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 June
Some Personal Stuff
When my wife’s dad passed away last winter – we were left with his farm. It came complete with cattle, tractors, buildings, land and all kinds of responsibility. My wife and her brother are determined to keep the family farm running (I think we’re the 4th generation), which was established in 1907. The challenge for my immediate family is that the farm is located one hour north of where we live. Luckily, as part of the deal, we also inherited a place to stay when we go up to the farm. A small house on the land that we call The Shack. We had been using that house anyway, for the last several years while her dad was still alive, as kind of a weekend getaway place where we could stay when we went up there to visit.
Why am I mentioning this here? Well – it somewhat relates to my internet side hustle and blogging activities. You see, my wife spent most of the month of June up at the farm and took my kids and our dog with her. Meaning I was left at home alone to do nothing but fend for myself, work my day job, do a little housework and spend as much time internet side hustling as possible. I’ve been able to get quite a bit of work done on my newest niche site that my team and I have been working on. And I even published a quality post on this blog (read more about that below)!
While my family spent most of June at the farm, I traveled up there each weekend to spend time with them and help out as much as I could with the farming work. June was haying time. And let me tell you – we’re finding out just how much work it actually is to cut, rake and bale hay – and then move the hay bales. Mind you – the machinery does most of the heavy work these days. But it still takes up a LOT of time. And I also should mention that I personally did very little of the work myself. Susie’s brother does all of the cutting and baling. He and Susie both run the rake. And all of us took turns on the loader moving the bales. Overall, the entire process takes a couple of weeks.
Below is a picture of Susie on the loader tractor putting a bale onto the hay wagon which is hooked to my truck. Our kids are playing in the bed of the truck. Doesn’t My Lady look good on a tractor?!
Niche Sites
For the second straight month, I saw an increase in niche site income! One of my older niche sites is ranking number one in Google for a somewhat seasonal niche which helped increase my Adsense income to over $350 last month. My Amazon income was right around $250, which is short of what I am hoping for there. I’m working on that though. And I also had some other affiliate income on one of my sites that added up to a little over $100. Meaning my total niche site income for June was just over $700!
I’m pretty happy with that, considering I was stuck at about $400 for total niche site income for several months it seemed. I’m headed in the right direction and I plan to continue focusing my efforts on increasing my most passive sources of income – which are my niche sites that rely heavily on search engine traffic.
Weird Things Purchased from Amazon that I Didn’t Promote
One of the greatest features of the Amazon Associates affiliate program is the fact that they credit you for ANY purchase made by somebody who clicks over to Amazon from one of your affiliate links. For example – I might have a niche site that promotes dog cages (I don’t) and somebody might click on one of my dog cage links to learn more about it and possibly purchase it from Amazon. But while they are on Amazon, they get caught up in Amazon’s marketing genius and end up purchasing other items as well. Maybe they don’t even purchase the dog cage. But since they clicked over to Amazon via my affiliate link – I will get credit for anything they purchase in the next 24 hours!
It’s fun and easy to go into my Amazon stats and browse through all of the items that people purchased after clicking through via my links. Here are a few items that people purchased last month that I absolutely did not promote and that have nothing to do with any of my niche sites…
- Mmm… Nice Melons! Scented 13 oz Mason Jar Candle
- Arcan ALJ3T 3-Ton Quick Rise Aluminum Floor Jack
- Akro-Mils Hardware and Craft Cabinet, Black
- Precious Cat Ultra Premium Clumping Cat Litter, 40 pound bag
This Blog
I’m pleased to say that I published a quality post on this blog, in June, that resulted in some affiliate income! – Don’t Buy a Niche Site Course Without Evaluating the Source. – To be honest, I was unsure that I would generate any affiliate sales with that post because of the way that I presented the offer. But apparently, my presentation resonated with readers, and continues to do so. Nearly a month after publishing that post – affiliate sales continue to roll in!
But my presentation in that post isn’t the only reason affiliate sales keep rolling in. The main reason is that the offer is a highly valuable and quality product – being sold by a trustworthy guy. If you haven’t seen what Chris Lee is all about yet – make sure you check out his RankXL Niche Site Course. He tells all within his course and reveals exactly how he has been able to grow his Adsense income to nearly $20k per month!
