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If youโve read my annual review for 2021, then you know I was already planning to write income reports in 2022. But, I couldnโt release it on Feb 1st because life โhappenedโ to me and this had to take a backseat.
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Things have improved since the first week of February and Iโm feeling positive about where Iโm heading as a creator.
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To give you a bit of context around my creator journey, I left my job as a Junior Data Scientist in March of 2021. I didn't have a plan other than "finding work that wouldn't burn me out". I also realized that I wasn't getting paid enough and my work wasn't nearly as challenging.
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Not-So-Fun-Fact: A junior developerโs salary is around $250 - $300 per month in India. (Please let's change this! ๐ฉ)
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Before I decided to leave my job, I had a bit of savings in my bank + my newsletter was making more or less the same amount of money I was making at my day job. So it didnโt make sense for me to continue in the same job when I can earn it by being my own boss.
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Also, I was confident that I could land a freelance client if I really pushed myself. Thatโs exactly what I did in April 2021. ๐๐ป
That one single tweet brought me almost 200+ followers in a day. Lots of DMs around how I monetized my newsletter and how I landed freelance clients.
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The reason behind writing these income reports is mostly so that I can reflect, plan, and focus on where I will spend my time in the next few months and a little bit about helping others who are on the same journey as me.
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Before we go into this, Iโd like to thank Monica Lent for inspiring me to share these reports with you. Also, please keep in mind that I cannot share a few of my freelance client income reports if Iโm bound to a contract I signed. So, these reports will strictly include only what I can share.
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Letโs get started!
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TL;DR:
โข I quit my job as a Junior Data Scientist in March 2021.
โข Started my freelance and creator journey in April 2021.
โข Sharing my creator income reports starting from January 2022.
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Income Report for January 2022
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What I earned and did in January this year:
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Please note that Iโm deliberately not including what I earn from Swapstack since itโs a full-time job now. ๐
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A brief about my side projects and how I earn money as a creator:
- Newsletter - The Curious Bunch: Iโve started accepting sponsors for my newsletter since May 2021 when I crossed over 500 subscribers. Since then, Iโve been able to book sponsors (mostly inbound requests) for every weekly issue I send. You can view my current pricing structure on this advertising page.
- Writing OS - Digital Product: A Notion Dashboard that helps you write consistently. Open for pre-orders at the time of writing this review.
- Donations from Buy Me A Coffee and Tip Jar: Iโve been accepting donations from my newsletter readers since January 2021.
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Thatโs all! Previously, I dabbled with affiliate products but couldnโt generate enough revenue from them so I dropped the idea of chasing affiliate revenue for this year. I might pick it up later but itโs not a priority right now.
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Net Profit: $314.34
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Net Profit = Total Revenue - Total Expenses
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Net Profit is what matters because thatโs what you get after paying your business expenses.
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Total Revenue: $329
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- Newsletter ($100) โ Sponsorships: $80, Classifieds: $20
- Writing OS ($164) โ Pre-Order sales: $164
- Donations ($65) โ Buy Me A Coffee: $58, Tip Jar: $7
- Freelance ($0)
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Expenses: -$14.66
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So far, my only big expense is the hosting cost for this blog and to be fair, itโs relatively very cheap considering other blogging platforms out there.
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Although I purchase most of these subscriptions on yearly basis, Iโm breaking them down as monthly expenses so itโs easy for you to understand.
- Website Hosting ($7.99) โ MDX: -$7.07, Carrd: -$0.92
- Domains ($6.08) โ Vidya.so: -$5.42, Writingos.co: -$0.66
- Email ($0.59) โ Vidya.so: -$0.59
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This month I also joined FrugalMVP โ a paid cohort course ($147) and bought a subscription for Focusmate ($5) which helps me be productive and get things done. These two are totally worth their price and I highly recommend them if you want to get ahead as a creator.
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Iโm pretty sure I havenโt listed a few more expenses but those are necessities and unavoidable.
January Milestones
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I love celebrating small milestones because theyโre the ones that accumulate and make huge difference at the end of the year.
- Got featured in IndieHackers website & Newsletter
- Released my first product of the year and started accepting pre-orders - Writing OS
- Crossed 10+ sales in under 2 hours for Writing OS
- Crossed 25+ sales in 24 hours after increasing the price!
- Helped 100+ people through donations from my newsletter
- Crossed 1100+ Newsletter subscribers for The Curious Bunch
- Helped with Swapstackโs Tip Jar launch on Product Hunt and it ended up at #6 position.
- Joined Frugal MVP. This proved to be one of the best decisions I made in the whole month.
- Crossed $150 in pre-orders for Writing OS (anything I earn after this is a profit since Frugal MVPโs cost was ~$150)
- Got coffees worth 5000 INR ($66.36)
- Continuing Full-time at Swapstack as Growth Marketer ๐
- Made a personal interview video on YouTube with Anangsha
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What I tried/failed to do
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I was about to land a freelance client and work for them as a Marketing consultant but I realized I said โyesโ too soon for various reasons. I need to be careful about which clients I choose to work with and question myself before saying yes to any kind of request.
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I was suffering from a cold, fever, and cough for the most part of January.
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As a result, I couldnโt be consistent with my blog, a side project I initially planned, and landing clients to offer my content writing, marketing, and no-code skills.
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What Iโm planning for February
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Planning to officially launch my info-product Writing OS. One of the ways Iโm marketing it is by building in public. Iโve no plans to do a Product Hunt launch in February since I need time to perfect it before I go and launch to a larger audience. Iโm perfectly happy with the feedback Iโm getting so far from my users.
One of the things I couldnโt do in January due to bad health was, reach out to potential sponsors for my newsletter. Iโm going to double down on it and book a few sponsors 1 to 2 months in advance.
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Iโm planning to be more consistent with my writing on this blog and Twitter. Also, Iโll probably write a few articles for clients. (Know anyone? Send them my way!)
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Tools & Resources I used in January
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Here are a few tools and resources that have helped me with my creator journey so far:
- Landing Page: Carrd
- Payments: Flurly, Tip Jar, Buy Me A Coffee
- Email Capture & Forms: EmailOctopus, Tally
- Community: Frugal MVP, Rad Reads
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Thatโs all for now. If you want to get in touch with me, I hang out on Twitter.
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If you have any questions or feedback, comment below. ๐๐ป