Income Report – May, 2017

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Hi, I’m Andrew.

Wallet Squirrel is the embodiment of my financial independence journey (it’s really Adam and myself). So monthly, I publish these income reports to show how we’re doing and how we make our money.

I use these to explain where our extra side income is coming from and what we’re doing with it (aka, how we’re investing it). We figure if we find enough extra ways to earn money on the side, we can use that extra cash to plan for our future/retirement (build a $10,000,000 portfolio) on top of our regular 8-5 job.

May Highlights

  • I have to give credit where credit is due, Adam CRUSHED IT with our SEO! We jumped from a MOZ Domain Authority rank of 19 to 23 this month! That is huge! It’s hard. “Domain Authority” is a score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages. So basically Adam, with his SEO vodoo, made Google like us more, thus already we’re getting TONS more traffic! Our switch over to Bluehost was probably a big help along with our other SEO Improvements earlier this month.
  • Our highest visited post EVER was this month! Adam’s “How You Can Save Big Money On a Home Remodel” has been a huge hit. There are many DIYers out there using his tips on how to save nearly $5,000 on their back yard remodel. As someone who helped him with the yard work, friends are cheap labor. =)

As always, the main highlight is our Income Report!

Income Report – May, 2017

Anytime I can beat my average $65 a month, it’s a good month. This month I came in at $80.48. I made some extra money through new sources like Ebates where I had one referral PLUS I used it to buy flowers for my Mother through 1-800 Flowers and gained 25% cash back ($12.50 cash back). Pro Son Tip – Mothers love it when flowers are delivered to their work.

Plus our stock photography was awesome, it’s my favorite form of passive income. I will note, It was Adam who made money from his stock photos this month, but they are all under the Wallet Squirrel brand which we split. Below is my income report for May.

 

What did I invest in this month?

I earned all this money, but what did I do with it? Well, as always, I invested it.

This month I started Dollar Cost Averaging into stock I already owned. So I picked up a few more shares of Verizon (VZ) and Realty Income (O) while they were on the dip and diversified more by picking up Microsoft (MSFT).

I think Microsoft is crushing it when it comes to cloud storage, so I just expect their share price continue to climb. It’s definitely a little high right now, but I still think it has room to grow. This is my stock portfolio right now.

Side Note – I also reinvested into my Lending Club account, I only originally put $300 in to test it and it’s averaged about 5% overall so far. It’s not great, but when you have under $2,500 in the account you have to reinvest your interest gained manually. So I bought one more “note” to help someone reconsolidate their credit card loan under a lower interest rate.

June Goals for Wallet Squirrel

Did I meet last month’s (April’s) goals?

  1. Update the About Me Page – SOMEWHAT FAIL, I did update this page adding the purpose and mission of Wallet Squirrel. However I didn’t add a fun comic idea I have. This isn’t a big deal, but the About Me page seperates Wallet Squirrel from every other FI blog out there, so I want to put a little more effort into it this month and finish my comic idea.
  2. Write 2 articles for money – FAIL, I did research to find A LOT more websites that pay for articles however I didn’t have much time this month with 2 separate groups of friends visiting this month. I had an AWESOME time, but they did occupy my weekends which usually are my best writing times. I want to complete these goals this June!

Yes it sucks I didn’t meet these, but I am being completely transparent on what I hope to accomplish. If I don’t get it done, I have to face you. It’s scary.

June goals for the month?

  1. Complete my previous month’s goals of updating my About Me Page and writing 2 articles for money.
  2. Complete my interview for the Fluid App. After my review of the Fluid App, I reached out to their team and offered to do a synopsis interview for their blog of my experience in return for a link back to Wallet Squirrel. They loved the idea! It’s a great app that I enjoy using and I’ll get another link back, increasing our SEO for Wallet Squirrel. I’m stoked!

How did you do this month?

Income Report – April, 2017

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Why do I publish my Income Reports?

This is a trend I started after seeing many of my blogging friends publish what they made online. If it wasn’t for them publishing where they made their money, I wouldn’t have believed it was possible to make money online.

