Hey all! I’m back with another income report to share with you today. I started doing income reports as a way to be more transparent about my business and hopefully shed some light on ways that you can grow your own online business and blog, too.
March 2016 Income Report -- This income report shares how I made six-figures in one month through my blog and e-courses. Click through to learn how I did it (with tips for you, too!).

I know that sharing one’s income online, for the world to see, is kind of a strange thing to do. Trust me, it took quite a bit of courage (and convincing from my friends!) to share this data with you. In fact, I held back from sharing my income reports in the past because I never (ever!) wanted to appear like I was flaunting my results.

Rather, I do this because I genuinely desire to help you grow your own business and want to provide some behind-the-curtain results of how I’ve grown and tweaked my own. I want to show you both what worked for me and what didn’t so that you can apply those lessons to your own dreams. My overall hope is that my income reports inspire or inform you to create and grow your own online biz.

Thank you for traveling with me, behind-the-scenes, while I take you through my income and traffic reports each month. I’m grateful that you’re here. And if you’re working on growing your own business and blog? Best of luck to you, my friend. Now, let’s get into it!

Well, March was a heck of a month! It ended up being my biggest month in business, which was incredibly exciting and a bit surprising for me.

Something notable about March is that I re-launched one of my e-courses, Pinfinite Growth. The launch exceeded my expectations, as you’ll read about below. I also came to some important revelations during March, which are continuing to make an impact on my biz, even now in April. Can’t wait to share them with you! Let’s get crackalackin’. 😉

March Income

Passive Revenue: $5,418
Monthly Recurring Revenue: $10,282
Webinar Revenue: $22,897
Launch Revenue: $56,832
Affiliate Revenue: $7,935
Ad Revenue: $157

Total Income: $103,521

March Expenses

Virtual Assistants: $1,540
PayPal + Stripe Fees: $2,515
Copywriter: $997
Skype Call Recorder: $27
Stock Photos: $20
Designer: $980
Teachable*: $598
Zapier: $20
MotionMail: $10
Legal Contracts: $700
Conference: $299
Business Coach: $1,500
Desktop Computer: $2,008
ConvertKit*: $96
Infusionsoft*: $428
EverWebinar*: $497
GoDaddy: $20
Google Apps*: $17
Facebook Ads: $145
CAOC E-Course Installment Payment: $97

Total Expenses: $12,514 (Anything with an * next to it is an affiliate link)

Net Profit: $91,007

The Pinfinite Growth Launch

My goal for the launch was to add 200 new students and $60k in revenue. Yet altogether, almost 300 new students enrolled, bringing in about $90,000 (that number includes the payment plan payments, too). Maybe I need to set higher goals. 😉

For a product that’s always available, $90k in revenue was amazing to me! I’m also thrilled that some of the students are already seeing crazy results (the launch only ended 20 days ago).

The thing that surprises me about the success of the launch is that Pinfinite Growth is an evergreen product. It’s always available to purchase. So you might assume that “launching” it wouldn’t bring great results (since people could have just purchased it whenever they wanted to).

But to turn it into an actual launch, I did the following:

I added some extra bonuses that were only available if you enrolled during the 10-day enrollment period.
I also added a payment plan, whereas you normally can only pay in full.
Lastly, I increased the price of the course by $50 after the launch, so there was an incentive to sign up beforehand.

I feel like part of the reason why the launch went so well is because Pinfinite Growth has been getting more recognition online. Here are a few reasons why I believe that is:

The course is very actionable. It’s 3-4 hours of content that you could watch in one weekend. Everything I teach in the course is actionable (rather than theory/opinion/fluff), so students know exactly what to do.
The course is based on a system. It’s literally like, “do all this stuff and you’ll see results.” And people follow all of my strategies and really do see results. Magic! But it isn’t like, “Here’s 27 different things you could do. Pick one.” I tell them what to do and in what order.
It actually works. This is possibly the most important aspect…ha! But the fact that so many people have gotten positive results from Pinfinite Growth gives it a lot more publicity in Facebook groups and blog posts. It was even mentioned on The Huffington Post recently!
The topic is not overdone. When I created Pinfinite Growth, I literally hadn’t heard of any other courses about Pinterest marketing. It wasn’t a popular subject. But because of that, I was able to really start standing out as a Pinterest strategist. If I had created a course in a saturated area (which I’ve also done ;)), then it would have been harder to stand out.

If you’re creating your own e-course (or want to!), then the steps above are great things to consider when planning out your course content.

