Welcome to my monthly online income report for September 2020! Each month I share how much I make from my part time online content creation side hustle selling digital products and making videos about our personal finances on my YouTube channel.

income reports pennies not perfection

Each month here on the blog I go into more detail about what I earned from online endeavors like this personal finance blog, my YouTube channel, and my Etsy shop. These are all things I started as a hobby making no more so it’s fun now to earn an income from them!

I like sharing real numbers to inspire myself and others who want to earn money online. I also value transparency which this report allows me to give my audience when they consume my content.

Growing my online income has helped me achieve financial goals like paying off debt faster! I have used all of my income from these endeavors to pay off debt and helped eliminate $43,000 in loans.

It’s been a lot of work in terms of a side hustle but I’ve enjoyed both earning income and helping people by sharing what we’ve done financially. Earning more money can sometimes be the key to succeeding financially and after having lots of job instability this year I know that it’s the key to my sanity. I never want to rely on just one income.

Online Income Report

Here are the main income sources broken down by what I earned for the month. I’ve included referral links to each if you want to join and make money too!

I’m reviewing my online income earned for the month of September 2020 from my YouTube and printables ventures! You can check out last month’s online income report here.

Advertising Income – $2,478.97

Affiliate Marketing Income – $607.26

Product Sales Income – $310.00

  • Etsy Sales
  • Website Sales

Other Sources – $105.00

  • Patreon

Total Online Income: $3,501.23

This is the amount earned for the month before any fees, expenses, or taxes.

I don’t keep all of it it and at least 25% will be gone for taxes before it hits my bank account. I also won’t be paid all of it in the month it is earned since each source pays out at different times. I do these reports based on what I earned in a month versus what was received because it inspires me most to grow the income created.

Expenses List

As I mentioned, I don’t keep all of the money earned each month. Besides paying taxes on that income I also have expenses to run this online business. There are multiple expenses I’m now paying for each month:

All of these are minimal but they do add up so I still keep an eye on reducing expenses so that my income will keep growing.

Online Income Report Thoughts

Wow, wow, wow! My online income surpassed my previous month record by several hundred dollars! To say I’m blown away would be an understatement.

This month I really had some videos do well and a lot of my older content was boosted a bit as well. The result was my ads earning was much higher than in previous months.

The fact that it seems so easy to make videos and boost that ad revenue to amazing new levels makes me want to double down on it because it’s working. I have a huge problem with shiny object syndrome but when something is working… I should do more of that! Right now?

Advertising revenue on my Youtube videos is WORKING.

Popular Content

Obviously YouTube content is performing the best right now and since I like to look at what worked in terms of content each month, here are my most popular videos, posts, and products!

The most popular old content on my channel was:

The new content I published included:

The new content I published on my website was:

The most popular products I sold this month:

I definitely made more YouTube videos this past month which was helpful for advertising revenue, but most were community focused and not likely to have long term earning potential. This is something I need to focus on more when I’m working on new content.

What I’m Working On Next

I have been continuing to work on a few different priorities growing income sources and I even added a new one this month too!

Creating More Videos

Like I mentioned earlier, it makes the most sense to double down on what is working the best and that is videos on YouTube. Both channels have seen an increase in the income they are making so I’d like to continue making videos for both channels for the next couple of months.

This means ignoring other projects I’d like to do but I think the wisest course of action is to work on what works. So I’ll be doing that!

Recommended Online Biz Resources

As my income continues to grow I want to share some of the resources and products I use to make it happen. These will include affiliate links where applicable but I love recommending them because I personally use them all myself!

TubeBuddy – Before using this tool I manually did so much work but now I’m able to bulk edit videos, research keywords for SEO and set up all my videos for long term success. TubeBuddy has been the best tool I’ve used for managing and growing my YouTube account. It’s got multiple price level plans so you can grow as your channel grows. Try out TubeBuddy for free.

Canva – Canva is one of the best free editing programs where you can create a digital products and the paid version is even better with bonus features that help take your work to the next level. I use it for creating all my Youtube thumbnails, my social media posts and my digital products! Try creating with Canva.

Tailwind is the tool I’m using to grow my account and reach on Pinterest. Bringing in consistent traffic from Pinterest boosts any business and Tailwind allows me to schedule content and get results without spending all my time there. It also automatically pins at the best time for engagement and reach for major traffic growth. Get a free trial of Tailwind here.

Why Share An Online Income Report

I’m sharing my online income reports as a YouTuber, digital product creator, and blogger to show people that it is possible to make money online in a non-sleazy way that helps people.

Lots of people want to know how much small YouTube creators make with videos and if you can make money from a small audience online. Fellow YouTubers want to know how I make money with affiliate marketing and digital products not just ad revenue because they know it is hard to survive on YouTube ad income.

Income reports allow me to share what I’m doing with Etsy and YouTube while building my online income so other creators can benefit and it lets me be fully transparent with my audience about how much I am making.

It’s amazing that we can earn money creating and sharing content online.

Previous Online Income Reports

If you’re interested in past income reports, you can see all of them here:

As you can see from past income reports, my online income in the first few months of 2020 trended much higher than my income last year. The growth is not viral or explosive but it has moved up and is consistently over $2,00 each month.

I’ve been consistently earning $2,000 a month now which is far beyond my original goal of earning $600 per month with my YouTube channel.

I like sharing these numbers to show small YouTubers and other content creators what is possible without a huge audience. While that would be amazing, it is possible to still earn income as a small channel and blog.

Mary

Mary is the founder of Pennies Not Perfection where she teaches how to make online income to build wealth and gain freedom. She quit her day job in 2021 after she doubled her salary.

Mary's favorite free financial tool is Personal Capital. She uses their free tools to track investments, grow her net worth and work toward to financial freedom.

Her favorite investment platform is M1 Finance, where she built a custom portfolio for free with no fees. She shares her portfolio growth and savings progress every month on YouTube.