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October 2015: Income Report - Krabi, Thailand to South Africa

Just when I thought my life couldn't get any more hectic October came around. I started the month in Chiang Mai, headed down to Krabi for the dropshipping retreat, and after just a single day back "home" I flew across the ocean to South Africa where I am now.  The only saving grace was the business class lounge had a shower during my layover in Kenya.

So here we are, Africa where I've been tethering internet off of my phone these past two weeks as nowhere that I've been has had uncapped WIFI so far. How has my income been affected being here after spending a week scuba diving and hanging out on the islands with a bunch of dropshippers instead of actually working? We'll see! I had my best month EVER last month and would be thrilled if I even came close. Here's my income as a location independent entrepreneur for the past 31 days, October 1st - 31st, 2015.





As always I list all of my income sources and share screenshots of my dashboards. I've been doing this for over a year now and it's forced me to stay on track with my accounting as well as allowed me to share what has been working for me.

I hope that everyone gets a ton of value from these posts, as I know I would have loved to been able to follow someone else's progress when I was first starting out to see what is possible. My income has steadily grown since I started posting these reports, partially because I've been putting in the hard work necessary for success, but also because writing these have made me competitive with myself and I always try to do better than the previous month by adding in new streams of income and optimizing the profits for my existing sources.

As always I live write these so I have no idea what my income was for this month until I get to the end, so I'm just as excited as you are to see the results. Let's start with income from my two books and go from there!

At the Rugby Match in South Africa

Profit from Book Sales


Kindle book sales for both 12 Weeks in Thailand/Life Changes Quick
Paperback book sales


Thanks to Brian Halliday for the review of Life Changes Quick on Amazon.co.uk!

Paperbacks: $14.52 + £1.95 + €3.36
PDFs: $31.96 

Total Profit for Book Sales: $244US +/-



Income from Udemy Courses




It's been almost a year since I've created a new course on Udemy, but i'm excited to say, that for these past two weeks I've been filming videos for my new course! Why you may ask? I've realized that a bunch of my followers have came to me after signing up for one of my other courses on Udemy and even though it's never been a huge income stream, it's nice passive income as well as a free way to get more followers.

The formula is, create a great course filled with value and let it sell for way less than it's actually worth. That way, you'll get new viewers who think "wow, so much value for only $XX" and wah-la you'll have a new follower who may potentially buy one of your full priced courses or something you recommend.

Keep in touch on this blog and sign up for the mailing list to get first shot at the new course, that I think is going to be the ultimate first step for a ton of people who are just starting out.

Total Profit from Udemy Courses: $448.05



Income from Dropshipping Stores


Last month was great for dropshipping, with one of my best months ever, especially since I got an unexpected $1,750 from a friend who wanted to give me a piece of his profit when he sold his store as a thanks for me helping him start it.

This month I've been playing with my ads and spent a bit more than I would have liked, so I'm going to turn it back down next month to find a happy medium of ad spend and profit. Overall both stores did really well so I'm pretty happy, especially since the holidays are coming up and in general sales go up, so I'm stoked.

Total Sales for Store #1 = $21,927.15

Total Advertising Spend: $1,045.53
Costs of Items/Shipping/Etc

Total Profit for Store #1: $2,982.07 +/-
Travel Rewards Earned: $315 +/-


October Sales from Dropshipping Store #1


Since I was in South Africa most of the month, Larissa and I were going to call more suppliers and add more products to the store. That didn't happen as we kept putting it off and life got busy, but we still had an excellent month anyways so we're really happy about that.

Total Sales for Store #2: $19,307.00
Total Ad Spend: $443.17
Costs of Items/Shipping/Etc

Total Profit: $3,607.54
My half share: $1,803.77




Total profit from dropshipping: $4,785.84



Join the Course: 

If you want to learn from the same guy who taught me how to start my own dropshipping store, use my link and give me credit for referring you to Anton's Dropshipping Course and get my Jump Start videos for free ($249 value) which help you get through niche selection, knowing when to call suppliers and other common obstacles!

Thanks for remembering to use my link when signing up!


Income from Misc.





For whatever reason, a bunch of people signed up for phone coaching this month and on top of all of the interviews I've been on other people's podcasts as well as doing a few of my own, it feels like I've been on skype way more this month than ever before. 

In total, I've had 5 different people sign up for phone coaching this month which is a record. Most people signed up for packages, but I only count the completed ones when doing my accounting so there are a few rolled over until next month. 

