October 2017 Income At-A-Glance
Gross Income for October: $218,762
Total Expenses for October: $56,827
Total Net Profit for October: $161,935
Difference b/t October & September: -$579
Entrepreneurs On Fire: October 2017 Income Report
Why We Publish An Income Report
This monthly income report is created for you, Fire Nation!
By documenting the struggles we encounter and the successes we celebrate as entrepreneurs every single month, we’re able to provide you with support – and a single resource – where we share what’s working, what’s not, and what’s possible.
There’s a lot of hard work that goes into learning and growing as an entrepreneur, especially when you’re just starting out. The most important part of the equation is that you’re able to pass on what you learn to others through teaching, which is what we aim to do here.
Let’s IGNITE!
**We’ll receive a commission on the affiliate links below. If you click on my affiliate link and sign up for the products and services I trust and recommend, then I will earn a commission.
Josh Bauerle’s Monthly Tax Tip
What’s up Fire Nation, my name is Josh Bauerle. I’m a CPA and the Founder of CPA On Fire, where we specialize in working with entrepreneurs to minimize their tax liability while keeping them in line with the ever-changing tax laws.
I’ve been working with JLD & Kate at Entrepreneurs On Fire for years now, and they’ve included me in these monthly income reports with unlimited access to all their accounts so I can verify that what they report here is complete and accurate.
And because they believe in delivering an insane amount of value to you, my job doesn’t stop at the verification level; I also provide a new tax and accounting tip every month!
October’s Tax Tip: Do I need a receipt for that?
If you’re like me, your answer to the question “would you like a receipt?” from a cashier is almost always a resounding “no”!
While some people, like my Dad, continue to stuff their gigantic wallet with the receipt for every purchase they have ever made, most of us despise paper receipts.
But what about for business owners?
What receipts do you need to keep for tax purposes and how long do you need to keep them?
In a world that is becoming more and more digital every day, this is a situation that is constantly changing.
So when Kate asked me for some best practices on keeping receipts for Entrepreneurs On Fire, we thought it’d be a great opportunity to review the current IRS regulations regarding keeping actual receipts in your business and share them with YOU in this month’s income report!
Everything you need to know when it comes to keeping receipts for business expenses
1. Documentation is King
In the world of the IRS, in the unlikely event you are ever audited, documentation is your best friend. And the more documentation you can provide, the safer you are. So on top of everything said after this, whenever you are in doubt, keep the receipt.
2. Cash is the Enemy
If at all possible, always avoid paying in cash. It’s far and away the hardest way to prove an expense.
First, a purchase via a credit card, debit card, PayPal, etc. are going to offer a decent amount of proof on your statements. Even if you don’t have a receipt, you can at least show the IRS exactly when and where the money was spent.
With cash, if you don’t have a receipt, you could very well be out of luck.
So for the few instances cash is the only option, always keep the receipt and make a note on it what the purchase was for if the receipt itself doesn’t give it. But avoid paying expenses with cash any time you can.
3. Under $75 Doesn’t Require a Receipt
If the purchase you make is under $75, the IRS does not require a receipt. This means those $15 lunches are technically receipt proof.
However, keep rules number 1 and 2 in mind here; documentation is king and cash is the enemy. So if you use cash for these smaller expenses, I’d still keep the receipt.
4. Always Go Digital
For both record keeping purposes and longevity, always keep digital receipts.
For online sales this is easy, they will just email the receipt.
For in-store purchases, several places now give you the option to have the receipt emailed to you. Always choose that option.
If a paper receipt is the only option, simply take a quick picture of it on your phone. Then take these receipts and put them in an online folder. There are also tons of apps out there to help with this, including my personal favorite, Shoeboxed.
5. Proper Bookkeeping is Most Important
Far and away the biggest key to surviving an IRS audit is proper bookkeeping, meaning you are using some type of accounting software to track and reconcile all of your income and expenses during the year. With that crucial practice alone, you will be able to at the worst pinpoint any expense in question and know where and when it occurred.
Receipts may still be required, but with proper bookkeeping you will be able to locate the needed receipts much easier.
