💰 Income Report: Why I don't make all my money from Substack
AKA My worst financial quarter
The financial quarter just ended was my worst.
I had to take time out because my dog died and then I injured my back. So it’s hardly surprising that I’m currently down 10% on profits compared to the previous quarter.
Every quarter, I send A-Mailers a detailed breakdown of the last three months worth of my earnings. My income reports include everything I think is helpful to know, from how I make my money to how I feel about how much I earn. And yes, I include the exact amount I made, including profit after costs.
As I went through my figures to write up this quarter’s report, it quickly became apparent to me that if I were solely reliant on Substack income, I’d be in trouble right now. I don’t mean because my Substack income isn’t enough to survive on (even though it’s not enough to survive on), but because I didn’t have the energy to do the work needed to make it a viable revenue stream.
When
hit half a million readers recently, he published a post about how he got there. Among all the helpful tips about committing to consistency, he also talked about the hamster wheel that is subscription-based newsletter writing:There are major downsides to this life. No PTO, no benefits, no 401(k) matching, and no one to write for me if I’m sick. To take parental leave, I had to work doubly hard for a couple of months to create a backlog of content.
Also, unless I shut this thing down, in theory I have to write an awesome newsletter every week for the rest of my life.
That’s me right now – forget the rest of my life, I wasn’t able to write an awesome newsletter every week for these past three months.
If you want to see exactly how much money I made this quarter, and why my measly newsletter income is actually a blessing, keep reading.
As always, my 🚨DISCLAIMER 🚨 before I talk about money on the internet:
This is how I make my money
I’m sharing this because I think you might find it helpful (or maybe you’re just nosey, I’m also fine with that)
I’m not a financial advisor
With that out the way, here’s how much money I made from July through September of this year.