Are you curious about a 3-month delay? I explained it in my first income report.
December 2020 was a month of pushing through. Physically, I already recovered from COVID. Mentally, I was knee-deep in brain fog.
I had to force myself to follow my routines. So, I did. I was sticking to my habits and tracking.
Going over my journal entries from December, I noticed how often I was walking. My shoulders were aching again; the weather was too cold for biking, so walking was my main exercise. I did 357,862 steps. Oftentimes, I phoned my relatives and friends while walking. Among others, I reached out to my good friend who lost her husband to COVID.
Oh, walking was my only exercise because we were locked down in Poland. Grocery shopping and walking were my only excursions from home. I didn’t even go to work, which in hindsight was a wise decision. When I got back to the office in January, I was shocked how the daily commute weakened me.
So, I had been semi-imprisoned at my home since the middle of October, and it didn’t help my mood one bit. Even my church community suspended its meetings.
Books
On the 8th of December, I noted down in my journal: “I finished the new book.” I wrote the last words of the outro.
In the first half of the month, scratch that, for the whole month I was busy with my bundle’s book launch. I bundled all five books from my How to Change Your Life in 10 Minutes a Day series and published it in one volume. On the 4th of December, I released the Kindle version. I notified my author friends and sent an email to my list. In a few short days I had a couple of reviews, so I started the ads.
I took almost three weeks off in my day job. I didn’t have much work there, but showing up for a few hours three days a week was distracting. In my shaky mental state, I preferred to forget about my day job altogether.
In the following days, I lined up a few more broadcasts to my friends’ followers and a few promotions on promo sites.
My friend, Anthony Smits, who edited a few of my books in the past, this time helped me with formatting and made a cover for me. Due to my low energy levels, I had been working in small chunks in the previous month or two, so we published the book in phases. The paperback version was out on the 30th of December 2020.
Finances
I didn’t know in the midst of it, but December 2020 was my worst financial month since… ever?
Alright, I checked – since April 2014. I forgot how crappy you feel when you don’t know where the next payment can come from. It affected my mood despite all the affirmations and intellectual awareness. I knew very well that my life or my worth doesn’t depend on how much I made this month. But my guts were telling a different story of starvation, disasters and desperation. 😉
In fact, I made less in December than I had been making in my day job 10 years ago (well, on good months, at least). It gave me a sour taste.
Book sales were a bit better, but that was no wonder. They were at their lowest point in November! And they weren’t much better. If not for the launch of my 10-Minute bundle, I might have sold even less than in November.
The Turnaround Point
In fact, as soon as I took the time off in my day job, things started to get in line. I got a few prospects. The launch for How to Change Your Life in 10 Minutes a Day went very well, especially considering how little attention and preparation I gave to this project.
Also, the whole situation forced me to rethink my business. Clearly, my system didn’t work so well as in the past. I desperately needed some changes. Hmm, this system needed some changes since 2018, but as long as it worked so-so, I was fine with the so-so results. The financial situation pushed me over this laziness. I dabbled with some improvements for months, but it was December financial misery that activated me for good.
Together with my sister, we started to collect search terms reports from our customers’ campaigns. I also showed her how to do a keyword research with Publisher Rocket. Ha! I had no money to spare, so she purchased the software out of her pocket.
Millionaire Friends
On 28th of December, I had a call with one millionaire from my mastermind tribe. He wanted help with publishing a second edition of his book on Amazon. He agreed for a fee of $50 per hour. And he quickly paid in advance for 5 hours.
A couple weeks earlier, I reached out to another millionaire friend, Dave Chesson. I was desperate to get any business at all and I asked him for advice.
He replied within minutes and asked if I want to have a call right now. I immediately said “yes.” We spent almost half an hour on the call, and Dave gave me a few insider secrets about Amazon ads. He also showered me with advice about my business.
I didn’t implement much of what he said, but you have no idea how his response elevated my mood. He made himself available for me, and he told me that 99.99% of people on the planet would have waited for weeks for his 30 minutes.
This short call repaired my damaged self-worth. For me, it was more of a self-worth therapy than a business consultation. *facepalm*
Strangely enough, all the side projects I had were put on hold in December. It was another reason for poor financial results, and it added to the desperation levels of mine.
The best thing that happened in December was my book launch. Being in a low mood, I did a very half-assed job with the launch. I wasn’t overly excited about it – they were just my old books repackaged. I went through the motions and published the bugger.
But I knew the motions to go through. I already had contacts in place. I reached out to some folks I hadn’t been in touch with for a year and, to my surprise, they responded very favorably. I created the ads on the 30th of December, and they generated 18 sales in two days.
I launched the book in the middle of the month, felt like I didn’t do much, and the bundle sold 253 copies till the end of December.
The launch was a real cure for my foul mood.
The December 2020 Income Report Breakdown
Income:
Amazon royalties: €1,237.63 ($1,446.79)
Coach.me fees: $117.6
Audiobooks royalties: $25
D2D royalties: $20.87
PWIW personal coaching: $335.45
AMS service remuneration: $2,009.15
Total: $4,202.54
Costs:
$23.37, BirdSend fee
$1,675.47 Amazon ads
$500, ISI mastermind
$287.28, RAs’ remuneration (RAs = Real Assistants; my team)
$30, SiteLock fee
$66.6, royalties split with co-author
$202.6, Advanced Amazon ads
$57.84, proofreading
$47, book promotions
$95.09, an obligatory monthly fee for LLC
$92, my accountant’s monthly fee
Total: $3,077.25
Net Result: $1,125.29
Previous Income Report: November 2020
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