We say it almost every week, but all these great tax perks offered to entrepreneurs comes with responsibilities. And one of those responsibilities is the need to track and prove the expenses you take.
By following the rules above you will put yourself in great position to survive any questions by the IRS.
As always, please feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss what would be best for YOUR business. I LOVE chatting with Fire Nation!
What Went Down In October
Thrive Las Vegas
October started off strong with John speaking at THRIVE: Make Money Matter in Las Vegas.
The event boasted several top-notch speakers and attendees, and as we often repeat, attending conferences and meeting others in person can’t be replaced.
Tune in to our income report recording to hear about John’s biggest takeaways from the event!
Closing Paradise
October was a big travel month for us, and it all started on the 12th with a flight from Houston to New Zealand.
In preparing for our travel, which will continue until November 18th, we made the decision to close the doors to Paradise while we were away.
We made this decision for a few reasons:
- We weren’t 100% positive what the Internet situation would be like along the way, thus making it difficult to schedule our bi-weekly live Webinars;
- We’ll never sacrifice customer service, and with the travel we had setup we wanted to ensure we didn’t overload our team; and
- We have a few improvements we’re excited to be working on behind the scenes!
So on October 7th we closed the doors to Paradise in preparation for our travel and in order to implement the improvements.
How we set up the close
Our closing Webinar on October 4th was BIG. We welcomed over 250 live attendees and throughout that day welcomed 50 new members to Paradise!
We promoted the live Webinar to our podcasting list, had the opt in front and center on PodcastersParadise.com, and we also ran Facebook ads.
This isn’t our first time closing Paradise, but we did take a different approach this time around (to check out how we ran the close last time, you can visit our December 2015 Income Report).
What’d we did differently
This time around we wanted to simplify things, and so instead of doing videos and price increases every day of the close like we did last time, we stuck with the basics:
We did a Live Webinar followed by 3 days of emails announcing the close and the diminishing bonuses.
Day 1: Oct 4 – the live webinar (welcomed 50 new members)
Day 2: Oct 5 – diminishing bonuses (welcomed 6 new members)
Day 3: Oct 6 – diminishing bonuses (welcomed 8 new members)
Day 4: Oct 7 – the close (welcomed 40 new members)
Kind of crazy to see the difference between the number of new members on the first and last day versus the two days in between, right?
While the diminishing bonuses were being sent out each day, the numbers don’t lie: urgency on the live webinar (for people to receive ALL bonuses) and on the last day (to get in before the doors close) was real.
So what were those diminishing bonuses?
Oct 4: One-on-one chat w/ John (plus everything below)
Oct 5: BOTH The Freedom & Mastery Journal (plus everything below)
Oct 6: Your choice of The Freedom OR Mastery Journal (plus everything below)
Oct 7: Access to a private 1-hour hangout with John – only for those who join Podcasters’ Paradise between 10/4 and 10/7
The close was a great success and far exceeded any expectations we had for it.
Again, our main goal was to simply keep our customer service capabilities high and have time to implement some improvements within, all while traveling for most of the month.
Lesson learned: the power behind Live Webinars lives on, and urgency is still a very viable strategy when it comes to marketing your products and services to your audience.
New Zealand + Australia
As mentioned above, it all started October 12th with a flight from Houston to Queenstown, New Zealand. This flight kicked off a 40-day adventure inspired not only by the fact that neither of us have ever traveled to New Zealand or Australia, but also by We Are Podcast.
A peek into our travel diary for October
Queenstown is the first of our stops on a 40-day travel journey through NZ, AUS and the UK, and it all started when we met up with our great friends plus business & travel buddies Jill & Josh Stanton of Screw the Nine to Five.
If you’ve never visited, Queenstown is one of the cutest little village towns I’ve ever seen and has the most beautiful scenery everywhere you look! Esp from our AirBnB:
The location we picked here couldn’t be better: we’re a 10 minute walk to the docks, shops, cafes and restaurants, in addition to a walking path, a garden park and – wait for it – frisbee golf!
(I’ve never played frisbee golf in my life, but it seems like a cool thing to have nearby).
