Cash Money: $5,965 in August Income and Blog Updates

Cash Money August Income and Blog Updates - picture of hundred dollar bills

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Good morning, party people. 

It’s me again.  I’m back from my Brother-Sister-Divorce-Celebration-Vacation in Mexico and I’m happy to be home.  I had a great time and I will definitely write a review of the resort we visited and how I paid for the whole thing with credit card rewards, but I need some time to catch up first.  As always, I am extremely behind with my blog and all of my staff writing jobs.  It never fails!

But that’s okay.  I get behind a lot- usually when I’ve gone on a trip or when Greg takes a weekday off of work.  He’s HOT (in case you didn’t know) and incredibly distracting.  When he has a day off, it’s uber-tempting to neglect my money-making opportunities and lay in bed watching movies all day.  Fortunately, he doesn’t have another weekday off until after FinCon (the financial blogger’s conference), which means that I have no choice but to be a responsible adult and get things done.

Dear readers, please help me stay accountable.  If you see me commenting on blogs after 9:00 a.m. or screwing around on social media, tell me to get back to work!  Capiche??!?

Cash Money August Income Update

In case you’re new here, I have gotten in the habit of reporting my self-employment income each month.  I do this to keep myself from slacking off and to show other people that it is more than possible to earn a living as a web-based writer.  With that being said, the total amount of cash money I grossed as a self-employed goddess in August was……*drumroll, please*

 $5,965

This total includes all of the money that I made from my various streams of income:

  • Credit Card Sales
  • Consulting
  • Freelance writing
  • Affiliate advertising
  • Ghost Writing

Please remember that I make the majority of my income from a variety of freelance writing jobs, not my blog.  If you’re interested in learning how to get freelance writing jobs, please check these posts out:

Tips for Freelancers

How To Get Freelance Writing Jobs 

I am super-duper proud of my August income for a few reasons.  First of all, I lost a fairly lucrative job at the beginning of August and that alone cost me $235 per week.  That’s a lot of money to lose without any notice or time to prepare for it.

But I’m a hustler, baby.  Instead of whining in a corner, I rounded up some other work that helped me go above and beyond replacing the income I lost in August. I also started on a few new projects for people this month so I am hopeful for my September income as well.  Fingers crossed!

I Refuse to Fail

I still remember the day I lost that specific job.  Even though it was due to budget cuts and had nothing to do with me, I still felt like an enormous failure.  I literally cried my eyes out then waited until Greg got home to tell him the news.

Of course, he wasn’t stressed at all.  “You’ll find something else,” he said.  “You always do.”

He’s supportive like that, which is one of the many (MANY!!) reasons I love the man.  He’s also the reason I take my online income so seriously.  And as always, he was right.

Club Thrifty Around the Web

In case you haven’t heard, I was nominated for a Plutus Award in the “Best Frugality Blog” category.  I never mentioned the Plutus Awards on my blog, so I really wanted to thank those of you who voted for me!  And for those of you who are going to FinCon, I can’t wait to see you there!

I was also interviewed by Mint.com and CouponPal.com if anyone is interested:

Expert Interview with Holly Johnson on Frugal Living for Mint

Interview with a Savings Expert: Holly Johnson

More Posts I’ve Written Around the Web:

Beginner’s Guide: Best Hotel Loyalty Programs Part Two

How to Earn Free Airfare with Credit Card Rewards

How was your August income?  Anything exciting happen last month?

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60 Comments

  1. Congratulations on another great month! Nice you were able to bounce back from the little setback so easily. It’s nice when someone has your back isn’t it? 🙂 . Continued success!!!

  2. Great month Lady! I consider August a success for me too, it was expensive with time out of town but we still managed almost $2,000 towards debt…and of all goes well im really hoping September is even better 🙂 also don’t feel bad, im behind in everything to do with blogging. I need help I think lol.

    1. I think I need help too but I am TERRIBLE at letting go of certain tasks.

  3. It’s really good to have supportive people around us. I wonder what we would have done without these people. Good for you you have some that encourage you to do things more seriously.

    1. In all seriousness, we do lay in bed and watch movies for hours. That is our hobby. Last night, we watched several of those VICE documentaries about all the crazy things going on in the world. I love laying in bed and watching movies with my hubby!
      We cuddle too, of course =)

  4. Congrats on a great month and the Plutus nomination!

  5. I’m about six months behind on reconciling my finances so I really don’t know how August was income-wise…I think it was good? Haha, but hope you had a great trip!

  6. August was very normal for me, and I can’t complain about that after having a tough July. But September is surpassing my expectations. I hope it does for you, too!

    1. Me too =) My taxes are due on the 15th and I need to rake in some cash this month!

  7. I feel your pain- I’m SO far behind on staff writing because of some larger projects I’ve been working on, I think I need to write five or six posts just today in an attempt to catch up! Good luck!

