Sharing My Income Report
One of my favorite activities is voxing my friends and discussing business finances and the different ways we each manage and view ours. As we’ve lamented time and time again, business finances feel so much more overwhelming than personal finances.
With personal finances, your goal is to save as much money as you can in order to retire comfortably. You take the amount you make, you subtract your bills, you put some aside for fun, and you put the rest away for the future. Simple.
And yet, with business finances, it’s far from clear cut. Not only do you want to save well, you also want to make sure you’re paying yourself, AND you want to be wisely spending in order to grow your business. It’s a fine (and sometimes impossible-feeling) balancing act.
I wish I could give you answers or advice on how to do that well, but I can’t. However, what I can do is pull back the curtains on my own business finances by sharing my latest income report. So if you’re nosey like I am, stay tuned because today I’ll be sharing what I made, where I spent my money, and what my profit looked like for 2024.
Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Join me on Monday evenings at 4:00 pm Pacific time/7:00 pm Eastern time for my weekly YouTube Lives! Snag the 2025 Chasing Simple Marketing Planner!Take a look at my Complete Marketing Game Plan for Course Creators—PlaybookCheck out my book for a crash course in content marketing This week’s action step: Take a look at your revenue and expenses. Keep them in mind when planning how to use your money effectively in your businessThis week’s book recommendation: Profit First by Mike MichalowiczFind me on Instagram and tell me you completed this week’s action step: @mrsamandawarfieldDid you love this episode?
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Rather Read? – Here’s the Transcript!
*Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to not be 100% accurate
One of my favorite activities is foxing my friends and discussing business finances and the different ways that we each manage and view ours. As we’ve lamented time and time again, business finances feel so much more overwhelming than personal finances. Personal finances, your goal is to save as much money as you can in order to retire comfortably.
You take the amount you make, you subtract your bills, you put some aside for fun, and you put the rest away for your future. Simple. And yet, with business finances, it is far from clear cut. Not only do you want to save, you also want to make sure you’re paying yourself, and you want to make sure that you’re spending wisely in order to grow your business.
It’s a fine and sometimes impossible feeling balancing act. And I wish that I could give you answers or advice on how to do that well, But I can’t. However, what I can do is pull back the curtains on my own business finances by sharing my latest income report. So if you’re nosy like I am, stay tuned because today I’ll be sharing what I made, where I spent my money, and what my profit looked like for 2024.
You’re listening to episode 248 of the Chasing Simple podcast, and I’m your host, Amanda Warfield. This episode was brought to you by the Chasing Simple Content Planner, and you can grab your own at amandawarfield. com slash planner.
How do I find time to create content without overwhelming myself? Where should I even be showing up in my marketing? How do I come up with fresh content ideas? Where should I be focusing my marketing efforts? What is lead generation anyways, and how do I do it? Are launches still a thing? And most importantly, How do I put it all together to market my business strategically?
Can I really grow my business without spending all of my time marketing? These are some of the questions that float around in your head when you think of marketing. Welcome friend, this is Chasing Simple, where practical marketing strategy meets simplicity. I’m your host, Amanda Warfield, simplicity focused content marketing and launch strategist, speaker, educator, and author of Chasing Simple Marketing.
I traded in my classroom lesson plans for helping creative entrepreneurs sustainably fit marketing into their business without it taking over their business, so that they have time to grow their business, take time off, and live the life they dreamed about when they first decided to go out on their own.
When I’m working, you can find me working with one on one clients, such as The Contract Shop and Rebecca Rice Photography on their marketing strategy and copywriting, or helping my students simplify their marketing and launches. And, when I’m not, you can find me spending time outside with my husband, Russell, reading in our hammock, watching GameCog sports, traveling, or forcing our cats to snuggle me.
If you feel overwhelmed by marketing, you aren’t alone. Many entrepreneurs find marketing frustrating, overwhelming, and simply an obligation. They know they need it, but they don’t enjoy how easily it can suck up their time when what they really want to be doing Is the thing that they started their business to do, which is why I’m here to help make marketing simple and less time consuming so that you can spend less time on your marketing and more time growing your business and doing what you love.
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When it comes to creating your monthly content calendar and sitting down to create your content because you’re batching it, right? The first step is not writing in the monthly calendar. It’s not even writing your categories and important dates on the calendar. If that’s where you’re starting with your content planning, well, all you’re creating is a plan.
But what you need is a strategy. What’s the difference? A strategy is like the inner structure of a building, while the plan is the decor. A strategy is what helps you achieve your goals, and your plan is how you achieve them. Your strategy is where you’re leading your audience, and your plan is what you’re talking about and when.
