Here’s my income report for February 2017. Why am I publishing income reports? I know it’s been done to death but I want to be totally honest about the realities of self-employment as a single mother.

Total transparency means getting down to brass tacks about what I’m bringing in and what I’m shelling out.

I hope that by sharing this, and the lessons I’m learning as I go, you can learn from what works for me, and what doesn’t. I also want to keep myself accountable and it’s a great exercise to sit down and review each month properly.

Please note:

• To accurately show the financial reality of self-employment what I’m showing here is what actually came in and out of my account. So it’s not necessarily reflective of the work I did that month. Amounts are rounded up to the nearest £.
• Any links below marked with a * are affiliate links meaning that if you click them and make a purchase I may earn a commission. This is at no cost to you, and I’m only an affiliate for products and services I use and recommend.

income

• Freelance copywriting and social media consulting: £2400
• Passive income (social media planners): £0

Total income = £2400

expenses

• Policy Bee – professional indemnity insurance: £17
• Melyssa Griffin – Blog To Business Hive: £38
• Freelance To Freedom School: £30
• Buffer: £8.05
• Convertkit*: £24
• TSOhost annual website cloud hosting*: £14.99
• Meals & entertainment: £79
• Travel expenses & parking: £4
• Bank charges (for foreign currency transactions): £2

Total expenses = £216

Net profit = £2184

Salary to Emma = £1224

Transferred to tax account = £581

benefit payments

I wouldn’t be totally transparent if I didn’t also report that on top of this income I also get tax credits and child benefit from the government.

• Tax credits/child benefit for February = £365

What I learned

To plan what I want to do in any given week and then halve it. Even though I set three top priorities for the week, both work and personal, I aim too high. I tend to underestimate how much work is associated with each task and then find I don’t have enough time to complete them. So when I write my weekly to-do list on Sunday nights I’ve decided to get it all down and then halve it. Perhaps then I’ll have a better chance of ticking everything off.

I need to protect my writing time. I try to block out time for writing because getting two posts a week up on this blog is my number one priority. However sometimes that’s not possible. For instance my daughter was sick at the end of the month so she was off school on the days I was planning to get ahead of my blog posts. Now, instead of having blog posts planned and scheduled for the next month, I’m behind.

To tweak my ‘rituals’ to be more productive. I read this really helpful blog post by Michael Hyatt and as a results I put some thought into the rituals that both start and end my day. Last week I started getting things ready for the next day the night before (getting breakfast things out, packing my daughter’s school bag) so that in the mornings I can review my to-do list and check-in with social media before the school run. That means when I sit down at my desk I can hit the ground running and get on with my most important tasks (in theory!). I keep you posted on how that goes!

What next?

To get posts written and scheduled for March and April. The Easter holidays are looming, we’re going away for a fews days in that time, so I really need to focus on getting ahead this month. I’ve blocked out time in my diary for writing and scheduling posts and I need to do my best to be as productive as possible in that time.

Blog promotion. As well as focussing on search engine optimisation, to grow my audience my plan is to focus on promoting it on Twitter and Pinterest. I’ve written a marketing plan and for the next three months I’m sticking with that plan to give it a chance to kick into action.

Got questions? Leave a comment – let’s chat!

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