Welcome to PMI Income Reports!
Every month I create
and share these reports which is a detailed account of my online
earnings which helps me keep track of my progress, the trials and errors
and also to give readers the ability to join me on my journey and
hopefully take something out of it that you can use for yourself!
Happy New Years from PMI!!! Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and ready to
go into the New Year. There's alot of great things that is coming in the
2016, but for now, let's wrap up the year and get into January's Income
Report.
January is here, which means it's a New Year and New things are happening. It has also been a full year since I've left my full time job on December 31, 2014 to run my own business and just recently, things seem to be heading on the right course. I've learned a lot within the last year as I stated in the article above and started to implement some of the ideas and plans I've been sitting on for a long time.
January was a sad month for my family because my Grandmother passed away. She lived a long great life filled with love from all of her family and friends and we are sad to see her go. This means that I will be traveling back to my hometown, St. Croix to attend the funeral so work will be on hold around the ending of the month.
Without delay, lets get right into this months' PMI income report!
New Happenings
For those that may not know, I love graphic tees and over the past few years, I have collected a good amount but many I have since gotten rid of for many different reasons. Lately, I've been getting the itch for graphic tees again but this time, I want to collect more tees that has deeper meanings in the words or graphics on the shirt. In 2014, I began playing around with a few designs for shirts and sweatsuits and even ordered a few to see how they look in real life. During those times, I learned a lot about fulfillment services, e-commerce platforms, and payment solutions but overall there were things that I still had did not know and needed to learn. I eventually put everything put those plans on hold until I can figure things out but I always knew I would continue one day.
During the month of January, I decided to crank things back up and began the planning stages for the layouts and designs for a new T Shirt Collection that I am very excited about releasing. The collection feature some of the best quotes on PMI, summed up in a word or a graphic and will consist of about 5 designs to begin with and will eventually grow to more designs later down the road. I like to call it " Some of the best quotes on a Tee."
The T Shirt collection will be released sometime in March or early April 2016, but right now there's few things that I have to decide on and establish before I can even get started on the designs. In next month's income report, I will reveal the design and meaning behind the first tee in the collection and more importantly, I will be looking for some feedback from from you guys so I can better improve the Tees.
January was a sad month for my family because my Grandmother passed away. She lived a long great life filled with love from all of her family and friends and we are sad to see her go. This means that I will be traveling back to my hometown, St. Croix to attend the funeral so work will be on hold around the ending of the month.
Without delay, lets get right into this months' PMI income report!
New Happenings
For those that may not know, I love graphic tees and over the past few years, I have collected a good amount but many I have since gotten rid of for many different reasons. Lately, I've been getting the itch for graphic tees again but this time, I want to collect more tees that has deeper meanings in the words or graphics on the shirt. In 2014, I began playing around with a few designs for shirts and sweatsuits and even ordered a few to see how they look in real life. During those times, I learned a lot about fulfillment services, e-commerce platforms, and payment solutions but overall there were things that I still had did not know and needed to learn. I eventually put everything put those plans on hold until I can figure things out but I always knew I would continue one day.
During the month of January, I decided to crank things back up and began the planning stages for the layouts and designs for a new T Shirt Collection that I am very excited about releasing. The collection feature some of the best quotes on PMI, summed up in a word or a graphic and will consist of about 5 designs to begin with and will eventually grow to more designs later down the road. I like to call it " Some of the best quotes on a Tee."
The T Shirt collection will be released sometime in March or early April 2016, but right now there's few things that I have to decide on and establish before I can even get started on the designs. In next month's income report, I will reveal the design and meaning behind the first tee in the collection and more importantly, I will be looking for some feedback from from you guys so I can better improve the Tees.
Reading
Lately, I have been reading a lot of books on various topics which has been changing the way I think about money, life and my future. Now, I am not a fast reader nor do I read everyday but one habit that I am working on is reading a few chapters right after my morning workout (more on my workout below). As part of my challenge to myself to learn and open up my mind to new things, my goal is to purchase and read at least one book per month in which I will be able to use some of the information I've learned to improve my life overall whether it is financial related, personal and business relationships, my health or any other areas of my life I may not have mentioned.
