Income Report: July

Ok, so it's been a month of reconfiguring things and pushing on. I've given myself a 60-day challenge to try to make $50 from scratch on my revised website. It doesn't sound a lot but it's a lot more than any site I've had.

The blog I had set up on Godaddy wasn't working for me so I've made the jump to WordPress. It's a bit of hassle restarting it but it's a far better platform for me. It's also far better for monetizing.

So now I'm going to build as much momentum as possible on the new blog: Finance Jobs Hunt. I ended up getting a new domain name and changed the hosting platform. We'll see whether this has an impact.

At the end of the day, I need to keep working on different passive income streams to drive my futureproofing strategy.

So, how was the month?

Resume Writing: $229. I did a little bit this month but the next few months will see this go to close to zero. Too many things going on to commit too much time to this. Too much "trading time for money" to commit to at the moment.  

Additional Writing: $0.  Later this year I'll look for a few more gigs here, but it's not something to focus on just now.

Dividends: $83. Still ticking away. As per normal, I've bought some more stocks during the month that should throw off more in the way of dividends over coming years. I recommend The Snowball Effect: Using Dividends; Interest Reinvestment To Help You Retire On Time. It's one of the lower risk ways in which to build passive income.

eBooks: $4.  A quiet month for my books. But it's passive income, so can't complain (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).

Interest: $17.  

Vouchers: $0.  Didn't go hunting for cash this month

Other: $4. It's hardly going to change the trajectory of my finances, but I've signed up for doing surveys on UserCrowd. The company occasionally sends invites to my email inbox while I'm watching a bit of mindless TV. They only take a minute and are about $0.20 a time (so far), so it's no big deal either way.

Total: $337. Pretty low by my standards. That's mainly because I'm investing in passive income streams at the expense of active income areas. This is going to be a long, drawn-out turnaround. But I must stay on this passive income, non-work path. Our lives depend on it!

Income Report: June

Well, the slow walk to freedom continues.

Because I'm less keen on trading my time for money I've turned down few writing gigs. I'm not sure whether this is the way to go (maybe I should be keeping my eye in) but it's allowed me to work on my blog.

The trouble with my blog is that it's currently on Godaddy and I've decided that I need to transition it to WordPress. Better SEO, themes, plugins and so on.

But at least I got Finance Job Hunter up and running. Even if I have to transfer the hosting, I still have the content and the ideas to work with. I also signed up to Infolinks as a monetizing tool.

All of these ideas are all part of my goal of futureproofing my world, or at the very least being more prepared for what the external world throws at me.

So, how was the month?

Resume Writing: $0. Completely side-stepped my most consistent earner. I'll do one or two this month, and I need to keep the skills fresh for my bigger consulting business goal. But the trading time for money situation isn't ideal at the moment.

Additional Writing: $0.  Nothing here for me.

Dividends: $203. Still a fave approach for me and I continue to buy dividend-yielding exchange-traded funds to grow this passive income stream. If you want to better understand the principles, I recommend The Snowball Effect: Using Dividend & Interest Reinvestment To Help You Retire On Time. It's one of the lower risk ways in which to build passive income.

eBooks: $8.  Things have ticked up slightly, though some marketing would clearly be good 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).

Interest: $17. This is consistent, though if I worked my funds a bit better I'm sure I could improve this figure.

Vouchers: $127. This isn't something I've thought about counting in the past. However, I realized that I've effectively been converting credit card points into cash. The points are turned into supermarket vouchers with a cash value. So every time I convert some, I'll record them in this monthly data. It's money after all.

Other: $2. It's hardly going to change the trajectory of my finances, but I've signed up for doing surveys on UserCrowd. The company occasionally sends invites to my email inbox while I'm watching a bit of mindless TV. They only take a minute and are about $0.20 a time (so far), so it's no big deal either way.

Total: $357. We're not talking big numbers here. It's lower than most of my months. But it does make me conscious about the importance of finding ways to generate income and how I can add a few dollars here and there when I try.

