>> Read the July 2021 income report here <<

My wife is an influencer and it’s actually crazy how much money from all of her work. She mainly earns from Instagram, but she has a few other side things too. This is a good way to keep track of where her money is coming from and how she’s progressing.

Sponsored Instagram Posts

I always say that this income is up and down but Heidi really hit it out of the park this month. She got such a wide variety of sponsored social post opportunities this month and she embraced all of the ones that made sense for her.

Heidi worked with beauty, fashion and toy brands this month. A couple of them actually paid over £1,000 each. They wanted video content so a bit more than usual, but easy to fit into Heidi’s workload at the moment. We have to be happy about this month!

Sponsored Instagram Income: £4,950

Sponsored Blog Posts

As you can see the mummy blog just keep giving amazing results. It had one huge £250 blog post and the rest were literally anything between £100 and £15 per post. Every little helps. It all accumulates and it makes a difference. So annoying that she couldn’t get any for the food blog this time even though it has the highest DA of the 3.

Mummy Blog: £1,415.49

Fashion Blog: £117

Food Blog: £0

Total Sponsored Blog Income: £1,532.49

Advertising & Affiliate Income

It might not be much compared to last month but it’s a big improvement on the kind of affiliate income Heidi was getting at the start of the year.

Advertising and Affiliate Income: £45.31

Product Sales

There were a few Depop sales this month. It was nothing special but a nice extra.

Product Sales Income: £53.38

Consultancy

Heidi does social media management from time to time but she hasn’t done any in August.

Consultancy Income: £0

Podcast Co-Hosting

Heidi’s the co-host of a podcast and gets paid well when she records new episodes. There isn’t anything to report for this month though.

Podcast Income: £0

Expenses for August 2021

Heidi’s got a few different people working for her on odd jobs now and those costs are adding up. Besides that there’s a lot more travel expenses with what she does, so it all contributes to the monthly expenditure.

Total Expenses: £424.32

Totals for August 2021

Income: £6,581.18

Expenses: £424.32

Profit: £6,156.86

Thoughts for August 2021

Amazing month. It felt like Heidi had a lot on this month but she was really able to handle it well. She went on a couple of out of town influencer related trips and it was great that she can get back into the flow of those kinds of things. She ended up working with some really big companies this month and even a well paying one that she hadn’t even heard of before. Lets hope it continues.

Next for September 2021

Heidi keeps getting pestered by an agent and there’s definitely a chance that she might pursue that in the future. She’s getting some incredible opportunities, but we can’t help but wonder what’s around the corner if she takes the leap. If this month is anything to go by September will be another good one.

The post August 2021 Influencer Income Report appeared first on The Dream.

>> Read the June 2021 income report here <<

My wife is a blogger/influencer and makes a decent living from it. I do this as a way to keep on top of how she’s doing and so we can look back at how far we’ve come in the future. It should be helpful for people that want to become influencers and don’t quite know how much money is in it.

Sponsored Instagram Posts

Heidi was busy this month with so much Instagram work. She did some great paid campaigns including some fashion, beauty and kids ones. Although they didn’t all pay as well as she might have hoped, it’s meant that she’s in the good books with a lot of brands that could potentially get her involved in some bigger campaigns in the future.

It also meant that she did a few gifted posts (where the brands basically just send product and she doesn’t get any money out of it. Again it basically gives her a foot in with brands that she otherwise might not have had a contact with so she could earn a paid project later down the line if she shows that she can do a good job.

Sponsored Instagram Income: £1,600

Sponsored Blog Posts

Heidi’s first blog was the reason she eventually quit her job and it’s still consistently the best performer. She got a little extra cash from the other two as well. This month was another mix of paid blog posts and guest posts where she just needed to upload prewritten content to her sites.

Mummy Blog: £906.27

Fashion Blog: £15

Food Blog: £80

Total Sponsored Blog Income: £1,001.27

Advertising & Affiliate Income

I think this is the best month ever for Heidi’s affiliate stuff. She got a discount code from one of the fashion brands she worked with. Sharing that meant she got loads of referrals.

