National Novel Writing Month is officially over, and it was a great month. It simultaneously dragged on (as did all of 2020-2021, if we’re being honest) while also it flew right on by. It’s kind of a crazy combination, just like everything else. Thanks for that visual from “A Tale of Two Cities,” Mr. Dickens.
In any case, let’s dive into some of the numbers. Because as awesome as that book was, you aren’t here to read about it. You’re here because you want to know how last month went – and how everything performed. So let’s do this.
November 2021 Statistics
November was, overall, a very strange month.
- Articles published: 12
- YouTube videos published: 2
- Total word count published: 35,507
- Total page views: 109,027 (up from 100,748)
- Total cash earned (paid to me this month): $1,363.89 (up from $1,044.80)
- Total invested in published content: $713.02
A few more statistics on stories written:
- Stories written: 0
- Stories submitted to publications this month: 0
- Stories edited: 0
- New stories outlined or plotted: 2
- Writing groups attended: 50%
My writing group has moved to a half-online and half in-person model, which is both awesome and hard. It’s a whole lot easier for me to attend virtually than in-person right now, because of life.
Profit and Loss
What’s the point of having a business if all you do is exist to pay other people’s bills? It’s important to look at the P&L reports so that you can make sure your business is financially healthy. This month reports another net positive, which is great. Because that way, I can keep setting things up to grow.
Again, I earned (was paid) more than I paid out for content. However, my other fees do take that net positive really close to zero once again. Big fees this last month included business license renewals, software renewals (ClickUp is amazing, but it is most decidedly NOT free), hiring and training a new virtual assistant, hiring and training an editor, and other work fees.
To sum it all up, I still haven’t taken a paycheck from my business. And I don’t expect that to change any time soon – because I have some dang amazing things planned. Yes, I’ll share some of the details (but not all, because I can’t speak about some of them yet).
Month 28 of Project 24+
November was my 28th month with Income School’s Project 24. Finding a mastermind group and friends is probably the best thing you can do to grow your business while feeling like you’ve found people you can talk to (without getting weird looks from sisters who really love you, but couldn’t care about blogging, anyway).
In any case, every course I take gets evaluated by the 10X ROI rule. Within 1 year of finishing the course, it must have had a 10X positive net impact on my business to be deemed worthwhile.
Officially, Project 24 “ended” 4 months ago for me, so I’ve still got 8 months before I pass the final verdict. Even so, Project 24 has already outperformed the 10X ROI rule. In fact, it reached the 10X ROI in month 24.
To date, Project 24 is the only blogging course I’ve taken that has passed the 10X ROI rule. I very much recommend their course.
Keep in mind, though, that it’s a lot of hard work. And there are never any guarantees with business because circumstances are always different. But I’ve found it’s worth it to me.
Teamwork and Systems Report
My team has experienced some large changes this last month. Specifically, my virtual assistant put in her notice. Thankfully, she did help train her replacement, who is another fantastic woman. I’m lucky to work with such amazing people.
In any case, there is always a learning curve with new team members, so we’re dealing with that. In the last bit, I also hired an editor to help me out with the initial editing of articles, so that I can focus on strategy and final edits.
I did mention that I hired an editor last month, but she’s still very much in the training phase, too. So she deserves another shout-out.
I expect that a transition to “full steam ahead” will take another few weeks minimum, if not longer.
Oh, and one more mention here to our ad network partner, Ezoic. They’ve really stepped up lately. We qualified for their “Level 5” premium network, so we’re switching to that. It’s already having a net positive impact on ad revenue. It’s exciting! There’s more to it than that, but this is all I can say for now.
Niche Site Reports
Niche sites continue to grow. However, with the training of my new virtual assistant, the images I usually share for these reports aren’t ready yet (save one).
Niche Site #1 continues to grow overall, but it is experiencing its first true seasonal dip, even if it is a minor one. I expect it to recover in a few months – by late spring at the latest. It may even pick up before then – we’ll have to see.
YouTube Report
More baby steps here. The current plan is a single video per channel. I’ve kept that schedule up for a couple of months now, but we’ll see how December goes. December is a busy month, and I can’t believe it’s already the second!
Diversification Report
I continue to be a fan of minimizing risk when and where possible through meaningful diversification. I’m still at the start of the business journey, though, so things aren’t as diversified as I’d like… yet.
Give me some time and that will change. How much time? I need several years, please and thank you.
- Ads accounted for 96.3% of all income in November.
- Amazon affiliates accounted for 3.6%.
- Products accounted for 0.1% of revenue.
One way I diversify is by having multiple niche sites. Here’s how they contribute to the diversification of income. They’re listed by niche site number.
- 66.7% of revenue came from niche site #1.
- Niche site #2 generated 0.1% of the revenue.
- Site #3 generated 6.1% of the revenue.
- Site #4 is still off the radar.
- Same with niche site #5.
- Niche site 6 generated 1.6% of revenue.
- Site #7 earned 25.5% of the income.
So niche site #1 and ads are where the majority of revenue comes from to date.
Fiction Writing Report
There continues to be nothing major to report on this front, as the business systems are requiring the majority of my time. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I’m even pretty sure it’s not a train.
My oldest son continues to beg me for more information from the stories he’s read, so I’m working hard to make sure that the systems are in place so that I can focus on doing that. It’s just much, much slower than I ever thought it could be.
November Review
November really was a good month. While only 37,000-ish words were published, I did work on the 50,000 required to finish NaNoWriMo. There was a LOT of work behind the scenes – and some of it was even outlining stories.
However, it doesn’t meet the traditional requirements for NaNoWriMo, so I’m not going to announce myself as a winner in the traditional sense. But I still feel like I won, so I’m still going to say I did.
Next Steps
Now it’s your turn. You can keep up to date with me via the newsletter (subscribe here – it’s free!) or you can join me in the Project 24 course with my affiliate link.
Or, if you’re an overachiever, feel free to do both. I can’t wait to keep up with you, too!
