Food Blogging

Blog Income Report September 2019

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Blog Income Report September 2019 : Find out how I made $1626.35 through my blog with various strategies. 

At the time of writing this, I am nearly 4 weeks postpartum and my life just EXPLODED.  I knew having a newborn and adjusting to being a mom would be hard but there are so many other things I never expected.  More on that another time . . . 

I will say that about 2 weeks after, I found myself missing work which is a testament to my personality and also says a lot about how I will get things done going forward. 

Blog Income Report September 2019

Here are some noteworthy things that happened in September:

  • I HAD A BABY: Baby James Michael Skinner was born on September 17th after 36 hours of labor turned into a C-Section.  Life has been a whirlwind trying to learn this little guy and trying to adjust to life as parents. Recovery has been difficult for me and my emotions are all over the place still, but I recognize that this is the absolute hardest part of parenthood and we’re both trying to get through it but also enjoy it at the same time. 
  • I thought about work early: Before I gave birth, I told myself that I would allow myself ample time to not think about work because I had no idea what kind of person I was going to be.  Turns out, I am exactly who I thought I was. Taking care of a newborn is exhausting mentally and physically. My brain is 100% on James and it’s hard to focus on much else.  Thinking about work in those tiny blips of time I have has actually allowed me to take a break from the mental part of having a child but actually getting to work has been a challenge.  I don’t have a set time or set schedule to do ANYTHING right now and that’s been hard to handle mentally and emotionally for me since I was in FULL control of everything I did just one month prior. Luckily I did schedule out October and November, but I am hoping that I will be on more of  a schedule so I can get some things in line for December. 
  • In the meantime, I’m comparing: Being on social media even MORE is something I did anticipate since a lot of the time I only have one hand to do anything and because it’s my only connection to the outside world.  The problem with this is that I get to see what everyone else is up to and get to see them working and doing the things I can’t do and succeeding etc. No matter how many times I tell myself I need to “stay in my own lane” and “what’s meant for me won’t pass me”, it’s not that easy to believe!  To be honest, I almost decided not to even post blog income reports anymore because I feel embarrassed about where I am at but I feel like this journey is a valuable piece of my life and seeing the ups and downs will let me and others see how far I’ve come and also how the journey is very much NOT linear. 
  • SEO Rankings Dropping:  Now for some practical stuff,  the more content you have, the better chance you have of it ranking.  I’ve had just a few heavy hitter posts carry me through and now with the new google update, the rankings are dropping pretty fast!  This makes me nervous because I was hoping that Q4 would be a big growth spurt for me, but it may only be keeping me afloat at the same level.  Again, more content will help this, but obviously it’s not something I can do right now. 
  • Partnerships: I find it so crazy how brands reach out to other bloggers.  Some bloggers get reached out to by the SAME brands and others are completely different. In the last month and a half I’ve gotten reached out to by brands that I really don’t see others get reached out to.  Just goes to show you that everyone is different and everyone’s VALUE is different.  While there’s a lot I turned down because it wasn’t in line my life, I also did accept some awesome partnerships I never thought I would get! I really want to get comfortable with this concept and in a way that suits everyone involved.  AKA I don’t ever want to be an annoying commercial and I hope any of you would tell me if that’s the case! 
  • The Future of This Blog: before I gave birth, I came up with a plan to really ramp up this side of my business in every way. I have SO many ideas and so many creative things I want to share and really do feel renewed. I feel truly blessed to have an income source that I can work on from home doing something I love.  At this point I feel like my personal chef business will end up being the side hustle and the blog will be the main focus for a few different personal reasons that I will share at a later date. In the meantime, mom life is at the forefront and I will have to just accept that whatever I get done is icing on the gluten free cake. 

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

Blog Income Report September 2019 | Metrics

Food/Recipe posts that were created in September: 2+

Amazon Affiliate Income: $111.41

 Mediavine Income: $1214.94

Recipe Development Projects Paid Out: $250

Virtual Assistant Work: $50

Hours spent working on the blog: 2-5 but barely

Blog Income Report September 2019 Total: $1626.35

 

Valerie Skinner is a Whole30 approved personal chef & recipe developer that bridges the gap between healthy eating and busy lives by providing simple healthy meals and recipes for you and your family.Charleston Personal Chef Thyme and JOY

Lets Connect!

Check out my Podcast: Food Conversations

Email me: thymeandjoy@gmail.com

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Blog Income Report August 2019

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Blog Income Report August 2019 : Find out how I made $1729.33 through my blog with various strategies. 

blog income report august 2019

As I write this I am 39 weeks pregnant, it’s Labor Day and there has been a mandatory evacuation in South Carolina for hurricane Dorian which we are not leaving for. August was a really weird month for me!  I worked my personal chef job for the first 3 weeks while blogging in between and I have been “off” since the 23rd on maternity leave. 

