My Year in Review: Building an Online Business

I started building my online business 13 months ago. I want to give you the honest annual review — not the highlight reel, but the actual picture: what the year looked like, what worked, what failed, and what I'm taking into 2027.

The Numbers

Let me start with revenue because it's the metric everything else flows from.

Year 1 Revenue: $22,400 gross, $18,200 net

Monthly breakdown (approximate):

• Months 1–2: $0–$200/month
• Month 3: $420
• Month 4: $680
• Month 5: $1,100
• Month 6: $1,450
• Month 7: $1,890
• Month 8: $2,200
• Month 9: $2,640
• Month 10: $2,400 (dip)
• Month 11: $2,847
• Month 12: on track for $3,000+

The J-curve is real. Months 1–4 are humbling. Months 5–12 are validating. If I'd quit at month 3 (which I seriously considered once), I'd never have seen months 8–12.

What I Built

6 digital products — ebooks, templates, and one mini-course 548 blog posts — mostly SEO-optimized articles targeting buyer-intent keywords 2,400+ email subscribers — list built organically from blog traffic and product buyers ~4,800 visitors/month — almost entirely organic search

The engine: content drives traffic → traffic builds email list → email list buys products → product revenue funds more content creation.

The 3 Best Decisions I Made

1. Starting Before I Was Ready

My first product wasn't perfect. My first blog posts weren't great. My first product listing was weak.

But they were live. And "live and imperfect" beats "not started" by an enormous margin. Every month of action compounded. Every month of waiting would have delayed everything.

2. Going All-In on SEO Content

I had a choice early on: build a social media audience or build search traffic. I chose search.

This paid off beyond what I expected. Articles I published in month 2 are still driving daily traffic in month 13. I don't have to keep "feeding the algorithm." I published once; it pays indefinitely.

The platform I use — MadeThis — has the SEO blog built into the same system as my store, which made this strategy frictionless.

3. Treating Customer Feedback as a Product Roadmap

I email every new buyer with a simple question: "What problem were you trying to solve when you bought this?" The answers have shaped every product improvement and every new product idea.

Product 4 exists entirely because three customers asked for something I hadn't built yet. It's now one of my top sellers.

The 3 Biggest Mistakes

1. Underpricing for the First Four Months

I launched my first product at $17. It sold. I bumped it to $27. It sold at the same rate. Then $37. Still sold.

I left meaningful revenue on the table by underpricing while I was building confidence. Lesson: price for the value you deliver, not for the price point that feels safe.

2. Not Building the Email List From Day One

I started collecting emails in month three. I should have started in month one. Every buyer from months 1–2 who didn't join my list was a missed opportunity for my next launch.

Email subscribers convert at 5–10x the rate of blog readers. Build the list from sale one.

3. Comparing My Month 4 to Someone Else's Year 3

The hardest mental challenge of year one was seeing other creators post their results without knowing how long they'd been building. Their $10,000 month looked effortless. It almost certainly wasn't.

When I discovered they'd been at it for 3+ years, the perspective shifted completely. I stopped comparing and started just building.

What I'm Changing in 2027

Goal: $5,000/month consistent by end of 2027.

Specific changes:

1. Add two more products — I know my audience now; I know exactly what they want
2. Improve my email sequences — my welcome sequence converts at 9.5%; I want to test whether better sequences push this to 15%+
3. Target higher-value keywords — I've covered the beginner content; time to go after more competitive, higher-intent terms
4. Launch a small paid community — I have enough audience now to test whether there's demand for a membership

The Thing I Most Want You to Take From This

If you're reading this in the early stages of your business, or you haven't started yet: the curve is real.

Months 1–4 will feel like failure. They're not. They're the foundation. The people who get to year two are the people who pushed through month four.

Build the product. Publish the content. Trust the process. Year two looks nothing like month four.

Happy New Year. Make 2027 the year you start something.