Income Report: January

New year, new re-set.

Essentially, I've now switched to playing a long game to making additional income. It was great being transactional, picking up dollars here and there. But to meet my goal of trading less time for money I've been turning down some gigs in order to focus on longer-term business building.

Because of my longer-term focus, I've invested more time in learning. This month I've started the long road to learn some coding. Python, to be precise. I have no intention or expectation of becoming a coding expert. What I do realize, however, is that I need to add a few extra skills to my core offering in order to remain relevant.

I'm also continuing my learning about SEO, relevant in the development of my website. This is a slower slog than I was framing for a year ago. But hopefully, some of this upfront effort will put me on a firmer footing going forward.

My goal is to have a solid foundation in 2020. In the long term, I hope to be able to completely or substantially replace my current salary. But that's not reasonable thinking at the moment.

Still, I do know that I have to keep creating, keep experimenting and keep learning.

Anyway, so to start the year, it's been monumentally slow:

Resume Writing: $0. I turned down work on this front. At the moment I'm not ready to jump into this. That said, it will still be relevant to future income streams if possible

Additional Writing: $0.  Nope. Didn't look for any and wasn't approached.

Stock Dividends: $0.  It wasn't my month for getting paid any dividends. Still, it's an investment strategy that works. I'll keep investing and I'll keep picking up dividends.

Interest: $28. It ticks along but is never going to move the dial.

Ebooks: $4. Got a few sales late in the month on changing a few keywords on Amazon. I plan to add a few books to a new platform this month so 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. 

Other: $0. 

Total: $32. The only way is up. This is an all-time low. I probably made more on the interest front than I've recorded, to be fair. But it will hardly move the needle.

This is a year of building, however. My website. Using what I already have. Using what's worked well before. Looking for higher-paying writing gigs. Shaping a proper portfolio career. If I'm making  $32 on the side in a year's time I will be a bit bothered. For now, it's fine.

Income Report: December

There's really very little to report for December. My focus has been to work on my website. It's less to do with monetizing it right now and more about building up traffic.

It's a slow hard slog. But if money-making was that easy everyone would be doing it! Or maybe I'm not being smart enough about it...

Looking over the year as a whole, I've dipped my toe into a few new areas and haven't pushed on that much (e.g. Merch). I've cut back on some areas (e.g. resume writing and freelance writing). I've been happy with the advancement of some areas (e.g. dividend investing and the building of my new site).

2020 is most likely going to be about the passive areas in the main, with some active work on top.

I do know what the long-term "feel" for my income is - it's about creating freedom. I just don't know what route I'll take to do so. Plenty of trial and error to be had.

Anyway, I'll observe how this plays out in 2020. In the meantime, this is how the month played out.

Resume Writing: $0. Nothing doing here. I have been approached to write a bio for someone. If I get the gig (I purposely priced it high), it will be something for January

Additional Writing: $0.  Nope. I was approached for what would have been a regular writing gig. But the pricing was awful. But at least people are approaching me still

Stock Dividends: $0.  It wasn't my month for getting paid any dividends. Still, it's an investment strategy that works. I'll keep investing and I'll keep picking up dividends. Simple

Interest: $22. It ticks along but is never going to move the dial.

Ebooks: $2. Next year I'll get into marketing. Next year. (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. Again, I was approached but chose not to push on.

Other: $295. I got a tax rebate. I might as well put something down otherwise the month would have been really low!

Total: $319. Nothing to see here (and I cheated a little by including the tax element). I'll be challenging myself next year. But in the meantime, it's cash and I'm happy. Until next year.

Income Reports: November

It hasn't been a great month for generally building new business, as I've been caught up with focusing on the family a bit more.

Thankfully I had already scheduled a few posts to be posted to my newish blog. But I need to restock in coming weeks.

The one strategy that has paid off is my dividend approach. That worked out well. The rest needs to be properly rethought and restructured for 2020.

Anyway, this has been my month.

Resume Writing: $0. I turned down work on this front. Maybe I'll have to revisit this more in 2020. The passive income streams are taking time so it might make sense to reinvigorate the more active income opportunities.

Additional Writing: $0.  Nope. Same as above.

Stock Dividends: $4,140.  A fairly spectacular month for me on the dividend front. This continues to tick along. It's an investment strategy that works. It does require putting money to work in the stock market and targeting stocks that pay dividends. You've also got to be comfortable with having your capital tied up for a while, in addition to the fact that not every month will see a dividend. But, for me, it works.

Interest: $22. It ticks along but is never going to move the dial.

Ebooks: $2. Still quiet at the moment. Amazon isn't working right now, though sold one on Kobo. I might need to market a bit harder (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: $0. Nothing to add here.

