Welcome to the May online income report, where I share how I earned money online last month. Below I provide a full update on my results, lessons learned, and plans going forward.
If you’re new here, you might wonder why I publish these monthly income reports. If you’re a regular reader, feel free to skip ahead 🙂
This series began as an extra income report, documenting earnings from side hustles in addition to my day job. I excluded my day job income because it was a fixed, predictable amount. In October 2013 I left my job as a financial analyst, and since then these reports have covered the various ways I make a living each month.
Many people ask why I publicly post my income. Some think it’s unusual, while others appreciate the transparency. I publish these reports for three main reasons:
- Before I started blogging, I didn’t know much about side hustles or making money online. If others hadn’t shared their income reports, I might never have tried. I share my monthly results to help others discover legitimate ways to earn extra income and to show the real potential of side hustling.
- Publishing each month helps me review performance, learn from mistakes, and track progress. These posts act as a business journal where I can reflect and plan improvements.
- I want to demonstrate that making extra money from home is achievable. There are many methods to earn online; I publish resources and highlight other bloggers who openly share their income to inspire readers.
I genuinely enjoy being my own boss and look forward to each day. These reports let me show that you don’t have to hate your job or life; you can make changes to earn money in ways that let you enjoy life more, whether that means spending time with family, pursuing hobbies, or traveling.
How was my online income in May?
May was another strong month. Excluding months when I sold websites, this was my best month yet and my top month for affiliate income.
After roughly 1.5 years of feeling stuck — and receiving reader questions about why my income hadn’t grown since leaving my day job — it’s encouraging to see progress. I expect steady growth through the rest of 2015, though I remain cautious because self-employment can be unpredictable.
May’s results were astonishing to me. I never expected to be making over $20,000 a month.
I’m not sharing this to brag; I know many readers doubt whether blogging and freelancing can generate meaningful income. Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme, but it can become a reliable income source with work and persistence. If you have a goal and put in the effort, positive outcomes are possible.
I’m excited about the future and have many plans to continue growing the business.
In May I earned $22,735 in business income before expenses.
The figure above is for May and is before fees and expenses. Some expenses — about $2,100 — include virtual assistants and staff writers, technical site assistance, newsletter services, PayPal fees, and similar costs. Taxes are not included. After deducting expenses and fees, I made approximately $20,635.
Below I list selected past monthly income reports. For a full archive, visit my extra income page where I publish updates each month.
- $672 extra in May (2012)
- $6,523 in January extra income (2013)
- $11,927 in October income – I finally left my job
- $12,640 in January income (2014)
- $23,758 in February income – My monthly online income report (2015)
- $32,474 in April – My monthly online income report
Blog news
Making Sense of Cents is doing well and I still love blogging. I recently had a new homepage designed — feedback is welcome!
Page views have been relatively flat in recent months. I plan to focus more on promotion; I’ve been lax lately and want to change that. I also need to update many older posts to improve formatting and add better images for Pinterest. I’ve only completed about 15% of that work so far.
Top new posts from last month:
- 75+ Ways To Make Extra Money
- Living Life To The Fullest Is Something Everyone Should Start Doing
- Do You Have An Emergency List For Your Family?
- How I Prepared to Quit My 9-5 to Do What I Love and Travel the World (Whenever I Want)
How do I feel after selling three of my websites?
Several readers asked how I feel after selling three websites. I feel great and do not regret the decision. Selling those sites freed up time to focus on higher-priority areas of my business, which I believe is helping income growth.
I sold websites so I could concentrate on Making Sense of Cents. The other sites weren’t where my main energy belonged, and having more time to devote to my primary site has been beneficial.
Featured question: Do only celebrities make money from owning websites?
For each income report I’ll include a featured reader question. Recently multiple readers asked whether only famous people can earn from blogging. The answer is no. You don’t need to be a celebrity to make a living from a blog. Many successful bloggers are regular people who built their business through consistent effort and smart strategies.
My plans for the website, online income, and making money online
- Create a product to sell – I’m preparing to create an ebook but expect to devote more time to it in the fall due to a busy summer.
- Promote more – Pinterest drove about 59,000 clicks to the blog in May. Traffic from Pinterest has grown a lot compared to earlier months, and I plan to keep expanding promotional efforts.
- Accept more interviews – I didn’t do many interviews in May due to a busy schedule. I expect this to pick up later.
- Stop being shy – Personal growth is part of my 2015 goals. I’m naturally shy and want to be more outgoing to help grow the business.
Staff writing, blog, and social media management
In May I had one main staff writing client and plan to write several articles for them in June, which should increase staff writing income. I continue to offer blog and social media management, though I’m not taking on new clients due to time limits. My priority is growing the sites I manage and focusing on blog coaching and related services to concentrate income around my core business.
Affiliate income
May was my best month for affiliate income, at around $14,000. I’m surprised I didn’t pursue affiliate programs sooner. Most affiliate earnings from May will be paid later (often in July or August), so you may see those amounts reflected in future reports.
My primary affiliate earnings come from Bluehost through my “How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost” tutorial. I’m working to diversify beyond Bluehost and earned roughly $3,000 from other affiliate programs last month.
Breakout of payments received in May ($22,735, before expenses)
- Staff writing – $1,000
- Managing websites and social media for clients – $2,515
- Blog coaching and consulting – $1,315
- Website-related (from the sites I own – advertising and partnerships) – $7,205
- Affiliate income (Bluehost as main source, plus others like Republic Wireless) – $10,700
- Selling items from our home – $0
- Miscellaneous (not related to blogging and online income) – $0
Keep in mind that as a self-employed person, I cover taxes (often over 30%), health insurance, and benefits that an employer would normally provide.
Comparisons and 2015 online income total (before taxes)
- Total income for May: $22,735
- Income in April: $34,174
- Difference: -11,439
- Total in 2015: $111,214
How did you do in May? What are your extra income, business, or online income goals, and why do you pursue extra money?
This post contains affiliate links. All opinions and statements are 100% mine and links are provided to help you on your own blogging journey.