$32,474 in April – My Monthly Online Income Report | Making Sense of Cents

Welcome to April’s online income report where I show you how I make money online. It’s time to look at this month’s update and track how I did.

If you are new here, you might be wondering why I would want to publish my online income reports each month. If you are not new here, you can just skip to the next section

This all started out as my side income report because in the beginning it was all about the money I was earning from my side jobs. In my side income reports from the beginning, I included all of the income I made except for what I made at my day job (that was a fixed amount and boring anyways).

However, I left my day job as a financial analyst towards the end of 2013 and now my monthly income reports consist of the several different ways I bring in an income each month.

Many people have asked why I would ever want to publicly post my income each month. Some think I’m crazy, and some are glad I am open about what I’m doing. Whatever you think, I enjoy publishing my monthly online income reports and I share them publicly for three main reasons:

Before I started blogging, I knew nothing about side hustling and making money online. I didn’t think side jobs were worth the effort, and I thought the only way to significantly increase your income was through raises and promotions at your full-time job. If it weren’t for others publishing their monthly income reports each month, I don’t know if I would have ever tried side hustling. This is why I like to publish my income reports. I want to help others see the positives in side hustling and how it can change a person’s life. There are many different ways to make money online, and I like to share my story each month to help motivate others to improve their financial situation by making more money.
Secondly, I like to publish my income reports because it’s a way for me to look back, learn from my mistakes and see what areas need improvement. It’s also entertaining to go back to older income updates and read about the interesting things I did to make money. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?
Lastly, I like to show others that making side money is possible, and that there are many legitimate ways to make money from your home. If you are looking for information on the many ways to make money online, I published the article Monthly Income Report Roundup – My Favorite Income Bloggers that showcases many awesome bloggers who are kind enough to share their income with the public each month. Just a few years ago, I didn’t think making money online was possible at all. Now, I realize that it is possible!

I know I say this every month, but it is the truth. Life is great now that I’m my own boss. I look forward to each and every work day and it is an amazing thing. Work and life balance is a real thing for me now and I truly love waking up each morning.

Above is exactly why I enjoy publishing my monthly income reports. I like to show others that you don’t have to hate your job and hate your life. You can make changes to your life and make money in a way that allows you to truly enjoy the life you are living. I’m not saying that you have to LOVE your job, I’m just saying that your job should at least allow you to do what you like to do outside of work (whether that be spending time with loved ones, painting, hiking, etc.).

Also, if you have any questions about making money online, you can always send me an email and I always reply back. If I haven’t covered something in this income report, I highly suggest you check out my other reports as well because I have covered A LOT of topics, including reader questions I have received. I am unable to put everything in this single post because this would then become one messy whale of a post.

How was my online income in April?

April was a great online income month for me and it was by far my best month ever. This was mainly due to the fact that I sold two more websites of mine and I was able to generate a nice profit from them.

I also had a great month for affiliate income, I worked ahead a decent amount, and more. April was a great month and I really enjoyed working on my online business.

I’ve always been excited about what I do, but I am more excited than ever for the future. I have so many plans and everything is going very well.

Anyway, in April I made $34,174 in business income, before expenses.

If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.49 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free blog domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, you want to be self-hosted. This is essential if you want to monetize your blog as you will appear more professional and this will help you monetize your blog tremendously.

Related articles:

The number above is for the month of April and before any fees and expenses (some fees and expenses that lower the amount above total around $1,700, which includes virtual assistants/staff writers for my other websites, technical assistance on my websites, PayPal fees, etc., however, this does not include taxes) being taken out. After expenses and fees, I made approximately $32,474.

Below are some of my other monthly side income reports. I publish an online income update every month but only included some of them below as it would be a very long list. If you head on over to my extra income page you can find all of my monthly income reports from the past few years.

$672 extra in May (2012)
$1,425 extra in July
$6,523 in January Extra Income (2013)
$11,927 in October Income – I Finally Left My Job
$12,640 in January Income (2014)
$23,758 in February Income – My Monthly Online Income Report (2015)
$15,151 in March – My Monthly Online Income Report Plus Traffic Stats

Blog news.

Ever since selling three of my websites, I’ve been able to use my time much more wisely. It’s nice to be able to focus on what is especially important to me (such as Making Sense of Cents) and brainstorm new ideas for my main blog.

I still need to go through many, many of my posts here on Making Sense of Cents and fix the formatting, change the pictures to Pinterest-worthy images, and more. I have probably only done 15% of my posts so that means I still have a lot more to go! I actually didn’t work towards any of this in April as I forgot, so I plan on adding this to my to-do list so that I won’t forget this time around.