Now I continue this journey, proving it is possible to make extra money online and find new ways to save your current income. These income reports are all made up of EXTRA money I earned, on top of my 9-5 day job. My goal is to prove that even people with no money saved up, there are TONS OF WAYS to earn extra money to start investing for retirement!

Everything extra I make, I invest in an effort to reach my INSANE goal of building a $10,000,000 portfolio from side income.

I finally discovered Wallet Squirrel’s niche!

I FINALLY discovered my niche. What makes Wallet Squirrel different from EVERY OTHER personal finance website online. There are SO many personal finance blogs out there, that it’s hard to distinguish how one is different from another.

After changing the Homepage “header” tag over 52 times this past month, trying out different niche taglines. I am happy with the new direction Wallet Squirrel will take. Or better yet, I’m happy I can finally put into words what Wallet Squirrel always meant to be. It combines my love for investing with my deep curiously on how people make a living online.

One of the biggest excuses why people haven’t started investing for retirement is “I don’t have any extra money to invest with“. Even those who have saved/budgeted/pinched every penny. Wallet Squirrel aims to DESTROY that reason!

We will prove to people that it’s possible to earn extra money, on top of your day job, to start investing now and how to do it. As social proof…..

Wallet Squirrel’s goal is to build a $10,000,000 portfolio by using only extra money we earn online.

Yea, we set the goal ridiculously high, but reach for the stars, right?

We will freelance write articles, sell stock photography, earn cash back through Ebates, sell digital templates, sell t-shirts, do surveys, sell old items on craigslist and do EVERYTHING we can to test myths of earning money online. With the purpose to invest everything we earn.

What Happened in April

April was another awesome month with Adam killing it, increasing our SEO and finding new ways to gain traffic. Here are some of our highlights!

  • April Highlight – AOL Finance Collective asked Wallet Squirrel to contribute to their Finance Network. We’re really excited about this and look forward to reaching more people through their HUGE network. You may notice the AOL Finance Collective tag in the footer of our page. We’re growing in the Personal Finance World
  •  April’s Most Popular Article – How I made $1.88 Selling Stock Photography in 10 days as a new Shutterstock Contributor. This was SO much fun to write and took a whole month to write. After learning Adam made over $1,000 on one photo of the St. Louis Arch, I had to try it myself. This is my experience. We will try to shoot some more stock photography over the summer to create another passive income stream!
  • April’s Most Profitable Post – Ebates Review – I wish I started this 2 years ago. This was also really fun and will be a staple in all my future online shopping. I only made $10 from using a friend’s referral link, but that’s still $10. Plus, if you use my referral link, I’ll make $5 for each sign up and you’ll get $10!

April’s Income Report

I don’t expect my dividends to bring in much of an income in the near future since I paid off my car. However I reached another average $68 dollar month mainly because my 2% Cash Back Credit Card continues to crush it!

It’s hard to imagine that 3 years ago I was paying around $70 on my credit card per month and now that it’s paid off, it continues to make me $15 – $45 per month purchasing things I regularly buy anyway.

What I plan to accomplish in May

With Adam continuing to do awesome work on SEO, I’m further motivated to push Wallet Squirrel to new Google height. So I have some lofty goals for May.

  1. Update the About Me Page – I’m going to include Adam’s Bio and better explain Wallet Squirrel’s purpose, niche and life goal. I have a big “Start Here” button on my site that leads to this page, I can do better to explain Wallet Squirrel to new visitors.
  2. Write 2 articles for money – There are multiple sites that pay for articles on a variety of topics. If I plan to get to my goal of $10,000,000 I need to continue to try new ways to earn an extra dollar. I have 2 in mind. =)

I’m legitly curious, what do you think of the new niche/direction. Am I on to something?

Income Report – March, 2017

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Have you ever sold $6,000 worth of stocks at 7:40 in the morning while eating Captain Crunch? I have.

Following last week’s post on my Cost-Benefit Analysis, Invest my Tax Return or Pay Off my Car. I came to a decision. I will pay off my car.

