Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog, the challenges and lessons we learned each month, and finally to celebrate successes however big or small. Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy to say that the travel blog has become our main hustle.
Life Updates
We spent most of February with family in Atlanta before moving. I got sick with bronchitis and still haven’t recovered. We added a new car to our fam that’s perfect for our new adventures (will post about that soon). And on my birthday, we drove cross-country to Las Vegas, where we’ll be living for the next year!
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Originally Published: Mar 20, 2019
How We Made OVER $24K in February - Travel Blog Income Report
Why We Share Our Income Reports
If you’re new here, you might be wondering why on earth we would share something so personal. We’ve been hesitant to share our income reports for the last 5 years, and we’re super nervous about this post, but since we’re all about trial and error, let’s see how it goes! We’re putting out these income reports for these following reasons.
To Show You How We Make Income Blogging
We always want to be 100% transparent about how we make money through this blog. The amazing thing about the blogging world is that every blogger we’ve talked to does things a bit differently. There are also countless ways to grow and improve your business. When we started, we made most of our money through affiliate sales. Since then, we’ve shifted heavily to sponsored content. A big part of this is because my background is in sales and it’s what I’m good at. You can learn more about my sale method below. As time goes on, this will continue to change, but we want to share how we focus on our strengths to effectively meet our goals.
To Show You the Potential of Blogging
Whether you have a blog or are starting a blog, we want to show you that you can make a career out of blogging.
Even if you don’t want to blog, there are a ton of ways to be financially and location independent and we hope to inspire others to go after it too. If you want to keep your day job, blogging can be a great way for you to make some extra side money.
Esther started the blog 6 years ago and I joined her full time 3 years ago. Even until last year, our parents were worried about us financially, wondering when we would stop “playing” and start taking our lives and work more seriously. Neither of us ended up being “good Asians” (namely a doctor, lawyer, or engineer). It’s an unconventional job and where most people don’t understand all the work that goes on behind the scenes.
More: The Ugly Truths of Being a Travel Blogger told by Top Travel Bloggers
We love that our jobs give us flexibility in what we do, but being your own boss isn’t all that it’s cut out to be either. You have to be disciplined and work hard at your business to grow it.
Note: There are a lot of great blogs and resources out there about blogging, but the tough part is that it’s not always replicable unless you also want to start blogging about blogging. We wanted to show you that it’s possible to start a blog on other topics and still make a living. Though we have an e-course in the works, we want to continue to show you that the bulk of our income still comes from our travel blog.
To Track How We're Doing
I’ve always loved sharing goals online and tracking them. Putting them out in the world (via the blog) has helped me so much with accountability. Since we’re constantly tweaking trying to improve the blog, looking at these numbers will help us learn whether we’ve been making the right changes. It’s amazing to see how the sources of income have changed over time and to see where we still have room for improvement.
Ultimately, our life goal is to make enough to live on half our income (right now we’re at 30%), where the rest will go back into the community or support organizations we love.
Breakdown of Income for February 2019
In February 2019 we earned a total of $24,707.67.
Income Comparison to Other Months
- Total in 2019 Year Income: $51,596.59
- Last Month Income: $26,888.92
- Difference: 8% decrease from last month
Previous Income Reports
If you’re not getting the results you want, again, keep in mind that we’ve been blogging for 6 years now and the first month I tried monetizing my blog, I made less than $20. Give it more time and failing in the process is okay. I didn’t have the correct tools that are out now and a lot of it was trial and error. Consider it all an A/B test to figure out what will best work for you.
Expenses
- Web Hosting: $19.95 (Want to start a blog? Here’s how you can start a blog in 5 easy steps)
- Keysearch: $18.60
- Virtual Assistant, Social Media Manager, Subcontractors: $979.17
- Teachable: $89 (check out their free weekly webinar)
- Office Supplies/Services: $2,929.45
- Test Products/Shoot Supplies: $930.26
- *Taxes: $1,192
- Insurance: $1,382.89
- Travel + Meal Expenses: $4,788.89
TOTAL EXPENSES: $12,330.21
TOTAL NET PROFIT: $12,377.46
*Roughly 30% of your income will go to taxes at the end of the year. The number above shows the money set aside for taxes to offset how much we have to pay at the end. It makes it less painful at the end of the year.
February 2019 Blog Traffic Breakdown + Stats
- Monthly Pageviews: 414,299*
- Daily Average: 15,344
- Monthly Sessions: 321,702
- Monthly Unique Visitors: 274,064
- Social Media Followers: 323,055
- Email Subscribers: 8,406
*We lost 4 days of google analytics data.
Blog News + March Goals
Blog Goals
- Make tweaks to our new ad management
- Revisit our Las Vegas bucket list
- Get back into the groove of posting at least twice a week.
Life Goals
- Climb outdoors at least once a week
- Decorate the new apartment
- Limit our work week to 40 hours a week
What's Working on the Blog
We switched our ad manager from Adthrive to Mediavine, since we wanted to see if they had a better payout. Overall, it has had its up and downs but the numbers started to steady by the end of the month. Hopefully, we made the right choice, but we’ll keep you updated.
Instead of working on new posts, we spent time refreshing our old spring content. We’ve already started to see those posts start to trend again and will keep an eye on them in March.
I wish we had more updates on new things we tried last month, but between being with family and being sick, February wasn’t all that productive work-wise.
What Didn't Work + Lessons Learned
Switching from AdThrive to Mediavine had a few hiccups. Based on how our site was built, we had to update a few posts and make changes. With the switch, we also lost google analytics data for 4 days so the numbers above are lower.
Popular Posts from Last Month
The e-course is out! Are you a content creator and want to learn how to work with brands?
We used to do many one-off partnerships with brands, but over the years we’ve been focused on longer term partnerships. Most our brand sponsorships are over $20k, and one of our most recent ones was over $35k.
With over 10 years of trial and error working in corporate and managing our first business, Jacob has figured out the best ways to pitch and work with brands.
At first we were reluctant to put out just another e-course in this oversaturated, dog-eat-dog market, but we’ve seen our coaching and course actually help people quit their jobs and start their own businesses. How cool is that? Plus, all our students who have put our course to action have made their money back within the month, and one of our students using the e-course has already booked $11k in sponsorships. So effin’ excited to see them conquer this new chapter in their lives. If you’re interested to learn more, see the intro video here.
What have you been up to last month? Any fun plans next month? What are some of your goals next month?
Esther + Jacob
