{"id":6881,"date":"2016-04-05T12:02:24","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T12:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/?p=6881"},"modified":"2023-05-24T17:36:03","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:36:03","slug":"income-report-q1-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/income-report-q1-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Income Report: Q1 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first quarter of 2016 has come to a close, which means it&#8217;s time for another quarterly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/income-reports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2016\">TMM income report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6937\" src=\"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Q1-2016-Income-Report.jpg\" alt=\"Q1 2016 Income Report\" width=\"620\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In this series, I take a break from talking about style for shorter men to give you a glimpse &#8220;behind the curtain&#8221; of the blogging business.<\/p>\n<p>Why do I do this? A few reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>People often ask if and how I make money with The Modest Man.<\/li>\n<li>I like to be transparent.<\/li>\n<li>Online business fascinates me, so it&#8217;s fun to talk about.<\/li>\n<li>To inspire other people to start and grow their own blog.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you have no idea how a blog like this one makes money, read this post first:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/how-this-blog-makes-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2017\">How Does The Modest Man Make Money?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In this income report, I&#8217;ll break down my revenue, expenses and profit for Q1 2016.\u00a0Let&#8217;s start with revenue.<\/p>\n<h3>TMM Revenue for Q1 2016<\/h3>\n<p>First, let&#8217;s look at quarterly revenue for the past 15 months:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6953\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6953\" style=\"width: 620px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/TMM-quarterly-revenue-growth.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6953\" data-lasso-id=\"2018\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6953\" src=\"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/TMM-quarterly-revenue-growth.jpg\" alt=\"TMM quarterly revenue growth\" width=\"620\" height=\"357\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6953\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moving in the right direction!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Revenue falls into three basic categories:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Advertising\/sponsorships<\/li>\n<li>Affiliate commissions<\/li>\n<li>Selling products<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Let&#8217;s see how each one did this quarter (note: many of the below links are affiliate links):<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affiliate &#8211; <\/strong>$3,000 (<span style=\"color: #339966;\">up 35% from previous quarter<\/span>)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rewardstyle.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2019\">RewardStyle<\/a> &#8211; $994<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/?_encoding=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957&#038;linkCode=ur2&#038;tag=themodestman-20&#038;linkId=OCG3YRBVSZ7QVEQT\" target=\"_self\" data-lasso-id=\"2020\" data-lasso-name=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> &#8211; $1,254<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/modern-tailor\/\" target=\"_self\" data-lasso-id=\"2021\" data-lasso-name=\"Modern Tailor\" rel=\"noopener\">Modern Tailor<\/a> &#8211; $341<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/huckberry.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2022\">Huckberry<\/a> &#8211; $145<\/li>\n<li>Other &#8211; $267 (mostly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/blank-label\/\" target=\"_self\" data-lasso-id=\"2023\" data-lasso-name=\"Blank Label\" rel=\"noopener\">Blank Label<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/saddleback\/\" target=\"_self\" data-lasso-id=\"2024\" data-lasso-name=\"Saddleback Leather\" rel=\"noopener\">Saddleback<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s good to see my two main affiliate networks &#8211; Amazon and rStyle &#8211; growing each month. One possible reason for rStyle growth is the delay in &#8220;finalized earnings&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll explain.\u00a0If someone buys through on of my affiliate links at, say, Nordstrom.com, I don&#8217;t earn a commission at the time of purchase.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, for most vendors, it takes 30-90 days for the payment to finalize. They have to make sure the products aren&#8217;t\u00a0returned so they can ensure <em>they<\/em> get paid before giving me <em>my<\/em> affiliate fee.<\/p>\n<p>So when I get a payment from rStyle in March, it could be for transactions that happened months ago, during the holiday shopping season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Advertising &#8211; <\/strong>$7,099 (<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">down<\/span><span style=\"color: #339966;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u00a026%\u00a0from previous quarter<\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Direct Ads &#8211; $1,650<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/start\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2025\">Google AdSense<\/a> &#8211; $330<\/li>\n<li><del>Sovrn<\/del><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.adthrive.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2026\">AdThrive<\/a> &#8211; $1,420<\/li>\n<li>Sponsored Posts &#8211; $3,699<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As I explained in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/2015-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2027\">2015 Year in Review<\/a>, I started letting a company called\u00a0AdThrive manage unsold display ad inventory (i.e., banner ads).<\/p>\n<p>Ad network revenue used to be an afterthought, but AdThrive is doing a great job, and it&#8217;s great to see this\u00a0revenue stream grow.<\/p>\n<p>Overall advertising revenue is down from the previous quarter because the previous quarter was Q4 2015, which is the holiday shopping season.<\/p>\n<p>In general, Q4 is great for this sort of business, while Q1 is kind of slow.