Advertising and Affiliate Income: £103.37

Product Sales

Heidi sold literally one thing on Depop this month and that’s it.

Product Sales Income: £10

Consultancy

Heidi does social media management from time to time, but hasn’t done any in the past month.

Consultancy Income: £0

Podcast Co-Hosting

Heidi got a solid chunk of cash from her role as the co-host of a podcast. It didn’t take up much of her time this month at all, so it was a very welcome bump.

Podcast Income: £500

Expenses for July 2021

There was so much driving again this month so that was the bulk of the expenses. Heidi also likes to buy props for a lot of her kids campaigns, so that added to the total.

Total Expenses: £311.03

Totals for July 2021

Income: £3,214.64

Expenses: £311.03

Profit: £2,903.61

Thoughts for July 2021

It was a good month. It felt like it was going to be a much better one, but we really can’t complain at the results at all. Heidi did an amazing job and it really feels as though months like this are going to be standard. There will be better months but this should be a regular, satisfying month for us.

Next for August 2021

Heidi’s optimistic and so am I. It’s funny because there isn’t actually anything lined up at the moment, but Heidi plans to meet up with a few PRs in the next few weeks and hopefully that will help her get in the good books with people that can get her selected for campaigns.

The post July 2021 Influencer Income Report appeared first on The Dream.

Even with newcomers building themselves up and getting loads of followers, she’s confident that she’ll still be able to keep getting campaigns because of her experience and certain things she does to keep in PRs good books.

Free Content

If you like a brand it should be natural that you actually spend money with them. Heidi does it all the time when she’s wearing an outfit. She’ll always tag brands even if they haven’t paid for it. It might remind them that they haven’t worked with her in a while and might decide to bring her into whatever they’ve got coming up soon. If she has a contact at the brand she’ll always email them to say that she loves X and had to share it with a post.

Following Up

Once a campaign is done PRs don’t tend to share the results of it. It’s annoying because if you really put work into it from you side as an influencer it’s interesting to see if it made a difference on their side. Heidi shows an interest in the brand and their performance and they can sometimes feel compelled to bring you into other campaigns afterwards.

Doing Work Quickly

It must be a relief to a PR when they brief content, give a deadline and get the content back way before that time. Nobody likes chasing for work, because it means that you’re probably disappointing other team members/departments at the agency/brand that could be involved in the campaign. Heidi’s getting much more organised these days so that she can turn content around quickly and keep PRs sweet.

Treats

Heidi works with a gift company quite often. She keeps them happy by ordering gifts regularly (outside of campaigns) for other PRs. They do personalised confectionery, so things like customised chocolate always go down well in the office. Every time she’s sent things to offices, she’s got something in return. Sometimes it’s just a gift. Other times it’s full blown longterm campaigns `

The post How Heidi Keeps on the Good Side of PRs appeared first on The Dream.

>> Read the May 2021 income report here <<

My wife Heidi is an Instagram influencer and a blogger. She’s self employed from this work and it’s really helpful to use this as a way to see how things are going for her and to show other people the realities of this line of work in 2021.

Sponsored Instagram Posts

I said that last month was a bad one for my wife’s Instagram earnings, but she’s completely flipped it around this time. She worked with a couple of beauty brands and a supermarket.

There’s a big disclosure that I need to give before I show you how much she made this month. She was asked to basically model for a brand, rather than do any Instagram content. They wanted content for their Instagram and were willing to pay over £3,000 for it. It’s an enormous amount considering she basically just had to model for a day but that random one-off meant she could have taken the rest of the month off!

Once Heidi saw the videos and photos, she wanted to post it on her own socials, even though it wasn’t in her contract that she had to do anything with it.

Sponsored Instagram Income: £4,880

Sponsored Blog Posts

Another month where the food blog just hasn’t made any money and the fashion one barely made anything. It’s just a really good job that she’s able to balance it out by having these other revenue streams, so it doesn’t actually matter. The mummy blog is still doing amazing and keeps impressing us.

