Short answer
Revenue is all the money your business brings in from sales. Profit is what's left after you subtract every cost of running the business. A business can have high revenue and little or no profit, which is why profit is the number that shows whether you're actually making money.
These two words get used as if they mean the same thing, but they don't, and mixing them up leads to bad decisions.
Revenue: everything that comes in
Revenue (also called sales or turnover) is the total money customers pay you. If you sold 50 items at ₦4,000 each, your revenue is ₦200,000.
Profit: what you actually keep
Profit is revenue minus costs. If those 50 items cost you ₦2,500 each to buy (₦125,000), plus ₦15,000 in transport and packaging, your costs are ₦140,000 and your profit is ₦60,000.
Why the difference matters
- Big revenue can hide a thin profit, especially when stock or delivery costs are high.
- Cutting a cost by ₦10,000 adds ₦10,000 to profit, which is often easier than finding ₦10,000 in new sales.
- Decisions about tax and how much to pay yourself should be based on profit, not revenue.
A quick way to think about it
Revenue tells you how busy your business is. Profit tells you whether the busyness is paying off. Here's how to know if your side hustle is profitable, and why a hustle can feel broke even when you're always busy.
Doing this in Gripd
Gripd shows both for every hustle: what you earned, what you spent, and what's left after expenses. That "left after expenses" figure is your profit for the period.
Last updated 29 Sept 2026
Related questions
How do I calculate profit for my small business?
Profit equals your total income minus your total costs for the same period. To get your profit margin, divide profit by income and multiply by 100. For example, ₦500,000 in sales with ₦350,000 in costs gives ₦150,000 profit and a 30% margin.
Read the full answerHow do I know if my side hustle is profitable?
Your side hustle is profitable if the money it brings in is more than everything it costs, including stock, transport, data, fees, and tools. Add up one full month of income and one full month of costs for that hustle alone; if income minus costs is positive, it's profitable. Then divide the profit by the hours you spent to see if it's worth your time.
Read the full answerHow do I know which side hustle is making me the most money?
Track each side hustle's income and expenses separately for at least one full month, then compare their profits, not their sales. The hustle with the highest profit, and ideally the highest profit per hour, is the one making you the most money. The busiest hustle often isn't the most profitable one.
Read the full answerHow do I separate business and personal money?
Give your business money its own home, ideally a separate account or wallet, and pay all business income into it and all business costs out of it. When you need money for personal use, move a set amount across as a deliberate payment to yourself. Even without a second account, recording business and personal money separately keeps the two from blurring.
Read the full answerTrack it all in one place
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