ELENA PETERS | MIDLIFE BLOGGER

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Welcome to my February 2019 blogging income report. This post will show you how I made money online last month. I will go over what I did, what worked and what didn’t and any plans/goals I have moving forward next month.

Honestly, February personally was an awful month for me. I was supposed to go to Florida for the entire month. I was so looking forward to meeting up with some bloggers down south too.

Unfortunately, both my step-son and my father were hospitalized the day before we were supposed to leave. I spent the whole month firstly visiting them in the hospital and then the remainder of the month, taking care of them and taking them to follow-up doctor’s appointments. Heading into March, neither one of them is 100% yet but they are getting better.

So needless to say, I’ve done very little blog work this month. I am so thankful that my income did keep rolling in. This is why I love blogging so much. It allows me to look after my family or take a break and not have to worry about a boss getting angry or bills that need paying.

If you are a current reader or subscriber to my blog, you may be wondering why I have decided to publish an income report. Honestly, the answer is two fold.

Firstly, I am notoriously bad at keeping my financial reports for my blog up to date. In December 2018, I had to go through the entire year and prepare statements for my accountant in anticipation of filing my income taxes.

What a headache that was! I am hoping income reports will force me to stay on top of money going in and out so that next year I won’t have to spend a whole week gathering information. Not to mention, avoid all the moments of, “What the heck was that for?”.

Secondly, I know there are a lot of income report posts from bloggers around the web. It can be really dis-heartening as a midlife blogger when all the real money makers in the online community seem to be millennials or mommy bloggers.

I want to show, specifically to women over 50, that you can start late, make money blogging and do it in your own unique way.

Midlife bloggers have so much work and life experience to offer to each other and younger bloggers.

Remember, we are the generation that brought home the bacon and fried it up in a pan. We can do anything!

Past Income Reports:

• How I Made $4292.77 Blogging In January 2019
• How This Midlife Blogger Makes $3000/month Without Blogging About Blogging

I know you have probably heard this from me before but I absolutely love blogging. In fact, I mentally divide my life into two parts: before blogging and after blogging.

Working full-time for someone else seems like such a long time ago to me. I don’t know how I did it. I do recall being stretched for time and stressed a lot.

Life is awesome now that I am my own boss. One of my big goals for 2019 is being financially able to let my husband retire early. Life is too short.

Both my husband and I have lost a parent in the past year and that has only made it abundantly clear that we must live life to it’s fullest.

I am sure looking back at when you were in your twenties, you imagined your fifties to be settled and financially stable.

In reality, I didn’t meet any of those expectations when I hit fifty. Not. Even. Close.

But my life post starting a blog is getting there. I actually love my job plus I don’t feel tied down to it which I guess, is better than anything I could have dreamed of.

And showing other midlife women how to follow their passion AND make money too is definitely the cherry on the top.
 
 

Haven’t started your blog yet? What are you waiting for? Follow my tutorial here.

 
Now before I get into the details of my income, I want to give you a little bit of my blogging journey background.

If you are new to my blog and blogging, I don’t want you to think that this was some sort of overnight success. Conversely, if you have been blogging for awhile, I want you to feel inspired to keep going. Success comes from consistency and I dare say, endurance. I am proof of that.

I originally started blogging for someone else’s blog in October of 2014. I found it fun and supportive. Especially since the blog was in the mental health niche.

Eventually, I took a leap of faith and started my own blog along the same genre but from the very specific point of view as a spouse of someone who suffered from bipolar disorder. I no longer have that blog. Since my husband has been stable for many years (knock on wood), I found it hard to write content for it and shut it down.

Because I was so addicted to blogging, I started, wait for it…two more blogs!

Hence, this blog and makingMIDLIFEmatter™ were born.

These two blogs allow me to indulge in both my passions: teaching women over 50 to make money online and sharing tips for living your best life in your second half.

I know even that short ramble makes it look like I had a straight line to success and was confident in everything I was doing. Far from it.

I have learned a lot over the past 4 years. More from my mistakes than anything. For a long time, it seemed I would take one step forward only to take two steps back. I second guessed myself all the time and thought about quitting a lot.

I am so glad that I didn’t!

Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint.

My blogging income for February 2019

 
I earned $4583.61* blogging before expenses for all of my blogs combined.

*This amount reflects money received.

In other words, deposited into my banking account. This is an important distinction to make because some earnings are paid 60 days out. A majority of this income was actually “earned” in December.