Selling Stuff on Amazon
Again, neither my wife nor I have done absolutely anything towards our selling on Amazon business for several months now. Despite doing absolutely nothing, we still have several thousand dollars worth of inventory in Amazon warehouses waiting to be purchased. $2,583.57 left in inventory as of the end of June. And the month of June actually treated us pretty well despite doing nothing. We had a little over $900 worth of sales!
Obviously, we can’t expect to keep having good sales months like May and June when our inventory is starting to dwindle. I made a few feeble attempts last month to try to source more inventory – but didn’t have any luck in the clearance areas at the stores that I tried.
Again, we might revisit this business model this fall – just in time for the holiday buying season. We’ll see. It sure seemed like it was a lot easier to find all those great deals and sales right before and during the holiday buying season. Feel free to grab my free guide by clicking the button below to see exactly how we find items to sell on Amazon.
Click Here to get my FREE Guide – How to Find Items to Sell on Amazon
Motivation and Learning from Others
I do my best each month to stay up-to-date and informed with all that is going on in the world of internet marketing. I follow several blogs and podcasts and take part in a few public and private groups and communities on Facebook and Google+. I haven’t always been great about linking to others on this blog – so this section of my income report will be dedicated to that each month. Here is some of the best stuff that I came across last month that either motivated me, taught me something or caused me to take action…
- Nothing in June really stood out that motivated me. Sorry…
Income and Expenses – June 2015
Passive Income
Selling on Amazon
- $902.56 – Amazon Seller monthly sales (this is NOT net profit – see Amazon Seller Inventory Expenses and Seller Fees in expense section below)
Affiliate Income from Dumb Passive Income
- $173.52 – Long Tail Pro sales via Clickbank (why it is better than the competition) (how to make LTP pay for itself)
- $20.10 – LeadPages sales for this awesome lead generation software (I EASILY created this squeeze page with LeadPages)
- $$3.99 – SocialADR sales (go here to learn more and access my custom 20% off coupon code)
- $5.70 – Aweber signups ($1 for your first month)
- $21.24 – Ultimate Azon Theme sales via Clickbank (I have not yet reviewed this theme – but I beta tested it extensively – MUST HAVE for Amazon Affilliate sites)
- $449.50 – AmaSuite sales via JVZoo (software demonstrated in video embedded here)
- $242.50 – RankXL Niche Site Course (mentioned at the end of this post)
- $0 – oDesk signups 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 – EasyAzon4 sales via Clickbank (I haven’t even reviewed this yet – but I would not build an Amazon site without it!)
- $0 – The HOTH sales (awesome link building service – read my full review with case study results)
- $0 – WPEngine sales (my results after upgrading to the fastest hosting for WordPress on this blog)
- $90.00 – Bluehost (why I recommend Bluehost if you are just getting started)
- $0 – Lending Club signup (I haven’t done anything with or written about my investments here in over a year)
- $0 – Social Warfare sales (customizeable sharing buttons – as seen on this blog right now)
Other Passive Income from Niche Sites, etc…
- $368.23 – Google Adsense (ad click revenue from niche sites)
- $254.85 – Amazon Associates for sales on Amazon.com (explained in detail here)
- $17.99 – TeeChip profits for Tshirts I designed and sold
- $25.00 – affiliate commissions for undisclosed CPA advertiser on one of my niche sites
- $93.16 – Surveys for Cash – formerly promoted this on one of my niche sites – did not perform very well
Non-Passive Income
Website Services by Matthew Allen
- $0 – Website services – build simple websites for private businesses (like this one grmobilewelding.com)
Note: Bluehost banner above is an affiliate link
Expenses
Selling on Amazon
- $0 – Inventory Purchases (buying stuff for cheap to send to Amazon and sell for more – (how we got started detailed here)
- $427.83 – Amazon Seller Fees/Expenses (these include FBA selling fees, transaction fees, inventory & storage fees and service fees)
Hosting and Domains
- $104.00 – WPEngine (why I upgraded to the best and fastest hosting for WordPress)
- $0 – Bluehost – my new favorite hosting provider for niche sites – great price, ease of use, excellent service and overall experience
- $0 – GoDaddy for domain renewals and purchases
- $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)
- $49.00 – Aweber monthly fee for e-mail list management (first month trial only $1)
- $14.70 – ManageWP monthly fee for WordPress multiple site management program
- $0 – LeadPages paid annually in March – probably the most powerful tool I pay for and use to grow my online businesses
- $13.50 – Pro Rank Tracker – previously free rank checker tool – they started charging and I couldn’t live without
Outsourcing
- $263.00 – to my private writer for article writing for niche sites
- $85.31 – to UpWork (formerly oDesk) for virtual assistant(s)
- $0 – to The HOTH for link building packages (completely done-for-you link building service – my full updated review)
Miscellaneous
- $0 – Facebook Advertising
- $0- Paypal fees
- $10.00 – Google Apps for domain email
Totals and Thoughts
Total income $2,668.34 minus total expenses $979.34 equals a net profit of $1,689.00 for June 2015!
