How I Make Money, Revisited: How Things Have Changed in the Past 2 Years

Above: my real-life, non-styled or cleaned-up, messy, cluttered desk. This is where I grind it all out. Solopreneur life isn't always as glamorous as it appears on Instagram, y'all! 

Yesterday was tax day {ugh} + it's been almost 2 years since my last "How I Make Money" installment, so I figured it was about time we revisit this subject. There are quite a few reasons I think this subject is worth revisiting, but here are the two main reasons:

1. I want you to see how many revenue streams it takes [or can take] for a solopreneur to make enough money to make it work. As I've said many times before, I love what I do because it's so varied and every day is different, but there is also a tactical reason for this--so that when one revenue stream slows down, another one can pick up the slack and we can still pay all of our bills each month. Sidenote: sometimes I simply cannot believe how many bills come in every month when you're an adult with a child, a house, and two cars. They just keep coming, don't they? 

2. I want you to see how quickly things can change in the life of a solopreneur with lots of different revenue streams! And how this life requires constantly tweaking your schedule and offerings in order to make room for what is working and let go of what isn't.

So, to demonstrate the above, I've included the same "bucket" revenue categories that I did the last time I talked about this subject, but with two different pieces of info below each one--one note showing what I wrote two years ago, and then another about the state of that same category now (so that you can see how each particular bucket has changed in two years):

YOGA TEACHING BUCKET

• Weekly Classes:
  [2 years ago] I teach 9 classes per week right now, which is actually a bit too much for me...
  [Now] I'm teaching 5 classes per week which now still feels like A LOT
• Workshops:
  [2 years ago] I teach 1-2 per month 
  [Now] I've been limiting myself to one workshop every other month so that I'm around more on the weekends to spend time with the fam
• International Retreats:  
  [2 years ago] I lead 1-2 per year
  [Now] None this year because Charlie Mae has changed everything and we had to reschedule this year's retreat because of her (more on that another time), but I have one scheduled in 2018 and I don't think I'll be able to fo more than 1 per year for the forseeable future
• Teaching Teachers/Teacher Training:
  [2 years ago] I teach approx. 2-5 sessions per year for Teachers-in-Training
  [Now] I'm teaching approx. 2-3 sessions per year

ART BUCKET

• Custom Paintings/Commissions:
  [2 years ago] I'm always working on at least 2-3 commissions at a time and usually have a few more on deck (Note: This picks WAY up during the holiday season, so I have to account for that time-wise)
  [Now] These days I've usually got 1-2 commissions going on at a time, but the types of commissions have changed a lot since I've increased my painting prices over the years. I get less big painting commissions now and more "family sketches" and smaller painting commissions, which works out well. Holiday season is still the same as it was 2 years ago--much busier ;) 
• Etsy Shop Sales:
  [2 years ago] I mostly sell prints + greeting cards on Etsy, but also get fairly regular orders for one-off projects like Cake Toppers + other unique needs). These sales come in sporadically throughout the year and then pick WAY up around the holidays 
  [Now] This is also fairly similar these days, but I do sell way more greeting cards and shirts on Etsy now than I did two years ago (Random note: I also stopped selling Cake Toppers because I couldn't charge enough to make them worth it time-wise)
• Retail sales:
  [2 years ago] I have my paintings, prints, and/or greeting cards in 6 retail locations and I get monthly checks for these sales (Not a huge chunk of my income, but a nice small trickle)
  [Now] I've changed to a mostly wholesale model for my retail sale, so I get payment for most of these orders in seasonal chunks. I'm now in 8 retail locations, although all but two primarily sell my greeting cards, so it's not a huge money-maker but it helps!

CONSULTING BUCKET

• 1-on-1 Consulting Sessions:
  [2 years ago] Average 3-5 per month
  [Now] Average of 1-3 per month (I'm doing less of these since I have less availability for calls and in-person meetings now)
• Ongoing Client Work:
  [2 years ago] I take on small biz clients and work with them on a variety of marketing + branding projects for an hourly rate. I currently have 3 of these clients
  [Now] I am no longer offering this kind of work for businesses because I decided that it was not the direction I wanted to go in; I don't enjoy managing social media and/or blogging for other businesses! It felt good to let go of this work
• Branding Workshops:
  [2 years ago] New endeavor! Did one earlier this month and have another scheduled for the fall...
  [Now] I'm no longer doing these workshops 

DESIGN BUCKET > Biggest area of growth in the past two years!

• Website Design:
  [2 years ago] I am currently working on 4 sites
  [Now] This has become a much bigger part of my business in the past two years. Sara and I are now usually working on 3-6 sites at a time and we turn them around much more quickly than we [I] used to 

• Logo Design:
  [2 years ago] I take on about 5-8 logos design projects per year, so this is a pretty small part of my biz
  [Now] This is a big part of my business! I now do about 1-2 logo designs projects per month
• Custom Design Work: I didn't even mention this revenue stream last time around, but it's now become another big part of the business. This is the "other" design work that Sara and I do--it includes designing fliers, custom invitations, promotional materials, email newsletter templates, etc. We usually do an average of 2-6 custom design projects per month on top of the above design projects

BLOG BUCKET:

• Sponsored Posts:
  [2 years ago] This is the only direct way that I make money from my blog. I do an average of 1-2 sponsored posts per month
  [Now] I do less of these now, simply because I don't have as much time to work and would rather spend my time doing design work for clients or writing my own blog posts! I'm now doing 1-2 of these each quarter
• Ebook: Again, I didn't mention this in my last version of this post, but this is a *very small* trickle of passive income. After the initial flurry of purchases when this book was new, I now sell an average of 2-6 ebooks per month 
  
  

Whew, huh? So many areas of work to think about!

But as you can see, the biggest change in the past two years is that the Design Bucket has grown immensely and thus, in order to keep things balanced, I've had to shrink the other buckets in order to make room for this increased workload.

The great news is that the Design Bucket is also one of the few places where I can get help, so I was able to hire Sara to work with me on those tasks and thus, get more work done more quickly. Obviously this means my expenses have increased (because I'm now paying someone), but I can make more in this area now, too (especially since my time is much more limited now that I have a baby). 

The last thing I should mention is that in the past 2 years, my rates for almost everything listed above (except retail products, of course), has gone up. I've increased my hourly rates for consulting and design work, and have changed the way that I calculate my per project rate for bigger things like website designs. I also make more per class teaching yoga now. So, all of these slow but steady increases over the years have allowed me to do less and still make around the same amount, which is another great part of working for yourself and setting your own rates.

I hope this post was informative for those of you getting started as solopreneurs and/or muddling through this world alongside me ;) I look forward to seeing how these things continue to shift in the next two years!