Mummy Blog: £1,012.98

Fashion Blog: £15

Food Blog: £0

Total Sponsored Blog Income: £1,027.98

Advertising & Affiliate Income

Yet again there’s another trickle of cash from the affiliate programmes she’s signed up to. Heidi’s not really big on affiliates, so she’s definitely not disappointed by this month’s figures.

Advertising and Affiliate Income: £18.43

Product Sales

I can’t remember the last time Heidi put something on Depop, but she made £100 in sales from putting a couple of bits of ebay this month. It’s a nice little extra to add to the pot.

Product Sales Income: £100

Consultancy

Heidi’s still got one client. She’s reduced how much she works for them, but added another £100 by making a few social posts for them.

Consultancy Income: £100

Podcast Co-Hosting

The podcast pays well and this is a great example of it. Each episode takes around an hour to do and it’s clearly absolutely worth it when this is the kind of return she gets from it.

Podcast Income: £1,500

Expenses for June 2021

There was a lot of driving this month, so that’s all reflected in the expenses for the month. Hotels, diesel and photo props were all included in this.

Total Expenses: £325.98

Totals for June 2021

Income: £7,626.41

Expenses: £325.98

Profit: £7,300.43

Thoughts for June 2021

It was an amazing month. There’s no other way to look at it. I feel like this shows just how much of a difference there’s going to be when absolutely all of the restrictions are taken away, events start to take place and we start to properly get back to normal life. I feel as though the kinds of campaigns will change a lot for Heidi and it’s going to have a great impact on her earnings.

Next for July 2021

Heidi’s just going to continue doing more of what she’s doing right now. She’s in a good place and it’s clear that as long as she keeps keeping her audience engaged, showing that she’s working with great brands and stuff, it’s going to end up paying off in the end.

The post June 2021 Influencer Income Report appeared first on The Dream.

Heidi has an engaged audience but there are always times when it slips a bit. It’s unfortunate that the only times when this ends up happening is when she has to be on her A-game – when someone has paid for it.

We can blame the algorithm or timing or whatever else, but sometimes Instagram just doesn’t show her posts or stories to enough people. Usually when she works with brands, they want to know her stats from the posts that they pay for. When it doesn’t match their expectations it can cause problems. It’s never happened before, because she’s always managed to rescue it (touch wood!) but there’s always a worry that a post might not do as well as they hope it will.

My wife wants to keep things organic as possible. She’s never paid for likes, followers or anything else like that but from time to time she uses a few reliable methods to fix her problems.

When Heidi sees that a post isn’t doing as well as she wants, there’s a few things she does:

• Launches a competition. She gets people to like the post by making a competition for it. There’s always a freebie in the house that is good enough to give away, so it’s an easy way to pick up likes.
• Likes other people on the hashtag. Simple but highly effective, Heidi likes other people’s posts in the hopes that they return the favour. I only just found out there’s a specific technique you have to do with this to make sure Instagram doesn’t think you’re being suspicious.
• Engages in pods. There are Facebook groups, Whatsapp groups and Instagram groups she’s a part of where the aim is to all like and comment on one another’s content. These work every time but require a lot of effort when you’re in a large group. Obviously the larger the better because it means more likes.

The post What Happens When When My Wife Doesn’t Get Enough Likes appeared first on The Dream.

>> Read the April 2021 income report here <<

My wife is professional influencer. I like to make reports every month to show what she’s capable of doing by herself without a huge number of followers. I share everything, whether good or bad, showing the realities of life as a UK blogger in 2021.

Sponsored Instagram Posts

It really does come in waves and this month wasn’t one of the good ones. Heidi’s been batting away lots of the lower paid campaigns, because she thinks she deserves more. Her stats are good and she’s got a lot to offer.

In the end it meant that she made a lot more than she has been doing. To be fair she did work with some big clients this time, but just not enough of them to reach the levels she’s usually at. However she has already shot for some paid stuff coming in the next few weeks that makes up for this.

Sponsored Instagram Income: £1,350

Sponsored Blog Posts

As you can see below only one of Heidi’s blogs made any money this time around. She always asks if they want to post on multiple, but it just didn’t work this time around. Regardless we have to be happy with the amount she managed to pull in this month.

