Welcome to Dirty Money Talk, where I lay out all the dirty details of my business for everyone to see.

I subscribe to a couple of people who do these and read them every single time they land in my inbox. Because I’m nosy, and I like seeing what other people are doing, how they’re doing it, and how they feel about it. So I decided to start doing them myself.

I want to do these for a few reasons:

It keeps me accountable. Writing these up for you guys forces me to actually look at my data and reflect.
I think financial transparency is extremely important and hopefully me doing these helps break down the money taboo.

How many hours did I work in June?

39 hours, 10 billable (26% billable)

How did I make money this month?

Most of my income this month came from the closing invoices for my previous projects.

How was June overall?

As you can see, I didn’t work a whole lot in June.

For a lot of reasons– we went away for my partner’s birthday, I was on call for my sister to have a baby. I was also doing a LOT of stuff internally (watch this space). And to be honest… I was tired.

Sometimes we pay ourselves in money, sometimes we pay ourselves in time. Last month, I chose time.

How did my goals go for June?

I did run a little email promo for EOFY
I got out ONE of my backlog of case studies (it’s about the cool work I did with White Rabbit Social. Check it out if you haven’t already)
Had a great time hiking in the Grampians for my partner’s birthday!

Goals for next month:

Prepare a brand strategy brief for a VERY COOL TOP SECRET COMING SOON PROJECT
Do some financial admin to make things lower-lift for my business this financial year.

What does it cost to run my business?

Annual costs: Around $1500 (I go for annual plans when I can, they’re usually quite a lot cheaper).

On top of those annual costs, my regular monthly expenses are around $1600, broken down like this:

Co working space: $450

VA: $990

Software & Subscriptions: $180

This doesn’t include any extra professional services, travel, office supplies etc.

Tech I’m currently using for my business

Productivity

Upbase (lifetime plan from Appsumo)
Notion (free)
Moxie (lifetime subscription from Appsumo)
Clockify (free version) for my time tracking. I like the Chrome plugin.
Chat GPT 4.0 (paid subscription)
Squarespace for my website
Google Workspace (monthly subscription). Self explanatory. My life is in this.

Podcasting

Descript (paid annually) for podcast editing
Squadcast for podcast recording (free account with Descript subscription)

Marketing

Simplified.app for scheduling social media posts
Thrivecart (lifetime subscription) ****for courses and products
Kit (annual subscription) for emails marketing
Liz Wilcox’s email marketing membership*
Canva Pro for social media

Finance

Thriday (free subscription) for my business banking and to implement the Profit First system.
Rounded (annual subscription) for my bookkeeping. I mostly use Moxie for my invoicing because I sometimes need different currencies.
Wise for any international payments I need to send or receive.

Want help building a business that feels good and pays well?

Here’s how we can work together:

Website & Launch Copy – Strategic writing that sounds like you and actually converts.

Brand Messaging Strategy – Clarity on what to say, how to say it, and why it connects.

Brand Therapy – 1:1 support when you're stuck, pivoting, or ready to grow with intention.

Upgrade Your Onboarding – A quick win to help you charge more, onboard better, and save your brain.

Dirty Money Talk: June 2025