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What 6 Years of Working Online Looks Like Financially

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working online financial insight

Alright it’s here. My 2018 year-end income report. Honestly, these are not easy for me to write.

For 2 reasonsโ€ฆ

1. Because I HATE numbers, math and moneyโ€ฆitโ€™s something my inner being just fights against and itโ€™s taken me years to be this deep in bed with my numbers. Itโ€™s SO WORTH IT and youโ€™ll see why knowing your numbers is so important, but sharing certainly doesnโ€™t come naturally.

2. I never want it to come across that I am bragging or that itโ€™s like OH LOOK AT ME IM SO FANCY. My intention is always to pull back the curtain so you can see what running an online business is really like and that hey, maybe you are doing pretty damn well just where you are.

People are surprised when they see how much or how little we earn when I do these reportsโ€ฆitโ€™s maybe not what you expected and thatโ€™s the point!

Which leads me to reason #3 these are tough and thatโ€™s vulnerabilityโ€ฆ

Everyone’s going to realize I am NOT successful and this entire ruse is going to be over!

Everyone’s going to judge me and not want to learn from me anymore!

I am not making as much as I โ€œshouldโ€ be making

The truth is, success is determined by each and every one of us. Our expectations are not the same as someone else. What someone makes in one part of the world is considered a King’s salary compared to another part of the world. Sometimes this is true even within the same country!

So take all of this with a grain of salt and remember my intention is to show the real behind the scenes of what goes into running this show so you know what you can expect as you grow, or can readjust your expectations, set goals, be inspired or whatever it means to you.

Alright here we go!

All numbers reflected are in USD

2017

Hereโ€™s what I made in 2017 total (before expenses): $71,626

Business Expenses: $23,649

Self employment tax: $6,072

Net Profit in 2017: $45,089

Key takeaways from 2017

This was the year my husband suffered his TBI induced mental health breakdown, my car got repossessed, he got out of the Marines and we had to move into a 1 bedroom apartment while we took care of his mental health issues. Itโ€™s the year my marriage fell apart, Ben and I moved to Maine and we ended up in Bali.

So $45K profit was kinda eh on paper but I was doing actually pretty damn well despite everything we were going through.

Ok so now get ready for 2018 because HOLY SHITโ€ฆ

Agency Profit & Expenses

Iโ€™ve been running my online course creation agency The Content Bank for about 6 years, I just expanded it to a full blown team over the last year after all the trauma we went through. Hereโ€™s what that looks likeโ€ฆ

Total Gross Agency Income: $70,994

This is the amount I made before paying anyone to do the work on the team

Agency Cost of Doing Business: $27,081

These are the expenses directly related to the projects, e.g. the graphic designer on the client’s project I had to pay

Virtual Assistant Internship Profit & Expenses

Total Program Income: $62,877

The amount of money in sales before any expenses from all my courses, programs, retreats, etc

Total Cost of Doing Business: $4892

How much I paid my team to help me run everything in 2018, note this is going up A LOT in 2019

Key takeaways from 2018 income

Can you see now how I got to the decision to close my agency and only take 1 on 1 consulting clients? The amount of money I am making in each business is almost the same but the expenses in the agency were CRAZY high compared to the digital products which I can do all myself if I really need to.

So to make up for the agency missing in 2019 I just need to make an extra $40K via consulting or with the courses which is totally doable when I am focused 100% on it.

Also the โ€˜expensesโ€™ are called โ€˜cost of goods soldโ€™ which I love the phrase of that. It means โ€™x is how much I had to spend in order to make yโ€™ and flips how you think of your money!

Other Expenses

Just some snippets because the entire thing is super detailedโ€ฆ

Software, Office Supplies & Tools: $2916

Paypal Fees & Bank Fees: $1278

Education: $15,666

Debt: $1166

Travel: $17,460

Health Insurance for Ben & I: $1492

Owners Pay (me!): $30,986

Total Other Expenses: $75,528

Key takeaways from expenses

One thing I love about business is how we can mix our life in with it, so the โ€˜expensesโ€™ are just โ€˜lifeโ€™ to other people in traditional jobs.

We mix business travel with family travel so a lot of these come off the business but were also personal which is always fun. What I mean is, my mastermind is in Connecticut in America so our flights there and accommodation and rental car are taken out of the business. But we get to go stay with my family for a week or two (not charged to the business but also, no expense to us) while we are there!

Same for traveling around anywhere else in the world. I organize business around our family lifestyle so we can have integrity in how we run our expenses but also enjoy the tax write off. So we got to travel AND I still made a salary.

Paying for health insurance outside of America is WAY CHEAPER and comes out of the business!