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... 

Income Report: April

My new obsession is about becoming future proof.

To be fair, a lot of this side hustle thinking has been about that anyway. It's the idea that I can stay on top of my future. That could mean being fully FIRE'd up, where I have enough saved to be able to live the life of sangrias and pink umbrellas on the beach.

It could also mean building enough skills and side hustles to navigate myself through the ever-changing world of work. At the end of the day, it's about me taking charge and not letting external circumstances dictate everything.

A lot of this is about attitude. It's about owning your shit and rolling with it. This isn't an overnight thing but it's something to play with.

The point of mentioning all of this is because my income building enterprise is still taking some time to gain traction. But if it was easy everyone would be doing it. I've also consciously slowed down on trading my time for money. That means some of the services I've been providing have been on pause while I try to build stuff.

Ultimately, though, I realize it needs to have the balance. The service provision side brings in cash flow and I can easily see some traction. Longer term, it's about building online income streams. That's where my site Finance Job Hunter will come in. It's going very slow, I need to do a design revamp and I have to work on the blogging aspect. But directionally it's showing my intent.

I still need to work on myself but I know I'm getting into a better place mentally.

So how was last month?

Resume Writing: $140. I got back to a bit of writing. I feel a bit rusty but I know it's something I can build upon and leverage. Cash is cash is cash.

Additional Writing: $0.  I've had a few offers but I have decided not to proceed. I have revamped my PeoplePerHour and Upwork profiles, raising my minimum fee. So if I do get offered work I may actually now start to take it up.

Stock Dividends: $363.  My goal is to keep building up my dividend income. I've bought a few more dividend stocks of late. While there's no consistent monthly figure, it's a long-term strategy I buy into. I even reinvested the cash back into buying more stock. This is a time-honored investment strategy that works.

Interest: $17. It doesn't look like interest rates will be rising fast anywhere soon so I can't expect this to kick on. But it's there.

Ebooks: $2. Still not kicking in. I've worked on the SEO on a couple of them so we'll see whether that works. I've also listed expanded versions of a couple of them on Fiverr. We'll see what happens. (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.

Other: $0. Nothing doing here.

Total: $522. It's better than last month. But I can certainly do more. Importantly, passive income made up more than my active income. All I need to do is multiply it all by 10 and I'd be happy...Onwards and upwards.

Income Report: March

Ok, it wasn't a great month. In fact, it was as bad as I've had in terms of income streams.

In a nutshell:

Resume writing: Zero

Other writing: Zero

Coaching: Zero

Dividends: Zero

Other income: Zero

A bit of a pattern, right? I had opportunities. I turned down a bit of resume writing. I also had writing offers through PeoplePerHour. I just wasn't in the mood over the month to trade time for money. The goal is to build up passive income streams, not to be beholden to another kind of employer.

The one thing I did manage to do is get my website up and running. I'm looking forward to taking the long road to monetizing Finance Job Hunter. It builds upon my side hustle experience and my career area.

Exciting times ahead.

But for now, I'm just going to write off March as a month of rest and reset. But I must get back to business in April.

Income Report: February

I just received a bonus. The first from a full-time role in many years.

It was far more than I made in an average month or two or three when I was working for myself. Great, right?

And yet it still left me with some weird mixed feelings.

I am grateful, truly grateful. But it's thrown me a little. I've been dabbling with the world of side hustles and working for myself for while, with the ultimate goal of not wanting to rely on a day job for my freedom.

But having been back in the world of the cubicle for about nine months, I've lost a bit of focus. There's less hunger. Less intensity. I've lost a bit of mojo.

My fundamental philosophy relates to not relying on "the Man", the government, anyone else. That requires being in a position to dictate personal and financial freedom. Working for myself kind of gave me that, limited as the income was.

Getting a regular income is great. I just have to make sure I don't get complacent and forget that I can't rely on a job. Things always change. The world of work will move on with or without me. That's why I know that I need to get back to building my side hustles, particularly as income generation has been pretty average in recent months.