I am using my $3,200 tax refund (plus $500) in addition to 3/4 of my stock portfolio to pay off my $10,312 car loan.

Why Am I Paying off my Car Loan Rather than Investing?

There were many heated discussions within Andrew’s pool of friends. I could invest my tax refund and make $1,000 more by October 2nd, 2019 or put the tax refund toward my car reducing the amount of months till I pay it off.

I decided to fully pay it off. This is why:

  • I never thought I’d NOT have a car loan, so the idea I could pay it off is incredibly happy because I’ll then only have student loans! (albeit $50,000 in student loans left) #MoreFinanciallyIndependent
  • I’ll now have $340 more per month to buy stocks! This means more in-depth reports on more stock buys and stock analysis.
  • I free up $340 per month in monthly cash flow. 99% of the time I’ll invest that, but it leaves me open to do more side projects for Wallet Squirrel. I love experimenting on Wallet Squirrel and they usually result in earning more money or at least some great lessons learned. I’ll take that.

In the end, I’m very happy with my decision, but it’ll likely be the first and last time I ever pull money out of my stock portfolio.

Last Time

What Happened in March?

If you recall from February’s Income Report, this was month (1 of 3) to test Wallet Squirrel’s newest contributor, Adam and MAN did he do well! He crushed it this last month by getting an article out every Monday at 1pm. While generating great content and increasing Wallet Squirrel’s SEO. Every blog needs an Adam.

Every blog needs an Adam.

  • Most Popular Post – February’s Income Report. This proves that lots of people like to dive into how income is generated on Wallet Squirrel and how it’s being invested. Income Reports continue to crush it in web traffic (maybe it’s the infographics). Plus it was Adam’s introduction to Wallet Squirrel, which also made our most popular Tweet to date.
  • Longest Post Last Month – 50 Amazon Affiliate Website Examples Making Money in a Niche. This post alone had 3,801 words and is quickly becoming one of our most popular post. It’s super helpful and motivating to anyone looking to start a affiliate website. Some of these sites make $20,000 per month.
  • Wallet Squirrel is a legit company! – I shared a post Wallet Squirrel is now an LLC, but I’m not sure I did it justice on how excited I am about it! While the process was SUPER easy (read it), it’s a very empowering knowing that I now have an LLC to build my Squirrel Empire of side-hustles. Is it weird that I’m excited for taxes next year?

March, 2017 Income Report

This month I made $265.87! That’s pretty cool, but funny because I made $265.30 in January. So essentially $0.57 cents more than January. Lol

The big factor was I did another sponsored post which I charged $200 . It’s great that doing a sponsored post can cover the cost of the website expenses and contribute to future side-hustles, but I feel odd putting other people’s content on my site. The only bonus is that I’m reviewing each post before I publish it and making sure it’s interesting. I reject A LOT of sponsored post.

Even though I’ve done 2 sponsored post so far, I have no idea how to charge for them. Does anyone have a pricing table?

I’m thinking I’ll charge $500 or $1,000 for the next one. If people won’t pay that, then I guess I won’t do any more sponsored posts for a while. Works for me. =)

March 2017, Dividend Monthly Income Report Infographic

Income Report – February, 2017

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Upon first glance, I’m sighed “crap” under my breath while looking over my new income report infographic. I didn’t make much. Especially after an awesome month just four weeks ago, but here’s why!

Why is this Income Report lower?

The main reason, I didn’t have a sponsor post or an experiment earn any income this month. I did have an offer for a sponsor post. However it wasn’t a good fit, so I said “hell no”. I turned down $150 because I really LOVE the community I’m building and didn’t want to even slightly damage it with a crappy post. So I’ll stay poor another month.

My Experiments this month

I have been conducting two experiments this month, one involves selling stock photography and the other involves building a sweet Twitter strategy. If you’re on Twitter, you’ll easily see my around 10 tweets a day.

