Editorial & legal
Methodology
Published before the first figure, so it can be held against every report that follows.
What counts as income
Income is money actually received in the reporting month, not money invoiced, promised or projected. Referral bonuses I receive are income and are labelled as such.
Anything received in kind rather than cash is described, not valued, unless the provider states a cash value.
What counts as a cost
Direct costs are fees, subscriptions, materials and platform charges attributable to the activity in that month. Costs I would have incurred anyway are excluded and noted.
Hours and hourly rate
Hours are logged as they happen, including admin, research and work that produced nothing. The effective hourly rate is net income divided by total hours, which is usually the least flattering figure in the report and the most useful one.
Evidence
A figure is published only when I hold a supporting record: a statement line, a payout confirmation, an invoice or a dashboard export. Sources are listed in each report with personal details removed.
The 100-point rating scheme
Reviews are scored against fixed weighted criteria: Evidence quality (30), Payout reliability (25), Effort to return (20), Terms clarity (15), Risk & downside (10). Weights do not change between reviews. If a criterion cannot be assessed, it scores nothing and the review says why.
Failures
Abandoned experiments are reported with the hours they consumed and the reason they stopped. Removing them would make every other number misleading.