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Products &#8211; <\/strong>$4,586 (<span style=\"color: #339966;\">up 130% from previous quarter<\/span>)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2028\">The Modest Man Style Guide<\/a>\u00a0&#8211; $2,760<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/introducing-tmm-shirts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2029\">TMM Button Up Shirts<\/a>\u00a0&#8211; $1,826<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2030\">The Modest Man Style Guide<\/a> continues to sell consistently, and I got my first payment from the TMM button up shirts (it was a pre-order model, so it took a while to actually collect revenue).<\/p>\n<p>Just a side note: the shirt launch went well, but it wasn&#8217;t very profitable. The shirts were very expensive to produce,\u00a0and I didn&#8217;t want to sell them for over $100, so I didn&#8217;t make any money from this project.<\/p>\n<p>That said, I&#8217;m very happy with the results. This project was an experiment to see if TMM readers wanted to buy actual garments, and the answer is yes!<\/p>\n<p>Not to mention, most customers\u00a0are <em>really<\/em> happy with their purchase:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/TMM-shirt-feedback.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2031\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6947 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/TMM-shirt-feedback.jpg\" alt=\"TMM shirt feedback\" width=\"958\" height=\"265\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve already had a bunch of people ask when the next batch of shirts will be for sale, which is very encouraging.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Total Revenue = $15,560 (<span style=\"color: #339966;\">up 12% from previous quarter<\/span>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind, this is <em>quarterly<\/em> revenue, not monthly. So it comes out to about $5,100 per month. Not exactly retirement money, especially after expenses.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of which, here&#8217;s a list of\u00a0my business expenses:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recurring\u00a0Expenses (paid monthly, totaled for the quarter)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/convert-kit\/\" target=\"_self\" data-lasso-id=\"2032\" data-lasso-name=\"ConvertKit\" rel=\"noopener\">ConvertKit<\/a> &#8211; $447<\/li>\n<li>Phone &#8211; $330<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/leadpages\/\" target=\"_self\" data-lasso-id=\"2033\" data-lasso-name=\"LeadPages\" rel=\"noopener\">LeadPages<\/a> &#8211; $201<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.meetedgar.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2034\">Edgar<\/a> &#8211; $147<\/li>\n<li>Internet &#8211; $120<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/wistia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2035\">Wistia<\/a> &#8211; $75<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themodestman.com\/bluehost\/\" target=\"_self\" data-lasso-id=\"2036\" data-lasso-name=\"Bluehost\" rel=\"noopener\">Bluehost<\/a> &#8211; $60<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>One-Time Expenses<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Travel\u00a0&#8211; $755<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Canon-Rebel-Digital-Body-Only\/dp\/B0125ULM40\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?tag=themodestman-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2037\">Camera<\/a> &#8211; $731<\/li>\n<li>Assistant &#8211; $480<\/li>\n<li>Name.com &#8211; $105<\/li>\n<li>PayPal Fees &#8211; $54<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.surveymonkey.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2038\">SurveyMonkey<\/a> &#8211; $52<\/li>\n<li>Video Editor &#8211; $50<\/li>\n<li>Office Supplies &#8211; $48<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Total Expenses = $3,601<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, I&#8217;ve had some pretty big one-time expenses this year, including a trip to Atlanta for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fMsRf8ES5kI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2039\">StyleCon<\/a> and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Canon-Creator-18-55mm-VIDEOMIC-Sandisk\/dp\/B0125ULM40?tag=themodestman-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2040\">new camera<\/a> (both totally worth it).<\/p>\n<p>But remember: as a business owner, you pay taxes on profit, not revenue. So spending money on stuff that will help your business grow is the right move, even if it decreases your profit.<\/p>\n<p>For example, I could have used the same old camera I&#8217;ve been using for the past couple of years, but this new one is much better for video, and buying it reduced my taxable income for 2016 by $731.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a win-win!<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to personal finance, I&#8217;m relatively frugal. But if you&#8217;re trying to grow a young business, you should focus on increasing revenue, rather than pinching pennies to increase\u00a0profits.<\/p>\n<p>So, adding it all up (revenue minus expenses), Q1 2016 profit is:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Profit = $11,959<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Definitely moving in the right direction. Definitely plenty of room for growth.<\/p>\n<h3>Goals for 2016<\/h3>\n<p>The primary goal hasn&#8217;t changed: help as many modest men as I can possibly reach\u00a0dress better and feel more confident.<\/p>\n<p>If I do this, I know I can achieve my business goal, which is to double revenue to a consistent $10k per month.<\/p>\n<p>Specific milestones include:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Over 200k visits\/month to the blog<\/li>\n<li>10k\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UClbfoD1o7sV0VxErpxTCpyw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"2041\">YouTube<\/a>\u00a0subscribers<\/li>\n<li>20k email subscribers<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>And of course I have some\u00a0less quantitative goals, like redesigning this website and designing another garment (either another button up shirt or a pair of jeans).<\/p>\n<h3>Thank YOU!<\/h3>\n<p>None of this is possible without you.\u00a0Thank you for your readership and support!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first quarter of 2016 has come to a close, which means it&#8217;s time for another quarterly TMM income report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6881"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11990,"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881\/revisions\/11990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brockmcgoff.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}