Plus, New Zealand is known as the adventure capital of the world (proven by John and Josh, who did the Nevis bungee jump a few of days ago: 143 meters – 440 ft) > yikes!
See that little house-looking thing in the background below? …that’s where they jumped from (insert wide-eyed face with a lot of fear).
And there is so much to do in Queenstown!
Every time we turn around there’s another amazing opportunity for a beautiful walk, hike, or activity.
Here’s part of the walking path down by the water near our place:
So we haven’t been wasting any time…
First things first: we rented car at the airport, dropped everything off at the AirBnB, and we were off to find a market nearby to stock up on the necessities for yummy breakfasts and delicious dinners.
On the way home from the market is when John and Josh decided they should sign up for the Nevis bungee jump – the highest in the Southern Hemisphere.
That night we made burgers on the grill and called it an early night in an attempt to normalize our internal clocks.
The following morning we slept in, John and I went on a great run, and then we quickly established our “morning routine” with Jill & Josh: 2 of us stay and make breakfast and 2 of us go out to grab coffees, which has been working out quite well (except our AirBnB smells like bacon 24/7, which John sees as a positive).
Our wifi is pretty fabulous here (a major concern after what we’d heard from others who have traveled throughout NZ and AUS). So knock on wood… the few hours each day we’ve set aside for work have been productivity-packed!
An email here and there, a couple checks in Asana, and before we knew it we were headed to the bungee bus.
After a 40 minute beautiful bus ride with the other crazies who decided this would be a good idea, the 4 of us found ourselves in a metal basket attached to a chord with our 2 jump buddies, Scott and Travis (brothers from Ontario), heading to the middle of the line for the jump.
Jill and I paid to be able to actually go out to the jump spot with the guys – I knew this was as close as I was willing to get to actually jumping off the thing. Although Jill and Josh told us about a tandem jump you can do off a bridge – not too far from the Nevis jump – but only 34 meters instead of 134… that’s probably more my speed ;)
Such a cool experience to be out there with them when they jumped.
Here’s a video of John’s jump!
After the jump we made our way back to our place, and John and I decided to go on a hike up the hill behind our place, which was highly recommended by a local woman we met along our morning run.
She was absolutely right about the views at the top:
We figure we survived somewhere in the ballpark of 50 mph winds at the top, and luckily the plethora of sports stores around afforded us the perfect jackets for it.
New Zealand weather is no joke – it’s been in the low 40’s each morning, getting up to maybe the mid-50’s in the afternoon. They’re just headed into Spring now.
The following day was an absolutely blast, too! We spent the morning at our place chatting, making breakfast and getting a few work hours in.
Then, at [12:30] we met up with Jill’s parents, who are also here traveling alongside them, + Jill’s sister and husband (Ali & Ken) at the bottom of the gondola.
Yet another amazing thing that’s just a 10 minute walk from our place.
Once at the top, you can have lunch + they have a luge racing course! So cool!
So we went for the whole package: gondola ride + lunch + luge racing = awesome.
After lunch and a few times around the luge track, we came back down and enjoyed a few separate activities for the afternoon: frisbee golf for John, Josh, Ali & Ken; a great run in the park for me; and some work for Jill.
Yesterday was a combination of all things amazing: a scenic drive to Wanaka, another one of the cutest towns I’ve ever been to; water sports; and breathtaking views.
The drive was really amazing, and during the 1.5 hours it took us to climb up and through the mountains we saw enough sheep to fill approximately 4,376 petting zoos.
And all the little baby sheep!!!… SO CUTE.
We stopped off at a outlook point on the way up, and WOW… once you think you’ve seen all the views, another bright green valley with unbelievable mountains in the background appears.
Upon arrival we walked around a bit and decided that with the beautiful weather and long afternoon ahead we’d make our way out to Ruby Island via Kayaks – doubles, of course.
About 35 minutes later, we arrived here:
There was nothing on the island itself – outside of the breathtaking views.
We walked around the island (yes, it was that small) and then jumped back in our kayaks to even out our 2-hour roundtrip.
Next morning we decided we’d spend our last Queenstown day in a pretty laid back manner, but two things were definitely on our list: a ThunderJet ride on the water, and another round of frisbee golf (now I HAVE officially played!)
