The longest year ever is finally coming to a close! I've found these monthly "report" columns to be helpful in giving myself accountability -- and often when I look back over the previous month, I find encouraging progress as well.
Let's take a look back at the ol' November goals, where I focused mostly on things I could control rather than dollar amounts:
How'd I do?
500 Views = Almost done! When I checked early in the day on November 30th, there were 478 post views and I forgot how many site sessions. I shared a few more things around and tried to check stats the next day... But the Wix analytics dashboard "stinks on ice," to put it nicely. It is way more difficult than it should be to choose custom dates, see how many views an article got in a particular time frame... I also noticed it was counting an article that I posted on November 1st as having 80-something views on October 31st. #bruh But I'll just be happy that the site had almost double the post views of October! The most visited articles were Lisa Mann's Musician of the Month interview and Preparing for Maternity Leave Amid COVD-19 and Unexpected news.
10 Book Sales = Overdone! November turned out to be my best month yet, with 19 copies sold! (7 author copy sales through social media, 8 paperback sales on Amazon, and 4 ebook preorders.) Now I have to try to live up to that number in December! Grab your copy of Money Hacks for Metalheads and Old Millennials here to help the cause lol....
5 Blog Posts = Done! Thank you Tim Burke and The Inferno Doll for participating in our Music and Money series.
4 New TPT Resources = Done, although only one of them has sold thus far. That's okay, TPT is long game. I noticed a resource I made in August for a popular winter readaloud has been moving this month, so I'm happy with that.
Daily Interaction on Twitter = Done! Plus, I did reach that milestone of 500 followers, which is cool.
How did all this shake out in dollars and cents? (Not that it's all directly related, but a blog and social media presence *does* drive book sales and writing jobs...)
eBay sales, less shipping and fees: $3.53
Dividends: let's say $6
Interest: $14.26
Teachers Pay Teachers Payout: $22.43
Amazon Book Royalties: $33.51
Rakuten Payout: $36.66
Ibotta Payout: $50.70
Author Copy Sales: $63.63
Credit Card Cash Back: $69.48
Freelance Writing: $157
Total: $457.20
So an average (but not mentally overwhelming) month of writing jobs, some book sales on my own and through Amazon, and cashing in various rewards I've been building up for a couple months... Equals a very good month of passive/side hustle income! All these tiny streams don't seem like much on their own, but they add up to a significant amount altogether.
And those shopping/grocery apps do make a (tax-free) difference as long as you stick to buying only items that you were planning to purchase anyways. A couple things to note: Ibotta lets you cash out at any time once you reach a $20 threshold; I find the app to be kind of a pain in the neck (read more here), but it does give you real, actual money.
I had been saving up my Ibotta rewards since July to apply towards Christmas shopping, so cashing them out set me back to zero. However, I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to get a notification that someone had signed up for Ibotta using my referral link -- a complete stranger, I have no idea who -- and since they redeemed their first reward, I magically got ten dollars! So thank you Jeffrey, wherever you are.... Click this link or use the code gwujogx to be like that very cool dude Jeffery.
On the other hand, Rakuten pays you quarterly as long as you have at least $5.01 in rewards built up. I like that when I'm shopping online (which many of us are doing a lot of in 2020), a notification will pop up to activate cash back -- so I'll find rewards for something that I didn't even know was linked with Rakuten. Their mobile app also has lots of in-store and local dining deals, so I end up getting cash back on takeout, trips to PetSmart, etc. Rakuten is currently doing a $40 sign-up bonus -- spend your first $40, get $40 -- so now is the time if you've been thinking about signing up. Click here to use my referral code.
Anyhow.... Thanks for getting through my referral link plug! Seriously though, get yourself some free money. \m/
I'm keeping the December goals light because the holiday season -- plus, HMH and me's final holiday season where it's "just the two of us" -- calls for some major relaxation and time to appreciate my family's blessings.
Do you have any goals you're working on during the final month of the year, or are you saving the eternal pursuit for 2021? Leave a comment!
Stock photo from Wix.
This post may contain affiliate links. Order Money Hacks for Metalheads and Old Millennials in paperback and ebook formats: https://amzn.to/3lCsFdq
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