One advance I did have this month was the building of my website (finally). Now I need to build up the blog and monetization strategy. Fundamentally, it's geared around what I've learned through my career coaching / resume writing side hustle, and focused on the finance industry (which is my background). So we'll see how my site Finance Job Hunter gets on. Slowly but surely.

And so to this last month:

Resume Writing: $71. I really didn't make much time for resume writing this month. I couldn't motivate myself, to be honest. The background work, the after-work calls, the re-writes. When I'm ready, I know the work is there. I just need to get psyched up and throw myself back into this.

Additional Writing: $0. I've had a few writing offers in recent months but none of them appealed. Too much time required for the money they were willing to pay. But I still want to have this as an income generator in the future. This isn't going to be about selling my soul to Freelancer or Upwork for less than I'm worth. No, I'm keeping in mind specialist content providers like Copylab that would pay pretty well.

Stock Dividends: $0. Ok, this approach does work. It's just that dividends don't get paid every month. I've bought some more stocks this month and plan to buy more with my bonus. As a result, I'll expect this figure to pick up a fair bit later this year.

Interest: $17. It doesn't look like interest rates will be rising fast anytime soon so I can't expect this to kick on. But it's there.

Ebooks: $0. Not a good month. The first month in a while I haven't sold any. I blame those damn Amazon algorithms. They keep changing.  Anyway, my books have been ticking over for a while now, making me a few dollars in the process, so I can have months like this once in a while. I am looking to add more ebooks to my existing collection (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 again.

Other: $0. Familiar pattern.

Total: $88. Well, that wasn't a great month was it? My lowest month on memory.

But that's fine. I'm all about the "slow and steady" approach. I'm convinced that once I get all my ducks in a row there will be a meaningful shift.

So, hopefully, I can build a bit of momentum with  Finance Job Hunter. I'll keep working on it and keep experimenting with my other income streams.

Income Report: January

The new year has started slowly for me. I think I'm stuck in some form of winter-driven apathy.

My one big success is that I've finally got around to starting a blog. It's still a work-in-progress so I won't push it here right now. But it's part of my strategy for income generation this year. Now I need to work out how to monetize. And if it becomes clear that it isn't going to work then I'll pivot onto the next idea. Ultimately, I'm going to continue to push on.

This month I've also got quite heavily into my word for the year: "investing". There are the obvious connotations, of course. But I'm really talking about it from the angle of investing in myself. Because at the end of the day, the more you invest in yourself, the more recession-proof you can become.

And at the moment, it's not about uplifting my skills (although that's something I want to do). It's been about working on the internal dynamics. I could have all the strategies, tips, tricks and techniques lined up for my side hustles, but if I don't have the right self-worth, the right focus, the right grasp about what makes me tick, then all I'll do is self-sabotage. And I'm good at that. Very good.

So I've been working with a hypnotherapist to work on my deepest darkest limiting beliefs. I also had a session with a trainee coach who needed a guinea pig. It's not going to be an overnight thing. I've been carrying my baggage for a few years now and I can't expect everything to change after a couple of sessions. But I genuinely feel that this is one of the missing parts in my journey. It's about getting to know myself better and to properly understand my "Why".

We often know exactly what we need to do. But we've all got to  ask ourselves what's holding us back from committing and executing.

Resume Writing: $280. I've finally done a bit of the resume writing again. However, I want to diversify my writing income streams. Still, cash is cash is cash.

Additional Writing: $0.  Having a full-time job can be a bit of a drag when it comes to managing my side hustles. I had the chance to earn $520 on a writing gig. Unfortunately, for that I would have to have been available to do a client call during my work day. That simply wasn't an option. Still, it's nice to know there are options still out there.

Stock Dividends: $0.  My goal is to keep building up my dividend income. The one thing I haven't noted down is the dividend payment schedule. In December I got $576 in dividends. Last month, not a penny. Go figure. It's not that hard to get the information. I simply hadn't thought about it. Either way, I haven't got this cash element to add.

