Hey you! I’ve got a LOT to share in this month’s income report, and I’m really excited to dig in. During September, I held a big e-course launch, hosted a challenge, went to an amazing conference, and had a personal breakthrough (after months of feeling depressed).

Let’s dig in. 🙂

Why do I do income reports?

I started doing income reports as a way to be more transparent about my business and shed some light on ways that you can grow your own online business, too. I want to show you both what worked for me and what didn’t so that you can apply those lessons to your own dreams. My overall hope is that my income reports inspire or inform you to create and grow your own online biz.

Let’s do this!

September Income

• E-Course Sales: $162,774
• Affiliate Income: $11,091

Total Income: $173,865

**This amount was edited after the post was published to incorporate affiliate income that was paid to the wrong account. Just FYI why the number increased. 🙂

September Expenses

• PayPal + Stripe Fees: $5,181
• Gusto Payroll Software: $28
• Facebook Ads: $11,308
• Independent Contractors: $8,659
• Bookkeepers: $529
• MotionMail: $10
• Zapier: $20
• Infusionsoft*: $502
• SamCart: $997
• Health Insurance: $508
• Office rent, utilities, + insurance: $1,290
• Google Apps*: $17
• Olark: $17
• Teachable*: $299
• Meals + Entertainment: $119
• Business Travel: $205
• Legal Expenses: $295
• Tribe Course: $1,997
• Haute Chocolate Stock Photos: $75
• Wistia: $225

Total Expenses: $32,281

(Anything with an * next to it is an affiliate link)

Net Profit: $141,584

Payroll to Melyssa: $8,611

So what worked? And how was September? Let’s chat.

I re-launched Pinfinite Growth + Hosted a Challenge

Woohoo! This was the third launch of Pinfinite Growth, and we were able to nearly triple what our revenue was from the previous launch we did in March.

Pinfinite Growth is an evergreen product, meaning it’s always available for purchase on my course site. But during these re-launches, we add on extra bonuses and do more promotional activities in order to encourage people to sign up during our launch window.

One thing that we did for this launch, which was new to us, was hosting a free challenge called the Triple Your Traffic Challenge. This challenge gave registrants a tip each day for about a week on how they can use Pinterest to get more traffic to their website.

We had over 9,000 people take the challenge, which was INCREDIBLE to me (and truly unexpected). Originally, my goal was 5,000, but after we passed that in the first couple days, I bumped the goal to 10,000. We didn’t quite reach that new goal, but I’m really happy with how the challenge went. 🙂

One thing that I really liked about the challenge is that in each email we sent, we encouraged people to join my facebook group, Blog + Business BFFs.

I posted a daily thread within that group where people could talk about the lesson they received that day (from the challenge) or get feedback on what they created. There was a TON of engagement this way.

I assumed most challenge participants were already in my Facebook group, but we ended up gaining over 5,000 new Facebook group members during September, which is about double what we normally gain in a single month.

And of course, the challenge did help us to convert people into customers (a majority of people who purchased Pinfinite Growth during the launch had also taken the challenge), but we were happy that it provided free value to people, too. 🙂

Working with Project Managers

For the first time, I hired a Project Manager to help me with my launch. A Project Manager is someone who takes your entire launch strategy and divides every tiny task up into each day before and during your launch.

They also follow up with you and your team to make sure things are getting finished and going smoothly.

Honestly, hiring my project managers has been one of the BEST investments I’ve made this year, and now they’re working with me on a monthly basis because I feel like I’d fall apart without them. LOL.

In the past, I was able to do everything myself, which worked out just fine because I was doing less complicated launches. But now that I’m adding more and more to my launch strategy and timeline, it started to become unmanageable for me to do alone, especially because my team during launches can be up to 8 people (and I just don’t have the time to manage everyone and still get my own tasks done, ya know what I mean?).

I’m always conscious of the additional investments I tell you about because I don’t want you to feel like you NEED a Project Manager right now to have a successful launch or business. So, I, of course, didn’t hire a PM right away (and really didn’t need to until this year), and don’t think you need one in the beginning, either.

Instead, you may want to try doing it yourself, or training your VA to be a project manager for you.

Either way, I HIGHLY recommend using Asana to organize your tasks. Asana is a project management software (which has a really generous free plan that I use). I actually just checked my PM’s blog and she has a post all about using Asana (it includes a helpful video, too), so you should probably check that out. 🙂 Score!

And when planning your launch, make a list of EVERYTHING that needs to get done (including how many times). Then, you can start divvying it up into specific days and deadlines.