The biggest thing you may have noticed is the education expenseโ€ฆOMG RIGHT? But seriously, thatโ€™s how I got to the profits we got to this year. Investing in my online education whenever I got stuck. Not trying to read books, free blogs, and other junk webinars to squeeze by with cheap or free infoโ€ฆactually paying a shit ton of money to INVEST in my career and OMG has it paid off.

Rubbing shoulders with the right people, in the right places all doing the same things means you are pushed ahead beyond your expectations. Your brain can only dream so big! You need help to reach the next mountain peak beyond sight!

Oh and see how I still have debt? This isnโ€™t nearly everything. I still have a student loan and another card I am personally paying offโ€ฆbut has that stopped us from pursuing our dreams? Making big lifestyle changes? Using debt to up level and upskill? HECK NO!

One thing that bums me out is when women wonโ€™t do our program or start traveling because โ€˜we are trying to pay off all our debt UM HELLO working online and living in Asia is a FAB way to pay off debt?!

Thatโ€™s why I so wholeheartedly believe in our programs and what we are doing to empower as many of you to work online as possible in 2019.

Total 2018 Gross Income
(amount before cost of doing business, before expenses):
$140,214

Total Net Income (amount after all the things, but remember a lot of those ‘things’ are travel, health insurance, childcare, education, and my salary): $34,843.06

YOU GUYS I ALMOST TRIPLED MY INCOME IN 1 YEAR?!?!?!

What This Means for 2019

Increase Charitable Giving

Our charitable giving was terrible in 2018. It’s honestly because we’ve never had enough extra money until this year and didn’t even think of it until I looked at this. We are starting ‘at home’ by the company sponsoring a child and non-profit expenses with a monthly giving to my CFO’s non-profit in rural South Africa called Rural Reach. Her husband is helping those living in rural areas without the most basic necessities so it was a no brainer (and automatically withdraws every month so I don’t have to think about it). If you want to sponsor a child in a very real way check them out HERE.  

More team, more $

Running a six figure company takes a TEAM EFFORT. I have a web developer, chief-financial-officer, chief-operations-officer, graphic designer, eCommerce admin, and 2 interns. Plus I hire copywriters occasionally. None of them are full time but may change this year. Even as my income increases, guess what else increases? Yep…team help. And team help requires more $.

Help more people

Making more money and being able to re-invest some of it continually back into my business means one major thing to me: I get to help more of you launch your online work dreams. I do not understand how God called me into something so incredible that I get to do this full time

If Nothing Elseโ€ฆ

I donโ€™t know if this made you go OMG I WANT TO BE HER WHEN I GROW UP or

โ€œWow, I am doing better then I thoughtโ€ but if nothing else I hope you see the moโ€™ money, moโ€™ problems theme throughout because omgโ€ฆas you grow your expenses and team grows and you NEED them to continue so thereโ€™s no way around it.

Avoid playing the comparison game though. I spend more on travel, team, etc because we love our little life. We prefer living in a small villa in Bali and traveling than me working 60 hours a week so we donโ€™t have to hire anyone and avoid investing in tools. Iโ€™d rather pay for help and work less but itโ€™s all about the lifestyle you want to createโ€ฆnot necessarily emulating mine. But at least now you have an example of whatโ€™s possible.

I never pretend to know everything, we are all just learning along together. If this was helpful for you then Iโ€™d love to know your biggest takeaway!

And for heaven’s sake stop messing around trying to work online on your own and just join 90 Day VA already HERE (enrollment closes May 31st soโ€ฆseriously).

Until next time!

xoxo

Esther

CEO & Founder

Virtual Assistant Internship

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3 thoughts on “What 6 Years of Working Online Looks Like Financially”

  1. Jalene Szuba
    January 27, 2019 at 3:46 pm

    Thank you for being so honest and open! This is helpful, educational and inspiring.

    Reply
  2. Ute Wirth
    May 14, 2019 at 3:25 pm

    That sounds great! I suppose you only teach the VA Curriculum in English? Do you have any experiences if there is a market in German speaking countries? Looking forwar to your reply. Ute

    Reply
    1. Deya Aliaga
      May 28, 2019 at 9:08 am

      Hi Ute! The 90 Day VA curriculum is in English, but there are clients from all over the world. We also have VAs from all over the world offering their services in whichever languages that they’d like to!

