Blog Income Report November 2019

Here are some noteworthy things that happened in November:

This month was a unicorn: November is the month with the highest earning potential for food bloggers give or take. With that said, I expected my income to be higher than usual, but not THIS high. As grateful as I am for this, I must be honest and say that most of the reason this month was so good is because of ONE POST that went viral. In fact, this one post probably was responsible for making $1500 in November, crazy right? Obviously there is a huge upside to this because I made a lot of money, boosted my confidence and proved that something I worked hard on LAST YEAR paid off. The steady increase in my income makes me happy and a tad confused. This is because if it continues at this rate, I might have to hire a tax consultant at the end of this financial year for filing taxes. Despite this, I am happy because I am able to generate a great deal of traffic through my blogging. The confidence this gave me was truly needed because it proved to me that ANY post can become a unicorn but the chance of that happening is low if I don’t start cranking out more content. The downside is that as soon as Thanksgiving passed, my traffic dropped back down dramatically and so did my income. This was challenging and has made me look into using a blogger outreach service or similar to help increase my site traffic over the slower periods. Clarity comes from ACTION.
I hired help at home: In my last income report I talked about how I was looking for someone to come to the house for 10 hours a week so I could work. We are SO thankful to have found a wonderful girl that I completely trust with James. Not only is she great with him, but in her downtime she helps with tasks around the house. This is SO worth every penny and has allowed me to go to coffee shops to write posts (like I am right now) and also have time I can count on that is dedicated to growing this side hustle even though I am still finding my groove.
I boosted a post on Pinterest: Last year I experimented with boosting one of my Christmas posts to see if it would help get traffic. It definitely did help, but I really wasn’t ready to spend the money that would bring in a LOT of traffic. This year I paid $5 a day for 2 weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. I still have to dig into the analytics to see how much it helped, but I am certain it did play a part in this months success.
What am I going to do with the extra money? Well, because we have hired help at home, my business is technically in the red which means there actually isn’t any “extra” money. However, I know how valuable it is to invest in other tools even when it’s risky. For this reason I am investing in a better keyword research tool and will also have someone to help me write a couple optimized recipe posts per month so I can save time and crank out as much content as possible. I have had a friend recommend putting some money into Bitcoin and checking out Bitcoin Trader Betrug articles just to see how I can do it carefully. It could help with bringing in some extra money for the business, so I’ll have to look into that. There are so many different cryptocurrencies out there to explore now, which is why so many people use the crypto gambling websites to test the waters. Ethereum Casino websites, Bitcoin gambling sites… the list goes on. I’m not sure where to begin, but I know I’m excited!
Partnerships: I said yes to a few partnerships and sponsored posts this month. I wasn’t expecting to, but I really wanted to flex this muscle to see if it drove people away and if it’s something I am comfortable with. When it comes down to it, I really am not comfortable with sponsored work because of the stigma attached to it which I TOTALLY understand. With that said it has made the work I take on have even more strict standards going forward as to not lose trust or respect with my readers.

With all of that said, this was the push I needed to . . .

EDIT: IM NOT SURE IF I MADE THE RIGHT DECISION AND MAY STILL KEEP THE CHEF BIZ BUT I AM KEEPING THIS CONTENT UP HERE UNTIL I FIGURE IT OUT

Make the leap into Full Time Blogging

But wait, there is a lot I need you to know. The main thing is that I am in no way, shape or form financially ready to do this. I struggled A LOT with this decision for a few reasons:

Obviously I made a lot of money this month but it’s already returning to pre-unicorn month levels with absolutely no guarantee that it’ll ever be like that again.
I spent so much time and energy building my personal chef business in a brand new city from the ground up. I am so damn proud of myself and it has become a part of my identity. Leaving this behind was a TOUGH decision to make but ultimately taking this risk is the better option at this time.
I have a LOT less time to work on the blog. Just like every other mom, I am wondering why the hell I wasted SO much time before baby. I could have done so much more to get more content up and create resources. At this point I have 10-15 hours a week to work on the blog and it’s definitely not enough. However, I do know that as time goes on naps will get longer and sleeping will be extended with my little guy which means I will eventually be able to gradually work on things more.
I felt guilty. I have a KNOWN income source as a chef that has done pretty well for me. And now I am winging it each month. It’s not usually how I operate, but I think it’s time.

Ultimately, it is the best decision when all things are considered because:

I get to be home as much as possible and not miss a moment watching James grow.
There is unlimited earning potential.
Success begets success. Having this be my full-ish time gig is important because for once in my work life it will be the ONLY thing I focus on. I’ve spent so much time over the last couple years being ok at 4-5 things and not really good at 1-2 things. Even though being a jack of all trades can be a good thing, I found that it was actually hindering my success.
I was burnt out on personal chef-ing. I absolutely LOVE my clients and I owe them so much. However, I feel more like myself when I can be creative making many different kinds of recipes while also continuing to learn things I am obsessed with like keyword research, better photography and becoming a PROFESSIONAL at this.
Mike is separating from the military in September which means that if he gets a great job offer that isn’t in Charleston, we will be moving! We don’t know exactly if this will happen but it is more likely than not. For this reason, it seems like the best idea for me to spend that time investing in a business that will travel along with me rather than one I may have to leave behind anyway only to start all over again.

I just want to thank everyone who has been along for the ride thus far. I pride myself on being 100% transparent about this journey and will continue to be. Like I said, I have no idea what is going to happen but it’s been a while before I felt that feeling where anything was possible and I am HERE for it!

The only thing that will change is that I will be cranking out even more content. I’ll make some great stuff, I’ll make some things that will flop. I will make things that some of you will love and some of you will hate. I’ll have a great string of photos and some shitty ones while I am learning and trying.

All of this is part of growth.

Old ways won’t open new doors

A note on the metrics below: All of this is income that was MADE in November. I don’t actually see all payment for this money for about 2-3 months depending on the company paying me.