Chief Executive Auntie April 2021 Monthly Report

Cash Flow

• Revenue Goal: $4,000
• Total Revenue: $3,527.50 (14% decrease from last month)
• Total Expenses: $481.14 (53% decrease from last month)
• Net Profit: $3,046.36 (0.4% decrease)
• Owner Draw: $4,930.04 (cleared out a cash hoard I was sitting on and put most of it into kiddo’s 529 savings account)

How did I end up with an owner draw greater than my revenue? Well, I was sitting on a not-small pile of cash in my business bank account, so after finally reading Profit First, I allocated every last penny by the percentages I chose:

• 10% Profit (to be distributed quarterly)
• 15% Tax (to be paid quarterly)
• 25% Operating Expenses (I run a fairly lean business but having a hard number makes me feel better about expenses)
• 50% Owner Compensation

Time Breakdown

Work Time

• Hours Worked: 76.31 (0.2% decrease from March, heh)
• Weekly Average Work Hours: 19.1 (same as March) 
• Billable Hours: 19.8 hours
  • Course Creation: 5.3 hours
  • Marketing/Content Writing: 11 hours
  • Consulting: 1.5
• Non-Billable: 56.51 hours
• Billable Percentage: 26% (ouch LOL)

Hourly Rates

Overall Hourly Rates

• Billable Hourly Rate Before Expenses: $178.16/hour (39% increase from last month)
• Overall Hourly Rate Before Expenses: $46.23/hour (14% decrease from last month)
• Overall Hourly Rate After Expenses: $39.92/hour (0.2% decrease from last month)
• Target Overall Hourly Rate: $60/hour

Hourly Rates By Project Type

• Hourly Rate Course Creation: $2,175/5.3 = $410.38 (this is very wonky because it’s partially paid ahead for work that will be completed in May)
• Hourly Rate Marketing/Content Writing: $1077.5/11 = $97.95/hour (this is also a little off because it includes retroactive invoices for March and hours that will be invoiced in May)
• Hourly Rate Consulting: $250/1.5 = $166.67

April shook out…pretty weird timewise. I moved into a slightly different role with my retainer client, and ended up billing some extra hours for March in April, and then some extra hours for April in May. I kicked off a new phase for another project that didn’t end up finishing in April so that will roll into May. I did a lot of work on my Time Tracking Challenge as well as my Course Catalyst website, all of which was unbillable but should pay off eventually. As I transition from 1:1 services into 1:many group programs and courses, I’ll probably start being able to reuse previously created assets for subsequent launches or evergreen funnels. (Remind me not to reinvent EVERYTHING every time, heh.)

Monthly Achievements

• I planned my monthly time off for the rest of the year!!! 
• I also roughly sketched out an 18-month plan for my business in terms of when my various courses and group programs will be running, and it feels GREAT having this much control over my work schedule.
• I grew my email list by 20% or 33 new subscribers, thanks to my Time Tracking Challenge.
• I shipped off assets for some digital courses that will be sold on other course marketplaces that will hopefully be able to bring in some more truly “passive income.”

Reviewing the priorities I set for March:

• Switch off work after kiddo comes back from school. (It’s relatively easy to stay out of my office if I put my mind to it, and I’ve reinstated app usage limits on my phone.)  Done!
• Find something else to do instead of work. My business besties sent me a care package after Atlanta that included a counted cross stitch kit, which has been a good alternative activity besides just burying my face in work or doomscrolling. I finished the cross-stitch kit my besties sent me and promptly bought another giant kit that I’ll be working on forever
• Do some voice of customer research for some of my forthcoming 1:many business/freelancing education offers. I had a GREAT time doing this and I cannot wait to write these sales pages. (Which, yes, I realize is the dorkiest thing ever.)
• Do some lead nurturing and authority building for my course creation offers. I went slightly nuts and built the Course Catalyst website in a day, but that also motivated me to start writing some of my thoughts about online courses. I also recorded a webinar for Terrain and booked myself to talk about online courses in a few other places over the next few months.

How I succeeded:

I have actually been working really hard on follow-through for this entire calendar year, as well as keeping a better eye on the long game instead of scrambling in panic at every little bump in the road. It became clear by the third week of April that I probably wasn’t going to hit my monthly income goal. But having rearranged my businesses finances according to Profit First, I knew I would be fine with my expenses. And I knew I had BIG goals on the horizon that should, if I do them well, more than make up for a month or two of smaller invoices. I decided to take a short-term dip in order to work toward those long-term goals.

How I could have done better:

I was a little surprised that my hours were still as high as they were last month. But I feel significantly less burnt out and I’ve built in rest time going forward. I’m less concerned about the total hours as I am with the billable ratio. (Which was lower than I would like but like I said above, I’m willing to accept that temporarily especially since I have a few stable anchor clients.)

Priorities for May:

• Launch my revamped pricing course and hit at least $2500 in sales.
• Start building up my authority and mailing list for my course creation program.
• MOVE INTO MY NEW PRIVATE OFFICE THAT IS NOT IN MY HOUSE