This month, I started reading one of the 4 books I recently picked up at the local goodwill which I've underestimated for a long time because I never knew they had such great books and for a price you can't beat.
The book is called "The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture." It is written by John Battelle who is a cofounding editor or Wired and founder of The Industry Standard. There's many books out about Google beginnings but this book gives you a much broader and inside story of Google and also the past, the present and the future of search technology as a whole. Google has changed the way people use the internet and changed the way some businesses do business online and John documents the whole internet scene from its' early beginnings in the 90's to the 2000's where it constantly evolving and growing at a fast pace.
Lately, I have been reading a lot of books on various topics which has been changing the way I think about money, life and my future. Now, I am not a fast reader nor do I read everyday but one habit that I am working on is reading a few chapters right after my morning workout (more on my workout below). As part of my challenge to myself to learn and open up my mind to new things, my goal is to purchase and read at least one book per month in which I will be able to use some of the information I've learned to improve my life overall whether it is financial related, personal and business relationships, my health or any other areas of my life I may not have mentioned.
This month, I started reading one of the 4 books I recently picked up at the local goodwill which I've underestimated for a long time because I never knew they had such great books and for a price you can't beat.
The book is called "The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture." It is written by John Battelle who is a cofounding editor or Wired and founder of The Industry Standard. There's many books out about Google beginnings but this book gives you a much broader and inside story of Google and also the past, the present and the future of search technology as a whole. Google has changed the way people use the internet and changed the way some businesses do business online and John documents the whole internet scene from its' early beginnings in the 90's to the 2000's where it constantly evolving and growing at a fast pace.
Exercising
As part of my personal growth journey, I've started a small workout plan 4-5 days out of the week in the mornings and I can honestly say it is one of the best decisions I have made. As I am learning that working in front of a computer screen all day and not maintaining a healthy lifestyle can really mess with your health, I decided to design a simple workout plan that is very easy to stick to and can be done in about 30-45 minutes.
Here is the small plan I've put together:
- Run - 1.4 miles
- Push-ups - 2 sets of 25
- Sit-ups - 2 sets of 25
The workout
plan above is a simple plan that I put together for myself that would
help me along my journey. My goal with the workout plan is not to
necessarily to gain muscles but more along the lines of tuning the
muscles, staying healthy and in shape and to help me stay focus and self
aware. There will be some major changes to the plan as we go further into the
New Year which I very excited about and can't wait to show to you guys!
Online Learning
Another part of my personal growth journey that I am really enjoying is keeping up with the #AskGaryVeeShow on Gary Vaynerchuk YouTube Channel. I'm also a big fan of Pat Flynn on Smart Passive Income, Matthew Allen on Dumb Passive Income, and I also enjoy listening to Glendon Cameron on his YouTube channel just about everyday which is how I found out about Gary Vaynerchuk. The techniques and lessons I am learning from these guys are all great and I have been applying them online, offline, and in my daily life with some successes so far. Another reason I enjoy listening to them is because they both have the years of knowledge and authenticity of creating and running real businesses.
As I pointed out above, I've been a fan of Pat Flynn for a long time. In fact, he is the main inspiration behind PMI and the reason why I started the site. One part of Smart Passive Income that I'm recently starting to enjoy is the podcast.
For a while I've heard about SPI's podcast but I did not download it until late last year. The content on the podcast is one of a kind a very unique not only because it is coming form Pat himself, but mainly because of the broad range of topics that he covers in the podcast. When I got the chance throughout the day, I would pop my headphones in and go through the different episode. I think this month I listened to to the most shows I've ever listened too in a single day. I listened to over 100 shows while working on my sites one Saturday night which by the time I was done, I was exhausted and overloaded with information but learned some valuable lessons.
One episode that I found really interesting was Ask Pat Episode 0425 How Do I Make My Blogger Website Mobile Friendly?
