The Boiler Room: My Exact $ and % from Blogging

Screenshots of my ShopMy and LTK earnings, Substack sales reports, and future plans for the business of blogging.

Influencers, whether hobbyists or professionals, never seem to share details of their money-making. The closest I’ve gotten is a supportive friend sharing what she charged a brand for a reel, and hearing an influencer say on her podcast that she charges $15,000 for a three-frame instagram story, and another $15,000 for it to be “whitepapered” or purchased by the brand to be used as direct ads. (I will share that exact influencer and the podcast resource, as well as other very helpful actionable tips I learned, in another post in case that is helpful to any fellow bloggers.) I’ve also seen the rate sheet for a very successful Charleston based influencer relating to what she charges for a reel, set of stories, a post, a post without sharing a similar product that week, and “day rate” to host a store opening, for instance. I’ve never known what someone makes total in a month, for instance, from these business partnerships and affiliate links.

I am convinced that professional bloggers keep this information close to the vest because if you knew how much money they make by what they do, you’d likely be put off.

(Or, if you were me, you’d say, “Why did you not take a slice off the back end of that partnership or sponsorship that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for the brand instead of your flat fee for content?”)

That is not to say that it is easy work. It is indeed hard work. But in my experience—and admittedly not having done it professionally 9 hours a day, for instance, and not with a team or an agent—it is not intellectually or tactically challenging, but it is technically time consuming (because every little task is tedious) and emotionally relentless (because the internet never sleeps). Linking items, making collages, editing videos, adding text to photos, taking photos, pursuing partnerships, organizing calendars, then updating and replacing everything all the time because only the freshest things get seen… Every day.

I recently learned from a podcast what role two very successful influencers think a newbie’s first hire should be, in order to maximize earnings, and it was very surprising to me. But now, I can’t stop thinking about it because it is so obvious. I will share that in a follow-up post to explain it properly.

I started my blog in 2019 and have gone through periods where I prioritize the money making options and periods where I barely share.

In this post, I go through how much money I’ve made on LTK, ShopMy and Substack. I also share several specific business tips gleaned from successful influencers.

For me, the most I ever made in one month was…