In January, I managed to pay myself $500 for the first time — from my Saas making — since setting sail on my journey to financial freedom.
The plan is to keep paying myself at least $500 each month going forward, hoping that the sum will keep growing.
However, considering that blogstatic is paid yearly, it's hard to predict the future since every month starts at zero.
The decision to pay myself the $500 came from blogstatic hovering above or around $500 for the past three months.
At the beginning of January, there was a bit more than $1500 in the business account, which helped me predict the next 4 months by including February's revenue.
In my tweet about December '22 numbers, I had reported that Doomsday is in December '23, which was only valid if I kept adding the $500/month indefinitely.
However, that wouldn't be true from where I am sitting.
In the newly updated numbers on the FF sheet, I've only added the numbers that reflect the current business bank account.
I'm not only pointing this out to make amends with anyone who saw that tweet but to be completely honest with myself about what's to come.
The outlook is entirely different if the money ends in October compared to December. Yes, it's only three months of difference, but not that far off from today.
More personal expenses
In an unrelated fashion, even though I started adding +€500 to my personal account each month, my monthly budget went up for €300.
I can't share the details of that increase, except that it has to do with necessary family expenses and not my personal ones.
Not that I should be ashamed of spending more, but not before I'm on the black, money is growing, and I'm paying back my angel investor.
I'm still up €200 and losing €500 compared to €700 in December, but there's still a long way to go until complete financial freedom.
Treading carefully forward
From the last screenshot, you can see that for December and January, I've had quite a few unexpected personal expenses, which were again family related.
This adds to my anxiety and makes me realize that if blogstatic doesn't soon get closer to at least $2000 of revenue per month, Doomsday might be even closer.
Each month I realize that strictly sticking to my budget is becoming harder and more complicated with a growing family of 4. I always find myself needing a buffer. Seasons change, unexpected expenses arise, and I beat myself over the extra buffer I don't have.
What's next?
As far as blogstatic goes, customers are asking about more themes.
With a few major features out of the door, now I have the time to create more themes and, hopefully, help more people find out about blogstatic.
I would love to get my hands dirty in SEO, but not sure I'll have the time.
I am choosing to focus on one thing at a time and deliver on that before I jump on to the next thing. Doing a few things at once delays each one of those things while drastically impacting their quality.
On a positive note
blogstatic is no doubt growing.
There are 140 paid customers as of today.
Every month has been better than the last. The second half of January was a bit worrying, but it has picked up again. Hopefully, February will show its true colors and grow blogstatic even more.
The screenshot below is great because, after the dip (expenses), it went a bit higher than its previous state.
With more marketing and outreach, I believe it has the potential to break through and become a go-to product everyone knows about.
Yes, personally, I need more factual assurance to help me predict the future a bit better. This would help me alleviate my financial anxieties.
However, I believe things are headed in the right direction and that the next two months will tell what's to come.