Interest: $17. It doesn't look like interest rates will be rising fast anywhere soon so I can't expect this to kick on. But it's there.

Ebooks: $5. I made a bit on my collection of books. But I must focus on marketing them in 2019. They aren't going to be found on Amazon by themselves. (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.

Other: $165. I re-added some designs on Amazon Merch but no takers just yet. But my main random "money making" angle during the month was to take my box of loose coins that I have been collecting over the last year to a coin bank and convert them into notes. Strictly speaking, I always had the cash. But the fact that I'm using what I already have is exactly the point of being smart and efficient with your money. I'm going to try to apply this same principle in less obvious contexts to see what other cash I can bring in.

Total: $467. The only way is up! This was my lowest income level for a very long time. But that's fine. I'm investing in myself for the longer term at the moment and I can expect bigger and better numbers as my world evolves

Income Report: December

I'm going to keep doing these reports until I get bored, even though the dollars aren't falling off the money tree just yet. I'm no Pat Flynn but at least I'm one of those real-world triers.

It's the end of the year and it's time for that traditional look back on what was and what might have been.

I guess from a finances perspective, the biggest thing for me was a new job. The opportunity had been in the background for a while (18 months to be exact) and it finally came to fruition in the middle of the year. It doesn't detract from the fact that I want to build sustainable business incomes (in fact, after six months back in the cubicle it has given me more incentive).

But as one friend once said to me some months into joining a startup after leaving his job: "Never underestimate the value of a regular income." And I certainly am not taking it for granted right now. For one thing, it's helped give me more cash to reinvest in dividend yielding stocks, which is part and parcel of the passive income segment of my strategy.

In the main, my income generators kicked on this year, with some useful one-off contracts. Unfortunately, my new job prevents me from doing them at the moment but at least I know what's possible.

Given that Christmas starts early in my head, I pretty much wrote off most of the month when it came to generating more income. I've managed to launch my new ebook, which is based on my own experiences of how to generate income on the side. But I've stepped away from the resume writing gig, simply because I couldn't get too excited by it. Something has to give on that front.

I still think I'm on the right track, particularly as my main focus will be on generating income through various websites. I have the domain names - I'm just having a bit of trouble sorting out WordPress. This is all about building stuff rather than chasing short-term freelance gigs that I was doing before. It's still about the long game.

December wasn't that good on the money front. But I have a good feeling about 2019.

So how was December?

Resume Writing: $0. It's been a long time since I didn't do any work on this front but I simply didn't have the time or inclination. I still plan to do some in 2019 but the focus really is to shift from the "trading time for money" model to a more passive approach.

Additional Writing: $0.  I didn't do any extra writing so nothing to show here.

Stock Dividends: $576.  My goal is to keep building up my dividend income. I'm really not applying the most sophisticated approach, and I know I should be more refined. But I kind of like seeing regular income, some of which gets reinvested back into buying more stocks. I won't be making this much each month (it depends on when the stocks in question pay the dividend), but I'm happy to have it as part of my approach.

Interest: $20. It's ticking along in the background so I can't complain. When interest rates rise I should start to see a bit more here.

Ebooks: $2. In 2019 I'm actually going to make some effort with marketing, rather than simply hoping/praying someone will discover my books. They could be the best books in the world, but if no one knows they exist how are they meant to buy them? I now have four (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). I'll work on marketing these before starting on my next.

Coaching: $0. Everyone was too busy with their Christmas fun to even consider being coached. "New year, new start" - now, that could be another matter.

Other: $0. Nothing on the Amazon Merch and Amazon Affiliate Income front.

Total: $598. It's just as well I don't need this money to survive on as December was very quiet, and essentially simply dividend (i.e. passive) income. Still, I need to work on my income streams, just in case I do need to rely on it in the future.

Roll on, 2019! Time to think and act bigger. That will require some upskilling. I'll also be including this part of my journey.