The third quarter of 2019 was a great quarter for me. Not only did my blog make OVER 3X the amount it made in the second quarter, but I also got to take a 7-day vacation to California in September.
I also happened to average over $1,000 a month net profit this quarter, which is mind-blowing to me. I was dreaming of this kind of income when I first started my blog.
If you would have told me two years ago when I started my blog that I'd be going to Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Six Flags Magic Mountain during a 7-day California trip all from my blog and freelancing income, I'd have laughed.
There's no way I would have even imagined taking any type of vacation, especially since my blog made absolutely $0 the first 6 months I was working on it. During those times I was saving every penny I had just to try to make this thing happen.
Now don't get me wrong, I still have a long way to go in this blog journey, but things are definitely improving. Will Swift Salary continue to grow? I guess we'll just have to wait and find out.
For now, check out my Q3 income report to see the new things I tried, a breakdown of my income and expenses, and more. Who knows, you might even learn something new!
If you haven't already, go check out my 2019 Q1 income report and my 2019 Q2 income report.
New Things I Tried in Q3
Only two really new things happened for the blog in Q3, but they're big ones:
- Joined the Mediavine Ad Network – Last quarter I tested out Media.net ads and I also applied to Mediavine. I got accepted into Mediavine this quarter and applied their ads to my site. So far they're performing much better than the Media.net ads.
- Launched the Free 15-Day Guide to Making Money Online – This quarter I finally released a new free email course for those who want to learn how to make $1,000/month or more from home. Sign up here.
I'm really excited to finally have the 15-Day Guide to Making Money Online launched because I have a lot of people interested in making extra money coming to my site. This course is a great way to get their emails so I can continue communicating with them in the future.
Quick lesson: If you have people coming to your site, try to capture their email addresses ASAP! Using a lead magnet is a great way to do this.
Oh, last thing, I also got featured on the Feedspot Top 50 Canadian Personal Finance Blogs which is really cool. You can find me at #12 🙂
Blog Income for Q3 2019: $3,220.12 Net Profit
Remember, I only post income here that has actually hit my bank account. No nonsense or shenanigans here. All expenses and income are listed in Canadian dollars.
You have no idea how pumped I am to have averaged over $1,000 a month net profit in Q3. I've had this as a goal on my whiteboard for ages. Now I'm just hoping it stays consistent.
Income Breakdown: $3,696.09 Gross Income
- ShareASale – $194.89
- Flexoffers (financial tools) – $76.25
- MaxBounty – $1,007.87
- Panthera (survey site offers) – $247.40
- AdBloom – $334.66
- Transcribe Anywhere – $220.98
- VIPKid (online tutoring platform) – $62.95
- Rakuten (formerly eBates) – $99.26
- Mylo (financial tool) – $1,295
- Media.net – $156.83
As you can see, I haven't received any Mediavine payments yet as they pay on a NET 65 basis. I'll have income from them on my Q4 income report. I did, however, get my payment from Media.net this quarter which is nice.
Other than that, the income here is pretty typical. I've noticed my income is usually spread across the same affiliates so no surprises here.
Expense Breakdown: $475.97
- Gsuite – $21.06
- Siteground Hosting – $338.69
- DTC 100k Walkthrough – $64.55
- DTC Pre-Nutloaf Challenge Access – $51.67
For an entire quarter, $475.97 in expenses isn't bad at all. My hosting even renewed this quarter which usually hits me pretty hard, and it still did, but my income covers it more than enough.
I did purchase a couple of new DTC courses this quarter in order to further my learning:
- DTC 100k Walkthrough – This is a walkthrough of Paul Scrivens (course creator) showing how he goes through lessons/exercises his $1 100k Climb.
- DTC Pre-Nutloaf Challenge Access – This a challenge by Paul Scrivens where he must make a product in 21 days, set up a funnel for it, and get it out the door for people to buy. I bought access so I can follow along with the challenge.
I know I can learn a lot from the two investments above, so purchasing them wasn't even a question for me. I'm trying to create a product myself soon so the Pre-Nutloaf Challenge is really exciting for me.
Quick lesson: Never hesitate to invest in yourself. If you're willing to put in the work, those investments will pay off massively.
Speaking of investing in yourself, I have an insane offer for you. Right now, you can join DTC (my favorite business course) for just ONE DOLLAR. You'll get two of the courses in it and for that price, it's a no brainer.
Traffic Breakdown: 128,769 Pageviews
I saw another increase in traffic this quarter which is really nice. Last quarter I got 100,120 pageviews so I'm up 28,649 pageviews this quarter.
On top of that, all of my other metrics are up as well. I've had a better session duration, bounce rate, sessions, etc.
I'll be honest, looking at these stats always makes me stress a bit because I'm constantly worried my traffic is just going to tank one day. That's why I'm focusing on building my email list more as it can protect me a bit if my traffic ever does drop drastically.
Quick lesson: When you're building your business, try not to put all your eggs in one basket. If all of your traffic is coming from one place, that's risky. If all of your money is coming from one affiliate, that's risky. Diversify.
Email List: 345 Subscribers
Since the last quarter I've only gained about 100 email subscribers, but I should see a much bigger increase next quarter due to my new email course.
I've still been sending out a monthly newsletter to my email list but I'm honestly thinking of discontinuing it and trying something else. My open rates are pretty low for the newsletter and it takes a long time to make so I'm just not sure it's worth it.
Maybe in Q4 I'll start trying something else, I'm not sure yet. Stay tuned for info on that in the next income report.
Things I'd Like to Try/Goals Going Forward
- Creating a product – Yep, this has been on the list for a while now. Going to try to make this happen in Q4 or early 2020. I'm thinking of making a budgeting product.
- Job board – I'm going to set up a job board on Swift Salary for people looking for work from home jobs or local jobs. Should be pretty neat so keep an eye out for that!
Really my big goal for this quarter is to start working on a product, so I'll leave it at that. I also want to revamp my Money Mastery Mini-Course to make it way better.
Want to Start Making Money Online?
You may or may not know, but I make money online from freelancing as well. When my blog wasn't making much money, freelancing is actually what allowed me to continue working from home. It pretty much saved me.
The funny thing is, my blog actually helped me land my first freelance writing client and I've been working with the same client for about a year now making over $1,000 a month.
If you want to learn about blogging and freelancing and how you too can start making $100, $500, $1,000, or even more from home each and every month, sign up for my Free 15-Day course. It's packed with value. Sign up below:
Awesome post dude! I was considering Maxbounty but I hear they shave leads. Have you experienced this?
Hi Jet, I’ve had a good experience with Maxbounty. Haven’t noticed any lead shaving going on.
Good job! It’s so exciting to see. I’ve been making peanuts and I can’t wait when I can make consistent money on my blog. It is definitely stressful looking at the traffic stats. My goal now is to work on content (which I don’t have much despite blogging for over 2 years) and SEO. My goal is to make $10K for 2020 even though I’ve made less than $1k for 2019. Reach for the stars lol.
And I’m glad you enjoyed California! I definitely take it for granted living here.
Thanks, Kelly! I just checked out your site and it looks awesome. Maybe we can colab sometime in the future. Good luck with your 2020 goals!