What’s Your View on Income Reports?

Income reports have become hugely popular over the last couple of years. It seems that everyone is sharing how they are making money online, from new blogs who are still being developed to bloggers such as Pat Flynn who are making tens of thousands of dollars every month.

So how did this phenomenom start? Well, John Chow may not have been the first person who ever shared details of their income on the internet, however he was definitely the person who made it popular. Several years ago, John was sharing details of his online income through this blog. His growth in income over a year was nothing short of astounding. In December 2006, John had made just over $2,000 dollars from this blog. One year later, John was making over $27,000.

Inspiring Others

As you can imagine, John’s income reports inspired thousands of people to start working online. The power to inspire others is one of the reasons income reports have become so popular. They removed the notion that many people had that they could never make a living through the internet. Many bloggers were not only showing that you could make money online, they were also showing you how they did it.

To date, I have never shared details of how I make money online, however it is something I am considering. I shared my thoughts on this issue last month on my blog. One of things I have always been hesitant about is that sometimes income reports do not inspire others, they simply encourage them to duplicate what the other person has done. I witnessed many instances of this in the past.

Over the last month or so, I have given a lot of thought to sharing income reports with readers and have come to the conclusion that any negative aspects of sharing details online is negligible compared to the positive aspects of doing so. By sharing income details online and showing others exactly what we do, we can help others with less experience and make friends with likeminded people who are on the same journey. That is what John did and I know that many aspiring bloggers continue to be inspired by his success.

What Should Be Included in an Income Report?

If you have read income reports before, you will know that different people share different things online. Some people break down their affiliate income in great detail, specifying what affiliate programs earned them money and what didn’t. Others simply give a final figure (e.g. I made $900 this month from affiliate commissions).

A bigger concern of mine is what to include in an income report. Some people include:

  • Income from their main website (i.e. the one they are publishing the income report on).
  • Income from all their websites.
  • Income from product sales such as books, services and digital products.
  • Income from freelancing, consulting etc.

As you can see, there is a difference between a blog income report and an income report that details someone’s total income from working online. Should you include your total income from working online or just income from your blog? I don’t think there is a wrong or right answer. It just comes down to how transparent you want to be with everyone when you share your income details online.

Would You Share Your Income Details with Others?

I am sure that you have read an income report before and found it, at the very least, interesting. My question to you is this: Would you share your income details with others? If so, what are you hoping to achieve by sharing your income? If not, what is stopping you from sharing your income with others?

Within the next week I am going to make a final decision as to whether I will start being more transparent about my income online. Therefore, I would love to hear why you would or would not do this.

Over to you 🙂

Thanks,
Kevin

Kevin Muldoon is an experienced blogger who blogs regularly about WordPress, Blogging, Social Media and Internet Marketing on his personal blog. He can also be found on Twitter @KevinMuldoon and Google+.