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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 every day because I know at the end of the month I’m going to have to tell you what I’ve done to be better.

You can read all of my previous income reports here.

If you’ve been around a little while, you may remember that I used to write a post every month about life as an expat in Mexico City. This month, and going forward from now, I’m going to be sending out monthly newsletters instead. If you want to know more about life in Mexico or want to follow along with my journey a bit more closely, you can sign up for the newsletter at the bottom of this post.

March 2017 Income Report

It’s taken me nine months, but I’ve finally done it. I’ve finally broken the 1k threshold. It’s been a total rollercoaster of a month, but being able to make it to this milestone has seriously lit a fire beneath me and I’m so excited to take this momentum forward.

March started off really well. I was feeling strong about my traffic numbers and was getting a lot of emails not only from companies, but also from all of you. I love hearing from readers and being able to answer your questions – whether it’s about making money as a digital nomad and blogger or about traveling. It really boosted my morale after a tough month last month.

This month has been all about creating content. I’m testing out a few different types of posts that I’ve never really done before and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been having an amazing time over on Youtube chatting to people about all things Mexico. There are a lot more photo heavy posts, a lot more travel guides, and hopefully the odd entertaining travel story. I’d love to know what you guys have been thinking of the content lately – let me know in the comments!

Expenses

I’ve been still trying to focus on organic growth and Facebook and with SEO as usual. I didn’t buy any new courses or books this month, but instead have been watching some great free videos and signing up to like a bajillion email newsletters that all claim to teach you how to be the best blogger ever. Some of it might be working. Most of it isn’t.

VA Costs

I’m sticking with my guy that I found over on Upwork for now. He’s taking a lot of stress away when it comes to my social media. This month I spent $48 on VA costs.

Email Marketing

Still using Mailchimp, still happy with it. I’ve started playing around with the plugin a bit more and, as you can see at the bottom of this post, adding email collection boxes around the website. I’m not working as hard on email collection as I probably should be, but it’s all part of the balancing act. As always, it costs me $15 a month.

Facebook Marketing

I boosted a few posts that were already doing really well organically and found that it seriously boosted my reach. I learned a lot about Facebook marketing (both organic and paid) from that book I bought last month, How I Went From 17K to 350K+ Monthly Page Views in 9 Months. If you’re not sure about growing your Facebook page or your monthly page views in general, I highly recommend this baby right here. It has helped me massively in the last month or not only grow my facebook followers, but my engagement on the site as well.

This month I spent $20 on Facebook Marketing.

Total Expenses: $83

Income

Part of me wishes that this section would become more consistent so that I could have solid jobs that are generating “steady” income (whatever that means). At the same time, the ways in which I aim to make money change so much, that that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon.

Freelance Writing

I did a little bit of Freelance work this month. For those that have asked, Caroline in the City’s monthly travel writing posts have been pretty much solely where I get my leads for this type of work. I also bought the Matador U writing course WAAAY back like four years ago and I have forever access to their marketplace. This has recently become a really great place to find work (I think you can pay to have access to it?).

This month I made $320 on freelance writing.

Copywriting

I did A LOT of copywriting work this month. For those that have asked, my main copywriting jobs come from Copypress. It is a pain to set yourself up as a writer with them, but there can be quite a lot of decently paid work to be had, especially if you have a blog. They piled the work on at the end of this month, helping me slide easily across the $1,000 mark.

The other site I recently found for Copywriting is called Blogmutt. It basically seeks copywriters who can write blog posts for all different types of websites. You have to write on spec – aka write the piece and then see if it gets accepted. The pay isn’t great, but it’s easy enough money.

This month I made $675 through copywriting work.

Sponsored Content

Some people have asked how I get sponsored content – the answer is that it’s mostly from people that have found my blog and emailed me to work together. I pitch to a few PR companies every month, but hardly ever hear anything back. I have joined those networks like Cooperative and Activate, but I’ve never gotten any work from that (as yet anyway). I think you need to have MUCH larger audiences than I currently have. This month I made $250 on sponsored blog content.

I’m starting to get more regular work with SocialPubli. Maybe because my social media numbers are a bit better. Either way, it’s a really great way to make a few extra bucks without much effort. If you haven’t already heard of them, they’re a site that helps bloggers and companies connect. The work is mostly across social media platforms, not blogs – at least all the jobs I’ve gotten so far have been this way. This month I made $28 from SocialPubli.

Youtube

I’m still loving making videos and being able to help a totally different audience than the one on the blog. People on Youtube are super interactive and love to comment – which has been really fun.

I’m still not really making much of anything on Youtube, this month was only $4.31, but I’m enjoying watching it grow. I have over 150 subscribers now which is crazy to me.

You can check out my Youtube channel here.

Affiliate Marketing

I’m definitely starting to see the difference that Michelle’s Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course is making. I have been working my butt off to implement her strategies while still staying true to myself and my readers.

I’m really enjoying the content I’m writing, I’m being totally brutally honest about all the products and services I’ve used and love (and the ones I don’t love). It’s exciting to see this number rise, as I’ve really been working hard to bring you guys products that I love and that I hope you’ll love too.

This month I made $248 on Affiliate Marketing.

Advertising

I’m not sure how I feel about ads at the minute. The payout is SO SMALL for my numbers at the minute. I know as I grow this too will grow, but with a site that sees over 20,000 monthly page views, I’m discouraged to be making only $5 a month. If you have any advice on the matter I’d love some!

Total Income: $1,530.31

An increase of $817.13 from last month (I more than doubled Feb’s income!).