Side Income – Back on Track!

I mentioned in my last side income summary that I was disappointed because it felt as though I was just kind of hovering around at the $500 mark each month.

While of course an extra $500 a month in side income is nothing to complain about, it’s also far from giving me the ability to have the freedom to leave the 9-5 job that I still have (which I do from the boat, but which still limits my freedom).

When I first started this blog, I believe my goal was to save $10k in the first 6 months – well, that didn’t happen, and since then I’ve learned a lot about making side income through side hustles, and I believe I’m well on track to earn more than ever this year, especially when I just had my best month yet for side income!

On the Horizon

I’ve got several ideas that have been churning around in this crazy head of mine, and it looks like I’ll be busier than ever soon! I’ve been doing a lot of reading, research, and even taking some online classes to further educate myself and now am ready to put some of the plans in action. A few things I’m hoping to achieve before the end of the year are:

Write and self-publish a book on Amazon – since we did this and have had success with my fiancee’s book, we know the process, as well as several tricks of the trade, then I’m hoping to generate some “mailbox money” with that.

Build an Niche Site – I already have one that I started over a year ago that brings a tiny bit of revenue in, but I started it before I knew half of what I know now about content marketing and niche sites. Although I was able to get my site on the first page of Google, it has proven that it’s not really a money-generating niche, so lesson learned.

Land a few SEO Clients – I’ve been fascinated with SEO (search engine optimization) and learning how to rank pages high in Google, and have gotten pretty decent at it. I’d like to get contract work with some clients needing SEO for their sites. If I’m successful, then this could turn out to be a very lucrative side income, and could potentially become a full-time job.

Writing – I’d really love to do some freelance or staff-writing. I love to write, and this can bring in some decent money, too. I know a few other bloggers who make most of their money doing freelance writing outside of their blog. I’ve done some ghost writing before, but other things were taking more of my time, so I’d like to do more of that in the coming months.

Searches of the Month

Speaking of search engine optimization, there are some pretty funny and interesting things people search for on Google that brings them to this site. I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile, so maybe I’ll start incorporating this into my side income posts.

These are the 5 most interesting search terms for the month.

• how to get a po box if you are homeless – refers to this post
• i’m a slacker – sadly this could have led them to this, this or this post
• old man erotik – first, learn to spell the word erotic… and visit one of my most popular posts!
• sexy sailing blog – why, thank you, Google!
• yes but why is the rum gone – we may never know why

Side Income Summary – March 2015

Ok, ok – we’ll get down to business. My March side income rocked! This is my best month yet for side income, and I’m thrilled about it and hope to continue to see an upward trend in this department.

If you’ve read my side income posts before, you know that my side income posted is just that – money made from what some call “side hustles”, meaning money I’ve made in addition to my regular full-time job, minus any expensese/payouts directly related to my side income such as affiliate payouts to others, PayPal fees, etc. This doesn’t include my fiancee’s income from his freelance gigs or his book sales.

The below numbers are an accurate depiction of what I’ve made on the side, bad or good.

Web Design Work: $1067.50
Sales/Commissions: $229.69
Affiliate Income: $30.85
Adsense: $11.52
Writing Gigs: $0
Misc: $30.64
TOTAL: $1370.20 in extra income (UP $916.70 from previous month!)

As you can see, I’m still not doing too well in the Adsense and Affiliate Income departments, and I hope to begin to improve this. You may notice a few more ads sprinkled across this blog, and that’s one step towards achieving higher income through Adsense.

I know that blogs without ads look much better, but I do put a lot of time and effort into this blog, and by using Adsense and affiliate income (both of which are at no cost or obligation to you folks) I think it’s a fair trade-off for the information I provide and the time it takes to prepare it. Especially given that this is a blog about how to make more money!

That’s it until next time, but as always, please comment and share with anyone you think may be interested in learning different ways to make side income!