If you are a fan of income reports, be aware of which kind of income is being reported, “earned” or deposited. I find reporting the money I have received as authentic because believe it or not, “earned” can change for many reasons. Especially with affiliate income as product can be returned and commissions accordingly adjusted down.

I have to admit that every time I add up my actual income received, I am shocked. Never in a million years when I began blogging did I think I would make any money from it. And once I decided to start monetizing my blogs, it felt like I had to work so hard for every dollar earned.

But I have to tell you, making money blogging is like a snowball. It does pick up steam. So if you are struggling to make a $100/month right now, just keep going. Keep learning. Keep tweaking. Keep blogging. It will pay off if you are willing to put in the work and not quit.
 

Breakdown for February 2019

INCOME
These are the sources of my February income:

• Display Advertising – $4105.05
• Sponsored Posts – $50
• Affiliate Income:
  • Bluehost (check out my tutorial on how to start a blog) – $200
  • Amazon – $112.39
  • Misc. Other Affiliate Programs – $116.17

TOTAL $4583.61

 
EXPENSES
My total expenses for the month came to $1130.56*. Whoa! I know right?

This month was again high because I did have to hire a few ghost writers to keep up with posting in February. It is so important to keep your posting schedule, even when real life rears it’s ugly head. That is why you should create a content calendar and have your posts ready to go months in advance.

My expenses regularly include VA’s, consultations, courses, renewals, hosting, as well as business tools I use daily like ConvertKit, Tailwind and stock photography.

Since I am self-employed, I also put away a percentage of my income for taxes.

*My expenses may be higher than some other bloggers report but honestly, I would rather spend money building my business than pay more taxes.
 

What worked on the blog in February 2019

One of my big wins this month was keeping up my posting schedule even though I literally had no time (or the mindset) to focus on my blogs.

Also, the e-book I was working on in January is done, edited and I did manage to get the trip-wire set up. I am very happy how it came out and I am getting positive feedback.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to promote it as much as I would have liked. If you subscribe to my email list, you will see my tripwire in action.

Creating my own products I hope will help diversify my income and hopefully stabilize it during slow traffic months. I hope to start seeing some revenue from this income stream in the coming months.

Since a majority of my income is dependent on display advertising, pageviews are extremely important to me at the moment. Keeping up with a posting schedule even though I was otherwise occupied with family has helped keep my traffic up.
 

What didn’t work on the blog in February 2019

Basically…I didn’t work in February very much at all! It flew by didn’t it? I am hoping that my family members continue to improve health wise in March so that I can get back to a more stable blogging schedule.

But if real life continues to get in the way, I won’t worry because I have a very understanding boss, ME!
 
February Posts You May Have Missed:

• 7 Ways To Visually Improve Your Blog
• The Benefit of “Fast Fail” Blogging
• The Difference Between A Blog Coach And Strategist
• How I Made $4292.77 Blogging In January 2019

Goals for my blogs for 2019

1. I really want to capitalize on my traffic and increase my income through affiliates. I really feel like I am leaving money on the table. That is why I purchased Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing at the end of December 2018. I am zipping through the course. I am learning tons and will begin implementing the strategies as I go through the course a second time. I have a quick/slow process for tackling courses. I find that the accelerated first go through gives me a great overview and direction while the second go through helps me then focus on concentrated action steps.
2. I did increase my subscribers in February by 128 which is huge to me. I also created some automated email sequences. I hope to continue to create opt-ins and sequences because I love putting thing on auto! It makes life so much easier. Especially when life gets in the way.
3. Bloggers continue to love my blog journal printables! I will be adding more printables soon. One of my goals for 2019 is to bring all of my printables together for a complete blogging journal ebook.
4. I have done better in February income wise only because of the work I put into my blogs in December 2018. I continue to plan my posts with an editorial calendar and that has helped loads this month as I couldn’t really create any new content. My goal is to have 3 months worth of posts ready at any given moment.
5. Updating old posts is an ongoing process it seems. It has so many benefits and I hope to go through all of them in the next six months.

 
Overall, February 2019 was a really great month for me in terms of income.

How was yours? Are you earning a blogging income?

I hope you found this post inspiring but if you find it lacking or need more clarity on any of the content, please do not hesitate to comment or send me an email.

Here’s to a prosperous 2019 for all of us!

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