Mummy Blog: £716.87

Fashion Blog: £0

Food Blog: £0

Total Sponsored Blog Income: £716.87

Advertising & Affiliate Income

Heidi’s signed up to loads of affiliate networks and she randomly got emailed that she had earned enough to cash out on one of them. That made up the bulk of the earnings for this month, as she had even forgot to tell me she was signed up to it. It accounts for link clicks of outfit posts on her Instagram stories.

Advertising and Affiliate Income: £124.86

Product Sales

No Depop in May, but Heidi’s been busy decluttering the wardrobe the last couple of days, so expect to see something in the next report.

Product Sales Income: £0

Consultancy

Heidi has taken on a client. She’s charging £50 a week for her work, so it’s nice additional income to add to the pot.

Consultancy Income: £200

Podcast Co-Hosting

After a ridiculous good month in April, nothing happened in terms of the podcast in May, so no income to report whatsoever. I think it should change in June though.

Podcast Income: £0

Expenses for May 2021

Things have started opening up and so that means travel and accommodation expenses are starting to creep in.

Total Expenses: £822.34

Totals for May 2021

Income: £2,391.73

Expenses: £124.53

Profit: £2,267.20

Thoughts for May 2021

We have to be honest that it wasn’t great. (Although it’s hilarious that we can see 2 grand profit as disappointing!) One blog did really well and there were a couple of paid Instagram posts, but nothing major happened this month. In spite of this, Heidi did actually shoot some content that will pay very well once it’s signed off. It should be in the June report. That campaign alone is more than the whole of what Heidi did in May.

What was good about that month is that because the lockdown eased midway through the month, it meant that Heidi started getting invited to things again. We got to have a couple of family trips to some fun places. Although they weren’t paid for, little perks like that are what we do it for.

Next for June 2021

We went from the higher earning month in April to the lowest earning month in June, and it does feel really demotivating. But we know what money is coming from some of the regular campaigns and odd jobs, so it should make it a great month in June. We’re booked up with events every weekend this month, so we know that reduces our potential to get things done, but we always find a way to work around it.

The post May 2021 Influencer Income Report appeared first on The Dream.

>> Read the March 2021 income report here <<

My wife Heidi is a content creator that does very well despite not having the best stats. She’s constantly telling me how little interaction she’s getting these days about how she’s way behind people that started blogging around the time she did. However she’s actually making a lot of money from what she does.

This series shows what progress she makes as a blogger, influencer and content creator and the rewards that come from it. Hopefully it inspires others by showing them the reality of this world and its potential.

Sponsored Instagram Posts

Great month. That’s all I need to say. There actually weren’t that many sponsored Instagram posts this month, but the ones she had paid extremely well. Heidi worked with a supermarket, a couple of fashion brands and she had a few kids and family bits too. Together it made for one of her best Instagram income months.

Sponsored Instagram Income: £3,595.00

Sponsored Blog Posts

Between Heidi’s 3 blogs she did really well yet again. There’s clearly one blog that always seems to do a lot better than the rest – her oldest one. But each of them made something this month.

For the majority of Heidi’s sponsored posts, she has someone else write them. The rest usually have content submitted by the advertiser, so it’s light work. She just needs to upload them to WordPress.

Mummy Blog: £1,420.51

Fashion Blog: £15

Food Blog: £200

Total Sponsored Blog Income: £1,635.51

Advertising & Affiliate Income

With just over £10 more made than last month, Heidi’s starting to make her affiliate cash creep up. Again this is mainly just from sharing swipe up links on her Insta stories about what she’s wearing or what outfits she wants to buy.

Advertising and Affiliate Income: £27.83

Product Sales

Heidi put a few bits on her Depop this month and made a nice little extra chunk from it. She gave so much other stuff to a charity shop, because she just didn’t have the energy to think about taking photos and listing it.

Product Sales Income: £80

Consultancy

Heidi didn’t do any social media consultancy last month, but she has actually got some booked in for May.

Consultancy Income: £0

Podcast Co-Hosting

It finally happened. After a long break from Heidi’s co-hosting duties she finally got to do some more episodes. It’s a lot of work for her, as she has to record them one after the other for a few days in a row, but you will see that it’s really worth it. Different brands sponsor individual episodes of the podcast – explaining why she made so much from it this month.

