One of my goals in 2020 was to get a better handle on my finances as an influencer. At the beginning of the year, I set a goal to work towards making five figures (aka $10K) this year from influencer collaborations. I began tracking each collaboration and adding up the totals for each month and for the year.
Why Track Goals?
Tracking my goals worked so well that I achieved my goal by OCTOBER 2020! I’ll even let you in on a little secret… I didn’t even have any paid campaigns in February or March. In the year 2020, was able to reach (and surpass!) $10K in influencer collaborations. I attribute this to my tracking system. Seeing the money coming in each month and tracking it allowed me to stay on top of my goal.
If you set a goal to make $10K in a year, with 12 months in a year, you know you’ll need to make between $800-$850 per month to stay on track. If I’m being honest, this year I had bad months (February and March… hmm, I wonder why WINK WINK covid) and some GREAT months (we’re talking 4 figures per each deal).
Planning for the Future
Next year, when I’m planning, I am going to set a monthly target total campaign pay that I’d like to reach in order to hit my 2021 financial goals. AND I’M GOING BIG Y’ALL! I’m trying to at least DOUBLE my earnings from this year. So my collaboration tracker sheet is going to be my best friend when managing my finances.
My Income Tracking Sheet
The good news is today I am sharing with you my EXCLUSIVE budget sheet and campaign pay tracker!
Click here to access this FREE RESOURCE!
This spreadsheet tracks your finances in the following categories:
- Collaborations in Progress
- Completed ALL (I move each collab into this sheet once completed)
- Each month in the year
- Business expenses
- Collaborations on Hold (developed this one because of Covid)
- Trade-based collaborations
I subbed out all the brand names and payments for privacy purposes. I did plug in random numbers so the functionality is still there. You can go ahead and change everything and the formulas should still update.
Month-to-Month Finances
For each month, your paid collaboration total and average campaign pay will be automatically calculated. Looking at the totals month-to-month helps me have a better idea of my finances.
Collaborations In-Progress
You will operate mostly out of the “In Progress” tab. For each new campaign you’re working on, add it to the “In Progress” tab. Here you can keep track of important due dates, deliverables, payment, and more while managing all of your campaigns for the month.
When you receive payment, go ahead and move the row for that campaign over to the month tab. For example, if I was paid for a campaign on October 21, I would move it from the In Progress tab into the October 2020 tab. That way, I can see it with all of my other finalized collaborations from that month.
Completed Campaigns
I also go ahead and move it into the Completed tab. Here I am able to view all of my campaigns for the year and track my yearly total. I can also view my yearly average campaign payment and average monthly pay here. This helps me drive decision-making for next year when determining my rates. For additional considerations to review when determining your rates, check out my blog post on the topic!
How to Manage Your Finances
I recommend staying SUPER on top of this spreadsheet. It’s gotten to the point where I LOVE updating it. I get excited to see the numbers calculating with each new item. Why? Because I am watching my earnings grow!
If you are diligent about updating the spreadsheet, you can monitor campaign due dates, payment, and deliverables all in one spot. You can understand your progress towards your goals each month by tracking each month’s income! So let’s get after it – go ahead and download the sheet to start making that MONEY!
And, please, report back to me when you HIT THOSE FINANCIAL GOALS!
Really enjoyed this blog article. Really looking forward to read more. Fantastic. Camala Lemmy Haveman