I’ll leave my score out of it, but John and Josh gave one another a pretty good run.
After frisbee golf we made our way over to the pier to jump on a ThunderJet with our incredible driver Kylie (who happens to be a part of Fire Nation! How cool is that?!)
The ThunderJet ride was INSANE, and Kylie’s driving skills were nothing short of impressive. Seriously… there were at least 5 times I thought we were in trouble.
I so wish I had video to share, but if you follow John on Instastories, then you saw a small portion of our experience.
If you’re from New Zealand and haven’t experienced ThunderJet yet, then it’s a must-do! And if you’re not from New Zealand but find yourself in Queenstown one day, then a ride with ThunderJet will make your trip!
Next morning we were off to Auckland, where we met up with Paul Spain, podcaster and hospitality-pro extraordinaire!
Paul helped us set up a meet up for Fire Nation that evening and was generous enough to help us with our entire stay in Auckland. So from 6-9pm we gathered with about 25 local podcasters / entrepreneurs and had a great time at a local cafe!
On Friday – our first full day in Auckland – we decided to make the trip to Hamilton on our way to Hobbiton.
We had been planning for Hobbiton because we’ve heard so many great things (that’s the movie set from the movie The Hobbit), but our stop in Hamilton was due an email offer from Dave, a Fire Nation faithful who lives in the area.
Dave was born and raised in Hamilton, had never been to Hobbiton, and assured us he’d be an amazing tour guide for the day. :)
So we picked Dave up at his co-working space (about 2/3rd’s of the way to Hobbiton) and made a quick stop at the Hamilton Gardens on his request before making the rest of the trip.
And the gardens were absolutely beautiful!!
We were a bit rushed because our 1:15pm tour was not going to wait for us.
Luckily Dave has a lot more experience driving on the wrong side of the road than I do ;) He grabbed the keys and we were off on the winding road to Hobbiton.
The drive was beautiful, and Hobbiton: breathtaking.
During our 2-hr tour of the grounds we learned a lot of fun facts about the movie set, (discovered by “Sir Peter Jackson” during a helicopter ride. He was granted access by the Alexander family who still owns the land today); how The Hobbit was filmed, (none of the Hobbit holes are actually furnished inside – every scene you see inside of one of the holes was done in a studio in Wellington); and were able to see how much detail went into actually putting this set back together, (it was actually taken down after they used it to film in Lord of the Rings, and later reconstructed ‘to stay’ for The Hobbit).
After our tour we decided our 3 hour drive home was better started sooner than later.
Fittingly, we decided to make a dinner at home and watch The Hobbit :)
I must say, I’m pretty impressed by my driving skills seeing as how I’ve never driven on this side of the road before, and the following day I continued my 100% record (knock on wood) with a drive to Piha, a local beach that had been recommended by almost everyone we’ve talked to.
And for good reason:
We spent hours at the beach walking on the black sands and on the several paths carved into the hillsides around it.
About 15,000 steps later we decided to make our way to the Piha Cafe and ended up eating the best pizza EVER.
It was a big risk: it was about 4pm and we had a 7pm dinner back in Glen Eden with Paul and his wife Selina.
But we took that risk. And were really glad for it.
Our dinner with Paul and Selina was amazing. We ate at a local place called Eden (so cute!) and enjoyed lamb and falafel. Delish!
Our last full day in Auckland we made our way out to Waiheke Island via ferry boat to explore what many had said was a “can’t miss” experience.
Boy, were they right… Waiheke-woahhhhh! (Enter Kate: picks jaw up off from ground; heart shaped eyes in full effect; breath taken away…)
Even though it was drizzling and cloudy the entire day, we still managed to make the most of it.
First thing on our agenda: the coastal sea walk, which you can pick up right off the ferry. It’s part of a network of trails that run throughout the entire island – and Waiheke isn’t a small island.
It’s called the Te Ara Hura trail, and if you check out the image below you’ll see the shape of the island, which much of the trails follow.
The coastal trail wasn’t anything like I imagined. First off, the beginning of it was only passable at certain times of the day. 1.5 hours on either side of high tide would make the actual trail impassable (in other words, under water).
