Welcome to our income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the , the challenges and lessons we learned each month, and finally to celebrate successes however big or small. Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel is our main hustle.
Life Updates
We spent the first week of June at the IPW conference, where they shut down Disneyland for IPW, and we got to preview the new Star Wars Land. I usually opt out of conferences, and let Jacob do what he does best, but I couldn’t pass up going to Disneyland!
The second week, we were in Alaska, where we experienced 24 hours of daylight for the first time. It tripped me out, but I loved that golden hour lasted forever.
Back in Vegas, we’ve been spending more time climbing both indoors and outdoors, which has been the only way to have any work-life balance. It also helped that this month, we were able to send two of our writers to Czech Republic. Maybe I’m getting too old for back to back travel, but I like being able to come back to a home base and decompress in between.
BTW, I’m completely done with my training for setting at the climbing gym, so now I just need lots of practice. You can follow along my route setting and climbing journey @petiteclimbing or come by Origin and let me know how I’m doing.
This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.
Originally Published: July 5, 2019
How We Made OVER $13.1K in JUNE - Travel Blog Income Report
Why We Share Our Income Reports
If you’re new here, you might be wondering why on earth we would share something so personal. We’ve been hesitant to share our income reports for the last 5 years, and we’re super nervous about this post, but since we’re all about trial and error, let’s see how it goes! We’re putting out these income reports for these following reasons.
To Show You How We Make Income Blogging
We always want to be 100% transparent about how we make money through this . The amazing thing about the ging world is that every we’ve talked to does things a bit differently. There are also countless ways to grow and improve your business. When we started, we made most of our money through affiliate sales. Since then, we’ve shifted heavily to sponsored content. A big part of this is because my background is in sales and it’s what I’m good at. You can learn more about my sale method below. As time goes on, this will continue to change, but we want to share how we focus on our strengths to effectively meet our goals.
To Show You the Potential of Blogging
Whether you have a or are starting a , we want to show you that you can make a career out of ging.
Even if you don’t want to , there are a ton of ways to be financially and location independent and we hope to inspire others to go after it too. If you want to keep your day job, ging can be a great way for you to make some extra side money.
Esther started the 6 years ago and I joined her full time 3 years ago. Even until last year, our parents were worried about us financially, wondering when we would stop “playing” and start taking our lives and work more seriously. Neither of us ended up being “good Asians” (namely a doctor, lawyer, or engineer). It’s an unconventional job and where most people don’t understand all the work that goes on behind the scenes.
More: The Ugly Truths of Being a Travel Blogger told by Top Travel Bloggers
We love that our jobs give us flexibility in what we do, but being your own boss isn’t all that it’s cut out to be either. You have to be disciplined and work hard at your business to grow it.
If you’re not getting the results you want, again, keep in mind that we’ve been ging for 6 years now and the first month I tried monetizing my , I made less than $20. Give it more time and failing in the process is okay. I didn’t have the correct tools that are out now and a lot of it was trial and error. Consider it all an A/B test to figure out what will best work for you.
To Track How We're Doing
I’ve always loved sharing goals online and tracking them. Putting them out in the world (via the ) has helped me so much with accountability. Since we’re constantly tweaking trying to improve the , looking at these numbers will help us learn whether we’ve been making the right changes. It’s amazing to see how the sources of income have changed over time and to see where we still have room for improvement.
Ultimately, our life goal is to make enough to live on half our income (right now we’re at 30%), where the rest will go back into the community or support organizations we love.
Breakdown of Income for June 2019
In June 2019 we earned a total of $13,160.63.
Affiliate Income
Avantlink: $1,061.06
Commission Junction: $222.35
Misc (Ebay, Skimlinks, AWin, etc): $191.58
Sponsorships
Sponsored Product Posts: $3,038.89 *our fave marketplace lately: IZEA
Display Ads
Mediavine: $8,646.75
Income Comparison to Other Months
Total in 2019 Year Income: $135,125.49
Last Month Income: $30,944.79
Difference: 42% decrease from last month
Expenses
Web Hosting: $429.94 (Want to start a ? Here’s how you can start a in 5 easy steps)
Keysearch: $18.60
Social Media Manager, Virtual Assistants, Subcontractors: $979.17
Teachable: $89 (check out their free weekly webinar)
Office Supplies/Services: $4,272.33
Test Products/Shoot Supplies: $963.68
*Taxes: $1,192
Insurance: $613.89
Travel + Meal Expenses: $4,408.37
$193.65
*Roughly 30% of your income will go to taxes at the end of the year. The number above shows the money set aside for taxes to offset how much we have to pay at the end. It makes it less painful at the end of the year.
June 2019 Blog Traffic Breakdown + Stats
Monthly Pageviews: 664,585
Daily Average: 22,152
Monthly Sessions: 513,929
Monthly Unique Visitors: 428,569
Social Media Followers: 322,028
Email Subscribers: 8,459
Goals for June 2019
Blog Goals
Follow up IPW leads
Post once a week minimum
Update Affiliate Links for top 25 Posts
Finish moving servers (running into a few hiccups)
Document the first trip funded by Local Adventurer (more on this later)
Life Goals
Try intermittent fasting
2 date nights
Finish a book
Workout or go to the climbing gym 3x a week
Work only 40 hours a week (on weeks not traveling)
What's Working on the Blog
We’ve been so bad about posting new posts the past few months, but in June, we had at least 4! Go me! haha It’s so hard to balance creating new posts and updating older ones that need maintenance.
IPW has been a great conference for us. We always have a few good leads coming out of it. We’re excited to follow up and see if we can build new partnerships.
What Didn't Work + Lessons Learned
We’re in the process of moving servers, which will increase our site speed significantly. It’s taken longer than expected, but we want to do it right. As for income, it was a slow month in terms of payments, and a big month for spending. A lot of it is for future trips, so hopefully we’ll be seeing income come back to us later in the year.
We also haven’t had time to market the course. It’s a full time job of its own, so we’re currently looking to hire someone for marketing.
Popular Posts from Last Month
Best Sandals for Travel in 2019
The New Disney Star Wars Land – What You Need to Know Before You Go
15 Unforgettable Things to do in Palm Springs
The Ultimate West Texas Road Trip (includes a new video!)
Featured Question from Readers / Marketing Tip
Ask us anything! We’ll be featuring questions and answering them each month on these reports.
HOW TO WORK WITH SPONSORS
The e-course is out! Are you a content creator and want to learn how to work with brands?
If you look at our income reports, we make a majority of our income from sponsored posts. We used to do many one-off partnerships with brands, but over the years we’ve been focused on longer term partnerships. Most our brand sponsorships are over $20k, and one of our most recent ones was over $35k.
With over 10 years of trial and error working in corporate and managing our first business, Jacob has figured out the best ways to pitch and work with brands.
At first we were reluctant to put out just another e-course in this oversaturated, dog-eat-dog market, but we’ve seen our coaching and course actually help people quit their jobs and start their own businesses. How cool is that? Plus, all our students who have put our course to action have made their money back within the month, and one of our students using the e-course has already booked $11k in sponsorships. So effin’ excited to see them conquer this new chapter in their lives. If you’re interested to learn more, see the intro video here.
See More Income Reports
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MAY – How We Made 30k+
APRIL – How We Made $21k+
MAR – How We Made $17k+
FEB – How We Made $24k+
JAN – How We Made $26k+
DEC – How We Made $29K+
NOV – How We Made $26K+
OCT – How We Made $28K+
SEP – How We Made $12K+
AUG – How We Made $32K+
JULY – How We Made $23K+
FIRST BLOG INCOME REPORT
“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust
Esther + Jacob
Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel s in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.
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