[Dumb] Passive Income Report for February 2014

Welcome to my [Dumb] Passive Income Report! This blog is all about what I am doing to create several different passive income streams. This monthly income report details my results. I work very hard and dedicate many hours each week to working on my different online endeavors in an attempt to create passive income. So why do I consider it passive income then? Because I am not trading specified amounts of time for a predetermined amount of money like I do at my day job. Most of the income you will see in this report results from work I have done in the past. Why am I sharing my income publicly? Hopefully to gain credibility with you (the readers) and to maintain a certain degree of accountability for myself. I could blog all day long about what I am doing to create passive income online, including some of my unique strategies. But why would anybody trust me and believe that what I am doing works if I don’t prove it by sharing my results? This is what I mean by gaining credibility and this is one of the main purposes for sharing my income. I also share my failures on the blog, which holds me accountable. Knowing that I will be publishing a monthly income report will keep me motivated to keep pushing forward and plugging away on the things I need to do to create future passive income.

Happenings in February

Two months in a row of bringing in 4 figures. Considering where I was just one short year ago, I’m ecstatic! Much of my income in February came from my Keyword Research Service. While this portion of my business isn’t exactly passive – I am using the income from it to grow my passive income earning sites. In short, I am using income that I receive from my keyword research service to pay for outsourcing for things I don’t like to do or don’t have time to do in order to grow my niche site income. Specifically, I am starting to test out different link building services. I hate building links manually – but realize that link building is essential if you wish to rank quickly in Google. And we all know that ranking in Google is one of the best ways to grow your passive income streams.

I had a record month for income (again) in February, but also had a record month for expenses. As you’ll see below, I spent nearly a grand during the month of February. This doesn’t bother me at all. I know that everything I spend now is helping me increase my passive income streams for the future. Although most of the money spent is considered a “business expense,” – I look at it as more of an investment. My expenses decrease my profit in the short term, but will increase my profits in the long term.

A lot of people constantly try to look for ways to decrease expenses in order to increase profits. I don’t look at it that way. It reminds me of the mindset of the frugal crowd. Live on less than you make. Live below your means. I’m not a fan of this at all! In fact, frugality annoys me (Sorry frugal blogger friends – I know a few of you read this). I relate more with the mindset that you need to expand your means to live the life that you want. I’m working to expand my means so that I never have to think about living below them.

With that being said, let’s take a look at my numbers for February.

Income and Expenses – February 2014

Passive Income

Affiliate Income from Dumb Passive Income

• $202.95 – Long Tail Pro sales via Clickbank (why it is better than the competition)
• $0 – LeadPages sales for this awesome lead generation software (I EASILY created this squeeze page with LeadPages)
• $6.00 – SocialADR sales (go here to learn more and access my custom 20% off coupon code)
• $9.00- Aweber signups ($1 for your first month)
• $35.94 – Niche Website Theme sales via JVZoo (reviewed in detail here)
• $0 – Lending Club leads via Commission Junction (exactly how to sign up explained here)
• $0 – ManageWP signups (easily manage multiple WordPress sites from one dashboard)
• $104.00 – AmaSuite sales via JVZoo (software demonstrated in video embedded here)
• $0 – PulseHover sales via JVZoo (plugin explained within this post)
• $0 – oDesk sales via Commission Junction (how to outsource content for cheap explained here)
• $0 – Genesis framework and themes by Studiopress via ShareaSale (eleven40 Pro theme as seen on this site now)
• $0 – EasyAzon3 sales via Clickbank (I haven’t even reviewed this yet – but I would not build an Amazon site without it!)
• $18.82 – Long Tail Classroom via JVZoo (I don’t even promote this! Must be an upsell for something else in JVZoo)

Other Income from Niche Sites, Old Blog, Article Writing…

• $458.22 – Google Adsense (ad click revenue from niche sites)
• $2.54 – Yahoo! Voices for articles I wrote a long time ago
• $5.76 – Amazon Associates for sales on Amazon.com (explained in detail here)

Non-Passive Income

Services by Matthew Allen

• $1123 – Keyword Research Packages for Sale (why I started offering this service – explained here)

Expenses

Hosting and Domains

• $9.95 – Hostgator (how to purchase a domain and set up web hosting)
• $0 – GoDaddy for domain renewals and purchases
• $0 – IXWebHosting – (up to 15 separate IP’s on one hosting account!)
• $0 – NameCheap – domain purchases (expired domains)

