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How I Made $179,139 In February Working From Home

Last Updated: March 17, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 71 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.

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Welcome to February 2018’s business income report where I show you how I made money online last month. It’s time to look at this month’s update and see how I did.

If you’re new to Making Sense of Cents, you may be wondering why I would want to publish my income report each month. You can simply skip to the next section if you’re not new here.

This all started out as my extra 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.

However, I left my day job as a financial analyst in October of 2013 and now my monthly income reports consist of the many ways I earn a living.

Many have asked why I would ever want to publicly post my income each month. Some think I’m crazy, whereas some are glad I’m 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:

  1. 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 at your full-time job. If it weren’t for others publishing their monthly income reports, I don’t know if I would have ever tried side hustling. I want to help show others 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.
  2. Secondly, I like to publish my income reports because it’s a way for me to look back, learn from my mistakes and actually see what areas need improvement. I use my monthly income reports as a way to track how I’ve done and I treat it sort of like a journal.
  3. 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 that showcases many successful bloggers who are kind enough to share their income with the public each month.

I know I say this every month, but it’s the truth. Life is great now that I’m my own boss and a full-time blogger. I look forward to each and every day and it’s a wonderful feeling. I truly love waking up every single morning.

Above are just a few of the reasons for 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.).

 

How was business income in February of 2018?

I earned $179,139 blogging and online in February of 2018, before expenses.

February was another great month for the Making Sense of Cents blogging business. In fact, it was my best month ever!

I took part in the Work-At-Home School launch in February, and that earned me $48,751.90. I won both the optin contest and the sales contest for this affiliate launch. I prepped for it in January, and spent a lot of time crafting emails to send out to my subscribers. The launch did amazingly well and I’m so happy I could be a part of it!

I usually don’t participate in launches as I am a bigger fan of a more passive income strategy (such as linking to affiliate products within blog posts), but the Work-At-Home School is such a great resource and it was created by a friend of mine, so I knew that it would be successful.

I have plans to take part in more affiliate launches this year, as I’ve been neglecting my email list and I feel like this is a great way to help my email list reach their goals (such as working from home, managing their money better, finding valuable products/services, etc.), and it’s a great way to earn an income as well.

March is looking amazing already as well and I am estimating revenue over $200,000.

But, my biggest goal for the year is to still improve my work-life balance. I’m getting better and better, but I’m still nowhere near perfect. My goal is to work less than 10 hours a week over the spring and summer months.

Currently, I am working on creating my next blogging-related product to sell, which will be about how to earn money through sponsored posts on a blog. You can sign up for the waitlist here.

EDIT: November 23, 2018 – Making Sense of Sponsored Posts is available! Learn how I made my first blogging income, and how I’m now making $10,000-$20,000 a month with sponsored partnerships!

Anyway, to get back to my monthly income…

I never thought that I would ever earn over $100,000 a month, especially with a blogging business, and it’s crazy to think about how I earned over $100,000 last month alone.

While my income levels are high, I do want everyone to remember that I started at $0 a month and have grown my income to where it’s at now through a lot of hard work.

Before you think that $100 or even $1,000 is out of your league, you should remember that it is not!

I, myself, used to think that it would be great to one day earn $1,000 online and through my blog. I looked up to many bloggers who were earning over $10,000 a month, and I thought it was impossible.

Now, I’m here to show everyone that it is possible! Through hard work and dedication, you never know where life may lead you.

As you can see, February was another great month. It was great on all fronts – blogging, course-wise, life, and everything else. The business is doing well and I’m very happy with it. I’ve been catching myself saying “Life is really good” a LOT. And, I truly mean it. Life is really good!

My business is growing, income is increasing, I have tons of amazing ideas for this year, and I am very excited about everything. I really love my business and I don’t know where I would be without it.

My Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course is still doing very well as I had many new students join the course last month. It’s still not showing any signs of slowing down – and this is still without any guest posts, webinars, etc.

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 $2.75 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free website domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase, at least, 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, if you are asking yourself “can you make money blogging?” – my top tip is 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. My blogging income did not take off until after I switched to self-hosted WordPress.

