In the 12 months between April 2025 and March 2026, I made $17,758 running this creative business as a stay at home mum. Here’s a breakdown.

I have run Simple Prints in different capacities since 2018, which means it has been through many seasons with me. But it has by far felt like the most rewarding decision to have kept pursuing it since becoming a mum in mid 2024. With it just having been the end of the financial year here in Australia, I wanted to share the real numbers because it’s a taboo topic but one that I think is too important to skip.

Before I get into it, some context. I'm a NZ registered business so these figures are based on the NZ tax year. I work on my son's naps, in the evenings, and on Sundays when my partner gives me a proper block to get things done. One of the things I value most about running this business is that it means we haven't needed to put our son in daycare. That's not factored into the numbers below, it's just a perspective I hold that makes the income feel even more worthwhile.

So, for the numbers.

Simple Prints earned $17,758.28 across the year. My highest earning month was March at $2,971.00. My lowest was February at - $861.84 in the negative, which sounds alarming but makes sense in context. A few weddings landed at the same time and the production costs went out in different months to the invoices being paid. Across the 12 months the average income before expenses was $1,479.86 a month.

That breaks down across five income streams. Custom illustrations were by far the largest at $12,949.62, making up (72.9%) of total revenue. Art prints and cards came in at $1,502.25 (8.5%), Bespoke work at $1,335.92 (7.5%), Wedding Stationery at $1,266.05 (7.1%), and Branding at $704.44 (4%).

For a business that runs as leanly as possible, the expenses add up faster than you'd expect. My three key costs for the year were Printing and Framing at $3,840.08, the Website and its associated fees at $1,608.95, and subscriptions including things like Adobe Creative Cloud and Email marketing at $1,188.14.

I’m not going to lie. It's hard not to compare myself to businesses that seem to blow up overnight. I've been chipping away at this for almost 7 years and the growth has been slow and at times gone backwards. But the financial number is honestly only part of it for me. This business affords me to be present for the years with my son that I know I can't get back, and that alone makes me feel incredibly ‘rich’.

That said, I won't pretend it's all easy. There are times I feel like I never switch off from thinking about what to do next. I think about cashflow constantly, especially heading into quieter periods. My son's sleep is getting shorter as he gets older, and with our second baby due in November the question of how I'll manage a newborn and a toddler alongside a business is very much on my mind. This season, motherhood is taking priority. The business being creatively fulfilling with an income attached is the bonus which I feel very grateful for.

If you have a creative outlet you love and you're wondering whether you could do something with the small pockets of time in between the busyness, it is possible. Not easy, but possible. For me the easiest place to start was Custom Illustrations, because I could do the work and get paid relatively quickly without many barriers. I started by sharing on Instagram and taking orders directly through there. It's more work to find customers these days, but the model is still simple, and staying consistent with that offering is largely why it remains my most reliable income stream almost seven years later. Although it’s worth noting that branding is actually my most lucrative per project since the expenses are minimal, but because of the time each one demands I only take on a handful a year, so it stays a smaller slice of the overall revenue.

I hope the numbers have been useful. If you're looking for support getting started, don't hesitate to reach out. I'll see you for another journal entry next month.