Income Report – May, 2016
I’ve made it to the future!
Well, I can see the future at least. This month marks the first time dividends out shot all of my other incomes. Even the infamous cash back credit card that usually averages $25. That’s right I make money off my credit card. Proud of it.
In the future, my dividends will be my primary source of income so it’s nice to see when it’s the highest earning income stream in this income report. It can be done!
My Reality Check
If I want to reach financial independence or better yet BF (Boss Free) I need to step up my game. What the hell am I going to do with $55/mo? Oh, by the way, I made $55 this month. I may be able to dig a hobbit hole under a bridge and live off the dead fish from the oil runoff, but let’s be real. That’s a luxury only people with $60/mo can afford.
I NEED, HAVE, MUST find some additional ways to make extra money. My mother always said “follow your dreams”, so here I am following my dreams of eliminating 8-5. This is me saying screw you 8-5, I will beat you superficial social construct with your own time clock. Mwha Mwha I feel cool.
Some Glimmers of Hope
Lending Club continues to surprise me bringing in nearly $3 this month. It may not sound like a lot, but I only invested $300! That’s 1% a month or average 12% if you forget how many months are in a year. I sometimes forget what day it is. Thank goodness there’s an app for that.
Dividends, oh you beauties, outstanding job this month! That’s $25.01 in one month. Yes, other Dividend Bloggers made WAY more this month, but I put mine in pretty colors so it’s worth seeing. That’s cool right?
Google Adsense also made a showing this month. Let me tell you, I used to think Google Adsense was a shame. I’ve added it to a number of other affiliate sites in the past. Maybe there were crappy websites (OK, yes they absolutely were) but I made $0 to a few cents a year. A YEAR! I practically gave up on them. It’s like Melissa in 8th grade, I’ll do her homework on the off chance she’ll go out with me. She never did, but I kept doing it…..
Back to the point, Google Adsense came through with my best month ever at $8.89. Again, doesn’t seem like much, but it feels like I just climbed a mountain. I know it works, and more importantly, it proves people read this thing. There is a HUGE amount of satisfaction knowing that I’m not typing away, practicing my creative writing to random ghost of the internet. If there are ghost on the internet, I very much appreciate you and please keep reading.
Here is an infographic (because that’s totally my thing now) of my Income Report for May, 2016
What I accomplished this month
It was an awesome month because I’ve joined my first Master Mind, which sounds like a cult, but isn’t. In fact, I first heard the term while listening to Pat Flynn. So naturally I wanted to follow in his footsteps and join my own cult, sorry Master Mind.
Essentially the Master Mind is just a group of starting entrepreneurs that help each other out with challenges we all face. Creating good content, how to grow an audience, WTF is marketing and how to be someone worth reading about.
In short, it’s awesome and I’m creating some great stuff for you guys (yes, you reading this). Here are some things I’ve accomplished:
1. Set up my Mail Chimp Account. Now rather than an email from my Gmail account. I can keep a mailing list through MailChimp and send totally professional mailers. Plus it has an easy subscribe and unsubscribe button. I don’t spam, but don’t want to be a dick and send you emails you don’t want.
Actually right now, signup for my email list below. Do it, do it now. I’ll wait. I have like 7 awesome people currently but REALLY want to make it to 10. I keep low goals so I don’t cry at night. I only send out emails ONCE a month of my Income Reports. I’ll be cool, I promise.
2. Signed up to be a contributor to SeekingAlpha.com the stock news website. I’m somewhat following in the footsteps of Justin Feider, but so far I’ve just signed up. I still need to write my first article. Once I do, I share a link here. I’m both terrified and insanely excited!
3. Sent my first guest post email. That means I sent a blogger, who I really admire, an email asking if I could do a guest post. Let me tell you, I was so freaking nervous. I sat here for an hour looking over a 5 sentence email tweaking and critiquing every word. However the blogger loved the idea and I’m crafting the article with a sick infographic now. Let me know if YOU would be interested in collaborating together in the future? Yes, you reader.
My goals this month
1. Obviously, finish up my first every guest post and article submission for Seeking Alpha.com. I keep asking myself, how do I make an article awesome. MORE INFOGRAPHICS comes to mind, right behind MORE COWBELL. No seriously, you guys are awesome and I’ll create some great content.
