June – My income report for the 19-20 financial year

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june my income report for the 19 20 financial year

My goodness, who would have predicted that the first half of 2020 was going to be like this?

It’s been a rough old ride, and we’re only half way through the year.

I hope you’re all holding up okay.

In Australia, June 30 marks the end of the financial year and so I wondered if you’d like me to update you with where things are at for me.

I realised that last June I didn’t share my income for the previous financial year, but this time in 2018, I had been commissioned for over $120,000 worth of work and had invoiced for just over $116K.

So, shall we take a look and see how this financial year has gone?

But first, let’s take a look at June.

June – the month of making big investments

IN TERMS OF FEATURE ARTICLES FOR MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS, THIS MONTH I:

Pitched: 3 (this includes re-pitching ideas that have been rejected)

Commissions from pitches or query letters: 0

Rejections: 2

Offers: 3 (where the editor approached me with a commission)

IN TERMS OF FEATURE ARTICLES FOR CORPORATE AND B2B CLIENTS (I DON’T USUALLY PITCH THESE – THE CLIENTS COME TO ME)

Offers: 6

Filed: 12

Highlights of June

Like I mentioned in my last month’s round-up, I haven’t been working as many days as usual (on my writing) because I finally have committed to getting my course WRITE.EARN.THRIVE. out there into the world.

I spent lots of my time in lockdown unpicking some of the mindset issues I have around launching my course (that could fill a book, let me tell you!) and at the beginning of June made a serious commitment to getting it out into the world.

I’ll give you more details about how I made the mental shift in the coming months, but I realised that I have been sitting on this course for so long (and so long that I had to re-record and tweak modules), yet I hadn’t released it. 

But I have a date for the launch in July, which feels terribly exciting. 

Not long to go now.  

Saying no to work

It’s hard to know whether this is a highlight or a lowlight, but I think turning down work represents a pivotal moment for me. 

Two editors approached me to write multiple articles this month and I had capacity to write them.

But you know what? 

I knew that if I said yes, my course would be pushed to the back burner (yet again). 

I realised this:

Every no carries a yes.

What is a stake if I keep on saying yes to work and never put the time into ‘birthing’ my course?

How long am I going to keep putting off launching WRITE.EARN.THRIVE.?

No one is being helped by me staying small.

I get emails every week from writers asking for help, coaching and advice. 

My course is my chance to help more people.

So I said no to those article.

I’ve turned down work before, but only when I’ve been absolutely at capacity. 

But this time was different.

I said no to create room for the yes. 

Lowlights of June

I didn’t have too many lowlights in June, but one thing that really got me down was my lack of technical abilities.

Technology really doesn’t make sense to me, and even though I can watch multiple YouTube clips on widgets, funnels and the like, I just want someone else to do it for me. 

So I’m searching for an all-round tech guru I can pay on a regular basis to help me with my problems and queries; someone who knows WordPress, but also email marketing and the like. 

If you know someone, please let me know! 

A couple of resources I’d recommend

There are loads of great resources around at the moment. 

This is an eye-opening spreadsheet that aims to expose the inequalities of pay in the freelance market. 

Alex Holder and Anna Codrea-Rado have set up a public Google Doc where freelancers from creative industries can (anonymously) submit their day rate, job role, ethnicity and gender identity.  

The idea is that the responses will be analysed and shared with the freelancing community. 

And this is a fantastic anti-racist resource put together by Jasmine Mitchell.

There are links to resources, guides and articles – we (and by ‘we’ I mean white allies) really have no excuse not to stand up and fight for change. 

My income for June

In June, I was commissioned $5297 worth of work – just scraping over my $5K income target for the month.

Often at this time of year, editors and clients are keen for me to invoice before the end of the month so they can get everything in before the end of the financial year.

Hence, it was quite a big month, invoice-wise.

I invoiced for $12,113

INCOME REPORT FOR 2019-20 FINANCIAL YEAR:

 I was commissioned $100,630 worth of work in the 2019-20 financial year.

(How does that happen?! I know it seems like I’ve rigged it, but I promise these are the figures!)

I invoiced for $116,756

My actual income (money that has hit my bank account) was just over $107K.

But (and this is a big BUT) my expenses this year were crazy big. 

That’s because I invested A LOT in professional development this financial year. 

I spent just over $35K on running my business in 2019-20.

This includes subscriptions, professional development, superannuation, co-working space rental etc. 

That’s by far the most I’ve ever spent on running my business, and I can only hope that it pays off in the months and years to come. 

Will you stay tuned and see?

How was your 2019-20 financial year? I always think this is a time for reflection and renewal – what are your goals for the second half of 2020?

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COMMENTS

6 thoughts on “June – My income report for the 19-20 financial year”

  1. Great post. I love your transparency. Investing in yourself sounds like a really sensible sustainable approach. Your course sounds wonderful too.

    Reply
    • Thank you Annabel! Yes, I’ve always felt that the tools and techniques I have that have helped me to get to where I am aren’t always going to help me get to where I want to go. I really believe in investing in my professional development – despite the big financial commitment! Thanks for your comment.

      Reply
    • Thanks for letting me know Julie – I’ve now linked to Jasmine’s page but her link to the resource also isn’t working. I’ve emailed her to let her know.

      Reply

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