Without having a strategy first, putting together a plan will simply mean pulling ideas out of thin air. So, how do you start with a strategy? By starting with your goals and working backwards to ensure that you’re moving your audience toward them. What are your yearly goals, quarterly goals, monthly goals, and weekly goals?
And how can you translate them into content your audience wants to ingest? You’ve got to consider those questions before you even begin deciding what it is that you’ll post about. And if you want a simple way to create both your strategy and your plan, grab your Chasing Simple content planner. The planner is my number one bestseller, and for good reason too, because this massive, more than 130 page planner was designed with strategy in mind.
It’s not merely a place to write down what you’re going to post and when. Yes, that’s part of it, but first, you’ll walk through intentional pages full of strategic questions to get your brain moving in the right direction before you even start writing down your topic ideas. In addition to the traditional calendar pages, you’ll find yearly planning pages, monthly prep work, monthly reflection questions, repurposing worksheets, and so much more.
If taking your content to the next level is a goal of yours, the Chasing Simple Content Planner was created for you. Grab yours for just 27 at amandawarfield. com slash planner.
I’ll be honest, this episode is not as full of a picture as I would hope. If you listen to last year’s income report, my 2023 income report, I’ll link to it in the show notes, it gives a much better picture of the full scope of my income and my expenses and all of the things for my business. Um, 2024 was a A year, a lot of changes personally and with my business.
I’ve shared this previously, but if you’re just now tuning in for the first time, we moved across the country from South Carolina to Washington state . I moved November, 2023. My husband moved in March of 2024. And I also took a part time job at my church as the, um, youth director and the communications director.
Left my business with part time hours. I still would say the business is my full time job based on revenue and, how much I get paid from the business and how much I get paid from the church. But hours wise, I worked way, way, way, way less this year. And that means that I had to really prioritize.
And it meant that a lot of things that I normally do that I’m hoping to get back into the rhythm of doing, they fell to the wayside. And one of those things was keeping track of my KPIs and filling out my income and expenses report every single month. That was something that Since I started my business in 2018, I have been so good about doing like clockwork every single month.
It happened. Um, and this year just didn’t, um, so. I got to a place where I said it’s okay, it’s okay, I will do the work to finish it out, I will fill out the spreadsheet, I will catch back up in time to record this episode. And, spoiler alert, that didn’t happen. I got some of it done, but I did not get all of my expenses done.
All of those, um, written out and tallied up and everything. So, all of that being said, This episode is different, um, and I just want to put that out there because when someone puts out an income report, simply giving the income is not a full picture of the health of that business, right? So, part of me wondered if I should just scrap this, but I know that I like to hear how other people are doing it and what’s going on.
So, anyways, I decided to move forward. But, the expenses chunk is not, where I would like it to be. Um, but that’s okay. We’re gonna move forward and we’re just gonna, I’m gonna share what I’ve got with you. Because like I said, I got, I got a large chunk of it done. All of my income got tallied up.
And here’s the other thing. I’ll say this also. My spreadsheet is supplemental to my QuickBooks. So, my QuickBooks is all reconciled. It’s all good to go. I just haven’t gone in and written out my own personal spreadsheet with the way I like to have it broken up. So, um, I guess I could have pulled up QuickBooks, but we’re already doing this thing.
So we’re gonna, we’re gonna keep moving forward. Um, all right. So first things first, my 2023 revenue. Revenue being the total amount right off the top before anything’s taken out. 2023, I made 61, 000 in the business. 2024, I made 66, 000. Now, I will say this is the smallest amount of growth that I’ve ever had in my business.
And yet, that’s still a 7 percent increase. And honestly, the fact that I worked 10 15 hours a week, and I mean 15 honestly is pushing it, if I’m being really honest. Um, 10 15 hours a week. And still saw a 7 percent increase in a year where, honestly, education took a hit. And that’s something that we can talk about in a second.
Um, but I know that the education side of my business took a hit all throughout the industry. I saw other educators saying similar things. Um, 2024 felt like a really hard year. And so the fact that it felt like such a hard year, sales wise, and the fact that I stepped back because when I say that I was working 40 plus hours a week.
before on the business. I’m not kidding. It was unhealthy, um, which is a large part of, you know, why I decided, um, to take this other job and to do something else I’m passionate about so that my whole life just didn’t revolve around the business. Um, it was unhealthy. I was a workaholic. I was working nonstop.