Joining Snapchat

Every month it seems like there’s a new social media platform gaining popularity, eh? 😉 I’ve been growing more and more fond of video platforms, so I decided to give Snapchat a try. (My username is @nectarcollect, by the way). 😀

So far, I really enjoy it! I feel like it’s one of the only social media platforms where I am encouraged to be toooootally myself and provide some real behind-the-scenes info about my days — the good and the bad. It’s less time-consuming than Periscope and more personable than Instagram.

I haven’t really used it as a way to make sales though, as I don’t really find it conducive to that. I’m also not sure exactly how well it would grow my email list compared to other platforms (mainly because you can’t link to anything). But despite those disadvantages, I still think it’s important to have “good will” platforms where you can connect with your audience in a genuine way, and Snapchat definitely fits the bill in that arena.

For more tips about using Snapchat, check out this post: 6 Ways to Utilize Snapchat to Build Trust With Followers and Grow Your Audience

March 2016 Income Report -- This income report shares how I made six-figures in one month through my blog and e-courses. Click through to learn how I did it (with tips for you, too!).

I got a massive desktop computer

This may sound like a small thing, dear friend. But once you go massive-27-inch-screen…you don’t go back. Up until now, I did all of my work on a 15-inch laptop. It worked just fine, so I was skeptical about how much better a big desktop computer could really be.

My friends. It is game changing.

I feel so much more productive and organized with a big computer. It’s easier to see multiple files at once instead of flipping through a zillion different windows and tabs. A few days ago, I used my laptop to create a webinar presentation and it was humorously frustrating.

Anyways, you obviously don’t need to buy a gargantuan computer screen right away (though there are some affordable ones!). I waited a few years before considering it. But the moment you can? Do it.

The Passive Income Project

One of my big goals for the year so far has been to grow my *completely* passive income (i.e. income I would have made if I literally did nothing the entire month).

I divide passive income into a few categories:

Passive Sales: Sales I make from people just stumbling upon and purchasing my site and courses. In March, this number was $5,418.
Monthly Recurring Revenue: This is usually income from payment plans from a previous launch or course sale. Now, each month I receive those payment plan payments, which is completely passive aside from the work I put into the original launch. In March, I received $10,282 in monthly recurring revenue.
Affiliate Revenue: This isn’t always passive (for example, if I hosted an affiliate webinar to promote someone’s product, then it wouldn’t be passive). But for the most part, my affiliate income is completely passive because people purchase things through links in past blog posts. In March, my affiliate revenue was $7,935.

Altogether, March’s passive income was about $23,500. Honestly, that’s pretty crazy to me! But my goal before the end of 2016 is to start hitting at least $50,000 in passive income on a monthly basis. A lot of this will come from optimizing my evergreen funnels and re-launching the Blog to Biz Hive. Woo!

Now, I don’t just want to grow my passive income to make more money, but I also want to do it to rid myself of this idea that I should always be “hustling.” I want to take more vacations. I want to start a second business. And I want to be able to put more time into the communities I’ve already created. So, my passive income goals also come from a place of wanting more time while my business makes moolah without me fiddling with anything.

Some things to keep in mind about passive income:

It takes time to achieve. I’ve noticed that the more I grow my brand and audience, the more my passive income increases, too. It makes sense, since more people are discovering my site and therefore buying my products.
You have to provide a lot of free value. Passive income doesn’t come from webinars or email sequences (where you could more easily convert people into buyers). It comes from people who already know know, like, and trust you. A great way to make that happen is to provide as much FREE value as you can in order to build those relationships with people.
Multiple income streams are important. As you can see above, I have three main income streams that bring me passive income. On top of that, I also have four different courses. Don’t be discouraged if no one is “passively” buying your product from the beginning. Consider adding more income streams and more products to your lineup.
Make sure to optimize your website. What’s the end goal? As you may have noticed, I recently changed my website design. My last website design had one measly link in the navigation menu, which led to my courses. That was literally the ONLY mention of my products on my site. When I designed this new site, I wanted to make it more obvious what I do and how I can help people, so my courses are mentioned in several places. My passive income has doubled since launching the new design!

Here’s how you can take action:

This month, I want you to think about adding an extra income stream (or two!) to your monthly income. Could you start doing joint venture webinars (i.e. webinars you co-teach with someone else)? Could you start utilizing affiliate programs? Could you come out with a new product?

Write down your answer (or leave a comment below!) and let me know which income stream you’re going to add!