Podcast Income: £4,660.00

Expenses for April 2021

Heidi’s got people writing her blog posts, promoting her content and running social channels that she doesn’t like using. Together this month that added up to over £750. On top of that Heidi had expenses for props and travel when working on some of her family content.

Total Expenses: £822.34

Totals for April 2021

Income: £9,998.34

Expenses: £822.34

Profit: £9,176.00

Thoughts for April 2021

It is actually ridiculous how much Heidi made this month. It’s her best one so far. Her blog earnings might be slightly down on last month and she might have been able to sell more of her stuff before, but the sponsored Instagram posts were on fire and the podcast is an enormous boost to what she does.

I did a post about Heidi getting £15,000 signed off in one day and this is only represents a small proportion of that. There’s so much more to come.

I also didn’t mention that in April Heidi did a couple of non-paid posts because outdoor venues were open and she started getting invited to go to different places again, including one that the whole family could go to. This month feels like the start of something amazing.

Next for May 2021

It was a crazy month in April with so much work done, signed off and confirmed. We probably won’t get a month as good as this for some time. But with most things opening up in mid May I can only hope that it means that the tail end will be great and that we get to do more family work together.

The post April 2021 Influencer Income Report appeared first on The Dream.

On 12^th April a few lockdown restrictions ended and it immediately meant that some things changed for Heidi. In the lead-up to the date, Heidi had her first event invite that wasn’t on Zoom for over a year. It’s for a kids campaign and it gives our kids to experience more of the benefits of this influencer world by giving them an experience they otherwise wouldn’t get – they get to meet one of their favourite TV characters soon at an outdoor event.

This is the first of what is sure to be many this year, so it had me thinking about what the rest of the year has in store. This is all of what changes when the lockdowns are officially over.

More Train Rides

Heidi had a lot of train journeys in 2019 and the start of 2020, so I think that by the time the June restrictions hit, they will be back on. To be honest it’s not much fun when Heidi’s away on the train because it really confuses our routine, but it’s always for good reason. Most of Heidi’s train rides are usually to meet up with PRs and brands, if it’s not to attend an event.

There’s no doubt that more events will be happening soon, because brands will be gagging to show off the things they have been planning over the past year.

More Adventures

Not only will Heidi be reaping the benefits of her influencer world – so will me and the kids. We know that more adventures are on the way. Even if we’re not invited along to things in different places, we’ll definitely be taking both of the boys to all of the places that we’ve haven’t been able to go to for more than a year.

More Opportunities

We’re going to use the relaxed lockdown rules as a reason to really put ourselves out there and get into new opportunities that we hadn’t considered before. We’re thinking that we should really try to get some family influencer campaigns and now that the kids are that little bit older, it’s actually an option for us.

This is a major one for us because it might be the key to unlocking massive future opportunities for us and to go to the next level with what Heidi’s doing and where she’s heading with her influencing work.

The post What Changes When Lockdown is Over appeared first on The Dream.

>> Read the February 2021 income report here <<

My wife’s Instagram growth has slowed lately but she’s getting towards 50,000 followers. Even though she hasn’t got a crazy amount of followers, her biggest income source is working with brands n influencer campaigns. These reports show just how much money she can make from her social accounts and blogs.

Sponsored Instagram Posts

It was the lead-up to Easter this month and along with that came a lot of seasonal campaigns. Heidi absolutely rinsed them and went way out of her comfort zone in order to scoop up food campaigns as well as her regular fashion and kids ones. Together it made for a very productive month.

Sponsored Instagram Income: £3,300.00

Sponsored Blog Posts

Heidi’s got 3 blogs at the moment and each of them target different topics. This month showed why it’s so great that she’s diversified, because she’s been able to make money focusing on a range of talking points.

Heidi had a mixture of sponsored blog posts this month, including small ones that paid her £15 to insert a link in pre-published posts, to one that paid her £100 to talk about a certain variety of coffee.