This chart only goes back to July of 2016. You can find all of my income reports here.

Breakout of February 2018 income – $179,139.02

In February of 2018, I earned $179,139.02 from my blogging business. Below is how my income breaks apart in the different blogging income categories:

  • Affiliate income – $102,277.02 total: 
    • Work-At-Home School – $48,751.90
    • Bluehost (check out my tutorial on how to start a blog) – $40,880.00
    • Survey companies – $6,095.00
    • Bookkeeper Business Academy – $837.25
    • How To Work From Home Selling On Amazon FBA – $795.59
    • Ebates – $500.00 (estimated, as this is a tiered affiliate program)
    • ConvertKit – $463.80
    • Student loan refinancing – $300.00
    • VIPKid Teach English Online – $240.00
    • Finance Your Detour – $239.40
    • Six Figure Blogger – $198.50
    • $5 Meal Plan – $152.58
    • Miscellaneous affiliates – $2,823.00 (private affiliate promotions that I’m not allowed to share, as well as some small affiliate earnings are mixed in here).
  • Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – $43,224.00
  • Sponsorships and advertising – $31,500.00
  • Display advertising – $2,138.00

Total: $179,139.02

The income amount above is for the month of February and before any fees or expenses (some fees and expenses that lower the amount above total around $5,000 (rounded up), which include virtual assistants, Teachable course platform fee, technical assistance, newsletter expenses, PayPal and Stripe transaction fees, etc., however, this does not include taxes) being taken out. I also had expenses for the affiliates promoting my course, which totaled $7,550.80. After expenses and fees, I earned approximately $166,588.22.

Please keep in mind that I work for myself when you read my monthly income report. This means I have to cover taxes (which are over 30%), health insurance, and all other benefits/expenses that an employer may provide.

Check out The Ultimate Guide To Making Money Blogging for all of the different ways you can make money through a blog.

Below are some of my other monthly online 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 income page you can find all of my monthly income reports from the past few years.

  • $672 extra in May (2012)
  • $6,523 in January Extra Income (2013)
  • $11,927 in October Income – I Finally Left My Job (2013)
  • $12,640 in January Income (2014)
  • $23,758 in February Income – My Monthly Online Income Report (2015)
  • How I Made $300,000 Online In 2015
  • How I Made $979,321 In 2016
  • How I Made $1,536,732 In 2017

 

Comparisons and 2018 business income total:

  • Total income in February of 2018: $179,139
  • Total income in January of 2018: $114,812
  • Difference from the previous month: +64,327
  • Total in 2018: $293,951

 

Blog news 

Making Sense of Cents is doing very well and I’m happy with everything.

Wes went on a long sailing trip in January and most of February, and I used that time to work like crazy. I managed to write around three months of content and I am hoping to finish a few more in March so that I can focus on other projects during the spring and summer.

If I can be even more ahead in evergreen content, the better. This is because the spring and summer months are usually busier for us, as we travel more places (the weather is much nicer in many more places in the US outside of winter). Plus, we are starting the sailboat shopping process, so that’ll take up a lot of time too. Due to that, I want to be as ahead as I can so that I can have a good work-life balance.

I am still brainstorming some sort of personal finance product to create and sell on Making Sense of Cents. What would you like to see from me? I have a few products that I’ve brainstormed on the blogging side, but I’m really wanting one product that I launch in 2018 to be on the finance-side. Please leave some comments below to help me brainstorm!

Overall, traffic for the month was around 400,000 page views. And, this is why I always say that page views don’t determine your blogging income – February was one of my lowest page view months, yet it was my best income month ever.