Seriously, I’ve been on a Twitter Storm, I’m trying to get to 1,000 Tweets and analyzing what Tweets work the best as well as growth hacking my Twitter Account. If you’re on Twitter, Follow me @WalletSquirrel. I’ll personally thank everyone who shares this post on Twitter. =)

Coming to Wallet Squirrel – Adam

Wallet Squirrel is getting a new contributor joining “Team Squirrel”. This means Wallet Squirrel will have even MORE posts and MORE experiments earning extra cash to invest. Adam will have his first post soon, but I wanted to do a quick introduction.

Adam and I have been best friends since 2007. We graduated from the same design program in college, I was in his wedding (my role may surprise you) and we built our first successful affiliate website together. This is the one we’re currently revamping. He knows a thing or two about building great websites. We’ll do a big reveal soon!

Adam and Andrew in an Action Shot at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado.

Adam and Andrew in an Action Shot at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado.

Basically he’s a BAD ASS, and will bring a ton of new strengths to Wallet Squirrel. We’re starting off strong and will hopefully build up to something like DividendDiplomats.com in the future. Those guys are crushing it and we hope to reach that level in the next couple months.

Adam hasn’t written a bio yet, but it would highlight these skills. He’s an SEO machine, dabbles in programming/app design, organizational freak and production hack expert. I’ll let him expand on those later.

I will admit, I was a little nervous about bringing on someone new to “Team Squirrel”, especially after I’ve done so much to build up this community on my own, but I recently got some awesome advice (thanks Dividend Diplomat, Bert) that ran along the lines, partnerships work when you feel they’re like family. That resonated with me and I was convinced I wanted to try. So let’s give an awesome welcome to “Team Squirrel’s” newest addition, Adam!

My Income Report

Did I mention, I made some money this month?

February-2017,-Dividend-Monthly-Income-Report-Infographic

Does anyone have any great Twitter advice for growing an audience?

Income Report – January, 2017

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2017 has been off to a tremendous start. This month has been one of my strongest yet with an income of $265.30. Yet it was more successful due to my consistent blog posing!

I have managed to have a post go out every Thursday around 1pm MTN. That’s been something a little hard for me in the past, but I found the secret. Always be one post ahead. That way I have a post always going out. It gives me the assurance I need. They say consistency is the best thing you can do as a blogger. I hope 1pm MTN on Thursdays works for everyone!

Some of the highlights this month!

  1. I’ve been doing more money experiments this month like Selling My First Item on Craigslist Ever and testing to see how effective Lottery Tickets are at earning you money (hint, I won but I could have easily lost everything)
  2. I did my first guest post. This was scary because I wanted to continue to pump out great content but I’ve been slacking in posting timely posts. So I mixed it up and did a guest post. This is exactly what I needed to recharge my motivation. Plus I earned $150 while learning about some side jobs for millennials.

January-2017,-Dividend-Monthly-Income-Report-Infographic

Upcoming next month:

I have some awesome stuff next month with different ways to make extra money. These include stock photography (I’m going through old photos now) and I’m starting a second Affiliate Website. With the Affiliate Website, I’m giving you a step by step from concept, to website design, to launch. So the process can be replicable. I’m really excited about that!

I’m stoked about Wallet Squirrel in 2017!

What do you think of the Income Report?

Income Report – December, 2016

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Every blog does an expansive end of the year recap, let’s not do that.

The beginning of the year was off to a solid start and slipped by the end of the year due to me moving downtown. Yes, downtown has been rough on me. Every weekend there is something to do. So I’ve spent time with friends at bars, comedy clubs and random weekend events that could not have possibly been passed up.

In short, it’s been awesome. Especially since my passive income has continuously grown. Yay dividends.

december-2016-dividend-monthly-income-report-infographic

For next year (small goals):

  1. Be more consistent with the articles.

That’s really my only goal. I enjoy writing but sometimes I’m a bit hard on myself so I take too much time to write a solid article. Err writing. It’s both hard and exciting.

Let’s aim for an awesome and productive 2017!

Income Report – November, 2016

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I’m getting caught up with these Income Reports. It’s a chance for me to share the different passive income streams that combined, made nearly $80.

This will be short and sweet, here is the November, 2016 infographic.

