Here we are again at my favourite time of the month – it is time for the October 2016 online income report. Sitting down to write these reports is always my favourite part of the month, so keep reading to discover exactly how I made money online and with side hustling throughout October.

What’s happened in October

October 2016 is known as the massive month of change. Not only did we move home (seriously, check out the kitchen and the bath!) but you might also notice the blog name change. I am really excited about all these changes that have been happening lately, and they have all come about after a lot of hard work! The house move has been both exciting and difficult – over a month after we got the keys we still don’t have the internet, and let me tell you that tethering 3G on your phone is an absolute bitch. Not only is it the slowest thing ever, but mine cuts out every few minutes. And the unpacking…don’t even get me started on the unpacking. The whole move is a testament to the law of attraction though, and we are now living in a beautiful 5 bedroomed house where I get my own office. It really is wonderful!

We were also away for a week in October, visiting Blackpool. It was great to have some time away before the big move, and before we head back to Disney World later this month for 3 entire weeks!

Needless to say, we both haven’t worked too much throughout October, so I was extremely pleased to see how my income report turned out!

Let’s get into the numbers then!

Why I publish our income

Publishing our income holds us accountable to you, my readers. We want to achieve, we want to earn and quite frankly, we want you to congratulate us! We are able to look back at previous months when we need some more motivation or ideas to continue. Most importantly, we want to tell you how you can be making money! You might just want to make enough to cover your holiday spending money or you might want to quit your job all together. Whatever your financial needs are, you can earn extra.

Previous income reports

Here are our previous income reports if you would like to look back on our progress:

December 2015 – £2,676.46 (on holiday for a week)
January 2016 – £2,888.17
February 2016 – £2,520.43 (on holiday for 2 weeks)
March 2016 – £3,194.82
April 2016 – £3,579.34
May 2016 – £4,293.54
June 2016 – £3,813.70 (on holiday for a week)
July 2016 – £3,952.30
August 2016 – £6,162.54
September 2016 – £5,158.73

Affiliate earnings – £4,494.79

My affiliate income is down a little for October (it was over £5,000 in September) but I’m not too concerned about this just yet. I am a little concerned that this might go down again for the rest of 2016 whilst people put their money in to Christmas, but I’m holding hope. I am still amazed by this figure! In July I was earning under £3,000 from affiliate income.

I have put together all of my affiliate marketing secrets into one place for you, in How To SMASH Affiliate Marketing as a UK Blogger. In this video and text course I cover everything from which affiliate programs to join to how to get over that fear of emailing your list.

I have had a few questions from people asking me if this course is aimed at new bloggers or established bloggers, and I have to say that it would suit both. I have over 600 blog posts, so it is taking me a long time to go back and edit my older posts in accordance with what I have learned. Whilst it is a big investment, I wish that this course was around when I first started! At least then I would have got started on the right foot.

If you are interested in generating your own income from affiliate marketing then be sure to check out my guide to getting started with affiliate marketing which has just been updated. My affiliate income has increased to an amazing number – in October 2015 this amount was just £581.59. If you are interested in making your own website so that you can start making an affiliate income then I have a great video guide to get you started.

I want to get back to £5,000 in affiliate income in November. I plan to do this by increasing my traffic and introducing a few new affiliate products.

My top blogging resources

Here are the products, services, courses and books I have used to get my blog to where it is today – earning me £thousands every single month.

Running my blog

TSO Host – Website hosting If you are looking to get your website up and running, I recommend using TSO host. Hosting packages start from just £1.25 a month!  Click here to visit my tutorial on building a self hosted Wordpress website with TSO Host. Studiopress – Wordpress theme The Genesis framework for Wordpress is fantastic, and I am using the “Brunch Pro” theme to create the website that you see in front of you. Click here to visit Studiopress and browse their available Wordpress themes. Pretty Link – makes affiliate link management a breeze I am now using the pro version of this plugin but the free version takes an affiliate link and makes them pretty. The pro version comes with some added bonuses, but the free lite version is fantastic too. Click here to get Pretty Link.

Courses & books

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing e-course – Michelle, who runs the course, is making a massive $50,000 (£38,000) a month from affiliates alone. Can you even begin to imagine what you would do with an income like that? In this course Michelle shares her tips and strategies for being successful at affiliate marketing. There are also some great course bonuses including a dedicated Facebook group where Michelle offers her personal help. Click here to take a look at the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing e-course.  Elite Blog Academy e-course is a wonderful e-course that I started earlier this year. Since implementing the changes I have learned on this course I have seen both my traffic and my income increase! When you register your interest in the course you will receive a FREE copy of 7 Surefire Ways to Boost Your Blog Income Overnight. Click here to register your interest in the Elite Blog Academy and get a FREE copy of 7 Surefire Ways to Boost Your Blog Income Overnight 17 Strategies I Used To Go From 17k to 350k+ Page Views in 9 Months – in this fantastic ebook Lena shares her tried and tested tips for increasing her pageviews over a 9 month period. I have started implementing some of the hints and tips that Lena shares and I am already seeing some growth. Click here to get your copy of 17 Strategies I Used To Go From 17k to 350k+ Page Views in 9 Months.  Will It Fly?: How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money by Pat Flynn – I have only recently discovered Pat Flynn but I am amazed by what he is achieving. This is a great resource to help you figure out if your business idea will work – you will figure out whether your business idea has merit, whether it will succeed in the market you want to service and whether it is a good idea for YOU. Click here to get your copy of Will It Fly?: How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money by Pat Flynn

Matched Betting – £691.85

Matched betting is a great risk free and tax free side hustle, and I have been hitting it hard in the run up to our Orlando holiday, so that we have some extra spending money. I have managed to make £12,000 in 12 months from matched betting and I think it is a great side hustle.

