Income Report – July, 2017
Wrapping up July means I get to publish my monthly income report! These are some of the most exciting posts for me to write.
It’s exciting because I publish these monthly income reports to show that it is possible to earn extra money (new ways every month), so you can start saving up for retirement. You should totally try some of these! This is how much I’ve made so far.
Income Report – July, 2017
I started off this month taking a bit of a vacation. You see, Adam and I (plus our significant others) went to visit our buddy, Tristian, in Maine for the first week in July. It was awesome but it was tough to take a break from Wallet Squirrel.
Then again how can you work when you’re having this much fun.
Adam takes new photos around Acadia National Park for new Stock Photography images to sell.
Andrew waits for Adam to take photos at every stop. That’s ok because it’s for stock photography and Andrew sucks at taking photos.
Our main July highlights were:
- Adam’s sold some stuff on eBay through his new post on “How to Sell Stuff on eBay“.
- Andrew reviewed and started using CoSchedule to manage our Social Media for Wallet Squirrel.
- Adam created a list of some of our favorite Personal Finance Blog’s Income Reports for June called the June Income Round Up. Let us know if you want to be on the list.
- Andrew finally wrote a post on “How to Start A Blog When You Know Nothing About Blogging” it seems like every blogger has one of these, so I added some new stuff for the absolute beginners.
- Adam shared “5 Tips on How to Travel Cheap” after our trip to Maine. He saved more money than Andrew.
- Andrew learned that the Robinhood App had a new promotion giving free stock to people who now sign up for the Robinhood through a referral code. Feel free to use my referral code.
- Adam shared how we increased our web traffic for Wallet Squirrel by 545% in 6 months with his new post “How to Increase Website Traffic Now“. He’s really good at this.
How much did we make in July?
These are technically my income reports, but some of the income streams we share like the affiliate sales and AdSense revenue. So here is my income report for July, just duplicate it for Adams.
I changed the infographic up a bit, focusing more on the income and investments. Not so much the other stuff. It’s still a work in progress. =)
A lot of my side income this month was through my cash back credit because I spent more money than I’d like in Maine. I’m constantly striving to be frugal, it just doesn’t always happen. Here is the break down in order of revenue.
$39.74 – Cashback Credit Card
$29.49 – Seeking Alpha Articles
$5.92 – Dividends
$3.84 – Interest Checking/Savings Account
$3.70 – Wallet Squirrel AdSense
$2.99 – Lending Club
$2.50 – Stock Photography
The biggest surprise was that I was still making money with my Seeking Alpha articles. I’ve only written two articles so far and they pay a base fee of $35 per article when I wrote them, but it adds $0.01 per view afterward. So in August, I didn’t write any new articles, but I received 2,949 views on my previous articles or $29.49 in revenue.
Have you tried any of these to make money?
Where did I invest this month?
As always, I add my extra income every month to my investment portfolio.
This month I invested more into Verizon and Realty Income. I’m glad I picked up a few more shares of Verizon at $43 because it’s back up to $48 now. Wahoo! I will start diversifying into some other stocks soon here.
August Goals for Wallet Squirrel
Did I meet last month’s (July’s) goals? – Yes
- I finally built a social media calendar! Our social media game is now on point and we’ve already seen a nice uptick in social media traffic to Wallet Squirrel since I started using CoSchedule. If you’re not using a social media calendar, it helps SO MUCH! It’s great to keep track of everything you’re sending out and web traffic you’re generating for your website.
August Goals
- I really want to learn Pinterest – I’m familiar with nearly all the social media platforms, but Pinterest is still a bit of a mystery to me. I see it being successful for so many other bloggers, so I want to really dive into it this month. I’m hoping to create some awesome graphics and learn how to promote them on this social media platform. Any tips?
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
Great update. I like how you’re getting revenue from so many sources. Keep up the good work guys.
Hey guys, I’m a new follower to your blog. Have you also considered running a YouTube channel? I’ve seen some YouTubers do this with some success. Perhaps you could talk about a blog post in a video format. Just a suggestion, otherwise keep up the good work!
Thanks Investing Hunting!
We really do want to keep trying the different ways to earn income for our “Ways to Make Money” list. Eventually, something will work that fits our skill set so well, it’ll skyrocket our income. So right now we’ll continue to have a diversity. =)
Have an awesome month!
-Andrew
Hey Allan!
Glad you found us! I’m always considering a YouTube Channel, we just have a hard time figuring out what our YouTube Channel niche will be. There are so many out there, what would make us unique and are we even good on Camera? lol
We might try a couple blog post recaps in video format, we’ll try it at least and see how it goes. Thanks!
-Andrew
Thanks for sharing your recent update. As commented above, you guys are really spreading your passive income streams among may sources. The SA income was pretty significant. Was that all from just one article? Keep doing what you’re doing. Have fun, travel and stay invested. Time to boost that dividend income.
Thanks DivHut!
We’re absolutely hustling over here. The more we can make with different income sources, the more stocks we can buy. Then more dividend income! =)
The SA income was primarily all one article and it continues to make money. I only have two articles up on SA right now. I’m hoping to add a couple more. You would be awesome at SA!
Thanks for visiting!
-Andrew
WS –
Nice job wallet! Keep saving money and investing into stocks to diversify and build that income stream. You got this!
-Lanny
Thanks DD (Lanny)!
Yea I’m definitely diversifying income in multiple ways, then using that income to invest in more stocks! It’s pretty great because buying more dividend stocks means more dividends. I’d say it’s the circle of life, but I’m pretty sure that’s a trademark slogan.
Have a great day,
Andrew
Thanks for sharing the income report, WS! It’s awesome that you brought income in through so many different ways. I’ve thought about writing an income report separate from my dividend report that focuses on income generated by blogging. But my income isn’t really consistent enough at this time. That’s interesting to learn about the method that you get paid from Seeking Alpha. I believe I read that on another blog recently as well. It sounds like a pretty nice side hustle.
In regards to having a social calendar set up, I agree that it really helps. Although I’m usually pretty active on Twitter without the use of a platform, I recently signed up for a free Tail Wind trial for Pinterest. So far, it’s been a really amazing platform that has helped me understand Pinterest more. It lets you schedule content at preselected times when your pins are visited most. I’ve seen an increase in traffic so far from using it. Also, I do use Hootesuite here and there for Google+ and Twitter.
Looking forward to the next income report!
Hey Graham,
Yes, my income isn’t quite consistent enough. Lately, I vary between $80 per month to $300. I just like to share the transparency no matter what. Hopefully, someone will learn from these early income reports.
Seeking Alpha has been a great way to get paid for writing. It’s one I try to do once a month. I’m thinking about writing an article tonight actually. =)
You’ll have to let me know how Tail Wind works out for you. I use CoSchedule and it has many of the same features I see, but I’m still learning how Pinterest works. lol
Thanks for commenting!
-Andrew