7 Stark Learnings From My First $20K Month

I’ve never really chatted openly about financials, but I know this is something that *many* entrepreneurs appreciate. So in an effort to be open and helpful – here I go…

Where my May 2020 income came from:

• A $13K contract for a clients’ upcoming A-Z launch campaign solidified the bulk of my income. This project includes all the strategy and every copy asset needed: 5-day challenge, landing pages, sales page, pre-launch emails, video sales letter, cart-open emails, follow up emails, etc.

• One other sales page and launch sequence project (1:1 work)

• Minor affiliate income. I plan to keep the number of things I promote limited, making more space for trust and loyalty in my promotions.

Biggest Takeaways:

1. The month of May felt like the high and lows of some mega mood-swingin’ man. It was like “Sweet! That was a great month! Oh right, let’s just put 30% away for taxes.. and then pay out all my contractors… and expenses… Ah crap, it’s pretty much gone.”
   
   
2. It’s helped me realize that I have a swarm of “next step” options. My goal is definitely figuring out how I can serve more people, with less wait time for them, and provide the maximum impact.
   
   • Many people go the course route to scale, but I’m not 100% sure if that’s my angle. 
     
   • I’ve been contemplating building out an agency.
     
   • Creating a membership is also on my (far back) radar.

3. I’ll need more help because I don’t plan to keep up the long hours I’ve been working. My ‘wifey’ duties have been slacking (thank Gouda for Hello Fresh and a patient partner). Unfortunately, without nailing down my #2 point, I don’t really know where I need the help from…
   
   
4. I believe money is a good thing because the more I’ve made, the more I’ve been able to donate. It’s something I started implementing when I went 100% freelance last year – donating a portion of every sales page to a charity of my clients’ choice. This has only improved since having a bigger month.
   
   
5. Getting more visible has been a direct correlation to my success. I started to get out of my shell online, and it has done wonders. Most evidently, I’ve said ‘YES’ to things that I didn’t feel ready for. Podcast episodes, speaker trainings, and collaborations are most notable.
   
   
6. Deflecting my success is something I often do. Even when I was starting this email, I wanted to preface it with, “sure, I had a good month of May, but that probably means June will be crap!”
   
   
7. I currently feel like I’ve gone back to University for the summer, minus the early morning drinking, of course... I’ve joined a capstone course where I will get certified in funnel strategy. Of course, this hasn’t contributed to any income for May (more likely contributing to the “now it’s gone” part), but I know it will pay off in the future when I can offer even more in-depth funnel strategy when I write launch campaigns for my clients.

I’m feeling rather naked getting this vulnerable, so I hope these raw insights have been valuable to you.

Or maybe I should just go put pants back on…?

Anything stand out in this list for you? I’d love for you to leave a comment and let me know!