I spent a LOT of time on the blog this month but all of that work is going to show up sporadically through the next couple months.  In essence it didn’t really feel like I was doing much because my traffic and engagement was MUCH lower than previous months.  I admit to feeling a bit rushed and burnt out!

I’m hoping it will pick up again since people are cramming in last minute summer adventures and school starts in random parts of the month, but we shall see!

Blog Income Report August 2019

Here are some noteworthy things that happened in August:

  • I hit a wall with photography: I’m pretty unhappy with my photography as of late. I was looking through old posts to update and I found that some of my iphone photos were way better! I’m not sure if I’m just burnt out from rushing to get some recipes done or if I need to invest in more props and surfaces but it’s really frustrating.  My plan IS to invest in better stuff after the first couple months of newborn life.  I also am going to hire a professional to come over and show me exactly where I should be setting up my surfaces and what settings to use etc.  I don’t want to just be good at this, I want to be great because I really want to set myself apart and count on this skill for the future.  I’m hoping by taking some time off and using my camera to photography my baby that I will be re-inspired. 
  • Engagement is DOWN: I am aware that this is super ironic, especially since I am the first to take public social media breaks, but this one kind of bit me in the ass. Obviously instagram favors ACTIVITY and that is not what I was keeping up with at all.  When I made my return I had lost over 400 followers AND my engagement went down horribly.  I get the engagement of someone with 7k followers and I have 18.5k.  It’s hard to say if this matters or not. There are SO many others dealing with the same issue and I think it is largely to do with the fact that IG is making changes in order to push users to boost posts.  And since you could do it for $1 per day, so many others are doing it which proves them right. I’m going to keep on posting a mix of food and personal stuff regardless of what happens because it’s what I like doing, but it’s clear that most of my efforts need to be focused on the blog and SEO. 
  • I’m Addicted to My Phone: The above was so much more apparent to me because I became addicted to my phone again.  This time though, I am not beating myself up about it. I realized that I am going to be home A LOT in the next couple months with my baby and I have to be honest and say that being on my phone is going to be a part of me connecting to the outside world.  At first I was bitter about that, but I realized that there is nothing wrong with that.  After that short season, I WILL start having a routine again and I will be able to put my phone down more and focus more on life.  Until then, I am giving myself permission to give myself as much phone time as possible so long as it’s not messing with my brain. 
  • Ad Income Low:  Ok, so this is going to sound petty but my ad income this month was under $1000.  It was under by less than $20 but it kind of worried me. In my head I set a threshold of making a MINIMUM of $1000 on ads that really wanted to stick to for now on. This data is really interesting to me because now I see that summer really is way lower than usual, but I thought July was going to be worse.  I can’t wait to see what Q4 brings so I can plan for the future. 
  • And Speaking of The Future: I heard a powerful quote on a podcast that really stuck with me. If you can make $1000 a month doing something, you can make $10k a month doing that thing. It made me think about how much time I spend doing 4-5 different things “ok” instead of 1-2 really well.  I am ready to leave the scrappy start-up version of this blog behind and really start focusing on quality in all aspects.  I have a huge list of things I need to do when I am ready to turn this into a business that can support my share of the bills and more. I actually can’t wait to spend more quality time here and have some better valuable content in store.

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

Blog Income Report August 2019 | Metrics

Food/Recipe posts that were created in August: 8+

Amazon Affiliate Income: $68.79

 Mediavine Income: $988.59

Recipe Development Projects Paid Out: $500

Virtual Assistant Work: $50

Brand Partnerships: $122.15

Hours spent working on the blog: 15-20 per week

Blog Income Report August 2019 Total: $1729.33

 

Valerie Skinner is a Whole30 approved personal chef & recipe developer that bridges the gap between healthy eating and busy lives by providing simple healthy meals and recipes for you and your family.Charleston Personal Chef Thyme and JOY

Lets Connect!

Check out my Podcast: Food Conversations

Email me: thymeandjoy@gmail.com

Follow me on Instagram

Join my community on Facebook

See what I’m pinning on Pinterest

 

Blog Income Report July 2019 | Food Blog Side Hustle

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Blog Income Report July 2019 : Find out how I made $1754.04 through my blog with various strategies. 

It’s officially August!  That means we made it through the biggest traffic slump of the year.  I’m not sure exactly when things are going to pick back up, but I know that it’s sometime in August. 

I’m incredibly happy to report that despite the slump month, I have made the highest amount of money ever in ad revenue income which is a big deal.

Hopefully this will mean that Q4 results will make an even better impact because extra money during maternity leave sounds good to me! 

