya
Sandeep Mallya is the Founder & CEO of Startup Cafe Digital, an award-winning digital marketing agency in Bangalore, India. He is an active member of the startup community, having worked with several early-stage startups and accelerators. 99signals is Sandeep's online marketing blog. The blog currently features 200+ in-depth articles, how-to guides, and hacks on a wide range of online marketing topics such as SEO, social media marketing, content marketing, blogging, and more.

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