      I’m based in Germany as well ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply

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๐•‹๐•™๐•–๐•ฃ๐•– ๐•’๐•ฃ๐•– ๐•’ ๐•ƒ๐•†๐•‹ ๐• ๐•— ๐• ๐•Ÿ๐•๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•– ๐•”๐• ๐•ฆ๐•ฃ๐•ค๐•–๐•ค ๐• ๐•ฆ๐•ฅ ๐•ฅ๐•™๐•–๐•ฃ๐•–, ๐•“๐•ฆ๐•ฅ ๐•™๐• ๐•จ ๐••๐•  ๐•ช๐• ๐•ฆ ๐•œ๐•Ÿ๐• ๐•จ ๐•จ๐•™๐•š๐•”๐•™ ๐• ๐•Ÿ๐•– ๐•š๐•ค ๐•ฃ๐•š๐•˜๐•™๐•ฅ ๐•—๐• ๐•ฃ ๐•ช๐• ๐•ฆ?

I get this question ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ all ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ the ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ time.

And I know it can be confusing ๐Ÿ˜ซ to try and figure out which ones are the best for your needs and if theyโ€™ll do what they promise to do for you. ๐Ÿคž๐Ÿผ๐Ÿคž๐Ÿผ

This is why I'm throwing it back to an older podcast episode ๐ŸŽง filled with little nuggets ๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿ”ฅ that will help you to decide.

I cover:

โšก How to determine if you will actually land jobs
๐Ÿค” Whether you'll start working in a few weeks or a few years
๐Ÿค‘ If the course is going to hold you accountable 

and more! ๐Ÿคฉ

๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿผ Click my picture on my profile to go to my stories for the link to this episode!

๐ŸŽง Or you can just search โ€œHelp Me Work Online, Estherโ€ on Spotify or Apple podcasts to tune in to 5 Important Questions to Help You Decide Whether to Invest in an Online Course!
๐‘ฐ๐’‡ ๐’š๐’๐’–'๐’“๐’† ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’“๐’Š๐’†๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’„๐’‚๐’'๐’• ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’Œ๐’† ๐’š๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’Œ ๐’‡๐’“๐’๐’Ž ๐’‰๐’๐’Ž๐’† ๐’…๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’Ž ๐’‚ ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’•๐’š, ๐Ÿ“ฃ ๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’†'๐’” ๐’‚ ๐’๐’Š๐’•๐’•๐’๐’† ๐’”๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’š ๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’š๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’…. ๐Ÿ“ฃ

These are โœจ 13 average salaries โœจ for 13 different jobs you could do TODAY! ๐Ÿ”ฅ

๐Ÿ“Œ Virtual Assistant: $39,617
๐Ÿ“Œ Business Development Manager: $71,968
๐Ÿ“Œ Copywriter: $50,570
๐Ÿ“Œ Curriculum Designer: $61,389
๐Ÿ“Œ Customer Support Specialist: $41,382
๐Ÿ“Œ Front-End Developer: $71,145
๐Ÿ“Œ Marketing Manager: $64,500
๐Ÿ“Œ Online ESL Teacher: $43,878
๐Ÿ“Œ Product Manager: $82,916
๐Ÿ“Œ Recruiter: $49,544
๐Ÿ“Œ Social Media Manager: $49,881
๐Ÿ“Œ Translator: $47,974
๐Ÿ“Œ Web Designer: $49,649

๐Ÿคฉ ...And these are only SOME of the jobs that are out there, guys!

There are so many opportunities for you to live your dream โ˜๏ธ๐ŸŒˆ and work from home. ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป Sometimes it just takes a little investigation, ๐Ÿ•ต๐Ÿผโ€โ™€๏ธ but it's out there! ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿผ

You can do this! ๐Ÿ†๐Ÿฅ‡๐Ÿ‘‘๐Ÿคฉ You CAN be successful. 

The skyโ€™s the limit! โ˜๏ธโ˜๏ธโ˜€๏ธโ˜€๏ธ

If you donโ€™t know where to start, my signature course, @_90dayva , has everything you need to get started as a Virtual Assistant. ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿฝโ€๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿปโ€๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿง‘๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป

๐Ÿ“ฃ Doors open for enrollment on May 1st. ๐Ÿ“ฃ But if you join the waitlist, you can enroll early. ๐Ÿ˜‰ 