I made a conscious effort in June to keep my expenses as low as possible! Nearly half of my expenses were the Amazon Seller expenses – which is something that I can’t control. When my products sell on Amazon, the expenses add up. So those expenses directly correlate to more Amazon income. $902 in Amazon sales, to be exact, resulting in $427 in Amazon Seller fees. Despite that – I was still able to keep my expenses under $1,000 for June which resulted in a fantastic Net Income of almost $1,700!
Most of that $1,700 is truly passive income too – which is awesome! Sure, I continue to work hard almost every day to create these passive income streams. But the money that comes in throughout each month is mostly the result of stuff that I’ve done in the past.
This is the goal and the dream - to keep growing my passive income streams.Click To Tweet And slowly but surely, it is working!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! 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!
Photo Credits:
Image “sun rays in the clouds” by LeeRoy Hostetler – used with permission
Matthew Allen
Great month keep rocking
Thanks!
You are doing so great! $1700 in passive Income is amazing! I love your income reports and it is very inspiring. I’ve added you to The Ultimate List of Blogger Income Reports. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for adding me to your list Alexander! And that is quite the impressive list you have going. I am honored to be on it, even if only in the very middle.
For sure! I would be stoked if I was in the middle 🙂 Im way down at the bottom! Will be pulling for you to move up the list!
As a single father living paycheck to paycheck, I needed a side hustle and started blogging (passion blogging, I guess you’d call it). This route requires a great deal of time and effort for, what looks like, little opportunity for return (unless I write a book to sell, but there’s already 400,000 of them in this niche). I’ve come across SPI in my journey so I’ve considered doing niche sites.
I just discovered your site, so maybe I’ll find my answer, but how long were you doing this before you started turning a profit?
Also, what region is the farm in? It’s beautiful and looks like my old man’s farm in Southeastern Ohio.
Hey Greg – I just took a quick peek at your blog. Very nice start! I can see you resonating with lots of guys if you stick with it. I’m sure there is plenty of money to be made in that niche. Possible with Adsense – if you start getting lots of traffic to the site. And maybe even promoting Amazon products. I know there is plenty of weight loss and exercise stuff available on Amazon that you could promote.
I spent well over a year before I started making hardly any money at all – and closer to 2 years before I started making decent money. I actually started out with a different personal finance blog in the fall of 2011, before I ditched that and started this blog in May of 2012. Dedication and persistence has been the key. I get up at 5am at least 5 days a week (usually 6) to work on this stuff.
The farm is in the midwestern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan. About an hour north of Grand Rapids. It really is some beautiful farm land. Rolling hills and woods and fields…
Thanks for the supportive words, Matthew. Spare time is scarce (I’m already up at 5AM for my day job, and don’t get home until ~7PM), but I’m using every bit I can – including lunch breaks – to get this thing rolling.
Hi Matthew. Wow This is great inspiration for me. How do you manage your time with so many projects going on?
Tom
Tom, I honestly don’t know how I manage my time. Very little sleep. Try to stay focused on one thing at a time – but usually fail at that. Set priorities in life for sure. Family and day job come before all of this side hustle stuff. But the side hustle is so much fun – it seems more like a hobby. A hobby that pays!