Profit from coaching: $475



Profit from Youtube Ads: $59.04 +/-

Total Profit from Misc: $539.16 +/-



Income from Affiliate Commission


A few months ago, I launched my new affiliate training course Earnest Affiliate and have been using myself as a case study ever since. Inside the course I show my students how to earn commission promoting products and how to get paid for anything that someone buys 7-30 days after they click your link, even if it's not the product you promoted in the first place.

A great example of this is this Star Wars Halloween costume someone bought using my Amazon Affiliate link. Just like the Audible book below it, I didn't promote it directly but since they came from my link I still earned $8 in commission for sending them to Amazon. If you want to know more about how I do it, watch the Amazon case study inside EA.

What's even cooler is these physical products are just a small portion of what I do and what I teach. The big money comes from the other 4 case studies that are also inside the member's area.


A peek at some of the items I earned commission from this month.

An inside look at one of the digital products I promote

I accidently selected check instead of direct deposit for a new product I started promoting


The above check is my first payment from a new product that I started promoting where I used myself as a case study for and documented the entire thing. In my very first month I made $1,166 in profit and think it's going to be the go to case study for Earnest Affiliate students to replicate as the barriers to entry are really low and straight forward.

Inside my confidential case studies of Earnest Affiliate I show exactly how much I make from each of the products I promote, my traffic sources, and how to replicate the success in your own niche step by step.

Total Profit from Affiliate Commissions: $14,201.25


Learn step by step how to replicate my success as an affiliate!

Income from my Course


The hard work i've been putting into making Earnest Affiliate as good as possible is starting to pay off! This is my first month making over two thousand dollars in profit for my course and even though it's still a lot less than what I'm making actually doing what I teach, I see it as a long term investment.

Some of my students are already starting to make affiliate commissions of their own, which not only makes me extremely proud, I also know that it'll help spread the word and get more people to join.

Mark my word, one day in the future, my income from my course is going to be higher than my own personal affiliate income and people are going to start complaining saying I make more teaching it than doing it. But till that day happens, I'm quite happy with making $14k myself, and $2.5k showing others how to do the same.


Inside the member's area of Earnest Affiliate including the case studies.

Total profit from EA Signups $2,553.47


My trip to South Africa so far!

Living Expenses for October 2015:


Rent: $329.43 a month (even though my in Chiang Mai is empty)
Utilities: $15.62 a month
Internet/Phone: $16.85 a month
Coworking Office: $50 for half a month
Gym Membership: $39.06 a month


Flight: Chiang Mai to Krabi $100 +/-
Hotel: 5 nights in Krabi $145.71 (shared with Chris)
Scuba Diving: $91.47

Business Class Flight to South Africa: Free with Rewards Points
Hotel: Staying with Friend

Local 3G Data: $130

Unlocked iPhone 6S Replacement Gift: $905.54
Pacsafe Backpack: $138.22

Food/Misc: $800+
Other: $1,000 +/-

Donation to Donors Choose
Donation to Daughters Rising

This month's expenses were a lot more than when I bootstrap in Chiang Mai, but I've done some cool stuff, see some beautiful places and got to travel. Obviously if the iPhone 6 didn't get stolen from my carry on luggage on the plane the expenses would have been a lot lower, but things happen!

Also I didn't do the best job keeping track of my expenses this month so I just added $1,000 in other as I'm sure I bought random things either in Krabi or in South Africa that I forgot about.

Total Expenses for October: $3,763.05 +/-

Total Profit for October: $22,771.77





That's it. It's been another crazy month. But this is the life we live, and the lives we chose right? And there are it's perks.

If you want the inside scoop and hear me explaining everything in more detail, check out the follow along explanation video for this month!


Follow Along Video:




Best wishes to everyone in your own location independent online businesses in November. Let me know how it goes!

Warm Regards,

Johnny


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Post a Comment

  1. I'm so glad you keep doing income reports. It keeps me hopeful and motivated, plus I start generating all these new ideas about the direction I can take with my businesses. Thanks Johnny!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Lorrie, comments like yours are the reason why I keep consistently taking the time to write these every month.

      Really glad to be able to share what I've learned and what has been successful for me. Let me know how your business goes as well!

      Delete
  2. ah so nice of you to buy a replacement iphone 6s for your girlfriend. very sorry you lost your carry on baggage with the iphone 6.

    damn you are doing well for affiliate earnest course. what is that exactly? is that affiliate marketing.

    i want to diversify my income like you. 90% of my income comes from amazon kindle books.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Robert, it was just making the best out of a bad situation. She told me I didn't need to replace it and if I really wanted to to just get her a cheaper Android phone, but I'm really fortunate where I can just fork out the money and get her the best.