While it probably would have stopped me from trekking through, it wasn’t going to stand in John’s way of making this walk our reality (I’m so glad he’s such a risk-taker, cause I can’t imagine our day without this walk).
I wish I had pictures, but that would have required a hands-free go-cam attached to my head because my two hands were occupied with holding onto roots and vegetation to avoid falling down a hill.
It literally felt like you weren’t actually on a trail – the entire way.
We were walking right by what were definitely multi-million dollar estates and we couldn’t have passed more than a handful of people.
You can see how minimal the actual ‘trail’ was in the picture below (see that little strip of dirt by John’s shoes?… that’s what this path was like the entire way)
There were loads of other activities we could have signed up for upon arrival on Waiheke – wine tours, zip lining, boat rides – but we’re becoming more and more confident in our ability to let an amazing day unfold without any actual plans in place :)
15,000 steps (and 3.5 hours later) were feeling pretty good about making the most of our coastal walk.
We celebrated with an amazing late brunch at a really cute Italian cafe before heading back to our place.
After brunch we made our way back home and snuck in a laundry mat trip before our departure to Sydney the following morning.
Speaking of the following morning… it came quickly, and before we knew it we were packing our bags and saying goodbye to New Zealand.
Before prior to our airport trip we met up with one of our Puerto Palooza alumni, Travis, and his wife, Jacqueline, for breakfast.
They had just arrived in New Zealand the night before and made the trip all the way from Los Angeles to attend We Are Podcast in Brisbane, Australia (Nov 2-4… this is the same event John and I are speaking at).
It was perfect timing to meet up with them before their New Zealand adventures began – and before we took off for AUS.
A quick Google search returned a cafe we could meet up at; little did we know it was actually inside of a Home Depot (explains the background of the photo below – LOL) But it was a great breakfast, and even better company.
Our flight to Sydney was uneventful, and by that afternoon we were taking in the view from our beautiful deck in Bronte, right near the famous Bondi Beach.
We spent the rest of the evening on the patio, enjoying the beautiful, warmer weather (more like low 70’s vs. low 40’s) and a GREAT takeout dinner from a place right up the street (so many cute cafes and restaurants just a block away!)
Yesterday (Tuesday) being our only real “full day” here in the Sydney area to explore, John and I decided to attempt the impossible: see Sydney in a day.
Jill & Josh had loads of work to do, so being “on our own” for the day we made a last-minute decision to snag an all-day hop-on, hop-off bus pass to help us cover as much ground as possible.
But first, I snuck in a run to explore the beach path right below our place…
Holy cow – this coast is absolutely beautiful!!
After a quick shower John and I walked right back onto the path and followed it all the way around to Bondi Beach (about a 30 minute walk around the water).
A stop in an Internet cafe to print our bus tickets and a short 5 min wait and we were riding top deck, ready to rock!
There are 2 routes for the hop-on, hop-off bus: Bondi route and Sydney route. So we started on the Bondi route, then jumped over to the Sydney route, and here’s how the day went…
We also spent the following day here in Sydney (Wednesday), but this afternoon we’re headed to Nicole & Omar Zenhom’s place (of the $100 MBA Podcast and Webinar Ninja) for an afternoon tour of their area + dinner out :)
Once we arrived, we had an awesome couple of hours to chat at their place, and then we made our way out for a walk. While the rain stopped us from being able to walk around the park by their place (the same park where Nicole and Omar were married), it didn’t stop us from having a great night out.
The following day we were packing our bags again, this time headed to the Gold Coast in Australia with Jill & Josh.
After a 1-hr plane ride and a 10-min wait in the rental car line we were headed to our current home in a town called Surfers Paradise.
It’s definitely a fitting name: the beach stretches in either direction for miles with the softest sand I’ve ever felt between my toes. Like, literally so soft it squeaks when you walk in it.
A fun little fact I didn’t even mention from our last stop in Bronte / Sydney: it’s whale watching season here and we’ve been lucky enough to spot probably close to half a dozen whales playing in the ocean as they migrate.