The link is in my bio. ๐Ÿ”—๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿผ
๐”…๐”ข๐”ฆ๐”ซ๐”ค ๐”ž ๐”ฐ๐”ฒ๐” ๐” ๐”ข๐”ฐ ๐”…๐”ข๐”ฆ๐”ซ๐”ค ๐”ž ๐”ฐ๐”ฒ๐” ๐” ๐”ข๐”ฐ๐”ฐ๐”ฃ๐”ฒ๐”ฉ ๐”ณ๐”ฆ๐”ฏ๐”ฑ๐”ฒ๐”ž๐”ฉ ๐”ž๐”ฐ๐”ฐ๐”ฆ๐”ฐ๐”ฑ๐”ž๐”ซ๐”ฑ ๐”ฆ๐”ซ๐”ณ๐”ฌ๐”ฉ๐”ณ๐”ข๐”ฐ ๐”ช๐”ฌ๐”ฏ๐”ข ๐”ฑ๐”ฅ๐”ž๐”ซ ๐”ง๐”ฒ๐”ฐ๐”ฑ ๐”ฅ๐”ž๐”ณ๐”ฆ๐”ซ๐”ค ๐”ž ๐”ค๐”ฌ๐”ฌ๐”ก ๐”ฅ๐”ฒ๐”ฐ๐”ฑ๐”ฉ๐”ข ๐”ž๐”ซ๐”ก ๐”ฐ๐”ฑ๐”ฏ๐”ฌ๐”ซ๐”ค ๐”ฐ๐”จ๐”ฆ๐”ฉ๐”ฉ ๐”ฐ๐”ข๐”ฑ. ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป

๐Ÿ”ฅ You can step up your virtual assistant game by growing your network, โœจ getting organized, and ๐ŸŒˆ pushing your creativity with different free online tools... ๐Ÿ’ป  but the most helpful one is...

๐Ÿ’ฅ FACEBOOK GROUPS ๐Ÿ’ฅ

Facebook groups are a virtual assistantโ€™s lifeline. ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿผ

If you are seeking:

โœ”๏ธ Work
โœ”๏ธ Advice
โœ”๏ธ Fellow virtual assistants
โœ”๏ธ Skill trades

โ€ฆthereโ€™s a group for that. ๐Ÿ˜Œ

This powerful tool allows you to network with fellow virtual assistants and potential clients. ๐Ÿค

Did you know I have my own Facebook group with over 19,000 supportive and hustling virtual assistants? 

I share industry advice and post legit online jobs. You can check it out here ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿผ

๐Ÿ”— facebook.com/groups/virtualassistantinternship
๐‘ซ๐’ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’“ ๐’ˆ๐’†๐’• ๐’‚ ๐’ˆ๐’–๐’• ๐’‡๐’†๐’†๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’‚ ๐’‹๐’๐’ƒ ๐’๐’‡๐’‡๐’†๐’“ ๐’Š๐’” ๐’•๐’๐’ ๐’ˆ๐’๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’•๐’“๐’–๐’†? ๐Ÿ˜ณ

Internet scams are widespread and can be an easy trap for people looking for online jobs. ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to tell if someone is trying to scam you for your personal information. ๐Ÿค”๐Ÿค”

This is why I'm bringing back a fan-favorite podcast episode ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ๐ŸŽง about how to spot an online scam. ๐Ÿ•ต๐Ÿผโ€โ™€๏ธ

I cover...

๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ How to identify an online job scam
๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Jobs that aren't scams but you should still avoid
๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Real remote job boards that won't scam you

๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿผ Click my picture on my profile to go to my stories for the link to this episode!

๐ŸŽง Or you can just search โ€œHelp Me Work Online, Estherโ€ on Spotify or Apple podcasts to tune in to Watch Out! Spot an Online Job Scam From a Mile Away!
๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฅ? ๐Ÿก

What if when your husband deployed or your family had to PCS you weren't scrambling? โœˆ๏ธ

What if when your kids got sick you didn't have to stress? ๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘ง๐Ÿป๐Ÿง’๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿพ

When those tickets to the Bahamas went on sale you could just GO FOR IT? ๐Ÿ–๏ธโ˜€๏ธ๐Ÿ•ถ๏ธ

๐Ÿ“ฃ This stuff isn't impossible and it can happen to you. ๐Ÿ“ฃ 

A bunch of us have already been doing it for years. ๐Ÿ’ป  We work online and get paid by the hour or project. ๐Ÿ’ต  We set our own hours and do what we need to do when we want. ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿผ

In 90 Day VA, I teach you everything you need to know about starting your own business as a Virtual Assistant. ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿปโ€๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿฝโ€๐Ÿ’ป

๐ŸŒŸ I believe that you can live your dream life if you want to! ๐ŸŒŸ

If you're worried that this could be scam or you're not sure if you could actually make this happen ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Check out my free workshop and decide from there. 

Link is in my bio ๐Ÿ”—
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Copyright ยฉ2021 Esther M Inman โ€‹

Testimonials shown are real experiences from paying program members of 90 DAY VA. Their results are not typical and your experience will vary based upon your effort, education, business model, and market forces beyond our control. We make no earnings claims or return on investment claims, and you may not make your money back.