For 2024 I published my side hustle income report each month to maintain accountability.
This year, my main goal is to be profitable.
To maintain transparency and accountability, I'll be reporting both on my income and my expenses this year.
I haven't been profitable for a while now. My day job has been subsidizing my side hustles, which kind of play out as a time-consuming hobby.
My goal this year is to turn this around. Working at my business regularly helps me to sleep better at night, but without profit it eventually will just be added stress.
I'm still kind of in the course-buying mode, looking for insights that will pay off or techniques that will help me to develop and sell products and services. With this in mind, I'm going to need to turn things around in a big way to be profitable for the year.
Which sources I'm reporting and which I'm not
Since I'm not posting anonymously, my W-9 income and my main investments won't be reported. I'll report everything else, though!
I'll report on income as I receive it, not when I earn it. In other words, I report on it when it hits my bank account.
I'll report on expenses in two ways. If I've bought an annual plan for something, I'll break the cost up per month and expense it as I go along. One-time purchases will be expensed the month I make the purchase.
With that, let's get going!
Inbox Dollars: $10.00
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. Most of the income comes from a couple of very active referrals, and it's been reliable for quite some time.
I earned $10.00 in payouts this month. To make things easier, I've been cashing out directly in Amazon gift cards.
EarnApp: $19.68
EarnApp is one of the most passive sources of income I have, aside from bank accounts and dividends!
And it's been on a bit of a tear recently. I'm currently getting $1/GB shared, and the traffic has jumped to about 477 MB per day. They've recently increased their payout threshold to $10, but I hit two payouts in May, minus a small fee each time.
Here are reviews of this app and a few other passive apps.
HoneyGain: $17.85
HoneyGain is similar to EarnApp. Very passive income.
This one was slow for a bit, but it's picked up. I made the $20 payout threshold in May and received $17.85 after the fee.
Website services: $28.46
I have a website design and maintenance client who's a poker player I met at the tables during a sit-and-go.
For hosting his website, I received a recurring $30/month, minus a $1.54 PayPal fee.
Atlas Earth: $15.00
This is kind of a dumb “game” that pays you to watch ads basically, but at this point I've been playing it long enough that I'm earning almost $0.03 per ad I view, and I can view one per hour if I want. I can view six in a row before I have to wait to view more of them.
The game does pay out pretty much instantly, and I cashed out $15.00 in May.
Sales on eBay: $6.92
I sold one of my cool serial number bills for sale on eBay for $6.92 after fees and shipping.
Shipping the first bill took some figuring out, but now I have the system down so it's fairly easy and quick.
Amazon Associates: $15.43
Hey, Amazon paid me!
I get a commission once in a while from an OXO Brew 8 Cup article I wrote some time back. The commission finally filtered into my bank account in May.
Text Ad: $13.99
I sold a text ad on Mighty Bargain Hunter for $15. Received $13.99 after the PayPal fee.
Online Poker: $121.08
I play online poker mainly for fun at very low stakes.
I withdrew $151.08 in May, and bought $30 in chips through a promotion, which nets me $121.08.
TOTAL INCOME: $248.81
Better than last month by a bit.
And now … for the expenses.
Services I mentioned last month: $200.86
Here's a summary of the services I mentioned last month that I'm carrying forward:
- My newsletter provider Kit: $49.17/month
- Domains at NameCheap: $21.43/month
- Web host at Hosting.com: $14.99/month
- Tailwind, a Pinterest poster: $14.98/month
- Canva Pro, a graphic design tool: $15.00/month
- Camtasia, video editing software: $5.33/month
- LinkWhisper, internal linking plugin for WordPress: $5.59/month
- CleanTalk spam protection: $2/month
- IFTTT Pro, automation engine: $2.99/month
- Frase.io SEO tool: $17.49/month
- GeneratePress One, theme elements: $8.25/month
- UberSuggest SEO tool lifetime deal I'm expensing at $40.84/month
- Publer: social media posting software $2.80/month
Training courses: $87.00
I bought a couple of courses.
They seemed like good ideas at the time (and probably still are).
TOTAL EXPENSES: $287.86
NET INCOME: -$39.45 (-$697.39 YTD)
In the red again. I do have one service I'm looking at downgrading that will save me nearly $20/month, and another that I can cancel in October that will save me another $15/month.
We can only start from where we are.
The best time to start earning side income was twenty years ago.
But the next best time is right now.
Let's encourage one another.
Let's do this together!
Want more insights on making more money?
Check out Solid Cash Tips for regular insights on spending less, making more, and living well!