Total: $4,164. Well, that's spectacularly distorted by my dividends. A great strategy that works. I'm not likely to make much in December so I'm already thinking forward to 2020. Time to find more balance.

Income Report: October

Most of my focus has been to work on my new site (financejobshunt.com). It's still early days but I like the way it's starting to shape up. I just need to get focused on SEO as traffic is currently minimal. But I've signed up for a course on Udemy and that should raise the bar on all things backlinks and the like).

Beyond that, I've focused a lot on my investment portfolio and how I can better build passive income streams. Dividends are the obvious one but I've also looking to be more efficient with my money management - i.e. stop leaking money and start putting more savings into higher interest-bearing accounts.

It was an expensive month overall but I still feel on top of my progress, slow as it tends to be.

In the meantime, this has been my month.

Resume Writing: $134. I rationed myself to a bit of work. If I'm able to make more time for myself, I may start to do a bit more. It's important to keep my hand in

Additional Writing: $0.  Nope. This has completely dried up. It's fine for now.

Stock Dividends: $520.  This was a decent month for me. As previously mentioned, this is a time-honored investment strategy that works. Dividends aren't paid out every month but it's nice when they are. I then reinvest.

Interest: $30. It ticks along but is never going to move the dial.

Ebooks: $3. Still quiet. But still a 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.

Other: $0. Nothing

Total: $689. Ths dividends made the month. I haven't yet kicked on, as this is pretty much a normal month for extra pocket money. But I'm fully aware that this is a slow and steady game.

Income Report: September

This hasn't been a great month for developing my income streams. I haven't majorly developed them. It's been more of a family month. That's fine. This is all about balance. It's not about just chasing the money.

I undertook a 60-day challenge, aimed at building my website and developing income streams. I'm yet to kick on with monetizing it but I'm pretty happy with my steady progress in building Finance Jobs Hunt. The goal is to use this as the platform for building my online business, while using the same underlying information for an offline business.

That's to come. I'm trying not to get waylaid by shiny object syndrome - loads of ideas that will distract me. At the same time, I realize I can certainly be monetizing my assets (skills, physical assets, network) far better than I am doing now. I'm going to work more on that during my upcoming break from my day job.

In the meantime, this has been my month.

Resume Writing: $105. I did a bit of work there - one private client and one freelancing for the company I've worked for a while. I still don't intend to build a whole lot here, but I have to keep my hand in.

Additional Writing: $0.  Nope. This has fallen down my list of things to work on right now.

Stock Dividends: $0.  This is a time-honored investment strategy that works. This nonth wasn't one in which dividends were paid out, but rest assured coming months will be pretty good.

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

Ebooks: $0. Quiet at the moment. 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.

Other: $510. Ok, this is all about one-offs, In this case, it was a tax-related payment I "earned". But something I intend to hustle for is different ways in which to support cash generation. So I plan to record details on this as well. This will be a mix of money makers and worthwhile cost saving angles. At the end of the day, it't not so much the money you make, it's the money you keep.

Total: $632. Not a great month and very much distorted by my handout. But I certainly earned more than just simply my salary. So onwards and upwards.

Income Report: August

My 60-day challenge has really been focusing my mind, at least in terms of my website.

Maybe I'll prove myself wrong again but I think I've got a decent focus on where I want the new blog, Finance Jobs Hunt, to go. I've still got a few weeks left of the challenge but the incremental approach to working on it is showing some promise.

I was probably a bit overly ambitious on the $50 target but the groundwork is being put in place. I continue to be convinced that we need to have side hustles in an ever-changing job market.

I'd rather not trade time for money at the moment (I don't really need to do that as I've got an income coming in). But the dream is to keep moving forward. So I signed up for an Udemy course on blogging. Well, that has kickstarted the momentum. In hindsight, I should have signed up for courses months ago. I guess I just didn't want to get ripped off.

Going forward, I'm going to avoid trying to do everything myself.

So, how was the month?

Resume Writing: $0. I turned down some resume writing work in order to focus on writing blogs to put onto my website. 

Additional Writing: $0.  Not something I'm considering at the moment.

Dividends: $278. It continues to makes sense for me. 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.  It's passive income. That's all I've got to say about the portfolio, useful as it is (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: $42.  Went hunting and claimed some more cash.

Other: $1. Surveys on UserCrowd are still there in the background.

Total: $342. I know next month will be more, as I've got a few income streams coming in. But I've definitely hit a slump in my income-generating activities, as I invest in passive income streams. It's going to take time but I must stay on this passive income path.

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.