Blog Income Report July 2019

Here are some noteworthy things that happened in July:

  • July Work Flow: July was such a strange month for me when it came to work. Most of my personal chef clients were on vacation which meant I had a LOT of time at home to work. As much as this felt like a blessing, it was actually really hard to motivate myself to get ahead in the game. I have types of “work from home” days.  One is when I am developing and photographing recipes.  I will usually shop in the morning then get to work on about 3 recipes which seems to be my max of late.  Once all the development, shooting and dishes are done I am pretty SPENT and need a good old third trimester nap. I’ve learned that doing any other administrative work for the rest of the day is a bad idea. The other type of work from home day is purely from the laptop.  This is the day where I save all my photo editing, post drafting, social media scheduling and client menus for the week.  I’ve learned that to be the most productive for this, I actually need to be OUTSIDE of the house in a coffee shop because I find that by the end of the week I need that separation.
  • Working In the Third Trimester: I can’t deny things are getting a lot harder to handle.  At this point, it’s not that I don’t have the TIME to work on things, it’s that I don’t have the energy. Not only that, but cooking in a kitchen my belly has been bumping into the sink and counter CONSTANTLY and it’s harder to bend over do get dishes done etc. I also recently realized that I maybe have been putting way too much pressure on myself (shocker). The work I am doing right now with little energy is half to keep up with the present and half to schedule out 2 months worth of content for maternity leave.  In essence, I am trying to do DOUBLE the blog work with half the energy and it isn’t always easy.  I wonder how this will change when baby does arrive as if he comes later than expected, I may just keep slowly working into the next month until he arrives so I have that cushion.  The reality is, I do have enough saved for maternity leave even if I do absolutely nothing leading up to it. However, the future of personal chef clients and a possible move out of Charleston in fall of next year have me thinking it’s probably a better idea to continue to work on passive income streams while I can. 
  • Amazon: My amazon affiliate commission last month was one of the highest I’ve seen, but it had to do with someone making large purchase of OTHER things after clicking on something from my website.  It got me thinking about the product people clicked on MOST and it was a spice blend that linked to the shop page of someone else where I was making ZERO commission. So, I found a similar blend on amazon, changed the links to affiliate links and I truly believe that is why this commission was similar as I didn’t actually have any huge purchases this month, not even on this years Amazon prime days. 
  • Post Boost on Facebook: I made an additional $40 one day in ad revenue because my chicken pot pie recipe got shared by a big Facebook account.  This made me think a LOT.  If my website got that amount of traffic each day, I would be making double what I am right now on ads.  Part of me wishes I was in a space to double down on the things that are really working for me (SEO Research) but at the same time I have to remember there will eventually be time to focus on these things and I have to be patient. 
  • Social Media Update: Speaking of the above, being in front of large numbers for more traffic and more money is kind of a double edged sword.  It takes a lot of work to put yourself out there these days to GET high metrics and sometimes that means being sucked into the world of social media which includes the good and the bad.  Even though I have been taking a huge break on social media by instead posting personal content on my youtube channel. However, I would be lying if I said I hadn’t downloaded the IG app back on my phone and I’ve been doing a little scrolling here and there. Truth is, I still don’t know where I stand.  It has become SO much harder to build a following and I have been steadily losing 75-120 followers a MONTH and when I found that out, it hit me hard.  In order to keep building I have to keep giving MORE of myself and I haven’t quite figured out a way to do that without the app using ME instead of the other way around. I’ve reconciled with the fact that I will be on my phone a LOT in the next couple months while I am home taking care of a newborn and that is going to mean I will be on social media a lot more either looking at others stuff or beginning to post again.  Idk . . . I’m still confused!!
  • Partnerships: I did not make any money from partnerships this month, but I also wasn’t on stories to even promote any.  I do plan on placing another Thrive Market order before baby gets here and I did partner with a new company that I am trying out their stuff and love it so far.  I don’t count on these things at all because they are very up and down, but it may be something to really consider in the future. 

As far as August, my plan is to continue to work on scheduling out the next 2-2.5 months by creating some new content as well as updating old content.  If I continue into September then great, and if not I am ready to see what this new chapter brings! 

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

Blog Income Report July 2019 | Metrics

Food/Recipe posts that were created in June: 3

Amazon Affiliate Income: $103.93

 Mediavine Income: $1100.11

Recipe Development Projects Paid Out: $500

Virtual Assistant Work: $50

Brand Partnerships: $0

Hours spent working on the blog: 15-20 per week

Blog Income Report July 2019 Total: $1754.04

 

Valerie Skinner is a Whole30 approved personal chef & recipe developer that bridges the gap between healthy eating and busy lives by providing simple healthy meals and recipes for you and your family.Charleston Personal Chef Thyme and JOY

Lets Connect!

Check out my Podcast: Food Conversations

Email me: thymeandjoy@gmail.com

Follow me on Instagram

Join my community on Facebook

See what I’m pinning on Pinterest