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In This Episode
This is the August 2017 monthly report. I talk about my goals, focus and what’s next.
Links
- Cashflow Diaries
- Microcosm Publishing
- Smart Passive Income
- Austin Podcasters Meetup
- Toggle Time Tracker
- Trello
- Google Keep
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.
August 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 – $1065.90
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)
Austin Podcasters Meetup – ($15.69)
I run the Austin Podcasters meetup. Expenses would be to cover food and beverages.
Amazon – ($27.05)
Overall
- Total Income/Investments – $1065.90
- Total Expense – ($95.74)
- Total Net – $970.16
Hours Worked
Time Logged – 11h06m41s
What Happened?
Motivation
For a period, I was moving along with tasks and projects and I hit a wall. I couldn’t really write. There were times I would sit in front of the computer screen and the cursor would just blink. I can’t say for sure what happened but for the past two months, I’ve had a big reduction in the work I was doing but I think that may turn around.
Health
I started the month of August out great with a writing session for my new project and very soon after activity ceased. One morning I woke up to very bad lower back pain. My muscles had spasmed and became inflamed. If you’ve ever experienced lower back pain, then you know how I felt. The majority of the pain lasted two weeks before sciatica kicked in as the lower back pain began to dull. This made it extremely difficult to focus on any task. With the help of physical therapy and other changes, I’ve been getting much better.
And with that a reminder – take care of yourself. Not only physically, but mentally.
Podcast Movement
By the time Podcast Movement came around, I was on pain killers, which made the flight tolerable and not painful. I started with my biggest fear of going to the conference and now I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to go. But I made it.
When looking at events like this, you have to really ask yourself is it worth it? But I wanted to make that investment in myself and it was the best decision. If you have not, you can listen to my Podcast Movement Postmortem episode to find out more.
What’s Next?
Ebook vs Audiobook (Podcast?)
The more I write, the more this project transforms. And the more I write, the less it is on this project.
Since attending Podcast Movement, I’ve decided to focus strictly on audio, and so, my first project will be writing for audio. Ebook will come much much later if at all. I think since making this decision, I’ve been able to picture the finish line much easier.
Write
Write every day. This is a reaffirmance to the personal pledge I’ve made. Writing keeps you sharp and if you have a journal, it helps you make sense of things and relieves stress. No matter what, I must write for 15 minutes every day.
Read
To become a better writer, one must read. I’ve finished the short story collection “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” by George RR. Martin. Fantastic book. I now move on to a recommended book “World War Z” by Max Brooks.
Learn
I’ve been looking at different skills needed for audio engineering and have been investigating courses for training and finding a local mentor. That also means, learning new tools. At the top of my lists are Pro Tools and Adobe Audition. Despite Pro Tools having a free tier, it also is limited and I’ve hit that limit producing my Podcast Movement Postmortem episode. With the number of tracks that I had, I hit the free tier limit and had to move back to Audacity. With the 3 month free trial for Audition and the possibility of using Premier, After Effects, etc., the Adobe Cloud suite is looking favorable. I’ll have to compare the two but in the end, I will have to have a subscription with either one.
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