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The last several months I've had a steady increase in my passive income each month; however this month it has declined, but I knew it probably would. There's a couple of reasons that factored into why both total income and passive income decreased, but I was aware active income would decline and was relatively certain passive income would fall.

Sometimes there are ebbs and flows of a business and it's important to understand why and to plan accordingly.

My goal in revealing my income each month through income reports is to show you the progression and hopefully provide some inspiration or little nuggets of information that helps you in your journey.

In my post on How to Make Money Online Traveling in an RV and the video on YouTube, I announced a huge change that I made in my life.

After traveling for a year, full-time, I wanted more freedom, and I was working 60-80 hours a week. I was considerably stressed even though I love this company that I worked for – but the pace was starting to get to me, and I just felt like I needed a change. I was documenting my travels on the blog and YouTube and was able to tap into my creative side again – something I hadn't used in a while – and it felt great and nourishing to my soul.

I took the BIG LEAP and quit so I can focus my attention on my endeavors in business – like building my online business and coaching/consulting practice. Even though I was working remotely this whole time – I still felt that I needed a change.

Now I'm even more location independent because I don't always have to stress about making sure there is an Internet connection – even though I depend on it for my own business – at least for a couple of days. I can relax more and take in the landscape in places that are more remote and not feel like I need to rush through it to make sure I'm available for my job.

It's exciting, thrilling, and a little nerve-wracking, but I feel thrilled with my decision and am pushing forward!

Why Am I Sharing My September 2018 Income Report?

Sharing what I earn each month and from what sources will not only allow me to document my income but also to see the growth or where I need to make adjustments. It's motivating for me to see how far I can push myself each month to be creative and reach my goals.

I have a vision in my head of what I want to create, but that also means listening to you, the Story Chasing viewers, to get your feedback and understand more of what you desire in order fulfill your dream journey.

I want to be the example, the experiment, to you all so you can see that you can also accomplish your desires. Who knows how long it will take me to reach my overall goal of replacing my former income, but as long as I don't quit, I don't see how I can't win at this little experiment.

Each month I'll post in the income report:

• Monthly earnings for the month
• Percentage of increase/decrease month-over-month
• Sources of income (when I'm able to be transparent)
• Monthly and annual goals
• Growth opportunities
• Successes

I hope by posting my income report that it provides you with some inspiration as to what's possible for you and your journey. My biggest hope is that I can share with you all a different lifestyle that's not necessarily the “social norm,” but that is entirely enriching and makes me feel more alive than I've ever felt. This is why I named my blog and YouTube channel Story Chasing.

It makes me pretty happy to create new stories and moments in my life and fill my brain with these special memories of my travels and the people who I've met along the way.

September 2018 Income Report – Working Remotely While Traveling Full Time

July was my first month after quitting my job so the September 2018 income report will be my third income report since starting to work full-time in my own business while also traveling full-time.

I have the StoryChasing.com blog and also the YouTube channel – which by the way, if you like what you see on my YouTube channel, please hit that subscribe button and click on the notification bell so you’ll know when I upload a video each week.

My Goals and Business Insights for the September 2018 Income Report

After taking some rest time in July, the month after I quit my job, I got busy in August accomplishing more and understanding more of what I wanted to communicate through my channels while still traveling and editing videos. In September, it was more about organization and prepping for efficiencies and work ahead.

September 2018 Income Report Editorial Calendar Goal

I set a goal to fill in an editorial calendar through the end of the year and accomplished this goal. I took some time to determine what content I knew needed producing with quest videos, everyday travel videos, income report videos, and then in between would be how-to videos.

It makes the process easier of knowing what content I'll be producing in the future so I can stay on track, make sure I get the shots that I need during filming and specific areas of my travels and prepare me for my next goal of learning batch process workflow.

Batch Process Workflow Goal

I seriously needed to figure out a way to create more efficiencies with the process of editing videos, blog posts, SEO research, and all the steps in between to provide the finished product of a video and blog post. Doing one video/post at a time is not efficient and takes up a considerable amount of time each week.

In my endeavor to create more efficiencies, I started to look at how to batch process the workflow so I am spending less time with work and more time traveling and diving into the Story Chasing community.

It was an exciting process to determine the best course of action, but I think I've come up with a good game plan and feel that it's already starting to help me.

YouTube Subscriber Goal

My goal for September was to continue working towards increasing to 5,000 subscribers on YouTube.

I'm slowly getting there. We gained 384 subscribers to the community for an ending total of 4,715 subscribers on YouTube.

It's climbing steadily!

I'm so happy with that number. Again, I'm going to keep on pushing through, producing content that you all can connect with, I hope, and numbers will continue to grow.

