{"id":65308,"date":"2014-06-09T16:50:38","date_gmt":"2014-06-09T16:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/incomeschool.com\/?p=406"},"modified":"2014-06-09T16:50:38","modified_gmt":"2014-06-09T16:50:38","slug":"incomereport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/incomeschool.com\/incomereport\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Earned $505,813.50 from My Blog in 1 Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"chalkBoard-graph-income-report\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last year, my business earned $505,813.50. \u00a0It feels incredibly awkward for me to say that (as in, pants down walking around downtown kind of awkward).<\/p>\n

I’m not really the kind of person that feels comfortable sharing my personal finance information, but I have so many friends and family members who struggle\u00a0<\/em>to make ends meet that I created Income School as a way to help people provide better for their families. \u00a0I know that by being open about my numbers is a way I can help others to stay motivated to get to where they want to be–and helping you is more important than me feeling comfortable.<\/p>\n

So there, I said it. \u00a0In this post I’m going to show you\u00a0exactly<\/em> what I did to make it happen.<\/p>\n

NOTE from Aug 30, 2016:<\/strong> This is the last income report I ever published. \u00a0I have decided not to publish further income reports for legal reasons. \u00a0I keep this one online just so you can hopefully be inspired to know what’s possible with a blog. \u00a0The only thing I’ll add is that my businesses are continuing to do well.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few notes before we begin<\/h2>\n

Obviously, income doesn’t matter if your expenses eat it all up. \u00a0Last year, I had\u00a0way\u00a0<\/em>too many expenses. \u00a0I spent the entire last quarter of last year selling off office equipment, cancelling subscriptions, and doing everything I could to cut expenses to the bone.<\/p>\n

Last year, my business had expenses nearing $100,000 but well over half of that was spent on employees (which I no longer have, by the way).<\/p>\n

After cutting unnecessary expenses to the bone in the fourth quarter of last year, I was quite afraid that my income would go down as a result. \u00a0The opposite was true. \u00a0In fact, my business is producing MORE income on FEWER resources now–mostly because of the increased productivity gains earned by simplifying every aspect of my business.<\/p>\n

And then there are taxes. \u00a0In the United States, we pay an unreasonable amount in taxes. \u00a0In fact, my tax rate on every dollar I earned toward the end of the year was 47.5% (including federal and state). \u00a0The United States has a progressive tax, so the dollars you earn up to say $50,000 are taxed at one rate, then your next $50,000 are charged at a higher rate, etc. \u00a0The highest tax bracket (which I’m in) is 40% for federal tax, and the state tax is 7.5%. \u00a0So unfortunately that means I had to pay about $90,000 in taxes last year.<\/p>\n

Not to rant too much, but the practical effect of this progressive tax is that I have very\u00a0<\/em>low motivation to go out and earn more money toward the last quarter of the year. \u00a0By that point every dollar I earn is taxed at nearly 50%, so I put in the same work and only get to keep half of what I earn. \u00a0If the government were at all serious about creating jobs, it would let me use the $90,000 in taxes on hiring an employee or two. \u00a0It’s robbery! [Rant completed]<\/p>\n

Last note, I won’t be producing monthly income reports like Pat Flynn and John Lee Dumas do. \u00a0There are a few reasons for that: (1) I don’t like feeling the pressure of needing to improve my income every single month. \u00a0When I get too focused on that, I end up making bad business decisions. \u00a0(2) Frankly, I’d like to focus more on\u00a0how\u00a0<\/em>I earn a living, not\u00a0how much of a living\u00a0<\/em>I’m earning. \u00a0This post is motivational and (hopefully) helpful. \u00a0Now that you’re here and motivated, I’d like to focus more time on getting things done than dreaming.<\/p>\n

Here’s the breakdown of where the $505,813.50 came from<\/h2>\n