Income Report for December 2018: How I Made $4,218 Last Month

Welcome to the last income report of 2018 — my December 2018 income report. Last month, I was able to generate side income earnings of $4,218, with a net profit of $3,973.21. 

My total earnings were down by 18% which was to be expected. November was my best month this year in terms of affiliate earnings because of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals offered by my affiliate partners. As such, it’d be unfair to compare this month’s earnings with last month’s.

When it comes to income reports, one of my new year resolutions is to publish them sooner. Normally, I publish these income reports in the 3rd or 4th week of each month. Going forward, I will publish them on or before 5th of each month.

As always, before I reveal my full income report and net profit breakdown for the month, here are a few important highlights from December.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

Marketing Mantra Podcast

Just the one new episode last month — One Simple (Yet Super Effective) Way to Get More Twitter Followers.

When I launched the podcast in July 2018, I was planning to do a new episode each week. Sadly, due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to do that. Hopefully, 2019 will be different and I’d really like to record and publish a new podcast episode every week. So fingers crossed!

For now, Marketing Mantra has a total of 9 episodes. You can subscribe and listen to all the episodes of Marketing Mantra on any of these podcast platforms below:

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Breaker | Radio Public | Spotify | Pocket Casts | Anchor | SoundCloud | Stitcher | Acast | TuneIn | PodBean | Overcast

2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge

At the start of 2018, I challenged myself to read 100 books this year — 25 of which were to be business books. The 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge was the perfect way to track this audacious goal. My total tally of books read in 2018 was 70, way short of the goal. That said, I was able to meet the goal of reading 25 business books this year.

Of all the business books I read in 2018, here are my top 5:

1. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
2. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
3. #AskGaryVee by Gary Vaynerchuk
4. Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
5. Side Hustle by Chris Guillebeau

I’m really glad I signed up for this challenge, despite falling short of my goal. Before this, I used to read 45-50 books a year on an average. As such, I’m glad I set a stretch reading goal for myself and ended up reading 70 books in 2018.

I’ve taken a similar pledge in 2019 as well, having already signed up for the 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge — 100 books; 25 of which to be business books.

I really hope I’m able to beat the challenge this year.

How many books do you intend to read in 2019? Have you taken up the 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge too? Let me know in the comments section.

Quotes I’m Pondering (Dec 1 – 31, 2018)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in December. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (Roman statesman and philosopher)

“Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with course and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: ‘Is this the condition that I feared?'” — Seneca (Roman Stoic philosopher)

“I can’t give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.” — Herbert Bayard Swope (American editor and journalist)

Income Report

Below are my affiliate earnings for December 2018, followed by other income, expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $2135.14 (review / eBook)
• AppSumo – $1013.38 (latest deals)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $127.5 (review)
• Serpstat – $422.48 (review)
• ConvertKit – $32.4 (review)
• KWFinder – $24 (review)
• SendinBlue – $160 (review)
• AWeber – $29.4 (review)
• Instapage – $23.7 (review)

Total Affiliate Earnings: $3,968

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $250 (click here for more details)

Total Side Income Earnings: $4,218

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49
• Google Ads – $26.61
• Facebook Ads – $24.20
• Buffer Pro (Recurring) – $15
• Flickr Pro (Recurring) – $5.99
• Alexa Subscription (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $54

Total Expenses: $244.79

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $3,968
• Other income: $250
• Total expenses: (-$244.79)
• Net Profit: $3,973.21

That wraps up the last income report of 2018.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

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If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!