Although the name can sound daunting, despite not being a sports fan I have managed to pick it up after a matched betting free trial. The free trial gives you some fantastic training videos and allows you to make anything from £40-£60 whilst deciding if it is for you.

If you are still on the fence about matched betting then why not consider giving matched betting a free trial? You can make anything from £40 – £60 and see if it is for you – you have nothing to lose. There are two approaches to take when it comes to matched betting – you can decide to work through the initial offers, bag yourself anything from £1,000 – £2,000 for a one off (maybe to pay off a credit card or have a holiday), or you can look to have a steady matched betting income every month.

As I have mentioned previously, I am now going to be calming down my matched betting efforts whilst I focus on other areas of income. We are starting to get serious about saving towards our financial goals, and getting a mortgage means that it is more important to have a taxable income, which matched betting isn’t. It is already hard enough to get a mortgage being self employed, so we are focusing on other earnings that can be shown on tax returns. 

Website earnings – £915.39

This amount has increased a little from September, which I am pleased with. I wanted to be consistently earning over £500 here from sponsored posts and advertising revenue, and it looks as though I’ll need to increase that goal to £1,000 in 2017.

Gift cards – £108

I love earning gift cards, although I don’t always include them on my income reports. In October I redeemed gift cards from Buzzoole, InstaGC and Receipt Hog, which have all been added to my Amazon account for Christmas. This amount is NOT included in my total for the month.

Online surveys – £52.02

The amount of money I earn every month from surveys seems to hover around the £50 mark, which is fine by me! I really enjoy the surveys on Prolific Academic and MintVine, so I keep doing those whilst watching tv and I have also started completing more surveys for OnePoll. I view surveys as a way to unwind and get away from anything too heavy for a few minutes and the income is now just an added bonus.

Everything else – £1,080.06

I am so happy to see this amount back to over £1,000! I’ve been able to do a few more side hustles in October, including getting back into mystery shopping and a lot of very nice eBay sales.

My other earnings consist of

• Freelancing
• Rent profit
• My book sales
• eBay sales
• Qmee
• Mystery shopping

Subtotal before expenses £7,234.11

Remember that this amount doesn’t include tax, national insurance contributions, holiday pay and sick pay – for which we are putting aside 20-30% of our monthly income (excluding matched betting earnings as they are tax free).

Expenses – £1,045.20

I cannot tell you how relieved I am to see this back down to around the £1,000 mark for October – it was close to £2,000 in September! I am hoping that my expenses will remain around the £1,000 mark, although there isn’t anywhere I can cut back.

• Switching to Convert Kit for my mailing list, which also jumped price brackets in September.
• Paypal fees (when I have received payment).
• eBay fees – these were extremely high due to a few good sales.
• Landlord costs (mortgage).
• Board Booster – I have been using the free Board Booster program for a few months now to help me manage my Pinterest account, but I have now upgraded to a paid account which has really helped to increase my Pinterest referral traffic.
• Staffing costs including my virtual assistant.
• Postage for competition prizes and eBay sales.
• Facebook adverts.

Total for October 2016 (after expenses) – £6,188.91

5 new posts in October

Here are some of the top new posts from October 2016:

1. How to make some serious cash before Christmas
2. How to get o2 priority without being an o2 customer
3. How blogger make their money (and how you can too)
4. Can you do matched betting long term
5. 10 places to earn Amazon gift cards before Christmas

My thoughts

Wow.

For the third month I have managed to earn over £5,000! This was my ultimate goal for December 2016, and with being on holiday and moving house, I didn’t expect to hit this amount again for the third month in a row. It is truly humbling and I am so excited! I truly believe that this is down to some big investments I made this year and the three tools that have really helped me. I have also just purchased the Pinterest to Profits course and I cannot wait to get stuck in! It might take me some time with the house move, but this is a much more affordable course than the ones I have been looking at, and I am blown away with how far McKinzie has come with her BRAND NEW blog. A lot of it is down to the impact that Pinterest can have, and I definitely want in on that action.

I am much happier and I have a lifestyle that I enjoy a lot more. I love helping others to earn extra money too, and seeing this happen in front of my eyes is absolutely wonderful!

It is my long term strategy to keep growing my passive income – this is money I earn whilst I am sleeping or otherwise not actively working. My passive income comes from my book sales, affiliate marketing and my rental property. Taking the time to grow our passive income in the winter months means that I am really looking forward to having more time off in summer – time to go to the beach, go on day trips and just enjoy being outside. As a result of my passive income increasing I have started to introduce more posts about passive income and how you can grow your own.

My plans for the next month and beyond

For the moment I want to just continue on this path. I would love to keep my earnings over £5,000 per month for the rest of 2016 and keep working through the courses I have bought and implementing those changes, whilst also enjoying the work/life balance that I have going on.

My goal was always to bring in more income – by December 2016 I want to be making £5,000 a month, which I have broken down in to monthly targets. Trying to find an extra £250 a month is a much easier challenge than trying to make £5,000 in a month from where I currently am!

As a reminder, here were my financial goals for the rest of 2016.

• November £4,750
• December £5,000

Do you like this income report? Would you like to see more of them in the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments – we would love to hear from you.

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