  8. I think it’s awesome that you were able to replace that lost job and then some. You are truly a hustler!

  9. Nice month! Way to hustle and stay on track. I wish I was going to FinCon. I’ll see you there next year!

  10. I am with you on distracting husbands! My hubby is a teacher, so this summer has been particularly challenging for me, because I love a good happy hour and some time with my guy. These distractions led to late Sunday night writing binges, but they were worth it. 🙂 I am glad that everyone is back at school and I can hunker down and get stuff done! Congrats on your Plutus nomination and I can’t wait to meet you in a week!

    1. Me too. I love it when he’s home but glad when he is gone so I can focus. If he were off for the summer, I would be screwed!

  11. So much of recovering from lost jobs has to do with simply having the right attitude, doesn’t it? When Rick lost his job in 2010, we didn’t worry much at all (in fact, we didn’t worry enough 🙂 ) because we know that we are hard workers and will do what needs to be done, and you are a hard worker too, Holly. That is 90% of the battle.

  12. Holy cow! What a great income. Could you estimate how many hours a week you work to achieve that? Just curious what the hourly rate sorta looks like.

    Huge bummer about the big job you lost, but maybe bigger better opportunities are on the horizon.

    1. I probably work 40 hours per week- sometimes more and sometimes less. It just depends because my work hours are all over the place.

  13. Congrats on an incredible month!

    I’m a terrible freelance writer (time & deadline wise, not actual writing wise) so I haven’t aggressively pursued that as an income stream online. I feel bad because it makes my online income thousands of dollars less than what some bloggers make and I wonder if I should kick my butt into gear and just do it but…. nope to lazy. You think you’re behind? I’d be behind 2 weeks ago.

    Nice job on the income, that’s huge!

    1. Yep, deadlines are huge in this industry. Nobody wants to assign to work to someone who can’t get it turned in on time!

  14. Congrats on being a Plutus finalist! I’m guilty of letting other things get in the way of money making as well. We need to keep each other motivated! 🙂

  15. Congrats on the awesome August income! I lost a huge client last month for kind of the same reason which was 99% of my income, hence no income at all except for some tiny side hustles. It’s been tough.

  16. I was so not worried about you being to replace the income so I’m glad you didn’t disappoint my expectation 🙂 Congrats on a great month Holly!
    I too happen to have a very handsome husband who is pure awesome – I’m a lucky lady.

  17. That’s really a great turn around story, Holly. That amount of income on a 40 hour week (on average) is really something. I’d be interested in learning more about your ghost writing assignments. Do you think you would write a post on that or can I contact you directly?

  18. It’s good when you have a partner who freaks out about different things than you do. I didn’t choose a husband for that reason, but it’s worked out well. Good job on replacing the lost gig. Being poor at failure is a good trait to have.

  19. Ben @ The Wealth Gospel says:

    Nice work! It’s definitely nice to have Greg supporting you along the way as well.

  20. Wow! Way to go! Particularly since you were able to turn it around after losing that lucrative contract earlier in the month.

  21. Nice, nice work! I’m going to have to read further into your freelancing posts. I’m really trying to figure out how I can take my part-time income to the next level = steady $3K each month.

  22. That is fantastic! I am just starting to look into freelancing a bit deeper so I will definitely check your link. Thanks

  23. Husbands can be awfully distracting! 🙂 Sorry to hear that you lost one of your gigs but it sounds like you bounced back quickly and onto bigger things. Congratulations on the Plutus nomination too!

  24. Congrats on another great month. It looks like you are still kicking some butt on that. Cheers!

  25. You are doing such a great job, Holly! Congrats on the income and the nomination. I hope we can meet at FinCon! See you there! 🙂

  26. Bummer about the writing gig, but way to hustle!

    Thanks for sharing, as always. You are much more brave than I 🙂

  27. I never doubted you would people lining up at your door or hustling them in after the budget cuts, good work on that and Plutus nomination.

  28. Well done Holly! I used to freak out as well when I lost contracts but if you keep hustling you’ll replace them and then some, every single time.

  29. Welcome back from your vacation! You were cutting it close on commenting, mine read at 8:36 am, BUT you could be in a different timezone. So maybe it was 6:36? Hmmmm.

  30. Hi Holly

    Just wondering how you organise your time to make your income? Do you work 9-5 from home or have set tasks to complete at different times?

    Also wondering how much you manage to actually make from this blog?

    1. I usually work 8-3 then a few hours on some evenings. It is really random but I would guess that I work 40-45 hours per week in total. My blog makes 1K-2K per month. It just depends.

  31. Sounds like you are doing pretty well creating those online income sources. Almost $6000 a month is nothing sot scoff at. Nice work! Way to hustle and find a new replacement income in the same month. That’s impressive.

  32. I keep thinking that I should definitely start a freelancing career. You’ve inspired me!

  33. Congrats on a great month! I really enjoy reading these income reports it’s very enlightening going “under the hood” and see how freelancers make their income. From a lot of hustling!

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