      Earnest Affiliate is my course where I use myself as a case study to show you how I've built now over $13,000 a month in income from promoting products that I genuinely believe in and use for myself. It's the way I do affiliate marketing without paid ads or crazy SEO.

      If you already make income from Kindle, my course will pretty easily teach you how to take advantage of what you already have and get affiliate income from both Amazon and off using the traffic and audience you have already. =)

      Hope to see you inside www.EarnestAffiliate.com

      Delete
  3. impressive that you have 19,000$ bootstrapped in savings. if you still lived in california, yoou would not have 19,000$ bootstrapped in savings

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Robert! It's the main reason why I haven't moved back to the U.S. yet. If I lived there my rent alone would be $2,000+

      Delete
  4. Terrific post. Really appreciate the transparency. You're teaching in a way that is to be admired.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Sherman, really happy to be able to share!

      Delete
  5. Hey Johnny, living the dream! Well done. Please keep on teaching us beginner's how it is done. How long did it take you to reach these kind of figures?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Talent, glad to help. I've been posting my income reports for over a year now every month so you can check them out but as a summary.

      2008 - 2013: Make $0-$200 a month online.

      Early 2013 - Made $200-$400 online (book sales)

      2013 - 2014 - Made $2,000-$4,000 from drop shipping

      2014 - 2015 - Made $5,000 - $8,000 combined Dropshipping, Books, Courses, Affiliate Commissions, etc.

      2015 - President - What you see now.

      Delete
  6. Awesome Johnny! Love to see you crushing it and your way of openly putting it out there is so refreshing & helpful for those of us following your footsteps! Heidi & Gary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey thanks so much Heidi! I really appreciate it and am really glad to be able to help lead the way for people getting started!

      Delete
  7. Hey Johnny! Great stuff, very happy for you. Keep it up!

    Quick question - what health / travel insurance do you use for living in Thailand / Travelling the World?

    Thanks,
    Kirill

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Kirill thanks so much!

      For insurance I use travel insurance that also includes health for emergencies: I wrote about it here: http://www.johnnyfd.com/2015/07/johnnys-guide-to-chiang-mai-thailand.html

      Enjoy your travels and be safe!

      Delete
    2. Awesome. Thanks for the tip!

      Delete
  8. Thanks for your post Johnny!

    Would you recommend Earnest Affiliate or Dropship Lifestyle? Seems like you're earning 4x as much in Earnest Affiliate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Jonathan, it really depends on your web skills, experience, etc.

      But for most people I'd recommend starting with dropshipping because it's more straightforward and usually only takes people 2 months to start making sales. While Earnest Affiliate takes 3-6 months to really build up trust, traffic and a brand but has super high potential.

      Delete
  9. Thanks Johnny for your inspiration! I have already moved to Thailand and started building my first dropshipping store. Good luck on your journey! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey awesome Tomas, enjoy Thailand and let us know how it goes with your store!

      Delete
  10. Great work mate, really inspirational. And thanks for sharing. Hopefully I make the plunge and give Drop Shipping a go one day soon. Living in Thailand and traveling the world is a dream that actually seems possible. Keep up the good work mate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey thanks so much Dylan, best of luck with your journey as well!

      Delete
  11. Hello Johnny,

    Thank you for your time and inspiration. It's people like you who keep us motivated and leaves us with that thought that "anything is possible". After being labeled a disabled vet from the Marine Corp a few years back, I lost some hope. I've since picked myself up and now I'm working on my second degree. I have people like you to thank for that. Bookmarked, and I look forward to reading more of your blog posts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Jason, happy to share. Anything really is possible. Glad you book marked my site and keep pushing on, finish that degree and conquer the world!

      Delete
  12. Hi there mate,

    great post and blog (found you via your instagram)!

    quick question: how many hours of work (learning and trying it out) would you say it takes to get to a 4 figure / month income level on drop shipping and what's the best way to get their quickly (will definately be buying those videos you mentioned)

    Thanks,

    Duke

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Duke, it'll take a full time commitment of 20-40 hours a week for the first 2 months. Then after that you can just work on your store an hour a day on average for most people.

      My advice:

      1. Follow the modules inside www.AntonMethod.com and don't skip any steps.

      2. Keep a progress thread inside the private member forums of the course and don't be afraid to ask for help.

      3. Don't take any shortcuts. It's worth the hard work and effort.

      Glad you found me from my Instagram!