Below are several other business and blog-related updates:

  • My sister started as my virtual assistant in July of 2017. It is going very well. Some of the tasks she is in charge of are adding Pinterest photos to both new and old blog posts here on Making Sense of Cents, helping manage the Facebook groups I run, scheduling social media posts, and more. This helps free up more of my time so that I can create more products, reach more readers, and most of all, have an even better work-life balance.
  • I am thinking about adding some sort of group coaching session to my business sometime in the future. While I used to do individual coaching, my time was limited. Group coaching would allow me to help more people and to also create a great support group for bloggers.
  • My community group for Making Sense of Cents is continuing to grow. This is a Facebook group in which you can seek advice from other readers on all sorts of topics such as finance, blogging, travel, running a business, and so on. There are already over 10,000 members!
  • I created a new series on my blog where I interview extraordinary people who are doing interesting things in life. First, I interviewed JP, who retired at the age of 28 with a net worth over $2,000,000. I’m extremely excited about this new interview series! If there’s anyone you would like me to interview, please leave a comment and let me know.
  • I released my How To Start A Blog FREE Course. If you’ve been wanting to start a blog, then check this out. I created this email course for those who are interested in starting a blog, but haven’t done so yet. The course is free, and over 38,000 people have already signed up. Thank you, everyone, for the kind emails about how great the course is. Glad everyone is enjoying it!
  • Due to how well my first free course went, I also created the free Master Your Money email course. It’s full of great money management lessons and financial worksheets (such as a free budget template), and I’m loving the positive response from this email course as well.

Just a quick note before we continue. I created a time-saving cheat sheet that can help you increase your affiliate income. Sign up below!

Popular new posts on Making Sense of Cents last month:

  • How To Side Hustle- Answers To The Most Common Side Hustle Questions
  • Don’t Compare Your Beginning to Someone Else’s Middle
  • Change Your Life By Becoming A Frugal Freak – 11 Ways To Be More Frugal
  • Retiring Early: Is Early Retirement For The Crazy and Boring?
  • How to Make Money Self-Publishing Short Romance Novels on Amazon
  • How Elizabeth Reached Financial Independence by 32 And Moved To A Homestead
  • What Traveling Full-Time For 3 Years Has Taught Me
  • Our Financial Detour: How Budgeting Freed us to Follow our Dreams
  • How a New Blog Grew Traffic 10,000% in 6 Months, A Must-Read For New Bloggers

 

Featured Question: How much does it cost to start a blog?

I feature one question from a reader in each monthly income report. Please leave a comment below if you have a question that you would like me to answer. 

Starting a blog can be done quite affordably.

When I first started Making Sense of Cents, I spent almost nothing on blogging expenses. In fact, I believe I spent less than $100 my first year – and that was all on blog hosting and getting a domain name. Through my How To Start a Blog tutorial, you can start a blog for less than $100.

Of course, there are different things that you can purchase to make blogging a little easier, or you can just do everything yourself.

I did everything myself in the beginning, including creating my own website design.

Now, to run a successful blogging or online business, your expenses may be different from mine. And, you definitely don’t need to spend a lot of money with a new blog – I certainly wasn’t in the beginning.

In fact, I probably went a few years where I was only spending about 1%-2% of my revenues on blogging expenses. Now, my expenses tend to be around 5% to 10%.

Do you need to spend that much?

No, not at all. Or, you may decide to spend more. It all just depends on you and what you want to do with your own business.

Some of my expenses include:

  • My computer
  • The actual blog: design, hosting, etc.
  • Courses, guides, and ebooks
  • My email (newsletter) list
  • Virtual assistant and editor
  • Technical management (I spend less than $100 a month on this)
  • Transaction fees (as your income grows, your transaction fees will grow too since they are a percentage of your income).

And, let me repeat, to start making money from a blog, you do not need to spend money on all of these things. In my first year of blogging, I spent less than $100 total for the whole year!

As you grow, though, you may decide to spend more just to make your life easier and so that you can continue to grow and earn a higher income – which is what I do.

Learn more about my expenses at My Complete List of Monthly Expenses for a Multi Million Dollar Blog.

