This months Freckle pulse says that I spent 71 hours on my passive income project.
Passive Income In July 2012:
$22
Income is coming from AdFly, affiliate sales and a donation.
Costs In July 2012:
$138
Costs include the monthly payment to Getting Rich With eBooks 3.0 and SiteBuildIt!
They also include one new domain name, reserved for one of my Blogger blogs.
Highlights
- Two new passive income sources opened
- I joined SiteBuildIt!
- Finding my "voice"
- My SBI! site is up
- Networking
Two New Passive Income Sources
My passive income grew from 4 dollars to 22 dollars this month. That is an increase of 450%. Percentages are just fun, aren't they. I hope to see similar over-exponential growth in the future too.
It always feels special when I get money from somewhere I have not been able to get it before. This month I opened two new sources.
I got my very first donation. It came from my other blog and it was actually given by a person whose work I admire myself. I was glowering the whole next day although I also felt a bit awkward too. It would have been easier to accept a donation from a total stranger. I wonder why?
I also got my first affiliate sales. Maybe it was you who bought SBI! though this blog? Thank you so much for reading my blog and supporting me. Getting those sales felt even better than the donation! Why? Because it is not only money. Getting an affiliate sale means that I have been able to help someone. It feels better than doing a product and just getting paid afterward, what the donation practically is about. I like helping people, it just feels good.
Yes, this blog is full of affiliate links. I put them where-ever I can. World is full of affiliate programs, so I don't have to do any compromises in my writing - I can just write what I want and stick the affiliate links in. For example, the AdFly link in the beginning of this post is an affiliate link. I would have mentioned it anyway, now I'll just get pennies if someone joins through that links and earns with it. You win - I win. I love this game.
I Joined SiteBuildIt!
How did I get the affiliate sales? You do know I have had affiliate links up for some time already. I think I got those sales thanks to SiteBuildIt!
The course contains a book that taught me how to write articles, call-to-actions and copy-writing. While I don't polish articles in this blog much, I practice the concepts from that book. I think my writing has improved much - and so others are more prone to listen to me. Writing is now easier too.
I now also know how to implement the call-to-action pattern and if needed, link several pages to create it.
I used to think that a good product or service sells itself. So I was a bit reluctant to learn marketing and all that jazz. I don't think so anymore - a good product can just sit there somewhere on a corner of the wide wide web and no-one finds it. Suddenly reading about marketing is fun - the information is really useful and SiteBuildIt! presents it in a way that I can see the benefits and apply it to practice immediately.
Finding My "Voice"
I did not realize before that I should try to pour some "me" into my writing. SBI! helped with that too. Now I'm slowly learning to write in my own personal style. I must admit that I enjoy writing more now.
Enjoying writing is a good thing, since I'm going to write a whole bunch or articles to my new site. That is what I am going to do next.
My SiteBuildIt! Site Is Up
Yes, I have my own site online already. It has been up about a week now and attracted over 100 visits.
I'm not going to tell you the exact URL or what the site concept keywords are, not yet.
It concentrates on selling an affiliate product. It is a product I love and have been using for years. I just never thought I could make any money writing about that subject. I used to think I need to have a superb new idea or make something "commercially useful". But now it seems I will be able to make money just by writing about a topic I feel passionate about.
Networking
This month I've communicated with a lot of really nice and super interesting people, both online and offline.
I got some invaluable help and advice from Rebecca, who originally gave me inspiration for my SBI! Site Concept. I wrote to the creator of my affiliated product and got back the most genuinely friendly customer support response I've ever had. It will be a joy to sell her product. In addition, I discussed with several inspiring entrepreneurs, including a person from a company that recently was judged to be the start-up of the year. Also, I've mailed with successful SBIers.
I'm starting to see a pattern here. Are most successful people smart, flexible, helpful, friendly and happy? Now, I've really enjoyed meeting these people. Before I used to meet this kind of persons maybe once in two years. Now they are everywhere!
The Challenge
The challenge right now is the time. SiteBuildIt! is a tortoise. I know I can make money with my topic. I just don't know if I'm fast enough to achieve my goal. I still have high hopes. Reaching my goal with my SiteBuildIt! site does require that I get traffic faster than average SBI site. But I'm good at getting traffic. We will see.
Hey Jaana. Congratulations on your passive income! That's so awesome. At this rate you will blow past your passive income goal.
ReplyDeleteYour point about learning how to positioning your products in order to sell is spot on. I used to think the same way that a good product will just sell it self. I would never want to "sell" my product or service. Somehow that sounded cheesy and dishonest. I think that's because most people have negative associations with marketing. Buying useless stuff that they didn't need.
It took a while for me to understand that marketing is a way to communicate your value. Marketing isn't about sales. It's about making people aware of how you can help them through your goods/services. Once I focused on sharing value with others, then it doesn't feel like "selling". It feels like improving people's lives. This is better aligned with my values. Getting through this mental block made it easier to follow through on the other parts.
I'm glad to hear your doing well. Keep it up!
Thank you mat!
ReplyDeleteThat was an excellent comment and I agree on everything you said.
No problem. Can't wait to see your next month's report! This can end up becoming like what pat flynn does every month with his passive income reports. Except you would be from scratch so that can really show how much you can accomplish even if you are starting brand new today.
DeleteReally great to see how much progress you are making. Now I expect to see a 500% increase next month haha. Keep up the good work.
Haha. 500% increase would be swell. I only need to earn like... $48.700 and something to reach Pat :)
DeleteI have no idea how this will go. And that makes it double exciting!