How I Made $24,982 as a Coach in May 2018
Welcome to my May 2018 income report, where I show you how much money I made as an online coach by sharing REAL numbers.
Before we get into this, I’m going to address the elephant in the room…
I’m so glad you asked.
I share numbers for three reasons…
1) I want to destigmatize money talk for women. Anything related to money talk was “bad” when I was growing up. Also, there was always this sense that people who earned good money were doing something bad. I believe the best way to deal with a problem is to air that shit out. #transparency
2) I also do this as a reminder of what’s possible when you co-create with the Universe. Real life people out here are indeed doing truly good things and experiencing abundance through making money online. You can’t manifest what you can’t even imagine as real. I’m a real human and this is real life.
3) In the online space, there is a LOT of talk about numbers. Many people find that they shift into belief that a big money month is possible, but doing it CONSISTENTLY isn’t. This is a very prevalent belief. I have been consistent for a long time, and I want you to see that. And, I hope that you understand that I am not a sparkly special super-human. You can do this too. I have witnessed my clients double and triple incomes. I see it ALL THE TIME. This is real life.
Oh and if you think “money shouldn’t be talked about,” you’re probably going to struggle to sell your products/services, so I challenge you to take this moment to consider why we can talk about EVERYTHING ELSE with regard to business, but not money… #pedestalmuch?
For the record, I didn’t always find it easy to write these posts. It used to be super scary, but I believe it’s incredibly important.
How was business income in May 2018?
I earned $24,982 through my online coaching business in May 2018 before expenses.
In those days, I was using multiple payment systems (Paypal, Shopify, plus bank transfer) and it was pretty messy and hard to track. As my business grew, I found better business tools. In May 2017, I started using Moonclerk, which made creating purchase links and tracking money so easy – and that’s when I began releasing my income reports.
Here is the breakdown of the numbers over time:
- May 2017: $12,124
- June 2017: $17,052
- July 2017: $12,873
- August 2017: $22,010.50
- September 2017: $14,991
- October 2017: $18,895
- November 2017: $20,336
- December 2017: $13,473
- January 2018: $21,380
- February 2018: $30,990
- March 2018: $25,268.50
- April 2018: $22,623.50
- May 2018: $24,982
The above numbers are actual CASH received (sometimes called “banked money). This is important because many online coaches and course creators share what’s called “booked money.”
What’s the difference between banked money and booked money?
Banked money is simply CASH. It’s the amount of money that was actually processed in sales that month (before fees and expenses).
Booked money includes “future money” that you booked through sales.
Take, for example, October 2017. That month, I earned $18,895 in actual cash, but if you include the future money that I booked, the number is $38,475.
For the month of October, I was primarily selling my private mastermind. Most people choose the payment plan for coaching programs, rather than the pay-in-full option, so their initial payments add up to that cash (banked) number. To get the booked number, you add up the total value of all of the purchases made for the life of the contracts for sales made during the month of October. So, while someone may have paid just $999 down, their total contract may add up to $6,000. That $999 is the only number going into the banked figure, but the $6,000 can go into booked.
Booked numbers are often a LOT higher than banked numbers, which is why you so often see people share them (and they don’t always disclose it’s a booked number, unfortunately). It’s a way to inflate your numbers without “technically” lying, but ya know, not so cool, if you ask me.
How I made money online in May 2018:
My income in May 2018 came primarily from recurring payments from the group currently running in my private mastermind, as well as down payments for the upcoming group.
There were really two big things that allowed me to make consistent income with my coaching business:
1. Taking payment plans for programs was an absolute game changer in my coaching business.
My private mastermind is six months long, which generally includes a down payments and monthly payments. This is great for my clients, because it allows them to pay over time, rather than one big lump sum, and it also creates consistency for me. Lots of coaches prefer to only do pay-in-full business, and I get that. For me, creating consistent and predictable income is of massive importance, as my husband and I run this business together and we have two kiddos to support! This business is our only income.
2) Creating overlapping programs and mastermind groups.
While my private mastermind is six months long, I open it up every three months to new clients. This means that I always have payment plans running instead of every single round of payments starting and ending (!) at the same time.
Additionally, I run smaller courses throughout the year and always offer payment plans. Again, this is a bonus for those clients who don’t necessarily have the program payment upfront, but can do smaller amounts over time and it affords me the consistency that I prefer. It’s a win all around.
What were the expenses for the business?
I would happily share all of our business expenses, but this isn’t something we originally included in our income reports. (Hello from the future! lol)
It’s a really important thing to keep track of, and as our business has grown, we’ve become much more focused on these types of things.
