October Income Report: A Month of Hustle, Focus Shifts, and Building Blocks

Well, October was a heck of a month—one I might even call my first true “workocalypse.” Between juggling major projects, celebrating Ember’s birthday, and the intense focus shift to the Fab Over 40 contest, my goal of three blogs per week fell to the wayside. Instead, I ended up going all-in on Fab Over 40 and other major projects.

A Reality Check on the “Make Money Online” Myth

The “make money online” industry is littered with scams that promise ridiculous results like “work 10 minutes and make $5,000!” But the truth is worlds apart—this online business is a lot of hard work, as you’ll see in this report. Tracking my hours and expenses lets me evaluate how much work goes into making money online and how I’m investing my time and resources each month.

By sharing these reports, I hope to be transparent with my audience about the challenges, time commitments, and occasional financial hurdles. My goals for each month help keep me accountable—and maybe you too, if you’re on a similar journey.

Work Time and Project Breakdown for October

Despite feeling that I could have done even more, I put in a total of 104 hours in October! Here’s how I split my focus across three big projects this month:

1. 1. Script Creation for ImaginASL’s Mystery Event
      I took time this month to craft a script for our upcoming event, ensuring it aligns with the creative direction and goals for the audience.

1. 1. Fab Over 40 Contest and Social Engagement
      This was a huge focus, and I’m thrilled to report that I managed to stay in the top 15, even clinching first place at one point! To maintain this momentum, I focused heavily on blog and social media activities.

1. 1. Casting Call and Rehearsals for Mystery Event
      Another big initiative was recruiting actors and setting up a rehearsal schedule. It required quite a bit of time to align everyone, and I started marketing efforts to build interest in the event.

One key thing to note is the increase in time I outsourced to get this work done—roughly 90% of those 104 hours were outsourced at $5.48 per hour. It’s an investment, but it allowed me to tackle multiple big projects at once, despite October’s hectic schedule.

Income and Expenses: The Hard Truths

I’m not sugarcoating it—it was a tough month financially, with a net loss of $616. When I shared this with my husband, his reaction was priceless: “But all you’re doing is working on a website; how could you lose so much money?” I explained that a significant part of my expenses this month went toward future and ongoing projects. This investment is all about laying groundwork for the next big things.

On the bright side, I did make $20 from the copyright for the ImaginASL script, which is a small but encouraging start. While the loss is frustrating, I’m happy with the productivity I achieved. This month’s work wasn’t just spending—it was about pushing my projects closer to their goals.

Goals for November

With October behind me, I’m setting some clear goals for November to keep the momentum going:

1. 1. Focus on rehearsals with the ImaginASL team for the Mystery event.

1. 1. Continue marketing Fab Over 40 content.

1. 1. Work on optimizing my website for better financial and engagement results.

So, there you have it—a challenging month, but one full of accomplishments that will help me move forward. Building blocks may not yield instant returns, but they’re the foundation for something greater.

Did you know? Success in online ventures often has a “lag effect,” where today’s efforts might not pay off for weeks or even months, making consistency and focus incredibly valuable.

Let me know in the comments if you think I’m overspending or if you have advice for maximizing these investments! And don’t forget to vote for me in Fab Over 40—your support means so much! (click below!)