      Delete
  13. Hi Johnny,

    Awesome post...I just discovered the world of drop shipping this week and exploring the possibilities. Could you post links to your shopify sites so we can get an idea of the products you sell?

    Thanks!
    Ron

    ReplyDelete
  14. Welcome Ron, check out this post for details: http://www.johnnyfd.com/2014/08/how-i-started-tiffanylampcollectioncom.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Johnny, Great job this month! I didn't realize that such a substantial amount of income comes from affiliate earnings. How long have you had your affiliate sites up? I looked at some earlier income reports and didn't see an earnings report on them.
    Thanks!
    Graham

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Grahamj,

      I've been doing it for over a year now but never made more than $200 a month in the beginning so I never mentioned it. It took me a long time to figure it out but once I did and focused my energy on it as I teach in Earnest Affiliate it skyrocketed.

      Delete
  16. Hi Johnny,

    I have been going through your blog and videos and I must say it has really inspired me to explore the ecommerce world and succeed as well. Thank you for sharing your success and journey. Love it!
    I have just signed up to the course via your link above. With your jumpstart course, is there an email I should be expecting to get access?

    Cheers,
    Johnny

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey John, glad my blog and videos have inspired you! Thanks for using my link when signing up for Anton's course. You should automatically get an email to access the forums in a few days, then access to my Jump Start course after that. Let me know if it doesn't come for any reason. And see you inside the member's forums!

      Delete
    2. Thanks for reply Johnny! Will let you know how I go. See you in forum.

      Cheers,
      John

      Delete
  17. Hi Johnny,
    Thank you very much for sharing your income report.
    This is one of the Best way to push new beginners.
    Keep going !!!
    Regards,
    Long

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Long really glad it's helped push you to get started!

      Delete
  18. hey johny thanks for putting this out there

    $708 from digital products promoted
    $1'166 from rakuten
    $ xyz from amazon

    Where is the rest so you come up with $14'201 in affiliate commissions?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy to share!I

      currently have around 7-10 sources of affiliate income, those are just the three examples I gave publically.

      I disclose my exact sources inside my membership course: Earnest Affiliate (http://www.EarnestAffiliate.com) and show you which products I promote, the traffic sources, etc.

      Delete
  19. Thanks for the answer Johnny. I totally understand and respect your privacy. It's already incredible you share so much publically.

    I've been analysing the income reports of other fellow online entrepreneurs of yours: pat flynn, john lee dumas, and the likes. Similiar to you, 66 to 80% of their revenue come from affiliate marketing. So they are effectively making money online by recommending other tools for making money online.

    Of course you need to promote authentically the right products and adding value through some tutorial, case study, honest advice, etc.. but to generate such an income with affiliates, my thought is that it comes down to have a big following / popular site where you can drive significant traffic and that's take a lot of time. So it can't be replicated within months but effectively take years.

    Would you agree with that view? How long did it take to generate from $0 to $10k monthly affiliate income with your website?

    Thanks in advance


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's actually what my new course is all about, taking what I've learned myself but also using guys like Pat Flynn as case studies on how to replicate our success, but in months instead of years.

      A big part of it is how you create value and become successful yourself before you start recommending things to your audience.

      It took me 2 years to go from $0 to $10k monthly affiliate income, but it was completely by accident as I didn't really have an example to follow as nothing like this existed before Earnest Affiliate where I show how I got a big following and got so much traffic in the first place.

      Delete
  20. Hello Johnny,

    I love your monthly income reports, that much that I included you in my list of favourite bloggers, you can find it here http://passiveincomewise.com/favourite-bloggers/ Thank you for sharing it.

    Keep up with the great work!

    Francisco

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hey Johnny, greetings from Germany! Wow, 19K, thats super impressive, keep up the good work, pal. Also, i hope your Stock Market succees continues, i recommend investing in dividend paying stocks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Herzliches Dankeschön Rob. =)

      I invest primarily in VTI which pays 1.90% dividend which I reinvest. It's not the highest in the world, but I'm happy with it.

      Delete
  22. glad to see you came to south africa.
    I live in Durban, love this country!!

    you still around, or have you jetted off somwhere.
    Thanks for the inspiration

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Geecee, SA was a great time. I'm back in Chiang Mai, Thailand now!

      Delete
    2. Awesome stuff, glad you enjoyed it.

      Delete

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