2. Get more active on Quora. It’s a question and answer platform if you’re not familiar with it (like Yahoo Answers). I’ve been answering some awesome dividend and general life questions and getting thousands of views and sweet feedback. Check out my Quora page.
3. My #1 goal this month is to increase traffic to Wallet Squirrel. I’m still blanking on how to do that right now so any ideas would be great. Seriously, any ideas would be awesome. I’m thinking of paying $5 on Fiverr so someone will stand on the side of the road for 30 minutes with a Wallet Squirrel sign. Too much, not enough?
What’s worked for you this month increasing traffic to your site or earning extra income?
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!
Squirrel,
Congratulations! $25 is great and is a BIG start! Also – I remember the first $0.01 made on the blog from Adsense – it was the most satisfying penny, ever. EVER. And the money that comes in from those avenues still bring so much pleasure to me.
Keep it up and with the combination of consistency, originality and time = you’ll be doing amazing. Easily.
-Lanny
Thanks Lanny of Dividend Diplomats,
Those pennies from Google Adsense are so freaking cool. I check my phone nearly every hour to see how many people visit the site and it’s incredibly satisfying anytime I see people currently viewing the site. I’m just like Little Timmy on Christmas “OH BOY, OH BOY”.
I think I’m more impressed by people reading than dividends so thanks so much for commenting!
Great that you make money out of a credit card! way to go. I get payed to use a current account (only 1,5 EUR, it is a beer per month ;-))
I like the focus you have on killing the 8-5! keep on the effort!
(infograph does not appear)
(infograph is there after I commented as always, nice work)
Hey WS, really nice job with all the sources of income. Diversification is win 🙂
Nice job with the Quora views too, I’ve found Reddit to be pretty good too.
Tristan
Good job with the result this month. And good to see you looking beyond dividends. For me they are super reliable but I’ve come to the conclusion will never be able to replace an income (for me anyway)
You have some great companies paying you dividends in May. You should be proud of that fact and the reality that you even started this journey. It’s not about the sum that you receive each month as much as you see growth and progress with your passive income stream. It can from ads, affiliates, P2P lending, dividends, whatever. Just show forward progress and don’t ever get discouraged. You will look back one day and be amazed at how far you have come from these humble beginnings. Thanks for sharing and look forward to future updates.
Really nice looking blog!
Its good to see that you also use P2P lending not just dividend stocks.
Keep up the good work!
$55/month is better than nothing! How would you have felt 12 months ago earning an extra $55?
Perhaps to show how things have changed, and hopefully keep you motivated, would it be possible to include a line chart of earnings over time?
It would certainly help us beginners see how things progressed from $0 upwards.
Either way, congratulations and keep it up.
Did my first comment publish? Keep it up!
Apprecaite you letting me know about the infographic. That’s something that always freaks me out when other people can’t see something I thought was there.
A beer per month? That’s it? We need to get you hooked up with something else. We need at least 2 beers. =)
Yay for killing the 8-5. Thanks for commenting!
Thanks Tristan,
I need to get even more active on Quora as a lot of the Denver Entrepreneurs I hang out with all use it and have been seeing great results. I haven’t dug too far into Reddit but I definitely need to give it a try.
PS. sorry about the delay, I’ve been in a crazy apartment moving mode lately and a little stressed out. I’ve now meditated and back in the cash generating game!
Yea, it’s kind of an insane idea to replace your income entirely with dividends. However that’s not going to stop me from trying. Well, at least I’ll eventually break into real estate and other forms of passive income. I just really LOVE the concept of dividends and curious to see how far they’ll take me.
Thanks for stopping by!!!!
I’m just waiting for future me to show up through a Terminator-esqe vortex and tell me “Good Job past me”. I’m waiting…..
Thanks for stopping by DivHut, love following your journey as well!
Thanks Dividends Trainer! (Are you also a Pokemon Go Trainer?) =)
I really like the concept of P2P lending. As it’s getting more popular, I have more options of loans to choose from. I’m currently using Lending Club and only invested $300 to start out at. Eventually, I’ll get to $2,500 and can do the auto-invest. That’ll be pretty cool and likely faster returns.
Do you P2P lend?
Thanks Matt,
I love the idea of showing what I did exactly 1 year ago. In 2 months, it’ll be the anniversary of when I started logging my passive income. It’d be great to contrast where I am now, vs then.
Hey Dan!
This is the only comment I see, appreciate the support!