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Income Report – October, 2016

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Not going to lie, I’ve been working on other stuff, but that’s good. The last couple months I have been meeting with my team on my Affiliate Site that focuses on Halloween Superhero Costumes. It’s been an interesting ride since we set it up 3 years ago. The first year we put a lot of blood sweat and tears into it and it grew really well!

The last 2 years though have not been so focused. In fact, we flat well gave up on it. In year 2, after not touching it for a while, it did just as good as the previous year, in fact, a little better. So we just said “Screw it, let’s not touch it again next year”. Bad Idea.

This last year not touching the affiliate site hurt tremendously. Considering last year we made $600 on Halloween’s October, this year we made $20. Ouch.

So I’ve been dividing my time between Wallet Squirrel, My Affiliate Site and my full-time job. Out of those 3, Wallet Squirrel has suffered the most. No matter what though, I LOVE producing these monthly reports.

october-2016-dividend-monthly-income-report-infographic-01

What’s on my mind

  1. Like the goal of Wallet Squirrel, I’m hoping to find new ways to make money and invest that to create passive income. Yet as from the above Income Report. Wallet Squirrel doesn’t make very much so I’m anxiously finding new ways.

Really that’s it, I’m trying to come up with new ways to create passive income. Even spending my free time coming up with recurring revenue business ideas.

Question: Think anyone would pay $1/mo to get text messages each month for important Holidays and minor Holidays like International Pirates Day?

Income Report – September, 2016

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So it’s official. Doing nothing averages around $60 for me. That’s a pretty awesome thing. The full breakdown is below, but how cool is that? Doing nothing still makes me $60. If I could live off $60 then I could quit everything right now. That’s $60 for life.

september-2016-dividend-monthly-income-report-infographic

Things I accomplished in September:

1. I wrote a really cool article “What Happens to Debt When You Die?“. It stemmed from a friend’s request and I was excited to write it. It’s gotten a lot of great press and I think it came out pretty darn neat. The infographic turned out pretty sweet.

Yea, that’s about it. I’ve been easily distracted by Netflix and shiny objects.

Things to accomplish in October:

Is it OK to say, just 2 new articles in October and slowly make my way up?

Income Report – August, 2016

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As I start ramping Wallet Squirrel back up, I’m reminded that no matter what I do. There are some passive income strategies that keep earning me money. So dear passive income. Thank you.

August-2016,-Dividend-Monthly-Income-Report-Infographic

Let’s talk Double Cash Back Credit Card

During a recent Entrepreneur Meet and Greet in Denver (yes, I go to these). It was pointed by a fellow entrepreneur who read my blog (eek, people read this) that we should clarify good and bad ways to use a credit card.

See, I pay off my entire credit card debt daily, since I paid mine off in 2015. So I treat my credit card like cash. I know that I am going to HAVE to pay it all off the next day so anything that I’m willing to pay cash for, I use credit. Mainly just for the 2% cash back.

It was pointed out though, that some people may not know this difference and could continue their spiral of debt. I’m obviously not condoning this. Only use a credit card if you have good credit card habits. It’s easy to say you’re getting 2% back with a credit card, but things still cost 98%.

Moral of the story. It’s hard to say my 2% Cash Back Credit Card is a sort of passive income. Especially if I’m using it to buy wants like Colorado Rockies Tickets. However, a majority of the time I use my Cash Back Credit Card on purchases I’m going to make anyways, so I consider it passive income.

Monthly Goals (I HATE monthly goals)

I have a bad habit of not liking being told what to do. Once I write something down, I’m telling myself to do something and sometimes that’s a bit much. Especially when the guilt of failing a to-do list is a lot worse than actually accomplishing something. Maybe I’ll rename this “Some things Andrew, could maybe do in the future, if he wants”. Catchy right?

  1. Write 2 posts this month on how to earn additional income. That’s what this site is about and let’s get down to the roots.
  2. Comment on 70 blogs. I came to this number because I have 70 blogs on my “To Read” list. Let me know if you want to be on this list.