These posts are a way for me to share the ups-and-downs of working for myself, of trying to take my business off the ground, of how to make money as a digital nomad, or whatever you want to call it. They’re a way of holding myself accountable everyday because I know at the end of the month I’m going to have to tell you what I’ve done to be better.

It was an interesting month filled with lots of work, lots of reflection, and lots of learning. If you were around at the start of the month, you’ll have read this post, where I talk about losing clients and getting rid of my safety net.

It’s the first month that I’ve made less than the month before. I’m OK with that. It’s still more than enough to live here in Mexico City and I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue to work on my websites without the pressure of running out of money.

Expenses

I’ve decided to stop recounting my cost of living for now, since it’s basically the same every month. If you want to know how much it costs to travel Mexico City, you can check out this post:

How Much Does it Cost to Travel Mexico City

If you want to see my cost of living for the last few months you can check out the previous month’s digital nomad income reports here:

Month One

Month Two

Month Three

This month I didn’t put very much money towards my sites. I was a little nervous to start spending when I wasn’t sure how much was going to be coming in, so I was conservative with my advertising.

These are the costs of running both Eternal Expat and my fashion site, Collecting Labels.

Email Marketing

I am currently using MailChimp to manage my emails and ecourses. This costs $15 a month. I was thinking about switching to another provider, but they’ve recently revamped their site, so I’m going to give them another month and see how I feel about them (the price is one of the best out there).

Facebook Advertising

I find Facebook ads to be a great way to reach new readers with my weekly posts. Posts dealing with saving and making money tend to do the best, but I’m still constantly learning more about how to best utilize boosts and ads. This month I spent $40 on Facebook advertising.

Crowdfire

I’m still using crowdfire at the minute to grow my social media, but I’m not sure how much longer I’ll use it for. It now costs $9.99 instead of $5.99 and although that’s not really that much, I don’t use it as much as I did a few months ago.

Malware Removal

Last month Collecting Labels was taken offline by my provider, Siteground (who I love actually), because it had malware. I panicked mostly because they were recommending a site that was going to charge me $199 to have it removed. I broke out into a cold sweat. I found someone on Fiverr.com who could do it for $6 instead. The site is back up and malware free (for now).

Total: $71

Income

I’ve been doing a lot of work on this site, working on my email courses, trying to bring you interesting and different content. Here’s where I made money this month.

Copywriting

Before my copywriting company went and said see-ya-later, they sent me one more job. I made $50 on copywriting work this month.

Freelance Writing

This month I pitched for a bit more freelance work so that I could make up for the missed copywriting work. I made $230 on freelance writing jobs this month.

Social Media Management

I’ve been easing off of this side of things since I lost a big client last month. I’m still doing a bit of hourly work and if you’re interested in my assistance in growing your social media influence, feel free to get in touch. I made $200 on SM management this month.

Total: $600

While it’s definitely a drop in last month’s income, I’m not letting it get me down. Clients will come and go. That’s simply the nature of freelancing. It has really forced me to focus on my core business, these websites. Looking forward to an exciting and fruitful November.

Have any questions about my income, blogging, or freelancing? Pop them in the comments and I’ll help as best I can!

This post contains some affiliate links.

Samantha Elisabeth

Thursday 3rd of November 2016

I just read through the last 4 months of these, and I'm enjoying reading your journey. I'm trying to make a living so I can become a digital nomad as well, and it's definitely HARD. I'm trying to find clients and get all my income streams going, and sometimes I just want to curl up and call it quits. We both can do this :)

Laura Bronner

Thank you so much, Samantha! We can definitely do it! I definitely feel like curling up into the fetal position multiple times a week. But the moments that are good are really, really good. Keep it up! xx

Brittany Thiessen

Monday 31st of October 2016

Hi Laura! I really love these posts where you outline your income and expenses. I was just curious, where do you find most of your freelance clients? Are websites like Upwork good for that?

Thanks!

Thanks so much, Brittany! I don't use sites like Upwork - I signed up for a few of them and setup profiles, but found that I was spending a whole lot of time searching/applying for jobs that weren't for very much money and then not getting them anyway. For my freelance writing work I just pitch to online magazines/blogs/websites that pay for content. For social media - it's mostly a lot of networking. I got my first client after working on a campaign with them for my other website. They loved my work so I asked if they wanted some more help with their social media. I try to build good relationships with companies that I work with and sometimes they recommend me or in the very least, leave good comments on Linkedin. If you want some more detail, feel free to email me and I can delve a bit deeper for you :)

How I Make Money as a Digital Nomad: Month 4