Top new posts on Making Sense of Cents last month:

I sold two more websites.

In April, I sold two more websites making for a total of three that I have now sold this year. This will most likely be my last big jump in income as I don’t plan on selling any of the other websites I own.

I am a little sad though because I did sell one of my favorite websites that I own. I decided to sell DiversifiedFinances.com because my heart was just in Making Sense of Cents more and I wasn’t spending the amount of time needed on Diversified Finances. Even though I will miss it, I still believe this was a good decision.

As I mentioned a few months ago, I decided to sell start selling some of my websites so that I can spend more time on Making Sense of Cents. I have many plans for Making Sense of Cents, and owning all of these websites on the side was not exactly at the top of my to-do list. I was being lazy with the other sites and my heart was not in them.

I believe this is the right step for my business.

However, this might mean lower income in future months because I did earn a little bit of income each month from these three websites. I’m hoping to make up for it since I will be devoting more time to Making Sense of Cents, which will hopefully lead to me seeing an increase here.

Like I said above, this is not a normal jump. However, it is nice to know that I was able to flip these three websites for a good profit.

If any of you have questions about selling a website, you can leave them below and I will try to answer your questions as best as I can.

My plans for my website, online income, and making money online:

Create a product to sell – I am 99% positive I want to create an ebook. I have multiple ideas and right now I am trying to figure out what direction to take.
Promote more – Pinterest alone brought around 56,000 clicks to my blog just in the month of April. I have been stuck at this level, but I’m still happy. Just a few months ago I was only receiving a few hundred visits a month from Pinterest, so this is a big jump.
Accept more interviews. – I wasn’t too active with interviews in April. I plan on changing this in May!
Stop being shy – This is one of my goals for 2015. I am such a shy person, and it’s something I need to work on if I want to grow my business.

Staff writing, blog, and social media management.

In April, I worked on a few staff writing jobs.

Blog and social media management is still a service I enjoy providing to my clients. I did lose one client last month because they sold their website to someone else and that company already had a designated manager for all of their websites.

Other than that though, I am trying to focus more on what is currently on my plate so I am no longer actively looking for new website management or staff writing clients.

My goal right now is to further grow the sites I currently manage and own, spend more time on my blog/website coaching service, and grow my income here so that I can be more of my own boss. This will mean that I will be less diversified as most of my income will be coming from this website and related services, but I do think this is what I am truly after with my business.

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Affiliate income.

April was another amazing month for affiliate income. I earned around $12,000 in affiliate income just in the month of April.

I still cannot believe how quickly affiliate income has grown for me and I can’t believe I waited until recently to become more active with it.

I won’t see the payments until June and/or July for most of my affiliate payments, so you won’t see those amounts reflected in my monthly income reports until then.

Breakout of the actual payments I received in April ($34,174, before expenses)

Staff writing – $750
Managing websites and social media for clients, as well as blog coaching- $2,839
Website-related (From the 3 websites I own – advertising and partnerships) – $5,235
Affiliate income (from Bluehost, Republic Wireless, etc) – $6,350
Sale of two websites – $19,000
Selling items from our home – $0
Miscellaneous (not related to blogging and online income) – $0
Mystery shopping – $0

One question I am asked nearly every time I publish my monthly online income report is whether or not I can further break down my income. I have never fully broken everything down line by line, and I do this mainly to protect myself and those I provide services to.

Keep in mind that for a long time, a majority of my income came from private clients I worked for so sharing their name and what they paid me wouldn’t be the correct way to run a business. It also wouldn’t help you much either, so there wouldn’t be a point for me just to share someone’s name.

Don’t worry though. I plan on breaking apart my income fully either next month or the month after. Being so open about everything does scare me a little, so I am trying to think about what the best way is to share my income without jeopardizing my business.

Stay tuned!

Also, when you see my monthly income each month please keep in mind that I work for myself. This means I have to cover taxes (which are over 30%), health insurance, and all other benefits/expenses that an employer might provide.

Comparisons and 2015 online income total (after most expenses, but before taxes)

Total extra income for April: $34,174
Income in March: $15,151
Difference: $19,023
Total in 2015: $88,479

How did you do in April? What are your extra/business/online income goals? Why do you work towards making extra money?

If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.49 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free blog domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, you want to be self-hosted. This is essential if you want to monetize your blog as you will appear more professional and this will help you monetize your blog tremendously.

Michelle S

$32,474 in April – My Monthly Online Income Report