November Earning

Well, it's time to update my blog with my earnings for last month. Here is the breakdown:

RESIDUAL INCOME

AdSense $114.97
Clickbank $177.71
Amazon $ 0.92

Total Residual Income: $293.60

ACTIVE INCOME: $0

TOTAL INCOME: $293.60

So the good news is that Clickbank is really taking off, and my residual earnings is nearly double what I earned last month. In fact, because of the success with the residual portion of my income, I have decided to put active sources of income stream on hold so I can work to develop the passive forms further.

However, with the focus on Clickbank, my Adsense earning are not increasing as I would like them to be, so I need to strike a balance and put more effort into developing those websites too. Amazon affiliate earnings were also way down too.

Goal for December: I would like to earn at least $500 for the month of December via passive income streams. This may be hard, as many say there is a slow down in people purchasing affiliate products around Christmas since their money is going to other purchases. Currently I am promoting five different affiliate products, two which may have some interest at Christmas time, but I need to also work on the Adsense sites since they are unlikely to be impacted in the same way.

Wish me luck - and happy holidays!

Goals for November

When I first started doing work online last April, my main focus was earning cash quickly to meet bills for my son and I. Much of my time was spent writing articles for cash with companies like Textbroker and for Amazon's Mechanical Turks program. Generally the pay was low ($3-8 per article), but it was (and is) a reliable source of income. I was earning between $200-250 a month writing a couple of articles almost every day. However, this also felt a bit precarious since my daily earnings were based on what kind of articles were available, and there were some days when there were simply no available orders that I could fill.

The writing was also often tedious, since I often found myself writing articles about which I had no personal interest. And it was also frustrating, since I knew the people I was writing the articles for were profiting from them - although I wasn't quite sure how they were doing this, and I became determined to learn more about how they were doing this.

Thus started my research into the complex world of advertising, affiliate marketing, website development, search engine optimization and much, much more. The results of this research also started a big shift in my own earning strategy from focusing on "active" source of income coming from daily freelance writing jobs, to "passive" sources of income (also known as "residual income") from Adsense and affiliate marketing programs.

What does passive income mean for me and my son? It means that if I can't work for a day (or two or three), I'm still earning money. I'm no longer tied to what jobs are posted that day - I have much more flexibility in terms of developing and promoting the websites that are earning passive income for me. In sum: it's great!

By October I was earning almost the exact same amount I earned in April or May from freelance writing jobs, but nearly all of that income was coming from passive income streams. Passive sources of income can take some time to develop (often several months), but I have a feeling they are going to really explode for me in the next few months - so I hope you follow along to see how that goes for me!

For November, I am hoping to double my income from October. In October I earned $213, so for November I am hoping to earn at least $426. I believe much of this income will come from a new affiliate program I have just become involved with: Clickbank. I just learned about Clickbank last month and made my first sale last week, and I'm looking to earn at least a couple hundred dollars from this revenue source this month. The remainder will come from Adsense - which I'm earning over $100 reliably now each month, and which I hope to get to at least $200 this month.

I'll be making updates as the month goes along!

October Earnings

Here are my earnings from last month, broken down in terms of residual (passive) online income and active online income.

RESIDUAL INCOME

Adsense $119.22
Amazon Affiliate $19.10
Clickbank $26.30

Total Residual Income: $164.62

ACTIVE INCOME

Textbroker $38.36
MTurks $10.23

Total Active Income: $48.59

TOTAL INCOME: $213.21

Welcome from a Work at Home Mom

My name is Michelle and I'm setting up this blog to track my earnings and to give general advice and tips regarding how to earn money online at home.

Nearly a year ago my husband and I separated. It was a horrible time, and I ended up driving nearly 2000 miles across the country with my one year old son in an old beat up van to go live with mom during the middle of the winter. I arrived at her house early in the morning on New Years Day, heartbroken and with only $3 left in my wallet.

The first couple of months after arriving at my mom's house I spent recuperating from the drive and the emotional impact of my separation, spending time with my family, and thinking about what to do with my future given my life had seemingly turned upside down. Although my mother was supporting us at that time, by late March, it became clear that I needed to find employment and start contributing to our expenses. I was not keen on putting my young son in childcare all day (my mom was physically unable to look after him), especially given that I was still breastfeeding him and dedicated to pursuing attachment parenting methods. So I decided to look into online writing jobs I could do at home while he napped or slept at night.

This journal will discuss the different jobs and strategies I have tried, and document my online earnings. I started researching online writing jobs in April, and by early May I was earning a regular income by writing online content of a couple hundred dollars of month.

However, since early April, I have also put a lot of time and effort into researching other methods of earning income online. Most of this focus is on residual income streams. This source of income has rapidly developed into my main focus in the past few months, which I will discuss here on the blog as well, and I hope the information I post here will be of use to other single moms (and dads!) who are struggling (like me) to make a living while raising a child. Please leave me feedback if you find this information useful or have something else to add. Thanks!

- Michelle