Our last place had binoculars to help us enjoy the scenes, but it seems the lack of them at this place has been made up for by their proximity to the shore. Today we watched one play in the water not too far past some Jetski riders – it seemed so close!!
The weather here is incredible – it’s about 80 degrees and actually feels a lot like Puerto Rico (maybe not THAT hot and humid, but close).
Our first afternoon here (Thursday) was a little different. We got to our place around 2, and by about 4pm the clouds came rolling in and we experienced some legit thunder, lightening and quick rain.
I think travel has been catching up with all of us a bit, and that combined with the weather encouraged a couch and movie night (we watched Hall Pass – pretty funny if you like mindless comedies and Owen Wilson).
The next morning we spent time relaxing on the patio (view from our balcony pictured above), did some work, and then myself, John and Josh were off to Purling Falls – a hiking trail that Josh said was a must-do.
Jill hasn’t been so into the hiking, but I don’t blame her: she’s 6 mos pregnant and her bump is definitely not getting any smaller!
The hike down to the falls was really beautiful, and different from any of the other hikes we’ve been on for a few reasons:
- It started with Josh warning us of poisonous snakes (and letting us know that it’s mating season for them, so I guess they’re all riled up AND are really good at hiding in the leaves below your feet)
- It was very wood-sy (no clear-cut cement walking paths, so much more… wood-sy)
- It led us down into a sub-tropical rain forest and spit us out at a beautiful waterfall, which the guys promptly got into their suits for:
The potential to see kuala bears was real, which was pretty cool (although I definitely spent the entire 2+ hours wondering if I was going to get bit by a poisonous snake).
Our reward after 10,000 steps was a stop at the fudge shop – SO YUM – followed by another relaxing evening at home.
…well, that is AFTER we played frisbee – cause how could you NOT play frisbee when you have a wide open beach like this right across the street???…
Post-frisbee we settled into the couch with the most amazing homemade tacos and fudge for dessert.
Our show of choice the past few nights has been LOST; I’m the only one who hasn’t seen it, but everyone else agreed it’d be a great show to re-watch.
Today has been another very relaxing day, which started off with a 2.5 mile walk down the beach to “Broadbeach” (the next beach over) for a great breakfast at a restaurant called Koi. The weather is holding steady and it was a perfect morning (and afternoon) to spend outside.
This afternoon John and I have been catching our breath and relaxing at home while Jill & Josh make the rounds to say goodbye to a lot of their family who they won’t see again before they leave (on Wed, Nov 1 we all head to Brisbane together, and that’s when they fly back to Canada).
For the first time on our trip the days have started to blend together…
Gold Coast has been both relaxing and nostalgic (reminds both myself and John of San Diego / Pacific Beach a lot.)
I’ll pick up where I left off last time:
We didn’t end up doing the Wildlife Sanctuary as planned the day after I sent our last email. Jill & Josh were out meeting up with friends and family, and the day sort of slipped away. Before we knew it, it was 2pm and the Sanctuary closed at 5 – not nearly enough time to do it all.
So John and I ended up spending the morning walking the beach, eating pancakes, playing putt putt golf, and getting some work done.
For the record, I won by 2 :)
That evening, after Jill & Josh were back, we took advantage of the tennis courts here and jumped in the pool for a nice swim. While swimming, we had a GREAT idea: to head down to the Hotel & Casino in Broadbeach, about 2 miles away. You know, just to check things out… ;)
A few card games and about 2 hours later we hopped in an Uber and made our way to the Casino.
We happened upon a great Asian place for dinner right in the lobby of the hotel, and before Jill and I had even finished our meals the boys were already checking out the tables in the Casino area.
We lost a bit of money, but had a really fun night out :)
The following day we decided to make it a chill morning and then me, John and Josh made our way to the Wildlife Sanctuary in Currumbin for the afternoon.
While the Sanctuary had nothing on Sea World or the San Diego Zoo, I must say it was SO COOL to see kuala bears and kangaroos IN PERSON!! Plus, 100% of proceeds go to protect local wildlife both inside and out of the sanctuary.
