Smart Passive Income

My August 2015 Monthly Income Report

  • 29 September 2015
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Welcome to my August 2015 Monthly Income Report!

Each month I publish a detailed report sharing everything from the dollars earned to the lessons learned while running my online businesses. I’ve been doing this since 2008 and they’ve become some of the most popular posts on the blog.

Why do I publish these reports?

I do this because I believe in leading by example, and it doesn’t work unless I share everything involved with what I’m doing, including how much I earn. It’s here to inspire and motivate, but more importantly it’s here to show you what’s working, and what is not.

My earnings don’t always increase and I do go through a number of failures along the way, but it’s always a lesson for those who are following along.

If I can make mistakes so you don’t have to, then it’s still a win in my book.

Let’s get right into this month’s report…

Important Going-Ons in August

August started off with an excellent trip to Forth Worth, TX for Podcast Movement 2015, an event that I learned over a year ago that I’d be performing the opening keynote for.

I incorporated some new public speaking techniques that I’ve never attempted before and received a lot of super positive feedback from the performance. It’s titled You vs. You, and it’s about the struggles that all of us have within ourselves when we try to do something new, which I felt was a perfect message to start the show because I ended up challenging all of the podcasters there to do something different – stop being the same as everyone else and take bold actions moving forward.

Here’s a video of my entire presentation:

I always prefer being early in the line-up because after my talk I can completely focus on meeting and speaking with as many people as I can, which is exactly what I had the pleasure of doing.

After my keynote was over, I stood outside the main ballroom and had conversations with dozens of people for over 5 hours straight. I wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else.

Whether it’s fans or people who I’ve never met before, I learn the most about what I could do to improve from these “in the hallway” conversations I have at these events, and I do what I can to ask questions and learn about exactly who I’m speaking to and what they do. Plus, it’s a ton of fun!

I do enjoy meeting fans and hearing praise for my work, but I absolutely love hearing constructive criticism and I often ask for it whenever possible.

It surprises some people when I ask them for specific feedback (not just about my presentation, but about everything else I do too), but the responses can be golden information that I can take home with me to make improvements across the board.

The rest of Podcast Movement was awesome, from the celebrity keynote speakers (like Marc Maron) to the networking events and expo hall. In my eyes, it went off without a hitch and I highly recommend it as an event to attend next year in Chicago if you’re somehow connected to podcasts.

Lastly, I’m incredibly thankful and honored to have won the Top Business Podcast Award by the Academy of Podcast Awards! I was shocked because of who I was up against: StartUp, Planet Money and several others – so I don’t take this award lightly and again I’m truly honored for all of your support!

I am speechless, I literally had no idea I would win the Best Business Podcast Award tonight at Podcast Movement! I am humbled and completely honored, and still stunned. To be nominated with Startup, Planet Money and several other amazing podcasts, OMG. I can’t believe it! Thank you to all of the podcast listeners out there and everyone who follows SPI. You are all amazing! Special thanks to my team, the members of my mastermind groups, and most of all, my family. April, my wife is at home is watching the kiddos and she deserves this award more than anyone. She is the most underrated player of Team Flynn, the unsung hero who holds the fort down and makes sure all is well and supports me like none other. Gotta head back up to the hotel room to practice my keynote for tomorrow. Trying some stuff I’ve never tried before…we’ll see what happens! Cheers to Jared and Dan who are putting on an amazing show here at #PM15! From Cloud 9, Pat

A photo posted by Pat Flynn (@patflynn) on Jul 31, 2015 at 7:56pm PDT

I look forward to seeing you at Podcast Movement 2016 in Chicago!

Getting Ahead on Content

Starting in October, you’re going to see a rhythm of content production that is much smoother and far more consistent than ever.

Thanks to Janna, my new content managing editor, she’s been making sure that we plan ahead with a specific strategy in mind, know what’s coming and always get things out on time. I’ve been working overtime the last two months to write, record and film content that goes live later this year, and I’m excited to say I’ve never been more ahead in my brand in my life.

We’re already done with all of the interviews and SPI Podcast recordings through 2015, and most are already edited and ready to go.

AskPat is about a month ahead of schedule.

And my blog content?

We’re ahead on that too! All of October and November are written and it’s about 90% ready to publish, there’s just a few pieces of content that have to be copy edited still.

I even have a brand new lead magnet coming your way next month (the first one since eBooks the Smart Way, which was published in 2010) so there’s a lot of exciting things happening in SPI land these days!

Beyond that, we’re working on a new redesign of the website, and a brand new email marketing strategy that you’ve likely seen implemented if you’re on the list already.

Where is all of this coming from? What’s the driving factor behind all of this?

Well, based on the recent survey I did (July 2015), I realized that a lot of what I’m doing is great, but there are a lot of things I’m not doing to best serve you, especially when it came to the user experience on the website and within my email list.

