How I Earned $66,455.50 in January as a Marketing Coach
Wow! Seeing this January be nearly double what last January was is such a beautiful reminder. I was in the thick of the postpartum blues and sleep deprivation last year, doing my best to keep up. I’d go back and hug that girl for doing the best she can, and remind her how quickly things can change.
January Transitions and Sheddings
I love a fresh start.
I’m a Monday girl. Feel most alive early in the morning. I love the changing of seasons (it’s why I couldn’t hack Florida). And the New Year is no different.
We kicked off the New Year on the beach, as we do every year.
The cool thing about going to the ocean every New Years is being able to really compare where I was at that time on the beach the year before. It helps set the tone and vibe as we dive into a New Year.
But truthfully, I haven’t been able to sit with setting goals and new intentions for a New Year since becoming a mom.
Of course I have goals and dreams for my business. But there’s really not much more I’m willing to sacrifice to achieve more. I’m not really willing to miss more time with my kids. I’m unavailable to exhaust myself or burn out. I’m nearly always with my kids and definitely don’t want to show their faces publicly or share more about them. So sometimes it feels about moot setting new, bigger goals when I know there’s not much more I’m willing to sacrifice to achieve them.
Nonetheless, I believe very much in setting intentions and owning what season you’re in.
My January was actually more about shedding the past than running into a New Year. This made sense given the Chinese New Year, and the Year of the Snake not ending until mid February!
Here’s what I’ve shed:
- Private coaching. I still offer ~3 spots per year to longtime clients, but I closed this publicly in favor of focusing on my other offerings.
- Alcohol. I completely quit drinking back in 2021 and it was a great decision. Somewhere after two kids, I started letting myself have wine/ beer again. It never felt out of control or heavy, but I realized I had lost interest in alcohol. At least for the time being. While I don’t identify as “sober,” this felt great to shed.
- Clients that were misaligned. I’m lucky to be genuinely good friends with most of my clients and have a higher-than-average retention rate. So it’s rare for me to have a client that drains me. But there were two that weren’t the right fit for me and I simply released them of their contracts. There was a time in my business where that loss of recurring revenue could’ve made me spiral and it feels so good to not “need” anything.
- My sister from my team. This one is bittersweet and is actually a huge win for her! She’s been with me since 2020 and has been instrumental in helping my business make millions. But she started her own personal training business a few years ago, and she’s moving onto that full time. I’m happy for both of us. It’s a happy shed but definitely feels like a transition.
- Social media. I stopped watching IG stories years ago. But a few weeks ago I was on a retreat where I had scheduled posts out instead of manually posting and it was so freeing. So I have mostly switched to that entirely now instead of posting on my phone.
January Highlights
Weekend birthday parties. Frustrating snow banks when pushing a stroller. Counting down to daylight savings in March. As many sauna sessions as I can squeeze in during childcare.
This January wasn’t anything new!
The highlight (and majority of the month) was our trip to Orlando.
This is our fourth consecutive year and it’s a tradition we’ve come to love. This year, we decided to go for six days; three days at the parks and three days living life normally in the Florida sun. We flew down my college-aged cousins to help with the kids so we could get some work in on those off-park days.
The day our return flight is meant to leave, we get an email from our local Whole Foods. They’ve canceled our delivery order, indefinitely… (our house manager was at our home, ready to receive it so we had fresh groceries upon returning). I got a pit in my stomach knowing NYC was not going to be a pretty picture upon returning.
We check the forecast and decide to stay in Florida to wait out the storm. And so happened our NINE DAY TRIP TO THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH 🤣.
Yes, it was so much fun being there with the kids.
Yes, it was WAY better than dealing with a blizzard in NYC.
Yes, nine days at Disney is too many.
Yes, Florida is weird and I’ll never get how people live there.
Moving on.
It was, in all seriousness, a glorious reminder of the importance of self employment and taking life and finances into your own hands. I can’t imagine having to deal with PTO, a disgruntled boss, co-workers begrudgingly having to take work on for me so I could take more time off, and all the other joys that come with the lie that is corporate America.
Plus, our extended three days were paid for entirely with points from my business.
Investing in your own financial and time flexibility will forever be your best use of money! I’m reminded of it on a daily basis. This was just a bit louder.
Income Breakdown
In most of my income reports, I’ve broken down the exact amount of each category here.
But, annoyingly, we have so many different payment options in ThriveCart that I’d have to manually go through and add this. And that just doesn’t make sense right now. So I’m just going to share the different categories and am always open to questions (email me at leah@leahgervais.com).
BUT I also want to share percentages and insights into my expenses since I think that’s helpful too.
Thanks for tuning into the updates!
Coaching + Consulting
This comes from my Mastermind. I also kept three spots for private coaching open this year from longtime clients.
Passive Digital Products
These come from the low-ticket digital products we run ads to. Here are our main ones:
- My Ebook, Million-Dollar Marketing
- Our holiday bundle (which has since been retired but was a big hit)!
- My Passive Park Launch Lab
VIP Days/ Retreats
You heard it here first: I am hosting my first ever group retreat in (drum roll)… Italy!
I’ve hosted VIP Days in Italy.
I’ve hosted group retreats all over the US.
Last year, I hosted my first international retreat in Paris. (An utter dream- check it out here.)
So this year, I’m going for it… a RETREAT in ITALY. And I’m obsessed. So this income stream came from initial payments toward this.
Assistant Coach/ Group Program
My sister has primarily run my group program, Scalable Services, for the last few years. So she’s earned the majority of the income we earn from it.
That said, in January we gave the program a bit of a revamp. It now includes a LIVE event in NYC, more coaching with me than ever, and access to my Passive Park Sales course.
Expenses
I’m going to just brain dump this, so don’t mind lack of organization!
My business credit card bill was $24,688 for this month. That includes:
- Meta ads (definitely my biggest credit card expense)
- Contractor payments (second biggest payment)
- Tech stack like LeadPages, ActiveCampaign, Hyros, social media subscriptions, etc.
- One-off lump sump payments (like Peerspace for a reels shoot, flowers for a client going through a hard time, client meeting in Los Angeles, etc.)
Beyond my credit card, I pay myself a fixed salary and am a W2 employee in my own business. I also pay some of my contractors directly from my bank account.
The rest is profit! Which goes into savings, taxes, investing, my HSA plan, and of course, some spending! 🙂
January takeaways
Overall, it was a good start to the year, other than the frigid temperatures that make momming in NYC pretty hard.
I feel like my lifestyle is the peak of where I visualize it, in many ways. My calendar is basically empty these days, thanks to my Passive Park Sales system. I have a lot of empty space to think, create, and of course, prioritize my kids.
I’m also feeling really confident and comfortable in my body, which really feels like something to celebrate after two kids. Thanks again to my flexible schedule, I’m able to prioritize exercise and am obsessed with my bougie night time routine (that I NEVER take for granted after not sleeping for a year after my second baby).
Business-wise, I still have dreams and things I want to achieve. But because my daily life feels so good, there’s not much I’m willing to change to aggressively work toward anything. So I’m building brick by brick.