The “petting zoo” was quite different than what I’m used to seeing (goats, maybe a lamb here and there…)
This one was filled with kangaroos hopping (and sleeping) all over the place. We got to feed some kangaroos, stare down the alpha (he was SO HUGE!), and see a mama carrying a little joey in her front pocket.
Sheep sheering (where John made it up on stage to actually help sheer the sheep!), an impressive bird show, and a crocodile or two later we were making our last stop of the afternoon: holding a koala bear :)
I think I’d have to say that feeding and petting the kangaroos, and seeing the koala bears in person, were my highlights :)
We’ve been pretty beat come nighttime with all the running around we’ve been doing, and our Wildlife day was no different. We made our way back to the house and settled in for a homemade dinner and more episodes of LOST.
The following day we were determined to make Byron Bay happen.
Byron Bay was definitely beautiful, and it was really fun to watch the surfers ride “sideways” waves (you get to a point on the beach where it start curving around, and the way the rocks are the waves look as though they’re coming in sideways – pretty cool)
We also walked out to the most Easterly point in all of Australia, which was cool.
Last night we had 1 last hurrah before Jill & Josh packed it up to head back home bright & early this am. Our wild night out?… Korean BBQ.
It being my first time I had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. All they had to tell me was that it’s like fondue ;)
This morning we closed down Gold Coast and made our way up to Brisbane. A quick check-in at the hotel, a great gym workout, and an awesome lunch later (we got to meet up with Michael O’Neal of the Solopreneur Hour, and reunite with Nicole & Omar – all from our SD crew – who are also here for the conference), and now we’re just settling in and getting prepped for the conference, which starts tomorrow.
Look out for future updates on the rest of our travels in next month’s income report, plus a full recap of We Are Podcast here on the blog!
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October 2017 Income Breakdown*
Product/Service Income: $148,578
TOTAL Journal sales: 644 Journals for a total of $24,423
The Freedom Journal: Accomplish your #1 goal in 100 days!
- TheFreedomJournal.com: $2,744 (54 Hardcovers & 17 Digital Packs sold!)
- Amazon: $9,906 (269 Freedom Journals sold!)
- Total: $12,650
The Mastery Journal: Master Productivity, Discipline and Focus in 100 days!
- TheMasteryJournal.com: $4,012 (103 Hardcovers & 10 Digital Packs sold!)
- Amazon: $7,761 (218 Mastery Journals sold!)
- Total: $11,773
Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 Podcasting community in the world!
- Recurring: $19,089 (193 monthly)
- New members: $35,325 (119 new members)
- Total: $54,414
Podcast Sponsorship Income: $64,500
Podcast Websites: $5,000
Skills On Fire: $0
Podcast Launch: Audiobook: $204 | eBook: $37
Free Courses that result in the above revenue:
Your Big Idea: Discover your big idea in under an hour!
Free Podcast Course: Create and launch your own podcast!
Funnel On Fire: Create a funnel that converts!
Affiliate Income: $70,184
*Affiliate links below – if you click on my affiliate link and sign up for the products and services I trust and recommend, then I will earn a commission.
Resources for Entrepreneurs: $49,756
- Audible: $608
- BlueHost: $150 Step-by-step guide and 23 WordPress tutorials included! Disclaimer: This is my affiliate link and I will receive a commission if you sign up through my link
- Click Funnels: $31,388
- Coaching referrals: $850 (email me for an introduction to a mentor for overall online business or a Podcast focused mentor!)
- Mentorship: $15,000
- ConvertKit: $163
- Disclaimer Template: $0 (legal disclaimers for your website)
- Fizzle: $195
- LeadPages: $902
- Infusionsoft: $500
Courses for Entrepreneurs: $16,829
- Create Awesome Online Courses by DSG: $6,124
- Webinars that convert by Amy Porterfield: $1,385
- Bot Academy by Andrew Warner: $2,500
- 10k Readers by Josh Turner: $95
- The Amazing Seller by Scott Voelker: $594
- 10k Subscribers by Bryan Harris: $98
- Copywriting Academy by Ray Edwards: $0
- Self Publishing School by Chandler Bolt: $3,789
- ASK by Ryan Levesque: $2,244
Resources for Podcasters: $1,962
- Pat Flynn’s Fusebox Podcast Player: $62
- Podcasting Press: $720
- Libsyn: $985 (Use promo code FIRE for the rest of this month & next free!)
