Side Hustle Income Report – Q4 2018

Welcome to the first Q4 Side Hustle Income Report for Money Dot Calm (you can read the second 2019 post here).

Overview

This report is a combination of all the income earned from the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2018 from my side hustle niche blog, Savvy Horsewoman, the Etsy shop and Amazon Merch account.

I tried a few new blogging strategies, which I’ll share below, and benefited from the busy shopping season on Etsy (I also had one FAIL!).

How This Can Benefit You

Whenever I mention my side hustles to friends or followers I get asked a lot of questions.

And I totally get it…

I remember reading about other people’s side incomes and wondering how they do it.

And more importantly, could I do it?

Well I’m here to show you the ins and outs of what works for me, and hopefully inspire you follow your own path to extra cash!

This income has been a nice bonus for our family to help build our savings, and also have some “fun money” for activities with the kids (you can read more about our story here).

There’s been a lot of work involved, but the long term goals is to have these side hustle projects continue to grow and work as (mostly) passive income while I focus on the Money Dot Calm blog.

Related Post: How to Build a Profitable Blog in 10 Hours a Week (or less)

Why Am I Willing To Share All This?

I have two main reasons for sharing my income report:

1. Seeing my progress (or sometimes lack there of) is a great way to keep myself motivated.
2. By sharing the ups and downs, I hope I can motivate you to keep trying as well!

I sometimes feel discouraged when I see other bloggers bringing in 6 figure paychecks, so I’m happy to share a more realistic picture of what me (a busy stay-at-home-mom) can reasonably earn with a very limited schedule.

This post contains affiliate links. See the disclosure page for more details. Please note all figures are rounded and are in Canadian Dollars.

Here’s an overview of my Side Hustle Income for Q4 2018:

Savvy Horsewoman (savvyhorsewoman.com) –  $2595

This was a great 3 months, but it didn’t come easy! I worked hard to increase traffic by doubling my pinning schedule on Tailwind, updating several old blog posts and writing new content.

The winter is typically my slowest season for traffic, so this gave it a much needed boost.

I also hosted my first “Guest Blogger Month” where I invited 8 of my favorite fellow bloggers to submit a guest post for November.

This resulted in a lot of traffic and social media shares, and introduced my readers to a new group of talented bloggers. It was a win-win, and I’ll definitely try this strategy again.

Earning Breakdown:
Ad Revenue – $2370
Affiliate Income – $225

Blogging Expense Paid for in Q4
Mail Service (I use Mailerlite)
Pinterest Scheduling (I use Tailwind)
Instagram Linking (I use Linkinprofile)
Web Hosting (I use Siteground)
Course (Making Sense of Sponsored Posts)
Video Intro Creation (Fiverr)

Etsy Shop (etsy.com/shop/SavvyHorsewomanShop) – $1215 (after expenses)

This was my first Christmas with the Shop, and I had seriously underestimated the amount of holiday traffic on Etsy.

With very little marketing I had over 100 sales for November and December, so this will definitely be a focus for the next Q4.

If you’re thinking about opening your own shop, I use Printful, a print-on-demand service, which automatically integrates with Etsy. This makes it easy to run, without a big time (or money) investment.

Amazon Merch – $70 (no expenses)

Merch is part of a new print-on-demand service that Amazon offers (you can apply for your own account here)

At a whopping $23 dollars per month of income, this side hustle has been a FAIL for me.

Admittedly, it’s also the where I’ve put the least amount of effort, so I can’t blame the system.

I know many others are making a FORTUNE through Merch, and I’ve enjoyed the passive income (even if it’s small), but it definitely won’t be my focus going into 2019.

Total Side Hustle Income for Q4 2018 (after expenses): $3580

This was my best Q4 yet, so going forward into 2019 I’m hoping to keep up the momentum!

Related Post: Niche Blogging Income – 5 Steps to Sponsored Posts

Blogging Resources I Recommend:

Tailwind – This is THE Pinterest Scheduling tool, and has helped me grow my Savvy Horsewoman account over 1 million monthly views (and only takes 1-2 hours a week of my time!). If you have a blog, in any niche, you need to get started with Tailwind. Click here to try for FREE!

Mailerlite – I’ve been using this email service for several years, and it’s by far the easiest I’ve found. Set up is a breeze and you can get automated email sequences going in no time. I use it for my 7 Day Horse Care Challenge (and to send weekly emails to my 7,000+ subscribers). It’s FREE for your first 1,000 subscribers! Click here to get started.

Siteground – If you want to make blogging your business (even if you’re starting small) I highly recommend choosing a web host that focuses on 
speed, uptime, and customer support (without blowing your budget). Siteground has done all of those for me (including 100% uptime!) and has really helped take my blog to the next level. Check out their Managed WordPress Hosting here.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – After taking this course, adding a passive income stream your blog is a piece of cake. Michelle earns over $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing, and she shares all of my best tips in this step-by-step course (it helped me earn an extra $225 this Q4). Get started now.

Making Sense of Sponsored Posts – If you’re not earning money through sponsored posts, then you are leaving money on the table! This step-by-step strategy course gives you 5 modules, over 20 lessons, bonuses, an exclusive Facebook group, and much more. Find it here. 

Fiverr – This site is the ultimate time saver. We all have blogging tasks that aren’t our favorite, and Fiverr is the easy solution to out-source those jobs (starting at $5!). Whether I need a designer, programmer or video expert, this is always the first place I stop. Check it out here and get 20% off your first order.

How was your Q4? Share you successes in the comments!

Related Posts:
How to Build a Profitable Blog in 10 Hours a Week (or less)
Niche Blogging Income – 5 Steps to Sponsored Posts

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