May Update 2017

by | Jun 18, 2017 | Business, Listen, Podcast | 0 comments

About This Episode

Host/Producer/Music

In This Episode

This is the May 2017 business report. I talk about my goals, focus and what’s next.

Links

Show Credits

Hosted, produced, mixed, edited & music by Mark.


Blog

Why Publish A Business Report?

Publishing my business report allows me to reflect back on the month to see what I did or didn’t do so well. Lastly, I have read blog income reports such as SmartPassiveIncome and I like to see what they have tried. It is a form of motivation for me and I hope that this can be one for someone else. Be sure to check out CashFlowDiaries for bloggers that share their blog income reports. Or one that I’ve recently found from publisher Microcosm Publishing.

May 2017 Business Report

Disclaimer: Any income reported will only be reported as “cash” in hand. If it did not deposit into my account, or if I didn’t cash a check, then it does not count as income. Additionally, income will only be reported for ApexThis business and not for personal income. I may discuss side hustles for additional side income, but only income in which I represent ApexThis will be counted. 

Income/Investment Report

Investment – $100.00

This was from cash back rewards that I transferred to ApexThis.

Expense Report

RawVoice (Blubrry) – ($12)

Blubrry is a service I used to host the podcasts for Admins of Atlassian and ApexThis. It has built-in integration with WordPress making it vastly easier to upload and maintain the podcasts.

Google Apps – ($5)

I use Google Apps for email primary, docs and drive. It’s also great to use my Google account as authentication to other services and apps.

Google Domain Renewals – ($36)

Google AdWords – ($5.23)

WP Forms – ($39)

BlueHost Hosting – ($65.40)

Austin Podcasters Meetup – ($116.37)

ApexThis sponsors the Austin Podcasters meetup by providing food and beverages. We also host the event.

Overall

  • Total Income/Investments – $100.00
  • Total Expense – ($267.00)
  • Total Net – ($167.00)

Hours Worked

Time Logged – 22hrs 05min 47sec

I am continuing to track my time and add items that I think should be tracked. I track work for the business, website, podcast, meetup and now my budget project. It’s good to see where I am putting my time. Do note, that I have a full-time job like many of you and as such the time spent is from late nights and weekends. And so with the break from the main feature episodes, I can spend that time working on other projects. Example, Episode 10 of this podcast was about music and how it can be used in your podcast and where to get it. That episode, the full production, was 16 hours of work. And this was for an 18-minute episode.

16 hours, for 18 minutes. What? I know what you’re thinking. This time included some research, writing, edits, rewrites, recording, audio editing and production, and I’m still not happy with the final turnout of Episode 10. The re-edits and re-recording of certain parts contributed to the initial delay of Episode 10. There is certainly some improvements that I can make in my editing workflow as well. Since that episode, I feel that I’ve learned what I could have done different and I can apply to future episodes and podcasts.

Outside of the podcast, I tracked time for the Austin Podcasters Meetup. This time includes all time for the website, planning, newsletter, etc. This does exclude time for the event itself.

There are other events I have done but have not tracked time for as I feel it doesn’t directly contribute yet such as the story bible that I am working on for a potential fictional podcast series. I’m planning this to be a single narrator with sound design. I struggle with this, as I don’t know if I will pursue this as another project or if it will go by the wayside?  Maybe I can track time under R&D?

What Happened?

You’ve heard a little about where I’ve spent my time for the month of May, so what else has happened? Let’s start with some previous goals.

April Goal Results:

One short story submission to a creative writing forum I frequent. This elicits feedback and contributes to my goal of publishing an anthology series (Fail)

I have not written anything outside of the budget project and story bible. This has taken a back seat for the month of May and I’m not sure if I’ll get back to it anytime soon.

The first draft of ebook completed (Fail)

So the ebook/audiobook you know is centered on personal budgets. I’ve been wanting to do this for the past year. It’s a topic I love speaking about and I figured it would be a great opportunity to create an ebook as well as an audiobook to publish and learn from that experience for future projects.

Write sponsorship letters (Success)

Sponsorship letters and page for the Austin Podcasters Meetup have been created and some inquiries have been sent out. I’ll be booking more time to focus on sending additional letters out.

First draft of next Toastmasters speech (Fail)

Like the short story competition, Toastmasters have recently taken a back seat. I primarily participate through Toastmasters at work over lunch but we have a small group and my work schedule has gotten very busy causing me to miss meetings.

Complete reading of Merchants of Culture (Fail)

I do continue to read Merchants of Culture and there is a lot that I am learning but I have not made significant progress.

Masterclass

This was not a previous goal but it was something I added in the month of May. I started the Shonda Rhimes Writing for Television Masterclass. Thus far, this has been a great class and it is why I started a story bible for a potential story idea. Scriptwriting is new to me and I figured it would be something great to learn considering I am wanting to produce scripted series. I had previously mentioned that I also signed up for Aaron Sorkin’s scriptwriting class as well.

Due to the courses, I’ve downloaded a few tv scripts to research such as the pilot for Legion written by Noah Hawley, Hannibal and Pushing Daises by Bryan Fuller, Person of Interest by Jonathan Nolan and for a movie Cellar aka 10 Cloverfield Lane by Josh Campbell & Matt Stuecken. I have a lot to read and watch!

Ebook (Success)

One goal for the month was to actually create a budget for the ebook. With the use of a few others templates, I put together a rough budget that includes estimates for editing, proofreading, ISBN, and more. This gives a great idea of the potential costs of putting together the ebook. In addition to the ebook, I’ve been able to generate a rough budget for the audio production work as well for the audio book version.

This is not only a big win for knowing the two immediate projects but they also lay down the groundwork for future investment needs and plan for the next year.

What’s Next?

I will continue with the Masterclass, Ebook, and exploring my other story idea. Despite noting yet another podcast idea that I would love to pilot, I have to keep strong to meet deadlines that I’ve set for myself on my ebook and its accompanying audiobook.

In The News

Before we end, here are just a few things that I’ve come across in the news that you should keep your eye on:

Apple Podcasts

Apple is revamping their podcast app for iOS11. This will give new analytics to podcast creators:

play time 24:05 – https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/512/

In addition to Apple’s changes to their podcasting app, Apple is also introducing new changes to their podcast specification.

play time 9:30 – https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/512/

In addition to adding support for seasons, Apple is introducing other episode types such as podcast trailers, season trailers, and bonus episodes:

play time 13:06 – 13:50 – https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/512/

You can watch the full session on Apple’s developer website. A link will be in the show notes.

Podcaster Pro

Podcaster Pro has launched on IndieGoGo by Small Batch Audio that comprises of Podfather Adam Curry, Charlie Thompson, and Gene Naftulyev. This will be a USB audio processor that aims to make podcasting easier and sound better for the everyday podcaster. I had a chance to hear from Adam about this at a recent Austin Podcasters meetup. You can find a link to the campaign in the show notes.

Podchaser: The IMDB of Podcasts

A new website, aiming to be the IMDB of podcasts has just launched their beta. Podchaser gives you the ability to rate and review individual podcast episodes and discover new shows based on trending episodes. Go to beta.podchaser.com and enter our key APEXTHIS to rate and review this podcast episode and more.

That’s it for this monthly update. Until next time.

 

Subscribe

Subscribe to ApexThis podcast by following any one of the links below.

Related Episodes

July 2021 Update

July 2021 Update

BlogScript Welcome to ApexThis.Podcast. A chronicle of my journey into the world of publishing. This will be a behind the scenes look at what I’m doing to make that happen. I’ll share tips and best practices that I learn along the way. Tips that you can use to start...

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.