Income Report: April

It's been another crazy month with all things coronavirus. I've been thinking long and hard about what this will all mean in 6, 12, 24, etc months from now. Things will most certainly change. And I know that I still haven't stepped up to the plate to make sure I will adapt to it properly. This isn't just about me, it's about my family.

So I've taken a bit of time to rethink my goals and approach (again). The more I talk about this, the more I know how pressing it is.

I can look back on these income reports and see similar patterns. Similar excuses. By next month's report, I intend to have in place better systems, accountability, defined goals, energy and so on.

I just know that what's gone before won't work in the future. And I'm kind of scared that I'm sleepwalking right into it - only with my eyes open. And that includes stepping up more for my day job, not just my hustles.

I've run out of excuses. Things need to change.

Anyway, this has been my month.

Resume Writing: $0. I actually have a new client here but I'm not going to book it here until I get confirmation on it and get paid. That will come to about $192.

Additional Writing: $230.  I have my regular writing gig which is ticking over well right now.

Stock Dividends: $176. No passive income approach is foolproof. And thanks to the coronavirus and the fact that some companies have been forced to suspend dividend payments, I've taken a bit of a hit with some payments that would have been due to me in April. Still, I will continue to apply this approach for the long term.

Interest: $15. Lower interest rates have hurt anyone relying on leaving money in the bank. I've taken a bit of a hit here but it's not where my focus is going to be. Still, I can't ignore it as an income element.

Ebooks: $2. Quiet. Amazon isn't working much for me. But I know that going into more trying times these books will help people (Beginner's Guide to Online Side Hustles, Cryptocurrency Job Hunting for Non-Techies, The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile, and Craft a Winning Resume).

Coaching: $0. No sessions.

Other: $75. I redeemed points from a couple of credit cards this month in the form of cashback and a supermarket voucher. Cash is cash. It all counts.

Total: $498. Not bad. I can certainly push on from here. That's my focus going forward. 

Income Report: May

The long walk to FIRE continues...

Actually, I was into the idea of multiple streams of income a long time before FIRE became a more mainstream concept.

And as my blog comments have indicated over the last few years, it's a slow and steady process. That's code for: "it's tough".

Tough to execute, tough to stay motivated when you're in a full-time job that easily pays the bill. But I'm convinced that I need to remain on this course. We have no control over the bigger picture world of trade wars, recessions, The Man and job cuts. That's why I need to keep pushing. Control the controllable.

But I won't deny it's tough. When you see these guys online sipping pina coladas and hanging out on private yachts, ignore them. There's so much nonsense online. Liars, jokers and scam artists. And the select few that are making it big but distorting it for the rest of us.

Still, it's worth the effort. We should all be working towards some version of the above. That's my view.

I'm encouraged by the fact my site Finance Job Hunter is getting traction. It needs a bit of a tweak on design. I also need to get into the rhythm of writing blog posts. But I see loads of potential out there.

I'm continuing to work on myself and I know I'm getting into a better place mentally.

So how was last month?

Resume Writing: $145. I did a bit of work there. I don't want to be trading too much time for money here but it's good to have the cash.

Additional Writing: $0.  Nah, I haven't looked into anything here. If I do end up writing, it's got to be financially worth it.

Stock Dividends: $1,000.  This is a strategy that continues to work. With the cash from work and from my side hustles, I've continued to buy dividend stocks. There's never a consistent monthly figure. And I'm probably not doing it as effectively as possible. But this is a long-term approach that I like. This is a time-honored investment strategy that works.

Interest: $17. It ticks along but is never going to move the dial.

Ebooks: $2. Quite quiet at the moment, though I did make a sale on Kobo. Amazon isn't working right now so time to try some other platforms for my portfolio (Beginner's Guide to Online Side Hustles, Cryptocurrency Job Hunting for Non-Techies, The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile and Craft a Winning Resume).

Coaching: $0. No sessions over the month. However, two people reached out to me on the coaching platform Noomii to find out about my services. I have a profile there but in order for me to connect with potential clients, it'll cost me $397. I'm not sure whether I can justify it just yet, given that I'm not in a position to work on too many clients. I'll have to have a think about how I want to take this forward.

Other: $0. Nothing doing here.

Total: $1164. It was all about the dividends really. It won't be like that every month but it's great to know that passive income is the main driver. Now time to take everything to the next level... 

Daily Two Cents Review: Earn from Writing

We’re all budding writers. Or at least we think we are. But not everyone realizes that there are good avenues in which to express ourselves. Avenues that pay, that is.

Content mills are one area worth considering, and once I’ve dipped my toe into this space I’ll be happy to report back. One site I have spent a lot of time on though is Daily Two Cents. In fact, it was my first proper dabble with trying to make some money online.

DTC, as it likes to term itself, is essentially all about giving you the opportunity to give your “two cents” to the world on an array of subject matters in as little as 100 words. It’s like an online magazine with you, the man or woman on the street, being the author of the articles. I’m also grouping its sister site, Writedge, into this explanation – essentially, it’s the same kind of site only the articles are intended to be longer and the subject matters are less tabloid.

How do you make money? Essentially, the more views that your articles receive the more you can earn. As long as you have a PayPal account you’ll be able to get paid.

So how does it stack up?

Good bits:

• You can earn money from writing. Maybe you’re not a budding Shakespeare but once you’ve had a few articles accepted you can start making money. Those with a decent niche (e.g. entertainment news) and a good social media following seem to do reasonably well out of the site. You can also make money by putting affiliate links into your articles and hoping people will buy products that way.
• Passive income opportunity. One of the things that appealed most to me was the fact that once my articles were on the site they could continue to earn money long after I’d posted them. Passive income is very important as a concept to me, and having written more than 200 articles on the site I hope to continue to make money from these “assets”, simply by promoting some of the more “evergreen” articles (e.g. "How to Boil an Egg") through my social media accounts.
• The administrators are helpful. You don’t always get site administrators that are transparent and happy to engage in conversation. Some can be openly hostile. But I’ve found the administrators here to be very keen on creating a community and are generally happy to engage in conversation.

Challenges:

• Became tougher to monetize in the last six months. I must admit  that when I first tried it out a year ago I was putting in a lot of time, writing a few articles each day and making a few dollars hear and there. My very best month came to about $30. Unfortunately, those were the good old days. My passive income is currently down to a trickle (apologies, no payment proof screen available at the moment but it is quite small), though admittedly I haven’t written on there in a long while and don’t promote my articles that often. The site works on a revenue sharing model, whereby their ability to pay you is fundamentally driven by advertising fees brought in. It seems that they were paying out too much last year and had to revise their payout ratios.  You can still make money on the sites, but it’s not going to be as easy as last year. Still, there are writers on there that are doing reasonably well out of the site, making more than my $30 high watermark on a monthly basis.

Take a look at the site. If nothing else, it will add something to your portfolio of earning options. And this may well be exactly what you’re looking for to start that writing career.