Tools, Plugins and Themes

• $12.00 – Long Tail Platinum monthly fee (if you have Long Tail Pro – upgrade to Platinum here)
• $12.00 – Long Tail Platinum monthly fee (why I ended up with 2 subscriptions –details here)
• $29.00  – Aweber monthly fee for e-mail list management (first month trial only $1)
• $4.90 – ManageWP monthly fee for WordPress multiple site management program
• $38.00 – SocialADR monthly fee for social bookmarking for my niche sites (proven results within this post!)
• $4.95 – Serpbook monthly fee for keyword rank tracking tool (purchased thanks to this review by Misty Spears)
• $65.00 – CrazyEgg yearly fee for heat-mapping technology (my detailed experience and review here)
• $197.00 – LeadPages yearly fee (I could not accomplish half of what I do online without this tool!)

Outsourcing

• $172.00 – to my private writer for article writing for niche sites
• $0 – to oDesk for article writing (how I paid only $76.66 for 40 articles!)
• $140 – to a virtual contractor who is helping me find keywords for my keyword research service
• $100 – to The HOTH for a link building package
• $167 – to Link Viking for a link building package (not an affiliate link – mention Dumb Passive Income as your referral source at checkout)

Miscellaneous

• $42.56 – Paypal fees

Totals and Thoughts

Total income $1966.23 minus total expenses $995.13 equals a net profit of $971.10 for February 2014!

February was an unusually high month as far as expenses go. Part of this was due to the fact that I had to renew my yearly subscription to LeadPages. The price just increased for LeadPages too – but luckily pricing was locked in for current subscribers at the original rate. LeadPages at the yearly rate is an incredible value (compared to the monthly) – and I feel like I am totally getting a steal by paying only $197 for it for a whole year. If you’re not using LeadPages yet, what are you waiting for?!

Another expense you may have noticed is the one for the “virtual contractor” that I am using for my Keyword Research Service. Without purposely seeking, I actually found somebody who has more experience than me who was willing and able to help me find keywords and produce keyword lists to sell as part of my Keyword Research Packages. This has freed up a lot of time for me and has also led to the availability of many more packages for sale. Even the quality of the keywords and the packages has increased as a result! The partnership I have established with this contractor (who wishes to remain anonymous) means less income for me, greater value for you – and it makes this portion of my business just a little more passive. I am thrilled at how it is working out.

You’ll also notice in my expenses that I paid for and tried a couple of link building services. I’m still monitoring the results and will try to keep you updated via the blog.

I haven’t been able to actively post on this blog as often as I would like. In fact, there were zero posts published between this income report and the last one. Yikes! But when I do publish, I promise the posts will be valuable and useful. Get signed up for my email list (opt-in box over there —> in the sidebar) if you wish to be notified when I publish these epic posts. By the way – I’ve got a post about half finished right now which is explaining exactly how I’ve been able to dramatically increase my Adsense income over the past couple of months. Not sure if I’ll finish the post this month or not, but I’ll e-mail my list as soon as I do.

Thank You! Thank You for taking the time to read through my latest income report and Thank You for contributing  if you have previously purchased something through one of my affiliate links! If you wish to support this site, but don’t have a need for any of my affiliate products, you could simply do your regular Amazon shopping through any of the links on this site that lead to Amazon.com. You won’t pay any extra and I will receive a small commission. Thanks so much if you do so! Remember that there are several dumb ways to create passive income online, but only one site that is blogging about it! Dumb Passive Income… dot com. -Matt Many of the links within this income report are indeed affiliate links. I will receive a commission if you choose to purchase after clicking through via any of these links. Thank You if you do! To your success and mine – may we all be profitable online. Good Day!

Remember that there are several dumb ways to create passive income online, but only one site that is blogging about it! Dumb Passive Income… dot com.

-Matt

Photo Credits:

mSeattle via Flickr

Matthew Allen

Matthew Allen is a full-time trucker, part-time blogger, and imaginary entrepreneur. He's probably not the only trucker who calls himself a dumbass. But, he is the only known trucker who is blogging about passive income."Might be crazy, but I ain't dumb!" ~ Crazy Cooter (also Matt's CB handle) 

Matthew Allen

Matthew Allen is a full-time trucker, part-time blogger, and imaginary entrepreneur. He's probably not the only trucker who calls himself a dumbass. But, he is the only known trucker who is blogging about passive income."Might be crazy, but I ain't dumb!" ~ Crazy Cooter (also Matt's CB handle)