For the purposes of transparency and giving you a good sense of what a real business looks like, I will give you a “flyover” view by putting things in categories. This was a bigger month for expenses, as we did a lot of migrating (from Squarespace to WordPress, Convertkit to Infusionsoft), as well as made some big purchases in branding and ads.
Web-Based Expenses
- GoDaddy – $30.34
- Squarespace – $16
Total Web-Based Expenses – $46.34
Business Systems
(Contractors, Business Tools & Misc)
- Business Tools – $2,324.40
- Infusionsoft (Email Mktg & CRM) – $2,178.92
- Acuity Scheduling – $10
- Quickbooks – $50.00
- Asana Task Manager – $37.50
- Microsoft – $6.99
- Lastpass – $24.00
- Google Apps- $16.99
- Contractors (Assistant and Photographer) – $2,785
- Business Coaching – $1,100
- Moonclerk – (Shopping Cart) – $150
- Zoom – (Client Management) – $58.29
- MISC Operating Expenses (Office Supplies, Gifts, Shipping, Legal, Insurance)
- Office Max (Office & Event Supplies) – $52.45
- Dollar Tree (Shipping) – $40.28
- Travel – $282.74
- Other – $155
Total Business Systems Expenses – $5,793.16
Marketing Expenses
- Facebook Ads – $2,548.04
- Branding & Social Media – $1,192.48
- Email Management – $38.95
- Clickfunnels – $297
Total Marketing Expenses – $4,076.47
Total Business Expenses for May 2018: $11,070.97
Breakdown for May 2018:
In May 2018, I earned $24,982 from my coaching business.
- Banked Income: $24,982
- Total Expenses: $11,070.97
Net Income: $13,911.03
Something to remember when you view income reports for someone who is self-employed:
We are responsible for paying our own taxes, health insurance, retirement, and other things that would usually be taken out on a per-paycheck basis.
Quick Note About Our Migrations
Hello from the future again! I wanted to jump in here and tell you a bit about our experience after having been with WordPress and Infusionsoft (both big migrations that happened this month) for quite a while now.
Squarespace to WordPress
I absolutely *LOVE* Squarespace. It’s truly the perfect platform to start on if you need a quick website. It is easy to use and offers beautiful, customizable templates. It gives you a professional look without a lot of work to do it. In fact, I put together my first Squarespace site in a single evening!
Ultimately, we moved to WordPress.org because there are more options for customizing and building out the site. WordPress isn’t a simple, quick builder, but what it is is massively powerful. WordPress.org is basically THE WAY TO GO for max customizing ability.
That said, it can be tricky! One of the things that really changed the game for us was finding Thrive Architect, which helped us in building pages in WordPress. When I found it, I was at my absolute wits end (lol, but really). You can read about why I love Thrive right here, but suffice it to say, I *LOVE* Thrive. It’s weirdly affordable and totally makes building our pages so much easier. If you do move to WordPress, find a themes builder like Thrive that makes building pages easier and save yourself the headache I experienced!
Also, if you go with WordPress.org, you’ll need a host. I didn’t do enough research and initially chose Bluehost, which was just TERRIBLE. Ultimately after having lots of problems (site breakages, email-to-side issues, on and on) that only could be fixed temporarily with bandaids, we found a developer who said in no uncertain terms, “Bluehost is notorious for this. Switch.”
So, we did. We found Siteground and simply switching fixed ALL OF OUR ISSUES in one day. Also, their customer service was bomb. I highly recommend them!
Convertkit to Infusionsoft
As of this writing, I’m still with Infusionsoft. It technically has more capabilities than Convertkit, but if I had it to do all over again, I would NEVER have switched. Convertkit wins hands down for simplicity and for that alone, I recommend it. It is a total one-stop shop for managing your email marketing and has some functionality for building opt-in pages to gather leads. Infusionsoft, on the other hand, is a complicated CRM that does offer a wide range of technical abilities. It’s just INCREDIBLY HARD TO USE and expensive by comparison. For most small businesses that I work with, Convertkit will more than cover your needs. Convertkit will save you money, manage all your email needs, and won’t make you want to throw your computer out the window. Win!
A Final Note:
Just like any other business, online coaching can be whatever you make it. It’s taken me years of trial and error to have such a successful business. In fact, this business is the fifth business I’ve owned.
I literally started this business because one of my greatest passions in life is helping women do the thing their heart most desires. It isn’t about how big the number after the dollar sign gets; it’s about helping women step out of the shadow of what she “should” do and begin pursuing the thing that truly lights her up.
Personally, I’ve become a markedly better wife and mother simply by pouring my heart into something that I deeply love, instead of trading little pieces of my soul for a bi-weekly paycheck.
Do I think every woman in the world needs to quit her job and become an entrepreneur? No.
But if your heart’s been calling you to do that your whole life, I’m here to show you how.
Never give up.
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