I admit it. I’m a nerd.
I like numbers. I keep track of notes on Excel Spreadsheets, read books about finances, and enjoy calculating proper fuel intake for long runs. And as far as the blogging world goes, I find it fascinating to read about blog monetization, and try to learn about different ways to make money through blogging.
It’s not my end goal though. I love to write, and I love to teach people about healthy living, vegetarian foods, Vermont, and sustainable living. I love meeting other bloggers and forming a community. But I also love working with companies and trying free samples of foods I haven’t tried before (especially local and organic ones), and I love to see what possibilities exist in the world that relate to blogging, like freelance writing and consulting (two things I’d love to do one day).
Basically, I’d like to use this blog as a vehicle for other projects. Like selling my notebooks and Healthy Disney shirts, or freelance writing, or consulting on projects like school gardens and healthy eating. There’s nothing like the pride that comes from working on your own ventures.
After hearing Katy Widrick speak at the 2011 Healthy Living Summit and getting a chance to talk to her on the phone afterwards, and reading the monthly income reports on Smart Passive Income and Pinch of Yum, I’ve decided to put all of this research into my own hands and see what can be learned from making money through blogging.
So, I’m going to start sharing my gross earnings from blogging and related projects. Once the new year hits, I may start sharing my spending too, to give you a real idea of my net profits, but I’ll see how detailed I want to get. My main blog-related expenses in November were the cost of Typepad, which I transferred myself ($89.00); the cost of extending my domain name for an additional year ($14.00); the cost of entering the Waterbury Winter Farmers’ Market ($15.00); and the supplies for my notebooks, which I paid for a while ago and I haven’t bought any new materials lately besides some plastic packaging.
the breakdown:
- Farmers’ Market: $26.00
- Wholesale Notebook Sales: $108.00
- Affiliate Earnings:
- Spreadshirt: $30.00
- OpenSky: $32.00
the gross total: $196.00
For the notebooks, Josh and I spent half a day one Saturday in November working the farmers’ market, which was kind of a dream of mine. I didn’t make much money from it, but got to tell people about my blog and get to know the community better. I also sold notebooks at the wholesale price to a local natural food store, which is something I hope to do more of in the future.
And then there were the affiliate earnings. Affiliate sales are when you make a commission by selling a product through another venue, or when you sell someone else’s product and make a commission. I created the “I Run for Dole Whips” shirts through Spreadshirt, who does the printing, shipping, and paperwork side of things. But since it’s my creation, I make a bit of a sale on each one. It’s fun. And the same kind of thing happens with OpenSky – I sell my notebooks through Kath’s shop, and make an affiliate sale every time a notebook set gets sold.
I was actually pretty pleased by the November totals. I just started adding these figures up, and find it really motivating to write about it, in the hopes that you’ll get something out of it too.
In all honesty, I really wanted to get this post up, but also had some hesitation at the last minute. It’s not so common to share earnings with other people, especially publicly. It makes us vulnerable. But I also want to be transparent, and I want to learn about blogging and monetization as much as lots of other bloggers.
I’m hoping to play with different ideas in the future, like using different ad agencies perhaps, and see what happens. I’ll be sure to tell you.