Past featured questions:

  • Is 2018 too late to start a website/blog?
  • How do I increase my affiliate income?
  • Do I need millions of page views a month in order to make money blogging?
  • How do you build websites up to sell them?
  • Do only celebrities make money through owning websites?
  • How much money can a person make blogging?
  • Where does blog income come from?
  • Is there enough room for new bloggers to make money?
  • What should a person blog about?
  • How can a blogger increase their page views?
  • Should my blog be self-hosted?
  • What blogging tools or resources do you recommend?
  • What should you do when a blog post goes viral?
  • What is affiliate marketing?
  • What did I learn from launching my course?
  • What should you do when you’re feeling blogger burnout?
  • How can a blogging conference help me?
  • Why does a blogger need to have an email list?
  • Where do you get your photos from for your blog?
  • What are easy affiliate programs for new bloggers?
  • What are some affiliate program ideas for different niches?
  • What blogging ebooks and courses do you recommend?
  • Did you start your blog to make money?
  • Do you mind sharing a detailed list of what processes you have with new blog posts?
  • How should a person come up with a blog name?
  • How can a blogger make more money around the holidays?
  • How do you keep track of accounting and taxes for your business?
  • What are your biggest blogging mistakes?

 

My plans for my blog and my business.

Plans and goals can help you run a successful business. I believe that working towards a goal can help keep a person motivated too.

Below are some of the areas I am currently working on:

  • Get at least three months ahead on Making Sense of Cents posts. I am currently around 3 months ahead. Being ahead in content makes life much more enjoyable because I can focus on other things knowing that the majority of my writing work is already done. While Wes (my husband) was in Europe for a month, I used that time to write like crazy and get ahead in content. It was definitely a very productive February.
  • Grow Making Sense of Cents to 1,000,000 monthly page views. I would love to help more readers, see even more engagement, have higher traffic, and so on. I love my blog and I would love to see it grow! I’m hoping to see at least 1,000,000 monthly page views by the end of 2018.
  • Create two more products to sell. In 2016, I created Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, and that has completely changed my life and my business. I want to create two more products to sell in 2018 so that I can continue to diversify my income. I have some plans in store and I’m excited to finally start creating more products!
  • Grow to 150,000 email subscribers. I’m hoping to see at least 150,000 email subscribers by the end of 2018.
  • Work less than 20 hours per week. For the most part, I am working less than 40 hours per week. However, there are some weeks when I spend all day and night on the laptop, not even sure where the day went. Due to that, I would like to continue to work on a better work/life balance.
  • Have fun. Okay, so this isn’t really a goal that is quantifiable or something that I’ll track, haha, but I am really looking forward to 2018! 🙂

 

Affiliate income results.

In February of 2018, I earned $102,277 in affiliate income, as outlined earlier in this blog income report.

I think February of 2018 was my best month ever for affiliate income!

What’s even better is that I think March of 2018 will beat this!

I finished a big affiliate launch for the Work at Home School Summit in February and I did very well. I earned five figures and won first place for both the optin contest and the sales contest that the product launch had. The launch did very well and I’m so happy I could be a part of it!

I do have one more big affiliate launch that I’m promoting over the next month that I’m excited about. And, that is Elite Blog Academy (it just opened TODAY and is for sale just this week only).

I’m a very big fan of affiliate income, of course. It’s something that I enjoy due to how passive it can be. It makes full-time traveling much more enjoyable when I know I can bring in an income while having fun seeing new areas.

As I always say, blogging income is not dependent on page views. Even brand new bloggers can make money through affiliate marketing. If you know the correct way to promote a product, you can succeed at affiliate marketing. This is one of the main things I teach in my Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course.

My affiliate marketing course went live in July of 2016. I’ve already had over 4,500 people enroll in the course, and I’d love to have you as a student as well!

In the course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, there are 6 modules, over 30 lessons, several worksheets, bonuses, an extremely helpful and exclusive Facebook group, and more. I go through everything that you need to know about affiliate marketing, such as:

  • A quick introduction to affiliate marketing and how it works
  • The benefits of affiliate marketing
  • The exact steps I’ve taken to earn over $500,000 from a single blog post
  • How to correctly pick affiliate products to promote
  • The steps to increase your conversion rate
  • 80+ Affiliate program ideas for different niches
  • How to build trust with your readers (this is a MUST!)
  • The required disclosures you need to know about
  • The major tool you need for affiliate marketing
  • The many different strategies to promote your affiliate links

My course is anything and everything about affiliate marketing. This course is perfect for you whether you are a new blogger or if you’ve been blogging for years, no matter what topic your blog is about, what country you live in, and so on.

