💰 Income Report: Why I don't make all my money from Substack

AKA My worst financial quarter

Illustration: Léo Hamelin

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

Lenny Rachitsky

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: 

1. This is how I make my money

2. I’m sharing this because I think you might find it helpful (or maybe you’re just nosey, I’m also fine with that)

3. 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.