Smutlancer Monthly Income Report: July 2020
July was the month that felt like it would never end. Nothing truly awful happened in my professional or personal life, but every day was a slog. That being said, I made a lot of progress on the variety of projects going right now. (Including website re-designs and re-brandings and mysterious “projects” Molly and I continue to mention in podcast episodes.) Of all the things on my mind in July, my income wasn’t really one of them. I’m well aware of my privilege here, although I’ve newly arrived at it. But it also means that whatever numbers are below will be a surprise to me — good or bad, so I have no immediate thoughts on what July was like. Other than a very long month.
July 2020 Income
July income is primarily based on work completed in June. I bill clients on the last day of every month, and they have 10 days to pay. Affiliate sales tend to pay quarterly, but some pay monthly. I break down my freelance writing between vanilla and sex content because I want to show what’s possible in either category.
Note: For those who are curious, I am linking “Sex/Adult Content” to a post I wrote that outlines what kind of work that means for 2020. If it changes drastically in 2021 or even later in the year, I may update it. But if you’re curious about what “Sex/Adult Content” means, click the link.
- Freelance Writing
- Vanilla Content: $630.00
- Sex/Adult Content: $5125.00
- Affiliate Sales: $130.92
- Podcast Sponsorship: —
- Sponsored Blog Posts: —
- Website Sponsorship: —
- Banner Ads: —
- Book Sales: $47.87
- Patreon: $951.00
- Consulting: —
- Donations: —
- Bonus (from client): —
- Product Sales: $177.95
Total Income: $7,062.77 (down $836.22 from June)
July 2020 Expenses
Some expenses are monthly, some quarterly, and some annual. I pay taxes monthly under my current business structure.
- Web Hosting: $67.67
- Domain Renewals: —
- Podcast Hosting: $32.00
- Canva: —
- Buffer: $10.00
- InLinkz: $2.99
- Blog Contributors: $132.42
- Taxes: $1000.00
- Payment Fees (PayPal, Stripe): $271.40
- Shipping/Postage: $29.10
- Tech Support: $65.31
- DepositPhotos (stock photo): $29.00
- MailerLite (email newsletter): $15.00
- Adobe Premiere Pro: $21.00
- Closed Captions (YouTube Videos): $147.40
- Business Internet: $215.68
- TubeBuddy: $69.12
- Graphic Design: $49.87
- MyFonts: $67.50
Total Expenses: $2,225,46 (up $233.85 from June)
July 2020 Net Income: $4,837.31 (↓ $1,070.06 from June)
Well, that number both does and doesn’t surprise me. It’s the lowest of the year, but not the lowest since I started tracking. A few expenses increased last month, notably blog contributors (here on Smutlancer) and closed captions for the Loving BDSM YouTube channel. I also stopped working with a client in June, and I knew I would feel the change in July. But dropping that client gave me the space I needed to work on all the other mysterious “projects.” So I’m investing time and money in my brand and goals, but to do so costs money in terms of the freelance work I decline.
Years ago I could not imagine saying no to a paying gig. It feels like a major leap of faith to do it now because my memories of financial insecurity are crystal clear. But I’m hoping over the next few months and into 2021, the time will pay off in ways I know I want and maybe in ways I can’t even imagine yet.
