Well, I’m late this month, but better late than never, right? If you read my last income report, you’ll know that I recently started sharing these again in my efforts to help show you how my own business works, where I make money and hopefully give you some ideas on how to grow your own business or revenue streams this year.
Here I just share percentages and if you’re interested in reading the real figures, join my list where I share my actual numbers with you.
I find income reports to be incredibly interesting. I love seeing how others run their businesses and it’s something I enjoy sharing. Even though I’m not the best at math, I love the numbers. And, I love taking the time to break down my own successes and failures each month. So, I do this so I can make smart decisions about where to spend my time in the future.
Lastly, I do this to prove to any doubters that there is REAL money to be made on the internet. You don’t need to have a 100K subscribers and a huge email list either.
In October of 2021, I made a huge change in my business and I started designing websites again. I was a full-time content creator for about 5 years. And, while I’m so grateful for it, I hit a point in my life where I didn’t want my income to be reliant on sharing my life 24/7. This allows me to be present on social media when I want to be. But not to be tied to it to earn a living—what a huge relief!
Okay, so let’s get onto December’s income and business report!
December Blog & Business Income Report 2021
Remember, if you want to get my actual numbers, join my email list here.
From November to December, I saw a 48% increase in income. The final quarter is usually a big one, so I’ll be curious to see how this graph looks a few months from now. My goal is that it keeps ticking upward! My actual income earned from web design was almost the same as it was November, which is awesome. A big reason I re-opened my design business was to have more sustainable, reliable income each month.
Income Breakdown
As expected, affiliate income was higher this month as I was paid out for November sales. There were lots of specials and promos with Black Friday, which gave me a nice boost!
Web Design: 31%
Freelance Design Work: 15%
Ads: 5%
Affiliates: 49%
- Amazon
- Beautycounter
- LikeToKnow.it (formerly Rewardstyle)
- Branch Basics
- Modere
- Equilibria
Brand Collaborations: 0% (not a focus for me right now. Maybe I should just take this section out for now, ha!)
Traffic
I had a slight down tick from November. However, I took the last two weeks of December off for the holidays. I’m planning on getting back into a more regular blogging routine this year, so hopefully this starts going back up soon!
Top Sources of Traffic
- Organic Search: 54%
- Pinterest: 22%
- Direct: 18% (people who typed in my domain name directly)
- Instagram: 1%
Not much change here, but again, a good reminder that Instagram does not equate to more website traffic! Make sure to spend time working on your Pinterest strategy and SEO—these are things that will bring traffic to your website.
Blair Staky Traffic (My Design Business)
Not much to see here, but admittedly this site doesn’t have a lot on it right now, just information on my design packages. As I introduce new services and products, I hope to see this grow significantly over the next year!
Email List
I had 4,005 subscribers at the beginning of the month.
My goal for 2022 is to grow my list to 15,000. Bold—yes, I know! But I also think it’s possible! That means I need to get around 950 a month to hit my goal and account for unfollows, etc. It won’t be a walk in the park, but it’s not impossible!
At the end of December, I launched my new site design—what do you think? And with it, several new freebies—Blog Launch Guide, a Business Success Quiz, and My Top 12 Business Tools download.
One thing I’ve quickly realized is that just because you create them doesn’t mean people instantly sign up, so I’ll be promoting these via social media and Pinterest as well as within new blog posts.
January Goals
Before I dive into these, I decided to look back at my last report to see what my goals were and I’m so glad I did, I think it’s so easy to get caught up in what’s next that we never take a moment to realize all that we have accomplished.
I hit all of my goals except one—finish client projects, but this was mostly because clients were busy with their 4th quarter or checked out for the holidays, so this has all picked up this week, and should launch soon!
For this month,I have some big goals—launching some new products and services. Seeing as this month has already been cut short for school closures, I’m not worrying too much if I don’t completely finish these. Really, my big focus is making big steps in the right direction so that I can get these things done soon. Basically, I’m mentally prepping myself to not be disappointed if plans change… yet again.
Launch my Website Template Shop
I’ve been working on a website template shop behind the scenes and I am so excitd about this. I know that a custom website or blog just isn’t in everyone’s budget, but I do know how impactful a strong web presence can be for any small business. This will allow you to get a beautifully designed website that’s 100% customizable for under $800—still deciding on pricing.
Unlike a WordPress theme, these templates will come with a ton of fully, custom-designed pages that you literally just drop your info in—about page, contact page, services, galleries, landing pages and more! And, unlike WP themes that say they’re fully customizable, these actually are. It’ll be a cinch to change colors, fonts, your navigation, images, entire sections can be added, removed or moved around—again, a huge huge reason why I am loving the Showit platform so dang much!
I have two designs in the works right now and will likely launch with those and add more in the following months. If you’re interested in web design templates—join this list to be notified! More to come on this soon, but I am SO excited to get this officially out in the world.
Launch 1:1 Services
Another service I’m planning to launch soon are 1:1 strategy sessions. As a small business owner, I can’t tell you how many times I wish I could have paid someone in my same field to just ask a ton of questions! This is basically what these will be—a way for you to get feedback on your business, help you create an action plan of how to move forward, and ask me any questions you’re stumped on!
I did this with a few clients recently and was thrilled to pass on knowledge and give them a leg up. I’m pumped to help more of you in the near future.
Refresh BlairStaky.com
I threw up this design quickly and while I love it, I have a vision for this brand and as I add new products, it’ll need some updating. Personal projects are fun, but also challenging. I get to do some many cool things for other women’s sites and when it comes to my own, sometimes it’s hard to narrow it down, or decide what’s best, ha! The good news is that websites can be easily tweaked, so I’m trying to not let myself get hung up on little details!
Survive
I’m kidding—sort of. I don’t want to bring things down, but I also want to keep things real. The past two years have been HARD. And, these past few weeks have felt a lot like the beginning of the pandemic, and honestly, it’s felt heavy. I’m grateful my kids are back in school, but the fear of it closing again is very real.
The pandemic fatigue is so real. I find myself chipper and pumped one moment, and crying into a pillow the next.
As a mom, so many of the family responsibilities, okay, like all of them, fall on me when school closes or someone gets sick. I’m grateful that I get to do what I do, but damn! Can a girl catch a break?
I know so many of you are in a similar place right now, just trying to make it work and keep everyone safe, and I just wanted to remind you that we will get past this! I know it feels like too much—hell, it IS too much, but we’ll get through it. Hang in there friends!
BTW, how to launch a blog or website in 10 easy steps, and 4 ways to grow your email list fast.
