Behind the scenes: August 2022
August ✈️
August was A LOT, with serious ups and downs. I was out of the office the first week for a fun trip to Chicago. Then I was out unexpectedly because we lost a beloved family member and spent a week in Tennessee. After we got back to Austin, I “kind of” worked a few days, but was still grieving, so admittedly didn’t get much done.
Then we got a PUPPY! And then I was off to Squarespace Circle Day in NYC for their first-ever conference for Squarespace Circle members.
I maybe got in the equivalent of 5 full work days the whole month. But you know what? I was still able to bring in $6,500. Here’s how:
Income Streams
This month had three income streams: 1:1 work, course and template sales, and affiliate income.
1:1 Work
Very very little this month. Fortunately, I also had some prebookings for September. I booked 7 Squarespace Help calls for August but had to cancel 3, and did 1 Designer for a Day® for a retirement planning podcast. Normally I don’t build a full website in one DfaD, but I made an exception because I’d worked with Ryan before and he had a clear vision of what he wanted and was happy to keep it simple.
Course & Template Sales
Payout of $2400, with more to come next month (Teachable keeps some of the sales in reserve in case there are refunds).
I realized I’d be short on income this month, so I ran a Flash Sale (read below to see how I did it!) on my Squarespace templates and blogging course. I sold 6 Squarespace templates ( 3 SWAY, 2 SWOON, and 1 SPICE) and had 11 enrollments 🎉 in the Make Money with your Blog course this month. The flash sale brought in all but 2 of those purchases so it was a big win for me and it only took a few minutes to set up a coupon code, write 3 emails (I used Lizzy’s templates below), and share on Instagram.
Affiliate Income
$1500.
This month I’m highlighting courses I’ve purchased from one of my favorite online educators - Elizabeth Goddard. With any purchase, you also get access to her student-only Facebook group which is a goldmine of helpful info.
Courses I’ve taken and would recommend:
This is the method I used for my flash sale and it was great! Lizzy's super quick, super easy, and super repeatable process for making big money with little effort using flash sales. $97
I took this course in 2019 to host my first Live Training and Lizzy has added even more to it since then. Learn all Lizzy's super simple tips and strategies for offering paid live trainings in your business, even if you have a small audience or haven’t had (m)any 1:1 clients. $497
3. Client/Student-Only Groups FTW
I just signed up for this and listened to the podcast version on a plane. I've been thinking about doing a Client/Student Facebook group and this answered all my questions and more. A comprehensive course teaching you how to launch, run and profit from a super fun, super nurturing client/student-only group. $297
This Month’s Income Percentages
Thank goodness for passive income (60% of my income this month!). In a month where I was not able to do much 1:1 work, I was able to rely on course and template sales and affiliate sales to still have income.
Expenses
This month I spent money on:
domain renewals and website hosting ($250)
software renewals ($445)
client gift ($32)
office supplies: chargers and nothing exciting ($65)
professional fees: another course (one of Lizzy’s was on sale!) ($186)
travel ($1370)
The Travel expense was for Squarespace’s first-ever Circle Day and I’m so glad I went! We got a glimpse of some upcoming Squarespace features (that I’m really excited about!), heard some amazing talks, and got to meet some amazing designers in real life!
🎉 Highlight: My website homepage was featured in Squarespace CPO Paul Gubbay’s Keynote address on messaging!
Content Creation
Blog
Thankfully, I had some blog posts queued up to auto-publish.
Instagram @christypricewebdesign
Email Newsletter
My monthly email went out to subscribers in early August. If you missed it, you can read it here.
Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn
I use MissingLettr to schedule my blog posts to automatically share on each of these platforms on a set schedule. Save 50% off the first three months with any new plan.
Tools & Tech
Here are the tools and tech I relied on this month:
- MailerLite for my monthly email newsletter
- Wave for accounting and one-off invoicing
- Zapier for adding transactions to Wave automatically and delivering my templates
- Teachable for hosting courses and templates for sale
- Squarespace for my site and client builds
The Numbers (compared to July)
Website Visitors: ~13,400 (+750). Happy to see this! But curious to see how Google’s new algorithm affects the trend.
Email List Subscribers: 1,999 (+5). Most new subscribers sign up for my lead magnet. I had 52 people unsubscribe this month, probably because I sent out three flash sale emails which is unusual for me. Next time I might try another recommendation Lizzy had in her course to prevent that from happening - I just didn’t have time this go round.
Instagram Followers: 1,449 (+61). I did a live… maybe that’s why more than usual?
YouTube Subscribers: 880 (+41). I didn’t post any new videos in August. My most popular video in August was How to Create a Landing Page in Squarespace.
The Wrap-Up
I thought I’d start ending these posts with a Rose, Thorn, and Bud reflection.
Rose = A highlight, success, small win, or something positive that happened.
Thorn = A challenge you experienced or something you can use more support with.
Bud = New ideas that have blossomed or something you are looking forward to knowing more about or experiencing.
My Rose: (professional) I was really pleased that I was able to generate some good income via the Flash Sale since this was such a wonky month.
My Thorn: (personal) Dealing with cumulative grief and our most recent family loss. It’s been a rough year in that regard.
My Bud: (professional) Creating more digital products and perhaps a Facebook group for customers.
