First Income Report: How I Made My First $205.92

Welcome to my very first income report!

Let me just start out by saying that this was the hardest $200 I’ve ever had to work for.  Whew…I was starting to think that I would never see a penny from my blog.

If definitely wasn’t easy, but it will happen if you don’t give up.

I don’t plan on writing a monthly income report.  I am saving it for when I reach my goal of $10,000.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

So here goes…

My Blogging Background

I can hardly believe it’s been 2 years since I started my very first blog (RIP old blog) in March 2017.  The first couple of months of blogging were spent just trying to figure things out.  Everything was so foreign to me!

I managed to write maybe 10 articles that nobody read.  I didn’t even know you can get free stock photos online.  You know what I did the first week of blogging?  I went outside to take pictures of flowers to make stock photos.  Sigh – talk about being clueless.

Related: 6 Amazing Sites For Free Stock Photos

To be fair, I didn’t really blog consistently the first 2 years.  I was so frustrated and the thought of blogging was so daunting to me.  And before I knew it, it had been 8 months since I last logged into WordPress.

When I finally came back in March 2018, I was really gung ho and ready to give it my all.  I even paid someone to design my website for me.  It wasn’t expensive but you really do get what you pay for.

Oh did I mention I also hated my old blog name?

Related:  How to Come Up With the Perfect Blog Name

I even misspelled it a few times.  If I can’t even spell my own blog name, how can I expect anyone else to?

In August 2018, I decided to start this new blog,  but didn’t really work on it until mid-January 2019.   I still get frustrated – but slowly I’m getting better every day.

Blogging Goals For 2019:

My goals were very simple.  Make $100 by the first quarter and $1000 by the second quarter.  That was it.  I didn’t even have goals for the third and fourth quarters.

My second goal was to write 15 blog posts a month for the months of March, April, and May.  Already failed March and it doesn’t look like it will happen for April either.  Sometimes life just happens.

My First Income Report:  The Story

I need to tell you a story about this first.  Yes yes…another story.

My goal was just to make $100 first quarter and it didn’t even seem like it was going to happen.  But I was ok with it because I worked really hard on my blog most days after work.

I was doing everything suggested by big bloggers but nothing seemed to work for me.  Nothing I can do but to keep trying.

It takes 10,000 hours to master anything.  Give it time if you feel like nothing is working for you right now.

Then something amazing happened…

April 3^rd, I logged into one of the affiliate programs just to get the link and there it was $149.10.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.  It was 2AM and I thought maybe I wasn’t looking at it right.

I took a screenshot for proof.  You would not believe how excited I was.  Even more excited than seeing my very first paycheck many moons ago.

When I woke up in the morning, the first thing I did was trying to log in…oh you know…just to make sure it was still there.  BUT the link was broken and it kept redirecting me. 

Why oh why?!?!

April 4^th, I woke up and saw an email from PayPal.  I got paid!!!  I actually reached my goal in March, but I just didn’t know about it.  What a nice surprise!

…And just like that, I met my goal.

Blog Income Report Breakdown: $205.92

SiteGround: $50 | I host my blog using SiteGround.  I started out using Bluehost and had to switch to SiteGround after 2 short months.  I cannot recommend SiteGround enough.  You can read here why I switched from Bluehost to SiteGround.

Proofread Anywhere: $149.10 | I wrote an article on 30 online proofreading jobs and included a link for a free workshop.

Amazon: $0.21 | Money is money right?

iGain: $4.80 | This is an affiliate network program that will accept just about anyone.  If you’re a new blogger, definitely sign up for this.

ShareASale: $1.81 | ShareASale is another affiliate network program like iGain, but it offers different products such as NameCheap, Grammarly, etc.  Also great for new bloggers.

I had Google Adsense on my blog for a couple of days, but the ads looked so spammy.  I just didn’t think it was worth it at this point to have ads on my blog.

Blog Expenses: $0 for First Quarter

I didn’t spend any money on my blog this first quarter.  But here is the breakdown of my yearly expenses.

SiteGround: $5.95/month for GrowBig Plan | I seriously really love SiteGround and it starts at $3.95/month.  If you want to switch or looking to start a new blog, I suggest you sign up for the 3-year plan to lock in the introductory rate.  It will save you so much money down the road.

Tailwind: $105 per year | It takes a really long time to rank with Google and Pinterest is the next best thing when it comes to traffic.  In fact, most bloggers get their traffic mainly from just Pinterest.  Tailwind will do all the hard work for you.

Did you know that you’re only supposed to pin the same pin to the same board once every 4-6 months?  No way I can keep up with that by pinning manually.  You can get your FREE month now just to test it out.

Pinterest Traffic Avalanche: $197 one time course | I got this course last year and at $197, it was steep.  Especially since I hadn’t made any money.  But it’s worth every penny.

What I really like about the course is the lifetime access and they keep their course material up-to-date.  Their private Facebook support group is amazing.  Without the private Facebook group, I wouldn’t have known that Pinterest only wants you to pin the same pin to the same board once every 4-6 months.

Related:

• Bluehost vs SiteGround review: Which Web Host Made My Site Faster
• How to Start a Blog with SiteGround – for non-techies
• 10 Biggest Blogging Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Are You Struggling?

If you’re a new blogger and struggling to make money, the one thing I want you to take away from this post is that we’re all different, but if you keep at it – then you will succeed.

You have to believe it to make it happen.  Sometimes reading other people’s blogging income report really gives me that extra push to keep working on mine.  It’s hard not to feel frustrated and just want to give up – but don’t.

I know it’s easier said than done.  Most of us are dead tired after a long day of work on top of everything else, but you just have to make time for it.  Just 30 minutes to an hour a day will really add up.

Every time you want to give up, just take a mini-vacation from your blog.  It’s definitely ok.  I should know since I’ve taken many long vacations from it, but I’m still here and I’m still working on it.

If you haven’t started a blog yet, then you can click here to learn how to start one in less than 15 minutes.

Let me know in the comment below if you’re current making money and how long it took you!

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