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$12,334 in September Side Income – Time for Self-Employment

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 143 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 earned $12.334 from blogging income.Hey everyone! This Friday I will be publishing my September Goals Update. In last month’s update, I stated that my goal for September was for $10K in side hustle income. In August’s income report, I just slightly missed my goal of $10K, and made $9,554 in side income. I made it this month though!

I definitely reached my September goal and passed it by a good amount. September was a great month for income, and I was able to add a few new clients, and there are also a couple of new services that I am offering as well.

Even though September’s income was great, I do think I could have topped it if I would have tried just a little bit harder. Many days I went home from work and didn’t work on a single thing because laziness took over.

Since my extra income last month was great, it made me even more excited about self-employment. I’m not going to lie, the small dip in last month made me wonder if my income was just going to forever trend down. I’m glad that was not the case!

Don’t worry, I will announce it soon once my switch is complete.

In September, I made $13,435 in extra income, before expenses. Just last September, I made $3,275 in extra income. I am definitely happy and proud of my progress. 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.”

My side income last September was my first big jump in side income, so it was definitely still fairly large for “side income.” However, my progress over the past year just seems unreal.

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. This is definitely not passive income. I have also been growing this for quite some time, and for around one year I was not making a single dollar, but I was still putting full-time hours into my side jobs. Taxes also take approximately 30% to 40% of my extra income. This is something that not everyone thinks about.

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 either.

As I say every month in my income update posts as a reality check: this is still work. 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.

 

$12,334 in September Side Income - Almost Time for Self-Employment

This is for the month of September and before fees and expenses (expenses that lower the amount above include approximately $1,100, which includes payments for staff writing on my blog, work with FITnancials, PayPal fees, etc.) being taken out.

September’s number above includes a rent payment from my sister. So after all expenses and fees, I made approximately $12,334. 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.

All of my past income updates can be found here as well.

 

Blog News

With blog news, there is nothing new to share that I can think of. I have been thinking about another site design because I am in love with the new design on Canadian Budget Binder.

My sister’s blog is still doing well. Please subscribe to FITnancials if you haven’t yet. Lots of new things are happening to her, and she is planning a move to Chicago soon. Follow her while she tries to plan her move to Chicago. One negative is that she had to start a new Instagram because her old Instagram with over 4,000 followers stopped working. After over 50 emails to Instagram, they never replied so she had to start a new one. Follow her at @FitAlexis

My newest blog Diversified Finances is doing really well also. Being able to talk so much about self-employment and get direct feedback from readers is great. 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 anymore 🙂

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.

 

There have been some problems with being too public with my income reports.

With my side income reports, I receive a lot of emails and questions about what exactly I do. I am always very honest about everything.  However, I have been having a small problem with going into too much detail in my income reports and the services that I offer, and this has been leading to some issues.

I don’t know what I should do to prevent this in the future. I may start keeping some of my services more secretive until I am more established. Everything won’t be a complete secret, but maybe just certain areas of my services.

As a freelancer, have you ever come across this?

 

FinCon 2013

FinCon is this month, and I cannot wait. This is my first blogging conference. I’ve been looking over the schedule for the conference and everything looks great. I don’t know how I’ll fit everything in. I also don’t know how I’ll meet everyone that I want to meet. I want to meet everyone!

Also, last month I published a post about all of the fun things that you can do in St. Louis. So, if you are coming to FinCon, don’t forget to read my wonderful post. St. Louis is a great place to visit, especially for financial bloggers as most things are absolutely free (the Zoo, museums, brewery tours and so on are FREE). I am so happy that FinCon is right here where I live.

Are you going to FinCon? Why or why not? What is one tip that you would give to a new FinCon attendee?

 

 

Staff Writing

Staff writing is picking back up again. September was rather slow for staff writing, but I did add two new gigs for October, which is great!

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 of 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 and Social Media Management

My blog management side hustle is still going great. 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 are a lot of fun, as I really enjoy blogging and social media. If you need a blog or social media manager, please let me know.

I can manage your blog for a short period of time as well. If you just need one week, one month, or some other time period off from your blog (such as for travel, to unplug, a vacation from your website, to start a family, to start a new job and so on), I can help with this. E-mail me with any questions.

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question last month about what you would look for in a blog consultant. I have had even more emails regarding this, and I may start this back up again soon.

Also, I am thinking about starting a niche site. The technical terms and everything sound so confusing but I’m very interested in seeing whether or not I could create a successful niche site. Can anyone recommend any really good articles on niche sites and starting one? Do you have one? What do you think? Also, if you have a niche site, how has the newest Google Secure Search update affected you?

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

 

Affiliate income – I’m still looking for this.

Affiliate income has definitely been on my mind lately, but I haven’t done anything related to affiliate income in quite a while. Thank you all for clicking on my links from months ago, and I’m glad readers are still finding helpful information in my older posts. However, I would really like to increase my affiliate income by publishing new posts.

I signed up for a decent amount of affiliate companies last month, and I can’t wait to get started. Don’t worry though, I won’t be doing too many affiliate related posts. Probably only one or two per month.

 

Offline side hustles.

I have been thinking about offline side hustles a lot lately. W and I have been thinking about a couple of things. Nothing that will make us a ton of money, but just little things that we enjoy doing that we could possibly make a little money off of.

Once I make the switch to self-employment, I definitely want to ramp everything up as much as I can. I want to work my hardest towards earning income and I really want to get my freelancing services out there.