Mummy Blog: £1,762.77

Fashion Blog: £15

Food Blog: £290

Total Sponsored Blog Income: £2,067.77

Advertising & Affiliate Income

This was an OK month so advertising and affiliates. Heidi earns extra bits and pieces from Adsense and when people clicked on the links in her stories for her outfit posts.

Advertising and Affiliate Income: £17.13

Product Sales

Heidi planned to put a few things on Depop but ended up giving them to charity instead. Maybe next month she’ll sell on there.

Product Sales Income: £0

Consultancy

Heidi decided to do a favour for someone and they said they couldn’t let her do the work without paying her.

Consultancy Income: £25

Podcast Co-Hosting

As I mentioned recently, we’ve got a lot of them signed off, but they just haven’t happened yet. Once the money comes from these, it’s going to be a crazy month for income.

Podcast Income: £0

Expenses for March 2021

Heidi hasn’t done it for a while, but she decided that she really needed a new setting for her photos this month, so decided to hire out a place to do a shoot for some of her fashion posts. That contributed towards the bulk of this month’s expenses, as well as the smaller stuff paying people to write sponsored content. Also she’s started paying someone to do her Pinterest for her.

Total Expenses: £653.68

Totals for March 2021

Income: £5,409.90

Expenses: £653.68

Profit: £4,756.22

Thoughts for March 2021

I mentioned last time that I didn’t think that February was great, but March absolutely made up for it. Things have gone into a new gear for Heidi and she made a lot of money from her work, without feeling as though she was constantly firefighting to stay on top of it all. She can get like that sometimes, but she managed to pace things out and get it all completed.

Next for April 2021

I just don’t know what April holds. In fact I’m writing this late and so far this month Heidi’s only got £30 in the pot, so lets hope that things get back on track soon. Hopefully we can turn it around into a month like March. We know that there’s some guaranteed campaigns coming, so it would be good to fit more around those.

The post March 2021 Influencer Income Report appeared first on The Dream.

We share childcare and have certain days when each of us has the kids for the majority of the day. This time she really needed another day and of course I let her have it. She had scheduled some time with PRs that day, which included a phone call that morning, a Zoom call in the early afternoon. Between that she had lots of writing to do, catching up on invoicing and generally getting things on track again.

What happened over the course of the next few hours was completely unexpected and made sure that this year is going to be a great year. Just look at these and consider that she got confirmation for all of them on the very same day.

1. Fashion Long Term Collab

Heidi’s been working on and off with one particular fashion brand for a year. When the most recent contract ended she thought that it was over and they wouldn’t work with her again. She actually kept checking in with her main contact to see what was going on and they didn’t get back to for ages. To her surprise they sent her an email confirming that they want to return back to the agreement they had, but with increased rates.

She will get paid monthly and works out to £6,000 in total over 6 months with £300 in outfits each month. She’s thrilled with this as it comes with minimal exclusivity and they only want one post per week. It’s perfect for her.

2. Beauty Partnership

This is crazy, Heidi has never really put in much effort with beauty content because it’s not really her thing. She’s done bits and pieces with a few different brands, but this really came as a surprise. A brand that she doesn’t have much of a relationship reached out and said they want her to be an ambassador. On this day she had a phone call confirming all the final details about the arrangement.

In total they are paying £3,000 for a 12 month contract. There’s a lot much more work involved in this one, because they are a lot more strict about the content and they want a frequent grid posts and videos too. However it’s a great look that she’s working with a brand like this. She knows that by the time the contract comes to an end, she will look much more desirable to similar brands.

3. Podcast

Heidi co-hosts a podcast and has an external team deal with all of the guests, advertisers and production things. Although she knew that they were going to record more soon, she didn’t know how much more were coming and how much it would be worth.

Together based on all of the content that’s been signed off for the podcasts she’s going to be getting £6,000 for them.

So as you can see from this day alone, we’re only in the first quarter of it, but 2021 is going to be a great year. It’s crazy that all of these were round figures by the way. Being able to confirm that £15,000 is going to be coming her way takes a lot of pressure off her shoulders for the foreseeable future.

The post £15,000 Signed Off in One Day appeared first on The Dream.