And so the fact that I cut my hours back so drastically and was still able to serve other course creators and other educators and help them build revenue streams and create freedom for themselves, man, I mean, I’m, I mean, I call that a win, but also I’m kind of surprised that I saw an increase this year.
And. It just goes to show, you know, you can hear people say it. Like, you can listen to me say this, right? Until they’re blue in the face. And it just, until you actually take that leap to cut back on what you’re doing, it’s hard to believe. So anyways, that was a big aha moment for me. Now, in my next, I would normally talk about expenses in my 2023 income expenses report.
I would have talked about expenses next. Like I said, I don’t have those numbers for you, so I cannot give you the exact numbers in the exact increase decrease. Um, I will say, my guess is that on one hand, My expenses decreased and on another hand they increased and what I mean by that is, um, in my mind, my owner’s compensation, my paycheck, is an expense.
However, To a bookkeeper, to a CPA, that’s not the case. It’s totally different. It would be considered profit, and this is kind of getting in the weeds a little bit, but just so those of you that are bookkeepers or are CPAs, don’t come yelling at me, okay? Um, Technically, my owner’s compensation is profit because I am a single member LLC, or my business is a single member LLC.
Once you become an S Corp and are filing your taxes as an S Corp, then you can write off your compensation as an expense because you have to do payroll for yourself. However, I don’t have to do payroll for myself because I’m not, there’s no laws around how much I pay myself at this point. When you are an S Corp, you have to pay yourself, um, I don’t remember the exact phrase, but it’s something like a realistic and reasonable salary for the job that you’re doing or something like that.
So, that being said, I mentally, in my mind, consider my compensation, my paycheck, Part of my expenses, but technically it’s not. So, that’s what I mean when I say on one hand my expenses increased and on one hand they decreased. Because, with our move, I became the breadwinner. And that meant that I had to pay us a whole lot more than what I had been paying us previously.
In the past, I was able to I have a very high operating expenses budget, which was so fun. Uh, I really miss those days, but that’s not where we’re at in life right now. And with that, my operating expenses, operating expenses budget had to drastically decrease. I actually, very sadly, had to let go of my podcast editor, Hayley.
She’s been on the podcast. I will link to her stuff and those episodes because she’s incredible. Uh, and my VA, Jennifer, and I didn’t let go of them because of anything they did. I love their work. I loved working with them. It just truly was. I had to drastically decrease my operating expenses and so technically My expenses decreased very, very, very drastically this year compared to last year.
However, if you count owner’s comp, which again, technically it doesn’t, but in my mind it does, it increased very drastically because I paid myself a large chunk of the revenue. from the business this year. Again, I don’t have those exact numbers to give you. I’m really sorry about that. But yeah, that’s how that broke down this year.
So my total expenses technically decreased this year significantly from 2023, but my owner’s comp increased significantly from 2023. Now my profit, here’s where we get into the technicalities again, because if you remember, I mentioned that technically. As a single member LLC, my profit, or my owner’s comp, is considered profit.
So technically, my profit increased drastically this year. Because I had to cut that operating expenses budget. However, I didn’t feel the effects of that. This is very much, I’m not sure if you’ve read, um, Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. I know I’ve shared about that on the podcast previously, but one of the top business books that I’ve read for sure.
He makes this comment in one of the chapters. I don’t remember where or anything, but he makes this comment where he says, He says, you know, he gets his report from his bookkeeper or tax guy or someone, whoever’s giving him the report, and they say, Congratulations, you made a profit. And he goes, What are you talking about?
I don’t feel like I made a profit. Where’s the money? That’s kind of how it feels for me this year. Which, again, we knew going into this year that it was going to be. Like that, we’re in a transitional phase in life, and I’m so excited that we have the ability to be in the transitional phase, thanks to my business.
Anyways, that’s a whole tangent I can go down, but it’s why I’m so passionate about having this business. I love marketing. I’m so excited about it, but man, I want to help other women build this freedom so that they can do this too. So that’s how I feel about my profit this year.
Technically it increased a lot. I did, other than, you know, paying our bills, I mean, yes, I saw the effects, but I didn’t really get to feel those fun effects when a lot of times we think profit and we think, oh, vacation or, oh, this, uh, we didn’t get those side effects, um, which is great, but it just, yeah, definitely a different vibe this year with the business finances.
So, okay, that’s my, my breakdown. Revenue, expenses, owner’s comp, and profit. And a little of everything mixed in there. What I did also want to share is some of my, my largest categories. So, first, my largest income streams. Without a doubt, my number one income stream was my one to one clients this year, which is a drastic difference than it has been in the past, actually, which is so funny.