I wrote this course so that it would benefit everyone, and there is so much to learn from it.

How was February for you? Are you interested in earning blogging income?

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Filed Under: Blog, Business Income, Extra Income Tagged With: Blog, Extra Money, Self-employment

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

  1. Debs says

    March 5, 2018 at 7:20 am

    Michelle, I’ve been following your blog for a few years now on a casual basis. I just wanted to say congratulations and thanks. Congrats for all of your achievements and milestones. This month is clearly a record breaker on so many levels.
    And thanks so much for the wealth of info in these posts and in all the other posts on your blog. You absolutely inspire me. Well done, Lady!
    I’m signing up for your email list right now, and wondering why I didn’t do it a few years ago!!!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 12:40 pm

      Thank you so much! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Katie Sterling says

    March 5, 2018 at 8:22 am

    Wow, congrats Michelle! I’ve been reading through your website and am so happy for your success. My family is on our journey to become debt free and your blog has been so helpful and inspirational for us. Keep up the great work!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 12:40 pm

      Thank you Katie!

      Reply
    • millionaireminter says

      March 15, 2018 at 9:41 pm

      I agree with the other comments. Your success has been incredible and you are a true inspiration to others! Keep up the good work. Your site looks great and is very informative on a variety of personal finance topics.

      Reply
  3. Radhika says

    March 5, 2018 at 8:25 am

    This is amazing Michelle. You go girl !

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 12:40 pm

      Thanks 🙂

      Reply
  4. Alexis says

    March 5, 2018 at 10:21 am

    Congrats! So awesome!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 12:40 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  5. Lisa says

    March 5, 2018 at 11:26 am

    Hi Michelle,

    I just got an email from you about Elite Blog Academy and I am wondering when you took the course. Did you take it the year you started blogging? Your email was not clear about that. It is a steep price but you obviously are successful with your blog. I am trying to decide if I will sign up for it and yours was the first blogger email I received about it so I would use your affiliate link.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 12:41 pm

      I bought it around 3 years ago, I believe? It was after I was already a full-time blogger. I purchased the course for the Pinterest section, which has helped me greatly.

      It’s a fantastic blogging course and I honestly haven’t found any others that capture the overall blogging process as this one.

      Reply
  6. Lena | Mod Mom Collective says

    March 5, 2018 at 12:32 pm

    You’re success is truly amazing. Most of the income from affiliate marketing! You are the affiliate marketing queen.

    I bought your course last year and I just can’t find the time to put into a fully launching a blog yet. You’d think stay at home moms have more time but they really don’t. Working at this blogging thing slowly. Hopefully a full launch coming soon!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 12:41 pm

      You can do it Lena!

      Reply
  7. Al P says

    March 5, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    Congrats! That is truly amazing! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 2:11 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
    • millionaireminter says

      March 15, 2018 at 9:43 pm

      Agreed. Thank you so much for sharing as its extremely interesting to see the breakdown as to how you make your money blogging whether it comes primarily from affiliate income or your courses. Its amazing that you have been so transparent from the beginning, but also likely one of the keys to your success. I imagine it helps advertising at this point to others that you made ahem ahem…..$179k last month. Goodness!

      Reply
  8. ashley says

    March 5, 2018 at 2:19 pm

    So amazing! Congratulations on another fab month. You were/are my blog inspiration several months ago, and I just enrolled in EBA hoping for even a small fraction of your success. Thank you for being so consistent with these reports!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:36 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  9. The Curious Frugal says

    March 5, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    Congratulations on your best month so far! Wes’ sailing trip sounds interesting. We had a small sailboat on a lake here that we sold a couple years ago. We both still miss it so might have to have one again in our future!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:37 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  10. Jason Butler says

    March 5, 2018 at 3:09 pm

    Congrats on another great month!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:37 pm

      Thanks Jason!

