I’ve been reflecting on the challenge Sam set for himself to generate $200,000 in online income, or else go back to a traditional job. My own challenge isn’t quite as ambitious, but it’s along the same lines. I’ve decided that for the last six months of 2013, from July to December, I’ll live entirely off the income from my blogs.
Here are the rules I’ve set:
1. Payments received after July 1st for deals closed before that date won’t count.
2. Since my funds are in a PayPal account in US dollars, I’ll apply a 2% exchange rate and a 2% transfer fee to all cleared PayPal balances.
3. Income from freelance travel writing won’t be included.
4. Only income from my blogs—Reach Financial Independence, Make Money Your Way, and any other site I might develop during these months—will count.
5. Income from my ad referral network will count since it’s linked to my blogs.
By the end of the year, I aim to have saved $3,000 from this income for a vacation at the end of 2013 or early 2014. If the vacation happens in 2013, its cost will come out of this savings goal.
My lifestyle won’t change because of this challenge. If I go over budget, it’s simply a fail. I won’t stop traveling, eating well, or spending on things I enjoy, and my boyfriend doesn’t even know about this challenge, so our spending habits will remain the same.
Money spent on investments in assets won’t count. We have two types of ledgers: “house and land investments,” which include costs like building a new room and paying contractors (these don’t count), and “life investments,” which should actually be called liabilities, like a car, a boat, or bed sheets for a potential B&B (these will be included in the spending).
I’ve set three income targets:
1. $1,000/month: This should cover basic daily expenses but won’t meet the holiday savings goal.
2. $2,000/month: This should allow for emergency expenses (like replacing a dying laptop) and meet the holiday savings goal.
3. $5,000/month: This amount makes me feel secure as passive income. It allows me to live comfortably by my standards and have enough to keep investing and building more wealth. If blogging were my only source of income, this is what I’d want to achieve, so it’s my real goal.
Current Status:
I’ve plateaued at the $2,000-$3,000 per month range. June was just under $3,000, not my best month. Summer is typically slow. Reach Financial Independence started earning well after six months, and Make Money Your Way is only a few days old, so I don’t expect much from it yet. However, I won’t repeat the mistake of losing the first two months as I did with the initial blog.
I’ll be disclosing my blogging income on Make Money Your Way monthly, so check there for updates!
How do you use your online/freelance/side hustle income? Does it cover your living expenses or just your blogging costs?