Slowing Down Goal

I must have mastered the art of slowing down because I was just recently called “pokey” by a fellow nomad, uh um, Joe.

Well, I can't help myself when I'm enjoying these lovely views of the Pacific ocean and incredible sunsets. So, Pokey it is!

It was tough slowing down after leaving the rat race – I guess because I've been doing it so long, but I'm finally taking better care of myself, enjoying the journey more, and I'm so much happier for it. I wouldn't change a thing about my pokiness. lol

If you're new to my blog, here's a little bit about me and what I do.

I'm Amber, and I started StoryChasing.com and my YouTube channel last year in the second quarter of 2017 after selling my home and everything I own to travel full-time in an RV. When I first started out traveling, I had no idea where I was going, and then I came across a book called National Geographic 300 Scenic Highways & Byways. What a great way to see the country and learn about the areas around, so I started a quest to accomplish all 300 highways and byways – with no end date by the way.

From the beginning, I documented my travels across the United States and Canada, through photos and video, so I could show that I've completed all 300 highways and byways. I'm the sole traveler, writer and videographer, marketer, editor, administrator, accountant, driver and whatever other hat is thrown my way in this adventure.

I travel with my fur baby, Lily, who is a 10 lb Whippet, Chi, Rat Terrier mix and a fantastic traveler with her car seat so she can see outside and be safe in her harness that clips into the seat.

Over the course of my travels, I get asked quite a bit if I'm fearful to travel solo. I even made a video about it and how I overcome fear. It's been one of my more popular videos because I believe it addresses a fear that we all have – whether you're a man or a woman – about being by yourself and living in this world without subjecting ourselves to the constant fear of others and media. I've discovered that the world out there is kinder and more beautiful than I anticipated and that I'm also much stronger than I ever imagined. I've conquered plenty of fears this year, but I believe those fears are just opportunities to overcome and the greatest success and reward are on the other side of that fear.

I have worked in some capacity in Accounting since I was 17 years old and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Accountancy and am a Certified Financial Crimes Investigator. Most of my career I was working in property management, construction, and real estate with the last company being a Private Equity Firm specializing in acquisitions and development of multi-family housing where I was the Director of Asset Management Accounting. Though I loved my job, the company, and the people I worked with, I knew it was time for a change and to see what I could do with my own company.

I've been blogging on and off for over eight years and have created many websites and blogs and learned quite a bit about making money online. I just needed to figure out what I wanted to do to make money online.

As my viewers started asking me questions, a natural business started to form where I could teach others the knowledge I have on various subjects. I'm so thrilled to be working in this capacity and to help others. I've been coaching women for several years as well, and it's an immensely fulfilling joy to help these woman overcome experiences in their life.

I'm also business consulting for acquisitions/dispositions of real estate and multi-family housing.

Lastly, some of my income – that you'll see below in the September 2018 income report – also comes from an e-book I wrote about five years ago that helps people overcome rosacea naturally. It's not generating much income right now since I haven't been focusing on marketing very much in the last couple of years. When I first wrote the book, it was generating about $200-$400 per month.

September 2018 Income Report

I've completed a breakdown by passive income and active income with totals for each. I knew my income would decrease this month with viewers vacations ending and kids back in school. September always seems to be one of those transition months for blogs, at least mine, where it slips a bit and then regains traction in the upcoming months.

Passive Income September 2018 Income Report

  Affiliate Income:

• Amazon $62.85
• Shareasale.com $29.93

  Advertising:

• Ad Revenue $185.83

  My Products:

• Rosacea Ebook: $9.99
• Insider Crew on Patreon: $59

Passive Income Total of $347.60

This is a decrease over August at 10.82%.

Active Income September 2018 Income Report

• Consulting/Coaching – $600 which I knew would decrease since the bulk of the work related to contracting for my previous employer is coming to an end.

Total September 2018 Income Report $947.60

My bottom line goal is to increase my passive income, month-over-month by approximately 16.25% and I did not meet that goal with an 11% decrease.

All of the income above is before expenses and taxes and represents my gross revenues.

Top Goals for October 2018

I'll also make sure to follow-up in the October income report with how I met my goals below:

• Continue to reach viewers looking for an alternative lifestyle in minimalist living, traveling full-time, learning how to earn income on the road, and growing YouTube subscribers to 5,000+.
• Begin the process of outlining a new product for sale to diversify my income.
• Complete at least two extra videos to put in the queue for scheduling. I'm going to be busy in January and part of February with Xscapers convergences, meet-ups at RTR, and other meet-ups and need to have at least six videos ready to go. I don't think I'll be able to concentrate on editing and publishing during that time but will get quite a bit of footage.

Please leave me a comment below on how you liked this September 2018 income report. Was something missing or something you'd like to see?