This year I'm committed to publishing my side income reports each month to stay accountable.
My goal is to move things forward by keeping it transparent and real. Reporting on both the good and the bad allows me to reflect on lessons learned.
Which sources I'm reporting and which I'm not
Since I'm not posting anonymously, my primary income, my part-time job income, and my main investments won't be reported. Everything else is on the table!
Some income will be reported when I cash out, and others when I earn it.
Also, for the moment I'm reporting income, not profit. I'm in the red overall.
With that, let's go!
Google AdSense income: $5.25 (-$7.77)
This past month's downtick in AdSense income was expected. I reduced the number of ads showing on the page. I turned off Auto Ads on my main blog because the ads dominated the site and made it look a bit trashy.
I did hit $100 in July, and will get a payout at the end of this month.
I plan to apply for AdSense on a couple of other blogs I have after I get some more content up.
Google AdSense has had a consistent place for most of my blogging run. It's been far higher than it is now. Even with the blog just mostly sitting there, people visit and interact with the ads.
Medium Partner Program income: $17.21 (-$7.53)
July Medium Partner Program income is going in the wrong direction. A second month of decline.
I published 15 articles in July, for a total of 88 as of the end of July.
My focused goal is to earn $100 in a calendar month with the Medium Partner Program by the end of August.
This isn't likely to happen at this point.
Mr. Rebates: $4.40
Mr. Rebates is a cash-back rebate site that I've used for nearly two decades.
Mr. Rebates rewards members who refer new users with 20% of what the referral earns, for life.
(Note, the link above and others in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you sign up I stand to earn a commission, at no additional cost to you.)
All of the income this month was from these referral commissions. I have a small number of dedicated referrals that continue to buy through the site, so I benefit from their activity.
I did cash out at the beginning of this month for $10.10.
Inbox Dollars: $13.18
Inbox Dollars is a get-paid-to site that pays out cash for surveys, trials, sign-ups, and other activities. June's earnings were roughly the same as May's.
Inbox Dollars pays 10% of my referrals' earnings for life. Most of the income comes from a couple of very active referrals, and it's been reliable for quite some time.
Amazon Associates: $0
I got some commissions in May but none in July.
At the end of July, I got a payout of $11.16!
Landa: $0.82
Landa offers shares of rental properties in several states. These shares pay “dividends” each month, based on the net income the underlying properties bring in.
I put $250 in for fun to see where it goes.
June saw the first increase in dividends following six straight months of declining dividends.
I plan to buy more shares as I earn enough from dividends, but don't plan to put more money in unless the prices dip substantially.
EarnApp: $5.48
EarnApp is about as close to passive income as you can get for an app. It runs on my computer, transfers anonymized packets from one place to another, and I get paid for allowing this.
Essentially no intervention on my part, and I hardly notice the performance hit.
I have 24 referrals and five of them have installed the app and used it for long enough to generate some referral income. The referral income is 10% of their income for life (at no cost to them as it's baked into the rate everyone gets).
The minimum payout is $2.50 (minus a very small fee), so the referral right now will get me to that $2.50 slightly faster. Most of the income this month, like last month, was from the app “working” on my computer.
With the timing of the payouts this month, I received two payments.
I talk more EarnApp and other very passive income sites here.
Honeygain: $0
HoneyGain is a site similar to EarnApp. I share my bandwidth and I get paid.
The payout threshold is higher than for EarnApp. I have a bit over $13 accrued.
I have three referrals, but they've only earned me $0.02 to date.
Piano lessons: $40.00
This year I've driven a few miles to give a one-hour piano lesson.
I gave one lesson in July for $40.
It has been easy for me and enjoyable for both myself and my student. Not bad as far as trading time for money goes!
This is my favorite side income currently because of the interactions, to be fair. Not at all passive, but that's okay!
Global Poker: $0
No cashout in July at Global Poker.
I play for fun. I have enough of a winning record on micro-tournaments and $0.05/$0.10 cash games to not go broke. Also there's a small daily sign-in reward that subsidizes my playing.
As of right now I'm close to being able to cash out again.
I talk more about how I earn regularly from online poker here.
CardCash: $5.00
This one surprised me!
CardCash.com is a site for buying discounted gift cards. People sell their unused gift cards at a discount to CardCash, and then they sell them to others at a lesser discount, and profit from the spread.
Everyone wins: The seller converts their card to cash, the buyer gets a gift card they want at a discount, and CardCash profits a bit from each sale.
I referred someone to CardCash who purchased a card, and got a $5.00 credit toward a discounted card!
TOTAL: $91.34 (-49% from last month)
Ouch. Not good.
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)
- Impact and FlexOffers, similar to Commission Junction
- ConvertKit, the mailing list manager extraordinaire
- Tutoring (in real life!)
- Honey: A completely different app than HoneyGain; used for coupon codes
- CryptoTab: a browser that mines bitcoin
- InstaGC: a site similar to Inbox Dollars (NOT owned by the same company)
- My YouTube channel (64% toward 1,000 subscribers and 16% of the way toward 4k hours)
- Selling on eBay
- Benable with its swanky lists and built-in affiliate program
We can only start from where we are.
The best time to start earning side income is twenty years ago.
But the next best time is right now.
Let's encourage one another!
Thanks for reading!
Hi, I'm John and I encourage entrepreneurship in people, including myself.
Join 300+ savvy people with my Solid Cash Tips newsletter for regular insights on side hustling and saving money, with a generous portion of productivity, habit-building and working smarter!
