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$11,117 in July Extra Income – Growing but I crave stability

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 133 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Find out how I made $11,117 in July working from home.Yesterday, I published my July Goals and Life Update, and in it I stated that my goal was for $9K in side hustle income.  Well, I definitely blew that number away!

July was another awesome month. I’m really hoping that August will be the same, but I’m not sure if it will be.

In July, I made $12,942 in extra income, before expenses. It is crazy to think that just last July, I made $1,425 in extra income. What a difference one year makes! I never even thought that I would be anywhere near this amount. I always thought that other freelancers who posted their income were just “lucky.”

I know that this is a lot of “extra income” but please keep in mind that I spend many, many hours every single day on my side hustles. I have also been growing this for quite some time, and for over one year I was making $0, while still pouring full-time hours into my side hustles. Taxes also take approximately one-third of my extra income…

Also, even though my extra income is higher than ever, I still constantly worry about what 100% self-employment will be like. I’m terrified of everything tanking the day after I make the switch. This will all be included in a post on Diversified Finances soon!

There were some expenses, and they are listed below. In case you are new to my blog, “Extra Income” consists of all income that I make on the side, and does not include my office job that I have in the financial services industry.

Extra income also does not include any money that W makes, as he doesn’t do too much for extra income and he is mostly commission at his work (so it fluctuates every month anyways).

As I say every month in my income update posts: this is not all easy. None of it is. I spend enough time to make this a full-time job on top of my already full-time job. Luckily, I do enjoy what I’m doing so it’s not like I’m dreading anything. The goals that we have are also a great motivator. The fact that I plan on making the jump to self-employment is the biggest motivator that I will ever need! Read further on my Extra Income page.

As always, if you have any questions about my monthly extra income that you would like me to include next month, please let me know.

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This is for the month of July and before  fees and expenses (expenses that lower the amount above include approximately $1,825, which includes payments for my virtual assistant, staff writing on my blog, work with FITnancials, PayPal fees, etc.) being taken out. July’s number above includes a rent payment from my sister. So after all expenses and fees, I made approximately $11,117. In the amount above, I do not count the amount that I bring in to blogs that I help run, I only include the amounts that are my actual earnings from my services.

You can find my 2013 goals update here.

Blog News

My blog is finally stable! Sorry, if any of you had problems with it last month. It seems like everyone was having problems with their websites though, so I’m sure no one really noticed. My site should be good from now on.

My sister’s blog is still doing well. Please subscribe to FITnancials if you haven’t yet. She has many plans for her blog, and just earned her personal trainer fitness certification a couple of months ago. She’s doing great! She is also about to start her second semester of college. I feel like a mom sending her child to college, haha!

My newest blog Diversified Finances is doing really well also. I only post on there once a week, but I plan on increasing that to two times a week soon because I have a ton to talk about. So, if you want to continue hearing all about my switch to self-employment, because follow me over there! I love being able to talk about self-employment on my new blog, and I’m sure those of you who aren’t interested are happy that 100% of my posts on Making Sense of Cents aren’t related to self-employment 🙂

If you are looking to start a blog, don’t forget to read my post How To Start a Blog. It gives step by step instructions on starting your own blog. Also, one of my most popular posts this past month was How To Make Money Blogging.

 

Staff Writing

Lately, my staff writing has been decreasing, but I really would like to ramp it back up again. I really enjoy writing, and I have so many ideas for blog posts.

So, here’s a shameless plugin: If any of you need a staff writer or just a random content writer, please let me know. Whether you need a couple articles every week, or just a single post with no on-going relationship, I am your girl. I can write regular content, content to fill in gaps in your writing schedule, content for advertising and so on. My turnaround is fairly quick and I would definitely say that I am reliable 🙂

I made a post titled So You Want to Be a Freelance Writer?, so please read further about this topic in that post.

 

Update on my newest side hustles – Blog Management and more

My blog management side hustle has been going well. I manage different aspects of several different blogs, and that is what has helped me ramp up my extra income in the past couple of months. All of my new services make me extremely happy. Every little thing all make the switch to self employment possible. I would still like to help more website owners, as I have time open for that, and it is something that I truly enjoy.

I’m still debating whether or not I should create an ebook, and I think I will be waiting on that for at least a little bit. I have so many other things that I want to do first!

