December Income

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December went by way too fast but overall it was a great month! My parents visited us in Charlotte for the first time, we enjoyed Christmas and New Year’s as a family of four, John was actually home a good amount this month and we made a surprising amount of money! Tonight, I’m getting started on my new hobby of refurbishing furniture. It occurred to me that this hobby is going to be a little more challenging than I thought considering I can’t exactly paint when the girls are awake. I also don’t want to paint during naps because that’s my time to work. So, John and I talked and we’re going to dedicate one hour every night (ish) to work on our projects!

But enough randomness, let’s talk income…

You can see my previous income reports here and here. Since John and I both work for ourselves, I plan on posting our income to both keep us motivated and to show others that it’s really not THAT hard to be your own boss 🙂 John runs a painting and handyman business and I freelance write and edit. Eventually our goal is to grow our businesses / my blog so most of our income is passive.

So, I have to say, John is blowing me away with his business. His goal was to hire one or two employees starting in 2015, but he actually has already hired FOUR people to work for him. Now, they’re not full-time, salaried employees, but they are people he can rely on to help him out with projects. The ultimate goal is for him to run/manage 3-5 crews at a time and he will focus more on gaining new customers, bidding and selling jobs, etc.

John’s income for the month was $5,394 (wooo-hoooo!!!)

My income was $1,300

December total income: $6,694

Also, December is typically a slow month for contractors, so the fact that John had his highest income month yet is very encouraging.

Our goal for next month is to break $8,000, but I’m not quite sure if that’s going to happen. We’re both going to try to hustle and bring in as much money as we can, but really we can only do so much since we’re in the beginning stages (and we have two little ones, haha). Keep in mind, this amount is BEFORE taxes. We set aside 25% or more for taxes.

How did your December look? Did you meet or exceed your goals??

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Comments

Mrs. Maroon says
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Nice job!! Here’s to more success to kick the new year off right!
- sbrooks52111@yahoo.com says
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  Thanks!! Wishing you a great year ahead, too!!
Melissa @ Sunburnt Saver says
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You guys are so awesome!! Thank you so much for sharing both you and your husband’s income from being your own bosses. This is so cool for you guys – good luck on next month’s goal too!
- sbrooks52111@yahoo.com says
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  Thanks!! For now, I don’t think my family and friends read the blog which is one reason I don’t mind sharing income. But, I’m an open book so it really doesn’t matter even if family/friends no what we make. It’s funny how in our culture income is such a secretive thing…we should use it to encourage each other!!
Chela @SmashOdyssey says
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Great job, both of you! Wishing you much continued success in 2015!
- sbrooks52111@yahoo.com says
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  Thanks, Chela!! Wishing you a great year ahead, too!!
Petrish @ Debt Free Martini says
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I think that its great that you and your hubby are working together like this and pursuing your dreams so young in life. I am looking for freelancing jobs and hoping that I could land my first one this month. Good luck with everything and I look forward to following your journey.
- sbrooks52111@yahoo.com says
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  Thanks, Petrish!! Yes – my husband and I are each other’s biggest encouragers! Good luck to finding your first freelance job!! There are a ton out there, it’s just a matter of finding them and going after them! A good website is freelancewritinggigs.com. Check it daily 🙂
Cat@BudgetBlonde says
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Very cool – yall are doing great!! Gosh why can’t you live closer? I used to LOVE refinishing furniture. I will say, keep your eyes peeled for things that don’t need refinishing. For example, I once nabbed a bunch of antiques from an estate sale for cheap – like milk glass vases and once I got an old “gossip chair” and I sold all of it for much more than I paid for it on Craigslist. I just took it home, cleaned it a bit, and then took nicer pics and put it on c-list. 😉
- sbrooks52111@yahoo.com says
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  Awesome tip, thanks!! An old manager of mine used to buy antiques at garage sales (she went every weekend) and resell on Ebay. She averaged an extra $800/month doing that!! It’s crazy all the different ways there are to make money, you just have to go after it!
Micha says
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Hey!
It’s awesome that you’ve had this freelance income for so long. I’d seen you other posts, and this is the earliest I looked back. Would you mind me asking freelance for who or how you found it?
Also, I love this comment forum. What plugin is it?
Thank you!
- Sarah Brooks says
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  Hi! I’m not sure on my comment plugin. I think it’s just a part of my theme. For freelancing, I found a good amount of my jobs on either http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com (check daily!) or indeed.com (search “freelance writer”). You have to be adamant about checking daily and applying! I also cold pitch clients three times a day when I’m slow 🙂