For example, on the website currently, the homepage just shows the latest blog post and the latest podcast episode. This helps no one who is looking for information that’s relevant to their situation right now, and that’s the major goal – to make it super easy to locate helpful information on the website based on where you’re at.

A more personalized SPI experience.

October is unofficially “Email Marketing Month” on SPI, so get ready for some new content coming your way about that, including a post titled “Why I moved from Aweber to Infusionsoft to ConvertKit”, and a lot of detail and step-by-step information about my new email segmentation strategy, and more!

Phew! I can’t wait to share all that with you – it’s hard when you create stuff ahead of time and you’re just waiting for the publish date. :)

Patience Pat, patience.

For now, let’s get into the numbers…

INCOME BREAKDOWN (August 2015)

  • GreenExamAcademy.com Product Sales:
    • Total: $1,111,14
      • Previous Month: $1,528.95
      • Difference: -$417.81
  • SecurityGuardTrainingHQ.com:
    • Adsense: $2,528.58
    • Job Board: $124.88
    • Total: $2,653.46
      • Previous Month: $2,457.65
      • Difference: +$195.81
  • FoodTruckr.com:
    • Adsense: $72.51
    • How to Start a Food Truck eBook: $591.00
    • Total: $663.51
      • Previous Month: $995.75
      • Difference: -$332.24
  • CreateaClickableMap.com:
    • Total: $669.33
      • Previous Month: $629.37
      • Difference:+$39.96
  • iPhone Applications:
    • Paid Apps: $829.49
    • Free Apps: $521.54
    • Total: $1,351.03
      • Previous Month: $1,514.26
      • Difference: -$163.23
  • eBook Sales for ‘Let Go‘:
    • Total: $251.11
      • Previous Month: $412.24
      • Difference:-$161.13
  • Speaking:
    • Total: $2,500.00
  • Gross Total in August: $116,891.83
    • Previous Month: $119,023.72
    • Difference: -$2,131.89

EXPENSES BREAKDOWN (August 2015)

Below is what was paid last month. It does not include pro-rated yearly fees. Most are related to the Smart Passive Income Blog and new projects that are currently under development:

  • Dropbox: $9.99
  • Libsyn.com (podcast file hosting): $30.00
  • PodBean.com (video podcast hosting): $18.00
  • Hosting Payments and Domain Renewals: $210.10
  • Transcriptions: $297.00
  • E-Junkie Shopping Cart Fee: $5.00
  • Paypal Website Payments Pro: $30.00
  • Certified Public Accountant / Bookkeeping: $260.00
  • Skype $2.99
  • Developers and Assistants (includes all help, from podcast editing, website & software development): $21,981.65
  • Slack (for team communication): $60.00
  • Helpscout Support System: $70.00
  • Email Service Provider: $479.00
  • Legal Fees: $1,325.00
    • Total Rough Expenses for August:  $24,751.73
    • Rough expenses from previous month: $18,757.11
  • Net Total in August: $92,140.10
    • Net Total from Previous Month: $100,266.61

All together, another fantastic month. A bit of a dip in some areas but holding steady for the most part. Once the redesign and the books and courses are going on SPI later this year, I look forward to diving into more experiments and brand new niches and income methods from scratch. I know a lot of you have been looking forward to the next crash test, and it’s definitely coming. Thanks for your patience!

Lessons Learned in August

The ONE Thing by Jay Papasan and Gary Kellar (click here for my review!) has become my savior this past month.

With everything I have going on, I’ve had to catch myself from moving onto the next thing before the thing I’m working on is finished. I have a physical copy of the book here right next to my computer to remind me about this at all times – and boy did I need this reminder a lot.

And I’m not just talking about work related things either. 

I’ve been working really hard to make sure that I’m 100% mentally with my family when I’m 100% physically with them too. I’ve struggled with this in the past and have generally been very good at keeping business out of my time with my family, however at times like this when so much is going on and there’s a lot of exciting things coming, it becomes more difficult.

I’ve had to literally schedule the time I want to be 100% present with my family into my calendar, which has definitely made it a lot easier to turn off and shut down my business brain so I can be present fully with those around me.

It’s a little weird to put those kinds of things in the calendar, but I see it more as a life calendar now, as opposed to a business-only kind of thing.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue to do this in the future because usually when the work load dies off I’m okay and present with where I’m at and who I’m with, but for now it’s working out quite well.

I hope this encourages you to think about how you can be more present both in your personal life and work life in the future!

Thanks again for checking out this report, and I look forward to next month when the green light turns on with the new content flow thanks to Janna and the rest of the SPI team. We are here and dedicated to serve you in the best way possible, and we’re always learning as we go.

Cheers, and thanks for all of the support! I appreciate you!

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