Yeah, another writer posting about their side hustle income.
How. Exciting.
We all have to start somewhere!
The thing is: I haven't done this ever. But it's the right time now.
I'll be publishing my online income report monthly for a while as accountability to myself.
And at least for now, to give you a reason for you to feel good about how much you're making online!
What sources of income I'll report, and what I won't
I won't report everything. Some people have reported their entire net worth publicly, like J. Money. He did so anonymously. Since I'm not posting anonymously, I'm not putting everything out there like that.
Income from my primary day job, my music director job, my retirement plan, savings accounts, investment accounts, and so forth, won't be reported here.
Everything else, though, I'll report on. I'll make a distinction between earnings for the month, and when I cash out.
Some sources of income I'll report on only when I get a cash-out because they're just “points” until I do.
One last thing before I start
I'll report on income, which is very different than profit.
Overall, I'll likely be in the red with side income ventures for 2024.
It will be a lovely day when I break even!
So with that, here we go for January 2024.
Google AdSense income: $11.00
I've blogged since 2005. At one point in the late aughts, I was making hundreds of dollars a month. Google AdSense has a $100 payout threshold (like the Medium Partner Program), and for years I was easily making the threshold every month. (One lovely day a few years ago, an article got picked up by a well-traveled federal employment site and I made nearly $100 in a single day with AdSense!)
Recently, my last payout was September 2023. It looks like I earned enough in January to put me over the edge to get a payout in February. That's a far cry from every month.
Medium Partner Program: $10.98
January 2024 was the first month I posted any writing at all. The fact that I earned almost precisely the same amount as I did on AdSense speaks to the power Medium wields now.
I published eight stories on Medium in January. My main blog, Mighty Bargain Hunter, currently has 1,228 published posts.
Quite a difference per post, no?
Mr. Rebates: $0.80
Mr. Rebates is a cash-back rebate site that I've been a member of for close to 20 years. Mr. Rebates rewards members who refer new users with 20% of what the referral earns, for life.
Their payment threshold is $10. They pay promptly on the first of the month. The bonuses “age in” after 90 days, in case merchandise is returned, so I'm just starting to get bonuses from November 2023 added in.
This is another source that has seen better days. My biggest monthly payout was $168.74 on August 1st, 2013, over a decade ago. Now I'm getting $10 every few months.
I did get a payout in January though: $12.72. Go me.
Inbox Dollars: $10.70
Inbox Dollars is a get-paid-to site that pays out cash for surveys, trials, sign-ups, and other activities.
Inbox Dollars pays 10% of my referrals' earnings for life. I have a couple of very active referrals who do most of the heavy lifting for that $10.70.
Amazon Associates: $0.00
Sixty-six clicks, but no purchases. Oh well.
I do have $6.81 on my balance waiting for that magical $10 threshold.
Landa: $2.05
Landa offers shares of rental properties in several states which pay “dividends” each month, based on the net income the properties generate.
I put $250 in “for fun” to see where it goes. Annualized I'm earning around 10% return, and that's independent of appreciation of the values of my shares (some of which I can sell, others I can't).
I plan to buy more shares as I earn enough from dividends.
EarnApp: $2.54
A friend told me about EarnApp.
The income is about as passive as it gets. I have the app running on my computer, and I share some of the bandwidth.
No intervention on my part, really, and I don't notice the performance hit.
EarnApp pays 10% of my referrals' income for life, though I don't have any referrals at the moment. The income this month was my own “labor” as it were.
Atlas Earth: $10.00
Gosh, Atlas Earth is a boring game. It amounts to watching ads for a few cents apiece.
And it was sloooooow-going at the beginning.
But I've been “playing” long enough that I got two $5.00 payouts this past month.
Global Poker: $50.00
My big winner of the month was my Global Poker cash-out.
I play for fun mostly but have enough of a winning record on $0.11 tournaments, $1.10 sit-and-gos, and $0.05/$0.10 cash games that I got enough past the $50 threshold to cash out.
TOTAL: $98.07
Which is … not even three figures from eight different sources.
But that's where I am.
I expect things will be much higher end of the year.
If not, I seriously will need to question my life's choices.
Other sources that are waiting in the wings
I have a few others that I'm involved in. Some will pay out soon:
- MyPoints: a site similar to Inbox Dollars (owned by the same company)
- Swagbucks: another site similar to Inbox Dollars (owned by the same company)
- Commission Junction: An affiliate manager for many companies
- Impact and FlexOffers, similar to Commission Junction
- ConvertKit, the mailing list manager extraordinaire
- Tutoring (in real life!)
- HoneyGain: a site similar to EarnApp
- CryptoTab: a browser that mines bitcoin
- InstaGC: a site similar to Inbox Dollars (NOT owned by the same company)
- My YouTube channel (halfway toward 1,000 subscribers and part of the way toward 4k hours)
- Selling on eBay
We can only start from where we are.
There's no other place to start except from where we are right now.
And right now, after hosting, services, and training programs, I'm losing money online.
So here I am. (I'm waving at you now from behind the screen.)
Maybe we can appreciate where we all are, and cheer each other on as we make progress from there.
Very interesting to consider all the possible ways to bring in some extra money when you’re just standing in line at the grocery store (or during other little chunks of time). I remember MyPoints! Have not participated in that one in years.
I have been scanning receipts with Receipt Hog and recently got a $25 payout. That took awhile to add up, though. Another fairly passive income source is the cash back I get from Rakuten ($886 since 11/2016) for shopping I’d be doing anyway (and also when booking hotels through the Rakuten shopping portal). Let me know if you want a referral code, ha ha.
Are you still selling on eBay? You listed it, but didn’t say how active you are with it. I just started selling on eBay and Facebook Marketplace to clear the clutter in my garage. I’ve sold $400 since November, although with eBay fees, mailing labels/postage it ends up being $284 in my pocket. Better than sending that stuff to the landfill.
Hey there BBSS! Thanks for stopping by!!
I’m a member of Rakuten! I joined when it was Ebates in 2002!
I have a few “flipper” things that I need to sell on eBay. It’s been a while. I used to do magazine back issues but that got to be too low-margin to be worth it.