Let's Talk Money 💸 : This 26 year old brand designer made a $246K in revenue last year
Welcome to Let's Talk Money, a newsletter dedicated to showing creative entrepreneurs what's actually happening behind the scenes of their peer's businesses.
As a reminder, this newsletter will only stay alive for as long as I receive entries. I won't ask your name, business name, or email when you submit so if you want to share what's happening behind the scenes fill this out.Â
Let's get into this week’s entry:Â
What do you specialize in: Branding & Web Design
How long have you been in business? 4 years
Age: 26
Location: Tennessee
Debt: $4k student loan debt (once the US debt relief kicks in), $8k car loan
Saving: $20k emergency savings in a high yield savings account, $11k in mutual funds/stocks/Roth IRA/crypto
Degrees: Bachelor's in Fine Arts, with focus on Digital Design
Do you have a partner, family, or anyone else that helps you financially?Â
My partner and I split rent and groceries 50/50
If you do have someone that helps you financially, what does that look like for you? Besides rent and groceries, we're each responsible for all other expenses on our own.
Do you have anyone you need to care for? Children, pets, family members, etc. If so, how many?Â
2 very spoiled cats
Are you full-time or part-time in your business? Do you have another job along with this one?Â
full-time
What was your revenue last year (before taxes & expenses)? Â
$246,379
How much did you bring home after taxes & expenses last year (profit)?
My co-founder and I each took home $70k (owner's pay) after taxes
What's your average monthly revenue (before taxes & expenses)? How much of that do you actually pay yourself?Â
Varies from $5-25k revenue. We take home $1.5-10k each (before taxes). This varies so much because we pay ourselves on a commission basis vs. a set salary. So for every dollar we make, 25% immediately goes to the business, the rest goes to us as owner's pay, and then we personally each set aside 30-35% for taxes.
How many employees/contractors do you have including yourself? What do they do?Â
no employees, just contractors on an as-needed basis (things like design support or coding specialty things for websites)
How much do you pay your contractors or employees?Â
We pay contractors anywhere from $25-65/hour.
What are your services and their average price?
Brand Strategy Session $1000, VIP Day $2500 (brand OR web), 2-week Intensive $5000 (brand OR web), Full-Service Branding & Web Design (+ packaging, sometimes) $12-30k
How many clients do you take on during a month?Â
1 full client (lasts 2 months), and 1-2 smaller projects like VIP or 2 week intensives stacked
How many hours are you working per week?
30-40
How often do you take time off during the year? Does this affect your income?Â
3 weeks in the summer, 3 weeks for christmas-new years, take most friday's 1/2 day off. Yes the longer breaks certainly affect our income, but we try to make a little extra income the month before and save our personal income to use on our vacation time off.
In the last month, what type of expenses did you have and what did they cost?Â
Business expenses: $1,939 (this also includes annual expenses split into monthly amounts)Â
website hosting
2 adobe subscriptions
planoly
quickbooks
business coach
insurance
mailerlite
zoom
mailbox
canva pro
clean my mac
website domain
loom
bookkeeper
calendly
compress pdf
basecamp
course payment
My personal life expenses: $2500-3700
average $2k for car loan, rent, utilities, phone bill, gas, insurance, groceries/dining, etc.
average $250-750 for savings and investments
average $300-1k for travel, shopping, gifts, events/experiences, apps/subscriptions, paying off credit card charges from month prior if any
P.S. If you’d like to continue getting Let’s Talk Money updates please share this Substack with others or fill out this survey to be featured.