I’m pulling the curtain back on my small business!
In February 2017, I decided to start sharing my monthly business reports. In these reports, I discuss the month’s positives and negatives as well as progress I made towards my 2017 goals. I also give a snapshot of my earnings.
April was another slow month for me. I consciously scaled back on work and turned down an opportunity for a new client. As my due date approaches, I’m focusing on finishing up tasks with my current clients and writing blog posts for my maternity leave.
Here’s what happened in April.
Positives
- Gained one new client
I was contacted by a few referrals at the end of March and one turned into a client! Hopefully, this will be a long-term relationship that will continue after my maternity leave. I’ll be doing general virtual assistant work for this client.
- Worked on a few bigger projects
I had a couple of bigger projects due this month for my long-time clients. These projects happen once each year and take approximately 10 hours to complete. I was able to boost my income a bit from these projects.
- Received a tax refund
We overpaid our taxes this year, partially due to overestimating our quarterly taxes, so we got a nice refund. We normally don’t get refunds so that was a pleasant surprise and a welcome addition to the maternity fund.
Negatives
- Less income coming in
I will continue to bring in less income until September when Norah starts preschool. I don’t have the time or energy to hustle for more business right now.
Progress towards business goals
1) Increase my income by $10,000
I don’t want to say this goal is impossible for this year, but it will be difficult. I’m going to focus on achieving this in the last quarter of 2017.
2) Get another local client
I’ve begun the process of seeking out new local clients through cold emailing and word of mouth, but have not secured one yet.
3) Launch The Sturm Agency website
Hopefully, we’ll get something put together by late summer.
4) Launch my freelancer idea
I have not made any progress on this goal yet.
5) Sponsor something in the community
I’m thinking that sponsoring something in the summer or fall would be the best bet. It may take that long to get my business back on track. I was in a much better position when I made this goal in December 2016 than I am now.
Income Snapshot
This income came from a mixture of social media management, virtual assistant work, one-off organization projects, and content writing.
I may eventually share the actual numbers associated with my income, but for now I’m not comfortable doing that. I will be sharing this income snapshot to show a trend of my income throughout the year.
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