I cannot believe I am finally getting to write this post. Long before I started this blog, I used to read income reports from other bloggers, marvelling at how they could earn a living online. Earning numbers far beyond what I earn at my full time job, and managing to do this all with a laptop and some determination. The fact that there are so many ways to earn a living online means that almost anyone can earn some money on the side, if they want to.
Some of my favourite bloggers who share their income reports are:
- Making Sense of Cents
- Disease Called Debt
- Smart Passive Income
- Pinch of Yum
- From Aldi to Harrods
All of these bloggers post their monthly earnings, and some of them are amazing numbers! I can only hope to one day be posting an income number in the thousands, but we all have to start somewhere and I’m so pleased I’ve finally made some money online.
I’ve decided that, where possible. all of the extra income I earn will go straight into savings. I think because it’s extra on top of what I’ve budgeted for, it is almost like “free” money that can go straight into our Ultimate Dream Fund, which will only help us in our long term aims. Now that I’ve made some money, it’s made me much more determined to earn something extra each month. For 2016 I definitely need to make some kind of strategy/game plan for how to earn a decent amount in side hustles.
Anyway, this is what I earned in November:
Advertising – £76.29
Swagbucks – £5.00
Sponsored post – £70.00
Total: £151.29
In my first month making money online, I managed to get into the three figure mark, which I’m really pleased with. I was quite lucky as the advertising and sponsored post people got in touch with me about being on the site, so I didn’t have to do any pitches to anyone. I’ll have to work up to that! I have set aside 30% of this income for tax and national insurance purposes, which means that what I can save is reduced, but that’s the law… 🙂
I would love to consistently make £200ish a month whilst I’m off on maternity leave, because it would be a good amount to have coming in as a side hustle. I’d also love to write some articles/posts for other sites, but am unsure about how to go about that. I’ve been looking at some job boards, but need to look at writing a good cover letter. I’m hoping that over the holidays I’ll get some time to myself whilst my husband looks after the baby, so I can get some time to get my action plan together!
For December, I’m aiming to earn another £150 in side income/online income. So far, I’m not on track at all to meet this aim, so I’ve got some work to do! It looks like I’ll be doing lots of online surveys for the time being 😉 I also want to write an eBook, but it’s just finding the time to do everything. I need to find some mummy bloggers who also earn a living online and ask them some questions about time management I think!
Hey! Congrats first of all. It’s always nice to earn money from side hustles.
After I launched my website (not my blog) I remember how I was checking my AdSense app to see how I earned a few cents every hour. At the end of the day sometimes I hat 4-5€ (few montsh after launching). It made me really happy. After the site got some proper traffic and it started running, it went up to 700€/month. Wich was nice but at the same time, I saw that I reached the maximum since I basicall covered all of the target group. Then it started to get less and less because people shifted quickly to mobile.
I always knew that advertising income can’t be the main income source of my site. I had a feeling that it has a lot bigger potetntial besides cpc income. So I’ve started building up a product that ads some value to a specific group (customers). The community and the speed in which I can reach my community is basically the product my customers are willing to pay for. Every month. So now this income is 2500€ a month (not all passive).
So now I have cpc income (which stagnates), paid ad income, affiliate income and “product income” The difference is:
The “product income” is income from selling a relevant procut or service, regardless of traffic, involves no annoying banners, makes everybody happy. That’s the income I prefer.
Once the product income gets big enough and passive enough, you can take dowm some annoying banners and cpc ads and make your site better.
If I can give you an advice: think about a project, a website that:
– has a big enough target group (or it’s b2b)- this is key!
– can offer a product people are willing to pay for
– involves as little work as possible from your side
– don’t hope for cpc
Although some people make nice money in the personal finance area with their blogs. I don’t want to do that. I might put some ads on my site, but that’s not the point if it. I blog because it’s fun and I love the community. There are other, easyier, more profitable ways to make money.
All I’m saying: think outside the box and start that rocket! If you love driving a Mini, that’s fine. You can always do that! But get a massive Truck with a driver that you make your money with! I hope you got the point.
I’d love to get £700 a month from Adsense, that’s awesome! I am looking at creating some products, but it’s all about time and finding it. Plus, I need to narrow it down to what I actually want to do; I have so many ideas that it can be confusing at times!
Hi Nicola!
Getting some income from blogging is amazing! Like you I am always amazed seeing how much some other bloggers make!
Look forward to seeing your income going up and up!!!
Thank you 🙂 and I know, some people make an absolute fortune online!
Nicola – Congrats! That’s fabulous that you’re making some money now that you’re home with the baby. I agree that finding time to do everything is so difficult. I have so many projects planned, but with three kids, I Haven’t figured it out either! Happy Holidays to you and your family!
Thank you 🙂 I find it hard enough with one baby, I can’t imagine what it’s like with three children!
Wow! Nicola, congrats. I can’t believe that you earned £76.29 from advertising. Nice! Hope your December is better than this month of November.
Thank you 🙂 December is looking like it’ll be quite a lot less, but it’s all a learning curve at the moment 🙂
Congratulations. I would love to know how you go about doing these things as being a single mum whilst at university means I can’t balance work and my course. So I could do with an extra income know matter how small.
Thank you 🙂 I’ve been blogging for 18 months now, so I’ve built up a readership. There are some articles on the site about earning money from home, if you click on the income category 🙂
Hi Nicola nice to meet you. Love this blog. The layout is spectacular. You’d inspiring me. I’ve been looking for a side hustle and you’re giving me great ideas. Buon Natale to you and your family