Behind the scenes: February 2022
February 🇺🇦
As I’m writing this post, many people in our Squarespace community are fighting a war for freedom and democracy. I don’t typically get political with my posts, but I have many friends across Ukraine and Belarus so this war feels particularly personal. Our colleagues at Applet Studio (based in Lviv, Ukraine) shared this link on how to help.
And I’m reminding myself that two feelings can be true at the same time. I can be mad/sad about what is happening in Ukraine but also happy about how things are going with work. Wherever you are in the world and whatever feelings you are holding at the moment, thank you for taking the time to come read my post. I appreciate it.
Income Streams
This month had three income streams: 1:1 work, course and template sales, and affiliate income.
1:1 Work
It was a busy month for 1:1 work. I tried out a 2-day website build and launched the revamped Tiny Windows Consulting site as well as another quick build for a Cinematographer. I had a custom build for a client in NYC real estate, plus I had 7 one-hour Squarespace help sessions and 2 Designer for a Days® in February.
Course & Template Sales
I sold 3 Squarespace templates (2 SWAY and 1 SPICE) and had 4 enrollments in the Make Money with your Blog course this month. Still with zero marketing. As I mentioned last month, I know marketing is my weak spot because I don’t want to create anxiety or pressure people into buying my courses or templates. I want them to purchase if it helps them solve a problem or makes their life easier. And I need to spend some time creating content around that.
Affiliate Income
I count affiliate income when I receive the payout, so depending on the affiliate terms some payouts I get immediately, some are a month or two later, and some are almost 4 months later (looking at you, Squarespace). My affiliate income was about $1500 for February.
This year I’m highlighting a few of these each month (last year I shared a laundry list each month and while it was informative it was also really repetitive). This month I want to mention a few creators who make solid Squarespace plugins and provide lots of FREE code snippets:
Check out B's CODEBASE for blog tutorials, directory snippets, shop plugins, and recommended external resources to find code to help you level up your next Squarespace build. Her free resources are amazing and she offers fabulous paid plugins as well.
2. Will Myers
Get better at building websites with Squarespace training, coding, and plugins that elevate your ability. Will has a treasure trove of videos with free tutorials and code snippets and a great INTRO to CSS course.
Ghost is the OG of free Squarespace code snippets with a growing library of free plugins, premium plugins, and installed-for-you templates for your Squarespace projects.
This Month’s Income Percentages
This month I took on more 1:1 work than normal, so the graph is skewed pretty heavily in that direction. I still need to work on marketing my course and templates!
Expenses
This month I spent money on:
- Client gifts ($100)
- Fathom Analytics, which I am LOVING. Stay tuned for more info on this. ($130)
- Renewing my annual plan at SquareWebsites Tools Extension Pro ($160). I use this on every single project.
- Trying out Content Snare ($26). So far, it's great for templated projects.
I’m happy to report I purchased ZERO courses this month. I still haven’t finished the copywriting course or Lizzy’s course I mentioned last month.
Content Creation
Blog
I had time to put together a tutorial for a new plugin I love! Plus a revamped Best Plugins Post.
Instagram @christypricewebdesign
Still just posting when I feel like it, about once a week for posts and a few times a week for stories. It’s nice.
Email Newsletter
My monthly email went out to subscribers in early February. You can read it here. I remind you to start your email list if you haven’t already.
Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn
I use MissingLettr to schedule my blog posts to automatically share on each of these platforms on a set schedule.
Tools & Tech
Here are the tools and tech I relied on this month:
- Canva for blog thumbnails, website mockups, and Instagram posts
- MailerLite for my monthly email newsletter
- Wave for accounting and one-off invoicing
- Zapier for adding transactions to Wave automatically
- Teachable for hosting courses and templates for sale
- Zoom for client calls and screenshares
- Loom for recording quick screenshares for clients & course videos
- Squarespace for my site and client builds
- SquarespaceWebsites Tools Extension PRO for porting over blogs from Squarespace 7.0 sites to new 7.1 sites
- SQSP Themes plugin bundle for related posts and blog sidebar for client sites
- Heather Tovey's Squarespace Block ID Finder Chrome extension to easily target blocks with CSS code
- HoneyBook for proposals, invocing, and all the CRM for my full website design service
The Numbers (compared to January)
Website Visitors: ~14,000 (+3,000). I just switched from Google Analytics to Fathom, so it will be interesting to track within Fathom.
Email List Subscribers: 1,720 (+61). Most new subscribers sign up for my lead magnet.
Instagram Followers: 1,319 (+51). I was featured by Freelancing Females in a story, so I’m guessing I picked up some new subscribers from that.
YouTube Subscribers: 675 (+28). I finally posted a new video but got fewer subscribers this month. Super weird, right?
The Wrap-Up
Last month I wished for time this month to get through all those courses I purchased. I had ZERO time to do that, but I’m so grateful for the clients I worked with this month! It’s an honor to help you with this little part of your business.
In March I’ll be taking a week off for spring break! Will I get any courses done? Stay tuned.