Um, In the past, my one to one clients have been one of my lowest income streams and I was really, really focused on the educational side of things and that just wasn’t the case this year. I took on more one on one clients. I did more VIP days. I repurposed content. I took on projects. I got to work on one off launch projects with people.
It was a really fun year and the vast majority of my revenue, in fact, I believe the number If I remember correctly off the top of my head, 55, 000 of that 66, 000 was from one on one clients, whether it was ongoing, one off projects, VIP days, whatever. The next second largest income stream was the community, which makes sense.
It’s an ongoing Monthly subscription. Um, so that was the second largest. And then the third was, technically it was content batching bootcamp, but really close behind that was book sales. Which was kind of cool. Not something that I expected, and honestly the majority of those sales came through a subscription box that I got to be a part of, which was an incredible experience.
And I. I’m still kind of in awe that that happened this year, but content patching bootcamp and book sales were the third largest. They’re just like neck and neck. And honestly, I think last year, 2023, it was the same. One on one clients, the community and content patching bootcamp. So that honestly didn’t come as a surprise at all, as far as the order or what was up there.
The only really surprise there was just. the largest. Oh, I did make this note. Amazing. Okay. So yes, 2023 last year, one on one services was first, then the community, and then it was content batching, bootcamp, and the content planner, actually. So that was almost exactly the same, truly. So not really a surprise at all, other than the fact that just how much.
of the income came from those one to one clients this year versus last year. Now, my largest expenses, again, for being technical, this one doesn’t count, but I’m not going to be technical. Largest expenses was owner’s draw. That’s where the vast majority of my money went this year. And then one on one services, while I still had them, again, About probably halfway through the year is when I stopped working with, um, Haley and Jennifer.
And then CARDRA is always one of my largest expenses every year. And then other education. I found myself investing a lot more in education this year. Probably because my time was so limited. I very much looked at it as, okay, my time is limited. I can’t put the money into because of, you know. The reality of my operating expenses, I can’t put the money into one on one services.
So the next best thing is, let me find a course. Let me find a training. Let me find a workbook. Whatever the case may be, a workshop. Let me find what I need so that I can get the full picture right away and just invest in that education. So I actually spent Relatively speaking, a decent chunk of my expense money, my operating expenses on education this year, which was a change.
My 2023 largest expenses were my one on one services. That’s not surprising. 2023 was a large investment year between, um, the book and my rebrand and everything. Second largest expense was my Mac and then my third was an educational membership I was part of and then Cartra So fairly similar, but This year definitely had a different vibe, whereas 2023 was very much a, a year of investing in the business and 2024 was a lot more of just doing the work, head down doing the work.
So that is my 2024 income report. I hope you liked this little breakdown, despite the fact that I didn’t have exact numbers for you in all of the areas. If you did like it, let me know, is this something that I should share again next year, or is it something that you’re bored of? I’d love to know. Your action step for this week is to take a look at your largest streams of income and your largest expense streams, I guess.
Just knowing where your money is coming in from, and that percentage wise, and where it’s going can be so helpful as you make decisions in your business. And so, even if you have no interest in doing your own bug keeping, even if you don’t want to keep track of a spreadsheet, or you don’t have the time, that’s totally fine.
But, Know where those streams of income are coming from. Which ones are the ones that you’re consistently seeing over and over again? Which ones are bringing in the most money? Which ones are working for you? Which ones can you lean into this year? And then your expenses, where are you spending the majority of your money and are you seeing a result from it?
Is it something worth the money you’re putting into it? Or is it just something that, unfortunately, Money’s tight this year and you need to cut. What does that look like for you? So that’s your action step. I would really encourage you to do that. And going with the theme of this episode, your book recommendation is Profit First by Mike Michalowicz.
If you haven’t read it yet, I cannot recommend it enough. It gave me such a strong financial foundation for running a business and helping me to have a clearer idea of what it looks like to have money coming in and leaving your business and how to manage that well, because it’s not, and I’ve had this conversation with many of my friends, actually, it’s not as simple as personal finances are.
It’s a lot more complicated and profit first gave me a really strong foundation that I could then build on. So if you haven’t read that, I highly recommend it. And until next time, my friend, I hope that you go out and uncomplicate your marketing and business.
so much for joining me here today, friend. You can find this episode show notes as well as all the resources you need to simplify your marketing over at amandawarfield. com. If you liked what you heard here today, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode. And if you could take a moment to leave a rating and review, it would truly mean the world to me.
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