It’s the March earnings report! As you know, it’s full-disclosure 2014 for me. Not only will I be breaking down how I spend my working hours each month, I’m also reporting exactly how much I profit from my creative business.
If you’re just joining me, click here to see how much I made in January and February and why I started sharing.
In 2010, my biggest goal was to be a work-at-home Mom. I’ve achieved it, and I want to be completely transparent about the details. I’m going to share with you exactly how much I make and list the ways in which I make it. Here goes!
In March 2014, I earned a net income of: $4,740.44
I start almost every discussion on money or building a rewarding creative business with full disclosure that I believe a multi-faceted business is a must. Therefore, in each monthly report, I’m going to list the source of my income from highest- to lowest-paying for that period. February’s sources of income were:
- The Build a Better Creative Business Course Spring 2014 Session
- Energy Shop Jewelry (screen-clipping above)
- My part-time work as Create Hype‘s editor
- Marketing Creativity’s Etsy shop, books and programs.
This month was a whopper! I made more in March than I have in January + February combined because of the Build a Better Creative Business course: basically I get paid up front for two months’ work. The challenge here will to be keeping up the production of the other aspects of my business (while adhering to the four-hour workdays) and bringing in another decent income for April. I’d like this to be a boost toward a higher salary for me rather than just an advance on next month’s pay. We’ll see how that works out next month.
Creative Business vs. Traditional Workplace
This month’s breakdown is going to be super fun for me! I made this comparison in the first month’s report, and because I love breaking down the numbers (and proudly showing them to my husband 
), I’m going to continue. By end year, I’ll be able to average out an official hourly wage for myself.
After I carefully calculated my working hours this month, I did some math. First off, minimum wage in my state is $7.25 per hour. Let’s say I went out looking and landed a really good job, doubling minimum wage at $14.50 per hour. Let’s even say that this job offered me flexible hours so that I was only ever working while my children were in school (35 hours per week).
Here’s what I make now …
$4,740.44 (March earnings after expenses and taxes) / 72 hours = $65.83 per hour
That’s roughly $1185.11 per 20-hour, work-at-home week (after taxes)
Vs. what I might make in the traditional workplace …
$14.50 x 35 hours = $507.50 per 35-hour week at a traditional job (before taxes)
For an estimated total of $1872 per month, $468 per week (after taxes)
Coming Up Next …
I get a lot of questions about how long and what it took to get to a steady monthly income with my creative business. I started the Energy Shop in 2010, and her glorious 4-year anniversary is coming up in May.
I’ve celebrated my success and shared my techniques and lessons learned here on Marketing Creativity over the last three and half years. The article that started my blog was titled, 450 Sales on Etsy in the First Three Months of Business: Here’s How. I write special posts every year in tribute to the Energy Shop’s anniversary.
In the first year I wrote, 1,000 Sales and Counting in My First Year of Business on Etsy.
By the second year, I had so much to say that I had to turn my anniversary post into a 3-part series!
What I’ve Learned about Attitude after 2 Years of Business and Thousands of Sales
What I’ve Learned about Marketing … (This article has been shared more than 2,000 times on Pinterest!)
And finally, What I’ve Learned about Perspective …
As you can see by the number of links, I love to talk shop! And as time passes, I find that I have more and more to say on the subject. In honor of the Energy Shop’s third anniversary, I wrote 31 posts!
{31 Days to} Build Your Own Creative Business
To go along with full-disclosure 2014, I’m going to make the 4th anniversary post a complete breakdown of everything I did over the last four years to get to a regular and reliable monthly income from my creative business. Look for it in May! Until next time and all the best.
Thank you for sharing “hard numbers”, it is incredibly helpful to see someone “put their money, where their mouth is”.
Thank you so much for continuing to share your income information. You are breaking ground by doing this and it encourages the rest of us that it can be done with some hard work and a little time.
All of your generous sharing is very much appreciated.
Hi Lisa,
It’s incredibly brave of you to share your real earnings – and as Gillian said above, very encouraging!
Congratulations, and Good Luck with your 4th year!!
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for sharing your numbers! I’m curious – you always post your net income – would you mind sharing your gross? Or approximately how much is expenses vs. income? I’d love to learn more about how to keep more of the cash since I feel like regardless of the gross, my net is always so low.
Hi Victoria,
I don’t track my expenses spreadsheet-style – I pay out what I need to each week, and then pay myself, so it would take a lot more time to do the reports with gross – expenses, but I am considering doing it that way in the future. Thanks!