For an e-course launch, some things you may want to include tasks for are:

• Creating or updating your course
• How many social media promos you’ll do (and which dates they’ll be on)
• Any pre-launch content, like blog posts, a challenge, etc
• Your email sequence (and any copywriting that needs to happen)
• Creating or updating your sales page
• Creating your webinar (and any webinar-related tasks, like registration pages and onboarding emails)
• Graphics, copy, and strategy for any ads you plan to run
• Reaching out to past students for testimonials
• …etc.

There’s a lot that goes into planning a launch, so we usually begin creating and planning out the strategy and tasks about 2 months before the launch is set to begin. That is usually plenty of time to make sure everything is finished with room to spare. 🙂

And another sidenote (because I hate the thought of overwhelming anyone)…

My first launch included barely any of those things I listed above. I think I sent out, like, 5 emails over the span of a month, hosted one spontaneous webinar, and had a sales page. It was much more lowkey, but we still made sales.

So, start smaller and add new tasks and strategies with each launch you do. Or don’t. Whatever. It’s your business, after all. 🙂

Attended Summit of Greatness + Had a Personal Breakthrough

At the end of September, I attended Lewis Howes’ conference, Summit of Greatness. I’ve known of Lewis Howes for a long time and have dabbled in his content and webinars, but had no idea what I was in store for at this conference!

It was more of a personal development conference, with an entrepreneurial undercurrent. I truly LOVED it. The conference seemed to attract positive, open-minded, and driven individuals, so the best part for me was getting to meet the other participants.

On the second day, I chose to venture off by myself during lunch-time so that I could walk to CVS, buy a notebook and pen, and find a quiet bench somewhere so that I could spill out all the new feelings and ideas I was having.

Don’t you love those moments? Where you feel a little closer to your core?

The conference also made me realize something: I’m a lot more extroverted than I used to be. And I mean that in the “where I derive energy from” sense.

This conference was probably the happiest I’ve felt all year — largely because I was surrounded by amazing people all day, for several days. I spend a lot of time at home alone, and over the past few months I had been feeling a little depressed, listless, and lost because of that lack of interaction.

Sometimes I would ask myself hypothetically, “What would Melyssa do/say in this situation? What does Melyssa believe?” And those questions were hard for me to answer, which was a strange feeling — like I was disconnected from my core.

But the Summit of Greatness really brought me back to myself. And it also reminded me just how important relationships are to me and that I need to make a larger effort to get out and meet people.

So, after the conference, I started researching Meetup.com groups. I reached out to people I knew of online in order to meet up in person. I signed up for conferences and events. I spoke at a conference, too. And I’m picking up new hobbies.

I feel GREAT about this shift and journey to more balance and relationships.

So, my question for you: Do you ever feel unmotivated in your business?

What if it had nothing to do with your business itself, and everything to do with the lack of balance you have?

I know the word “balance” is thrown out a lot, but my definition in this instance would simply be “being intentional about having a life outside of your business.”

A great tip I gleaned from my friend Jadah is to SCHEDULE your “me-time” or the things that bring you balance (like hanging out with friends or getting a massage). Put it in your planner. Add a time that you’ll do it. Make it non-negotiable.

The problem that Jadah is combatting is the fact that we often say, “I should hang out with friends more,” but then we don’t put intentional effort into making it happen. So, by consciously adding it to our planners, it’s more of a “to do list” item that we know we need to do.

I would also add that if you’re ever feeling this way (tired, unmotivated, listless), then it’s time to reevaluate how you spend your time when you’re not working. What do you do in evenings?

Is it something that recharges you (like taking a yoga class or seeing a friend) or is it something that drains you (like watching TV)? I’m all for a little TV, but I think it’s important to carve out other ways to relax, too.

This is all something I’m learning and taking action on right now, as well. It’s a journey, of sorts, but such a powerful one to realize and be on.

Here’s how you can take action:

1. Plan out ALL of your launch tasks in Asana in advance.

It doesn’t matter if you’re launching a self-watering plant pot or an online course. You’ll have tasks to do before your launch, and Asana is a great place to organize them to make sure you’re getting everything done and staying on track.

2. Evaluate whether your life needs more balance or intention. 

How do you spend your non-work hours? Do you have non-work hours or do you just keep working if you have nothing else planned for the day? (I am super guilty of that at times).

Do you need to spend more time with friends or finding random, new events to attend?

Are you “present” in your life? When you’re working, are you feeling guilty about not spending time with your family? When you’re spending time with your family, are you feeling guilty about not working?

How can you add more balance and intention?

Got any questions? Comments? Insights? I’m all ears! Let’s chat down below.

p.s. I also have a private Facebook group where I’d love to chat with you and answer your Qs! Click here to join.