June 2017 Online Income Report: $14,214.15

Hey everyone! If you’re new around here, I started tracking my blogging income through these income reports in mid-2016. This is a great way for me to keep an eye on my progress of doing M$M full-time, and it’s also a great way for you to follow along as well if you’re thinking of starting an online business!

I can’t wait to look back on these several years from now and see how far the site has come. It’s already been crazy so far.

On a personal level – life is awesome. I feel like I've been able to create a really good work-life balance while making great money at the same time.

A lot of you have wanted to start your own blogs after seeing the success that I’ve had, and I highly recommend it. If I hadn’t taken a shot on M$M, I would still be stuck in a career I didn’t really enjoy very much.

Just understand – this isn’t easy in any way or for the faint of heart, and definitely not something you should immediately quit your day job for. Most people quit blogging long before they actually “make it.”

It takes time to build a business like this, but if you have talent and a good message/story, it is possible to do well.

Take a look at my free blog setup tutorial. You’ll have your own blog set up in just 10-15 minutes, and will receive a lower website hosting price since you’re a M$M reader when you use my exclusive link. As a bonus from my family at Bluehost- you’ll also get a domain name for free ($15 value)!

Jump on the waitlist for my marketing course!

You'll see this a little later in my income report, but one of the most important income streams that I currently have is from running a digital marketing business through my blog. Over the past two years, I've made tens of thousands of dollars by running marketing operations for small businesses.

There are a lot of great ways to make money from a blog, but I think using a blog as a portfolio to get marketing work from local small businesses is the fastest monetization strategy that requires the least amount of traffic.

This is the only way I was able to survive and bring in money after I quit my job to run my blog, and I think it's the ultimate side hustle for someone that wants to make money online. Within a few months of leaving my teaching job, I literally replaced my salary with marketing work through my site.

I 100% believe that bloggers can and should be making money this way.

So, I'll be working on this course for the rest of the summer and will open it for enrollment a little later in the year.

Here's some of the things you'll get from my course:

• How to use your blog to secure marketing work and actually make money blogging early on
• All of the email templates and important document templates that I use to secure clients (including budget proposals)
• How to run Facebook ads, Google ads, SEO, email campaigns, and manage social media for small businesses
• How to find the right clients and help them grow their online presence and revenue
• What you can charge for your services
• How to run your accounting program and pay yourself from the company
• How to get clients to recommend your services to their business owning friends
• Admission to a private Facebook group where you'll have direct access to me and all of the bloggers/digital marketers who have taken the course (this will be a killer resource)

I'll keep you all updated on the course, but if you want early access and updates, sign up for the course waitlist below:

Have you taken my free blogging course yet?

So far I’ve had over 1,000 people sign up for my blogging course since it debuted in February, and the reviews have been great! Even if you are just thinking about starting a blog or want to figure out how to get more traffic to one you already have, this will be useful for you.

Everything in the course applies to small business websites that have a blog as well, so there is good value for business owners out there that want more engagement on their sites.

MillennialMoneyMan.com Income: $10,594.20

Even though this wasn't the highest income month I've ever had, I think it may be the most excited I've ever been about an income report so far!

Coral and I went on vacation to Aruba for a week (I'll talk more about that later) and not only did my income remain steady but I also made more affiliate income than I ever have before.

It sounds weird, but I can't wait till the summer is over. There are just a lot of indicators I'm seeing right now with my traffic and sales that make me think the last few months of the year are going to be freaking awesome for my online business.

Affiliate income: $5,065.20

Bluehost Blog Hosting: $1,950.00 (Take a look at my free blog starter guide to set up your own site in 15 minutes or less!)
LendEDU: $1,789.50 <- Over 1,000 M$M readers have used this free rate finder tool so far to search for better student loan interest rates. (Bloggers, I highly recommend that you apply to become a LendEDU affiliate here)
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
: $199.60 (Read my review of this course that helped me grow my affiliate income to over $5,000 per month!)
Haven Life Insurance: $400 (If you're looking for term life insurance, this company is bomb)
Online Surveys: $152.00
Personal Capital: $500.00
ConvertKit: $26.10

Blog coaching: $0

This was the first month in a while that I didn't actively try to do any blog coaching. As much as I loved doing coaching sessions, it just wasn't the most effective use of my time moving forward.