Are you interested in becoming a virtual assistant? Don’t forget to also read about what exactly a virtual assistant does.

I also added a Hire Me tab to my blog, so that I can let me freelancing services be known. Please let me know if you have further questions on the services that I offer.

 

Affiliate income – I want it!

My affiliate income definitely decreased last month. Why you ask? Well, I don’t think I have included a single affiliate link in a post in a long time. I definitely want to change this. However, I will say that I will only review products and insert affiliate links for products that I think are useful.

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Extra Monthly Income in July (all after expenses)

  • Staff writing – $700
  • Blog (managing other bloggers’ websites, my blogs – direct advertising and Adsense) – $9,542
  • Affiliate Income – $550
  • Virtual Assistant tasks – $0
  • Selling Clothes – $0
  • Miscellaneous (not related to blogging and online income) – $0
  • Mystery Shopping – $0
  • Rent (we rent a room in our house to my sister) – $325

 

Comparisons and 2013 Extra Income total (after expenses, but before taxes)

  • Total extra income for July: $11,117
  • Income in June: $10,192
  • Difference: +925
  • Total so far in 2013: $57,157 (WOOHOO!)

 

 

How did you do in July? What are your extra income goals?

 

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About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  4. Lindsey @ Sense & Sensibility says

    Wow, you are doing so well, Michelle. I can imagine the kind of work you must be doing on top of your day job to make this happen! I have just started making extra income from my blog within the last couple of months and it’s funny how much more work everything becomes the minute you start accepting money for something that was once just a hobby. I can’t post when I feel like it, I have a schedule. I look at my numbers a lot more and think about ways to increase them. It’s a big shift. Congratulations on your success – I’m excited to learn more about your launch date for freelancing!

    Reply

  5. Latoya @ Sisters' With Bank says

    Hi, I’ve been following your blog for some time now and I think it is absolutely wonderful the strides you are making in your side hustles. I have a few myself, which include writing, and although I’m not anywhere near the point where I can go full-time with freelancing, your blog definitely motivates me to keep at it. Thanks for sharing your plans and goals with us.

    Reply

  7. [email protected] says

    I don’t have anything really to add that others haven’t said, but again congratulations and I think whenever you feel ready, I’d make the jump and leave the 9-5. You still would maybe work those hours, but it would be by your choice.

    Reply

  9. lesley says

    you are awesome michelle! i remember when the $2000 a month was a wahoo for you! not that that amount isn’t great as well, but look how far you have come. you are definitely an inspiration to me.

    Reply

  11. MonicaOnMoney says

    Michelle, wow! You’re doing amazing and its always so inspiring to hear about your goals. Best of luck! My goal is to learn SEO better to use it to my advantage. And to find a cheaper iPhone plan.

    Reply

  12. MonicaOnMoney says

    Michelle, wow! You’re doing amazing and its always so inspiring to hear about your goals. Best of luck! My goal is to learn SEO better to use it to my advantage. And to find a cheaper iPhone plan.

    Reply

  14. Alexandra @ Real Simple Finances says

    Michelle, I really love reading these updates! I feel like I can do anything, even though I haven’t yet monetized my blog.

    I would like to know how you got started doing staff writing! It’s something I’d really enjoy doing. How did you find places to write for; were you approached, or did you send out queries? What did the queries look like?

    Reply

  15. Courtney B says

    This is amazing! I’m so happy for you! You are totally inspiring to take the time to buckle down an make it work for those of us who want this extra income! I would love to dig in and do all that it takes for this but with a baby, you just don’t have the time to sit and work at the computer! You are so smart to get it going now because it will be so much easier down the road! Life just keeps getting crazier but you will get to the point with this work that you won’t have to put in the effort to get yourself out there, you know?

    Reply

  17. The Warrior says

    First time stopping by here and if this doesn’t inspire my side income efforts, what will?!?!

    Congrats on a great month.

    My biggest fault when it comes to developing these side incomes is finishing one project before moving on to another. Do you struggle at all with this and if so, how do you keep yourself on task to completion?

    Thanks for the inspiration and advice!

    The Warrior
    NetWorthWarrior.com

    Reply

  18. retirebyforty says

    Wow, congratulation! You are doing so well.
    I’m making 2-3k/month and would love to hit 10k at some point.
    I’ll get in touch with you more via private mail to see if you can help out with some advertising. 🙂
    Great job!

    Reply

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