      Reply
  11. Emma Healey says

    March 5, 2018 at 3:27 pm

    Holy smokes! That is amazing. Well done Michelle. Can I ask about your ad revenue? Have you got the setting on super low? As I would’ve thought with that many page views it’d be higher but perhaps you’ve decided to prioritise user experience – as I can see your site is not plastered with ads. Anyway, awesome work!

    Reply
    • Gemma says

      March 5, 2018 at 6:41 pm

      I know Michelle said once on the MSAM group that she doesn’t believe in having ads on posts that are about affiliates as she thinks it detracts from the product and decreases affiliate income, which I thought was a super interesting perspective. Do I have that right, Michelle?

      Reply
      • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

        March 5, 2018 at 8:40 pm

        I believe that in order to be successful with affiliate marketing, that usually you need to choose between display ads and the actual affiliate product. Due to that, I usually eliminate or lesson display ads from any affiliate-related blog post.

        Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:37 pm

      Yes, I have the setting on super low as I don’t like a lot of display ads.

      Reply
  12. Mike Pearson says

    March 5, 2018 at 4:19 pm

    Michelle, you continue to amaze and inspire with these income reports. It’s remarkable how much you are killing it.

    For your next blogging-related course may I suggest a course on … how to create courses 🙂

    I know I’d buy it!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:38 pm

      Haha, I have thought about that!

      Reply
  13. Josh Eberly says

    March 5, 2018 at 4:23 pm

    Congrats! You have mastered creating a community and turning visitors into rabid fans.

    Keep up the great work!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:38 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  14. Robert Ryan says

    March 5, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    Michelle congratulations on such a great month. I am new to the blog and am wondering how you make so much money off of Bluehost? I don’t understand how that revenue stream works. Any light you could shine on that topic would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Robert

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:38 pm

      I recommend reading the Featured Question here – https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2016/07/june-2016-blog-income-report.html

      It’s all about the correct affiliate marketing strategies 🙂

      Reply
  15. Gina says

    March 5, 2018 at 6:17 pm

    Simply awesome and truly inspirational! Thank you for sharing your experience, knowledge and success. 🙂

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:39 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  16. Gemma says

    March 5, 2018 at 6:39 pm

    So inspirational, Michelle. I’m sure part of your success is due to your work ethic and the way you are always willing to help out other bloggers, for example, in your Facebook group which I love.
    Huge congratulations on such a great month.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:39 pm

      Thanks Gemma!

      Reply
  17. DNN says

    March 5, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    Way to go Michelle!

    I just saw $179k and jumped for joy. I’m gonna have to come back tomorrow and give you a nice lengthy blog comment about earning that kind of blog revenue. Be on the lookout for my 1/2 page blog comment. So soooooo proud of ya! 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:40 pm

      Thank you so much! 🙂

      Reply
  18. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

    March 5, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    Thank you!

    And, I completely understand 🙂

    Reply
  19. Regina says

    March 5, 2018 at 9:26 pm

    Michelle, I continue to be impressed by your success. Very inspiring and thank you for sharing.

    I clicked on the link you have for “Work-At-Home School – $48,751.90”, to see what that affiliate program is, but it doesn’t tell me much on the site. Can you please briefly explain what that is and how to become an affiliate.

    Thank you kindly,

    Reply
  20. Jo | Moremoneytips says

    March 6, 2018 at 3:26 am

    Hi Michelle,
    Congrats on your best month ever! Your dedication and determination continue to spur us on. I’m glad your work life balance is progressing well. 🙂

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 6, 2018 at 9:52 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  21. Patricia says

    March 6, 2018 at 8:01 am

    Congrats, Michelle!!!

    I’ve been following your blog for a long time now, and your journey has been such an inspiration to me. Thank you for sharing your achievements and I can’t wait to see what the rest of 2018 brings for you! 🙂

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 6, 2018 at 9:53 am

      Thank you Patricia!