What offline side hustles do you have?

 

$12,334 in September Extra Income - Almost Time for Self-Employment

Extra Monthly Income in September (after expenses)

  • Staff writing – $200
  • Website-Related (managing other bloggers’ websites, my blogs – direct advertising & Adsense) – $11,415
  • Affiliate Income – $394
  • 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 September: $12,334
  • Income in August: $9,554
  • Difference: +$2,780
  • Total so far in 2013: $79,045

 

 

How did you do in September? 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

  3. Laurie @thefrugalfarmer says

    Amazing again, Michelle! You are kicking it! I think if you need to reveal less about how you’re making your income, that’s okay. You’ve got to protect your own business first, especially now with total self-employment on the horizon! My Sept. side hustle income was lower than I had hoped for, but it was my highest month yet, so “yea” for that!

    Reply

  4. Daisy @ Prairie Eco Thrifter says

    Looks like you are doing really well with the side income still. That’s a huge jump from year to year. As to disclosing too much about some of your hustles, be careful. I protect my clients by being very, very vague about the “blogging/online” income that I make, and not breaking it down into categories.

    Reply

  6. lyle @ the Joy of Simple says

    Wow Michelle…those are some killa numbers!!!

    And I totally understand your hesitance to divulge more detailed specifics…some people need to just relax and let you do what you do!

    Take care and all the best.

    Lyle

    Reply

  8. Gillian says

    You’re numbers are unreal every month! Way to go, you are doing so well! How do you get started managing blogs for others? Cold-emailing bloggers? I’d love to earn some extra cash!

    Reply

  9. Peter says

    LOL, I actually had the same question. I won’t email you though. Congratulations on another great month Michelle. Look forward to what kind of changes it will take after you quit your day job. Would you double, triple, quadruple your income? I was reading Pat Flynn 100K monthly income and was totally floored. 100K a month!!! The sheer opportunity in this online blogging is truly incredible. Very motivating to see you do so well.

    Reply

  12. Tara @ Streets Ahead Living says

    Congrats on the great income month! I can only imagine how much more you’ll be making when you quit your full-time job!

    As far as people ripping off your helpful tips, I’m sorry that happens. I hear a lot of bloggers complaining about that and I don’t really know what to say. Just having the connections to a job doesn’t guarantee work however–it takes strong work ethics and you with your strong commitment to freelancing should do fine even if a couple of people try to rip you off.

    Reply

  13. Sandy says

    Been following along for months. You’re doing well. When you branch out on your own completely, I’ll raise a virtual glass with you. Or if you’re going to FINCON I’ll raise a real one with you then. Cheers!

    Reply

  14. KK @ Student Debt Survivor says

    I really want to go to fin con next year. Everyone has been talking about it and it sounds like such a great time and such a good opportunity to meet all the people I’ve been corresponding with for the last year. Sometimes I almost feel like i know more about bloggers (whom I’ve never met) then I do about my real life friends.

    I love reading your income reports, but I’d imagine that some of the folks who are asking about what you do and how etc. are trying to replicate your success (which is flattering on some level, I’m sure, but also a little nerve wracking because they might be trying to “steal” your business). I know some bloggers offer income updates in their newsletters instead of on their blogs, but I’m not sure that really gives you any more “protection”?

    Reply

  15. Jacob | iHeartBudgets says

    Was mentioned earlier, but Pat Flynn is your guy for affiliate income and Niche sites. Especially look up his “Niche Site Duel”. He’s already on version 2.0, and has AMAZING insights on growing a niche site from the ground up. Good luck! I may be starting one as well.

    And nice work on the income, as usual. September was a bit dry for me, hoping to ramp back up in October.

    Reply

  18. Ladi says

    COngraz on your earning. I am just curious, you are making more than $10,000 a month online and you have a day job, why don’t you pay off your debt?….. I know interest rate are low, but your money is just sitting there in the bank. This means that you are paying interest on your loans. Or are you doing an investment that you have decided to not to share with your readers??

    Reply

  21. Mel says

    Disclaimer: This is my first visit to your site.

    I congratulate you on a job that was obviously well done; however, I can’t help but sit here & wish I had the problem of being concerned about ONLY making $9500 in Aug. Geez Louise! It takes me almost 4 months to make that much money just at my main job. If I was making anywhere close to that on a side hustle each month I dare say it would quickly become my main job & my main job would be long gone. Clearly I need to delve a lot further into your site & learn more about you & what you do.

    Reply

  24. Jim says

    Great job Michelle, I have read that since this post you have entered full time Self-employment, congratulations! Your new site is cool too, you are a one women conglomerate, keep up the good work! Here’s to keeping our fingers crossed for the Cardinals!

    Reply

  25. Brian @ Lake Fishing Techniques says

    I just found your blog! I think it sets some great examples and provides sound advice for young entrepreneurs. Your income reports have really given me the kick I need to keep chugging along in the process. It is great to see how you have grown through your hare work and dedication. Keep up the great work and I look forward to reading more!

    Reply

  27. MBM says

    Wow, nice job! I’m building a blog in the competitive category of mortgage financing because that’s my expertise. It’s slow going, but I’ve learned a lot, and hopefully that will start paying off nicely. I know mortgage companies pay big bucks for advertising, so once I get big enough, that should be a nice way to generate some income.

    Reply

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