Fortunately I have managed to pack a lot of the information that I give to beginner bloggers in my free blogging course, so definitely check it out if you haven't.

Sidebar Advertising/Sponsorships: $2,529.00

I'm SO stoked about my advertising revenue right now. This month I'm already seeing a huge rise in my RPM (revenue per thousand views) from ads, and I think that this number could easily double near the end of the year when ad budgets are at their highest in Q4.

Staff Writing: $3,000.00

Fortunately, I’m still going with the staff writing gig I picked up several months ago. I really enjoy this type of work. Even though it’s not passive like some of my other income streams, it definitely helps diversify where the money is coming from for my business.

It could end at any time, but so far I've really loved this writing job.

A lot of you have asked me about this gig – it really just came to me randomly one day because of how big the site is, so I can’t give you sage advice for how to get one that pays quite this much unfortunately.

BUT, a ton of readers have recommended Upwork.com for freelance writing gigs, so if you’re interested I would check it out.

Digital Marketing Income: $3,619.95

If you’re new to M$M, I’ll just catch you up really quick! When I left my job almost two years ago to start working for myself, I wasn’t making much money at all. The site itself had made around $3 when I took the leap of faith (please don’t do what I did).

A reader really liked my story and work on the site, and became my first marketing client. This is a great way to make money when you first start blogging because the skill-set is identical to what you do with your own site.

This income stream isn't my biggest, but for me it's the most important. This money is what helps me sleep at night because it's consistent and I love the work.

The course that I mentioned earlier (you really need to sign up for the waiting list at the beginning of this post if you're interested in making steady money online) will cover everything you need to know about how I make money this way.

Out of respect for clients’ privacy, I can’t name them on the site or list my rates for specific projects, but you’re always welcome to email me if you are an aspiring digital marketer and want tips or guidance!

Cool stuff for M$M:

I took a week off from my business this month (and didn't see a drop in revenue)!

This month was the first that I really felt secure with my business and realized that I've actually achieved a legit laptop lifestyle. Still surreal to me - I would have been doing band camp or something at this time two years ago haha.

Coral and I went to Aruba for a week (I highly recommend), and I was able to take some meaningful time away from my business. I still checked in on things from time to time, but my auto-scheduling went off without a hitch and I wasn't freaked out that everything was going to crash and burn.

It all made me realize that Coral and I are probably going to be able to do some really good traveling over the next few years while still making money, which is cool.

As far as Aruba goes...it was beautiful. Our next big trip is going to be Hawaii, so if you have any travel tips for us I'd love to see them in the comment section!

These new Pinterest images for the site are pretty dope (in my humble opinion). Shout out to one of my favorite bloggers Des from Halfbanked.com and a few other cool people for giving me some recommendations on the design.

I feel like these are going to help M$M stand out a ton on Pinterest moving forward. Half of the battle is getting noticed on there!

As always...thank you.

I know it may be sappy and I say it a lot, but all of the readers and bloggers that I've met over the past two years make my job sooooo much fun. I truly appreciate every reader (even the ones that disagree with me/correct my grammar haha) and hope that the gratitude comes through in my writing.

Without all of you, I wouldn't have a job. That's never lost on me.

You can take a look at all of my income reports here or check out the latest ones below:

May 2017 Online Income Report: $14,395.65

April 2017 Online Income Report: $20,507.77

March 2017 Online Income Report: $15,539.59

February 2017 Online Income Report: $13,453.34

January 2017 Online Income Report: $16,683.77

December 2016 Online Income Report: $12,581.87

November 2016 Online Income Report: $11,173.63