      Reply
  22. Bernz JP says

    March 6, 2018 at 8:28 am

    Wow! You just keep getting better and better. I’m really learning a lot from you. You continue to inspire us, your readers. I look at you as a force or an influence who inspires me to keep working harder. It’s a great feeling! Congrats!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 6, 2018 at 9:53 am

      Thank you 🙂

      Reply
  23. Lis says

    March 6, 2018 at 8:35 am

    Amazeballs. I was telling me husband last night about you and he’s dumbfounded. He said if that were us he’d buy an RV and travel too… so we are definitely on the same page!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 6, 2018 at 9:53 am

      RVing is amazing 🙂

      Reply
  24. Chonce says

    March 6, 2018 at 9:51 am

    Woo-hoo! Congrats on such a fantastic month. I’m working hard to hit that $10k a month limit, so I can’t imagine making almost $200k in one month. I hope to get there someday! You’ve worked so hard and you deserve to have months like this ALL of the time!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 6, 2018 at 9:57 am

      You’ll definitely hit that $10K month!

      Reply
  25. Chris says

    March 6, 2018 at 11:27 am

    You mentioned some private affiliates – isn’t it illegal to not disclose affiliate links?

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 6, 2018 at 1:53 pm

      I think you’re confusing what I’m referring to. I’m talking about I’m not allowed to discuss how much I’ve made through specific affiliates. I 100% of the time disclose affiliate links. Does that make sense?

      Reply
  26. Caitlin Pyle says

    March 6, 2018 at 4:47 pm

    Congratulations, Michelle!!! I am certainly happy we crossed paths 😀 It is an honor to work with you, and I’m super excited to see where you go this year — both online and offline <3

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 6, 2018 at 5:32 pm

      Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of the WAHS!

      Reply
  27. Michelle@MichelleIsMoneyHungry says

    March 6, 2018 at 9:55 pm

    Keep on kicking butt! Love it!

    Reply
  28. Kristin Hanes says

    March 7, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    This is so interesting and informative, like usual. I liked knowing that you don’t have massive pageviews and still achieve an amazing income. Affiliate marketing and marketing your own course and being good at email marketing are all things I inspire to do as well as you 🙂 Keep on at it!

    Reply
  29. DNN says

    March 8, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    Greetings Michelle,

    I’m grateful you publish your monthly income reports and remind people often that you started from the bottom with this side hustle blogging business and overcame personal debt. Like yourself, I too know what debt and struggle is like. It’s no easy journey making the transition from employee to entrepreneur, especially when your family, phony friends, and others try to bring you down and belittle your ability to make a come up in side hustle entrepreneurship. I admire your steadfastness and support you every step of the way.

    Like you, I too started the site just as something to have afew extra dollars. It took me longer than expected to start seeing organic traffic from Bing, Google, and YaHoO!. Writing content is alot of work. I tell people there’s unlimited money to be made in affiliate marketing, blogging, and online side hustles. Things is, you have to be dedicated to this line of work because this is definitely not a get rich quick overnight operation. You have to write content, build relationships, promote good products and services from quality merchants and sometimes of your own products, and keep moving forward by doing the transformation business work even on days you don’t earn one red cent online. I also remind people that if you don’t see yourself working 20-30 years for the same unthankful employer who’s probably a secret narcissist that profits off of the hard work of others without giving them a raise, side hustle internet entrepreneurship is for you.

    You are by far among the elite in being the most inspiring work from home side hustle bloggers. You really make this possible for everyone to believe and achieve because you’re on Forbes, CNBC, Reuters, NASDAQ, and more sites. People want to see that you’re everywhere like Bloomberg Television and you’re definitely the proof in the side hustle blogging and affiliate marketing money pudding. You’re one of the reason I keep pushing forward with my online marketing journey. When I read and or skim at times through your blogs, I get more motivation and think of creative ways to enhance my content so I can get more shares on Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and hopefully discussed in YouTube videos. Most importantly, I’ve been drawn to you because of your consistency. I can’t deal nor associate with content marketing slackers. I love this line of work and acknowledge this is alot of work to do. You’re a huge inspiration to me to keep this content marketing journey going because the opportunities online are unlimited if I stay the course and do the transformation business work.