- UDemy Podcasting Course: $195
Other Resources: $1,637
- Amazon Associates: $720
- Other: $917
Total Gross Income in October: $218,762
Business Expenses: $53,371
- Advertising: $3,375 (FB ad spend)
- Affiliate Commissions (Paradise): $1,098
- Accounting: $2,080
- Cost of goods sold: $3,995
- Design & Branding: $1,980
- Education: $71
- Legal & Professional: $122
- Manychat: $78
- Meals & Entertainment: $1,995
- Merchant / bank fees: $992
- Amazon fees: $9,297
- Shopify fees: $271
- Stripe fees: $3
- PayPal fees: $268
- Office expenses: $381
- Payroll Tax Expenses / Fees: $1,428
- Paradise Refunds: $1,260
- Total Launch Package fees: $875
- Sponsorships: $10,750
- Show notes (email Mallard Creative!): $364
- The Freedom & Mastery Journal: $5,000
- Travel: $2,306
- Virtual Assistant Fees: $3,973
- Website Fees: $1,409
Recurring, Subscription-based Expenses: $3,456
- Adobe Creative Cloud: $100
- Boomerang: $70 (team package)
- Brandisty: $24
- Authorize.net: $91
- Carbonite: $60 (annual fee)
- Cell Phone: $197
- Google: $45
- Internet: $300
- eVoice: $10
- Focus At Will: $45 (annual fee)
- Infusionsoft CRM: $396
- Insurance: $551
- Lastpass: $105 (annual fee)
- Libsyn: $400
- Manychat: $64
- Chatroll: $49
- PureChat: $20
- ScheduleOnce: $9
- Skype: $3
- Shopify: $176
- TaxJar: $19
- Workflowy: $5
- WPEngine: $49
- MeetEdgar: $49
- Taxes & Licenses: $300
- Try Interact: $89
- Vimeo Pro: $200 (annual fee)
- Zapier: $15
- Zoom: $15
Total Expenses in October: $56,827
Payroll to John & Kate: $15,900
In our May 2014 Income Report and our June 2016 Income Report, Josh focuses on how to pay yourself as an entrepreneur. Check them out!
Wondering what we do with all of our net revenue? We share all in our April 2017 Income Report :)
Total Net Profit for October 2017: $161,935
Biggest Lesson Learned
How resilient is your business?
The definition of ‘resilient’ according to Google (in reference to a person or animal) is: able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. In reference to a substance or object: able to recoil or spring back into shape after bending, stretching, or being compressed.
When I was in Austin, TX for Screw U Live in September I was on a catch up call with my good friend Jodi Flynn of Women Taking the Lead. I was telling her about all the traveling John and I had been doing due to Hurricane Maria, and something she said really stuck with me:
It must be a great feeling to know your business is so resilient!
Which got me thinking…
Not only have we proven time and time again that our business is definitely location independent, but our travels throughout hurricane season – starting for me on Sept 5 just before Hurricane Irma passed Puerto Rico, then for John on Sept 26 just before Hurricane Maria – have also proven that our business is incredibly resilient.
Puerto Rico has taken a big hit, John and I have taken a big hit, yet the way we’ve built and set up Entrepreneurs On Fire would make it seem as though nothing has changed in our lives. The business continues to run and generate the same amount of revenue month after month, despite the drastic changes to our daily routine we’ve experienced over the past month plus.
So, I encourage you to think about this: if it came down to it, could your business survive without constant attention? If yes, for how long?
It’s important that you build a strong foundation for your business; it could mean the difference between being able to bounce back and folding should you experience a major, unexpected life event in the future.
Alright Fire Nation, that’s a wrap!
Until next month, keep your FIRE burning!
~ Kate & John
Note: we report our income figures as accurately as possible, but in using reports from a combo of Infusionsoft & Xero to track our product and total income / expenses, they suggest the possibility of a 3 – 5% margin of error.