    Thank you for just being you Michelle. Please keep the good blogs coming. And I’m more than happy to direct my readers to your side hustle blogs for their personal inspiration. Whatever you do, please don’t change a thing.

    Reply
  30. Andrea says

    March 8, 2018 at 7:56 pm

    Thank you so much for writing income reports! Your reports are truly inspirational and motivate us (I believe it’s not just me but most bloggers as well) to continue our blogging journey, learn and improve. Congratulations on this big win! May the rest of 2018 be even better than February! 🙂

    Reply
  31. Manoj says

    March 9, 2018 at 8:35 am

    Your journey and success are really inspirational for us. I am excited about your income reports & shall follow your tips, guidance to earn extra money from the blogging. Thanks for sharing everything in detail.

    Reply
  32. Holly says

    March 9, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    Amazing job Michelle! I agree that working less in the summer months is ideal. I don’t mind working more during the winter as there isn’t much else to do anyway lol.

    Reply
  33. J at Their Money Goals says

    March 10, 2018 at 8:11 am

    Michelle, this is awesome! Congratulations! I’ve been following you since these were just side income reports, and the way you’ve grown your blog into such a powerhouse business is inspiring. I’m very proud of you. Best wishes for continued success.

    Reply
  34. Scott Spencer-White says

    March 10, 2018 at 11:24 am

    Well done Michelle -this is incredible! I never knew blogs could be this powerful! No doubt it takes skill, dedication and hard work, I’m glad it working out for you. Great you’re really open about it too, great to read.
    Many thanks!

    Reply
  35. Jasmine says

    March 10, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    I recently started my own blog and I know it takes some time to start earning money. Is there any way you can check out my site and give me some pointers?

    Reply
  36. Emenike Emmanuel says

    March 11, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    Hello Michelle,

    It’s always a pleasure reading your income report. It gives me hope that I’m on the right track.

    Indeed, blogging pays. Keep it up.

    I do hope my blog will grow into this level someday.

    Take care.

    Emenike

    Reply
  37. Nathan - IncomeBully says

    March 13, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    My goodness… Such great results.

    If you don’t mind me asking, at what point in your blogging did you decide to have around 3 months of posts prepared? Or to be ahead at all?

    I struggle enough with just producing regular content, let alone being ahead lol.

    Reply
  38. JOHN MULINDI says

    March 16, 2018 at 6:30 am

    Well done, this inspires me to keep working until I reach levels like this. Thanks for sharing posts like this, I hope it will drive more bloggers not to give up, but work more and smarter to make money on their blogs.

    Reply
  39. Eliza says

    March 20, 2018 at 2:19 pm

    This is amazing! I hope to be like you one day!

    Reply
  40. Christy says

    March 24, 2018 at 10:57 pm

    I think a cool finance related subject could be one that would naturally fall in line for your successful students. What to do with your money now that you have it. I wouldn’t have a clue where to put $100k per month. Banks wouldn’t have enough insurance for those types of deposits. I would assume you pay of any loans first, then invest? save? liquid? safe? how much and where. I think it would be neat to follow the slow growth of a business and how the finances were invested that continued to allow it to be successful.

    Reply
  41. Ishwor says

    April 4, 2018 at 10:43 am

    There is nothing wrong in letting people know about your income from blog. Your article is a great source of information for those who wants to know if they should pursue writing blog as a career. There is nothing better than being your own boss and financially independent. Every skill is marketable but all you need is right path and patience. Doing something that you love and making money out of it is a jackpot. I wish you best of luck for coming days and keep posting articles.

    Reply
  42. Dimitri@greanfrog says

    April 6, 2018 at 10:18 am

    As a new blogger, I found this article really inspiring and helpful.Amazing work!

    Reply
  43. Louis Huynh says

    January 1, 2020 at 11:26 am

    Love the work that you putting and definitely keep up the good work while keep dropping tons of value boom!

    Reply

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Hello and welcome!
My name is Michelle and I'm the author/owner of Making Sense of Cents. Learning how to save money and make more money changed my life. It allowed me to pay off $40,000 in student loans, start my own business, and I now travel full-time.

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