The main reason why I was interesting is because I am also a big user of the blogger platform and as we all know, PMI is also on the blogger platform. I have been a fan of it for a while now and find it quite easy to use but there's many downfalls to the platform as well. Now as Pat pointed out, he uses Wordpress and but sticking to the topic, he did his research and found a site that have some great responsive blogger themes that the lady on the show can use for her website.
The Link to the site:
www.biglittlegeek.com/best-responsive-seo-optimized-blogger-templates/
This was useful information because as he stated, he knows that many of his fans are still using Blogger and switching to Wordpress might not be as easy for some as it is for others. I wrote a short article on the advantages and disadvantages of using blogger for your niche sites, but I don't think that I went into much details that I probably should have. So I am currently working on an article that will fully explain the good and the bad, the failures and winnings that I've had with blogger since using it.
One other important thing that Pat acknowledge was the fact that the lady on the show was making good money with affiliate marketing, Amazon Associates to be exact. I'm a big fan of it and use it in many of my sites including PMI in certain articles but what he pointed out was an issue many of the affiliates are having.
The problem was that if you are an affiliate in the U.S. and someone in the UK clicks on one of your link and purchase something, you would not receive the credit. GeniusLink provides a solution to the problem. It allows you to become an amazon associate in many other countries outside the U.S. without having to register to receive credit from purchases in each individual country.
I've never used the tool but I am really looking forward to using it soon as possible and as Pat explains it, when you use one of their links to promote something on your site, when someone from another country clicks on your links, GenuisLink determines which country the click came from then redirects them with your amazon associate link for that country so that you are able to receive credit from their purchase.
Niche Sites
In November, something happened that I did not mention because I thought I would be able to work at a fast pace to create what I had lost. After years of downloading music, movies, and what I consider hardcore usage, my laptop finally gave out. I had over 15 articles and about 7 videos prepped and ready for final touch ups saved on my laptop which now I no longer have access too. Its somewhat okay because I have a desktop that I can continue working on but I will have to rewrite the article and produce the short videos over again. On top of all the other content I'm building and creating for the niche sites and the other platforms, I currently have a hand full. This is the main reason I am quickly trying to organize things so I can easily create and publish content on a more efficient scale.
January was another month that consisted of me producing tons of content for my sites and social platforms. One of my goals that I have NOT kept up with was to produce at least 10-12 articles per week which would amount to around 2 articles per day. In reality, over the last few months, I've only got up to about 5 per week, and that's on a good week.
Another part of my personal growth journey that I am really enjoying is keeping up with the #AskGaryVeeShow on Gary Vaynerchuk YouTube Channel. I'm also a big fan of Pat Flynn on Smart Passive Income, Matthew Allen on Dumb Passive Income, and I also enjoy listening to Glendon Cameron on his YouTube channel just about everyday which is how I found out about Gary Vaynerchuk. The techniques and lessons I am learning from these guys are all great and I have been applying them online, offline, and in my daily life with some successes so far. Another reason I enjoy listening to them is because they both have the years of knowledge and authenticity of creating and running real businesses.
As I pointed out above, I've been a fan of Pat Flynn for a long time. In fact, he is the main inspiration behind PMI and the reason why I started the site. One part of Smart Passive Income that I'm recently starting to enjoy is the podcast.
For a while I've heard about SPI's podcast but I did not download it until late last year. The content on the podcast is one of a kind a very unique not only because it is coming form Pat himself, but mainly because of the broad range of topics that he covers in the podcast. When I got the chance throughout the day, I would pop my headphones in and go through the different episode. I think this month I listened to to the most shows I've ever listened too in a single day. I listened to over 100 shows while working on my sites one Saturday night which by the time I was done, I was exhausted and overloaded with information but learned some valuable lessons.
One episode that I found really interesting was Ask Pat Episode 0425 How Do I Make My Blogger Website Mobile Friendly?
The main reason why I was interesting is because I am also a big user of the blogger platform and as we all know, PMI is also on the blogger platform. I have been a fan of it for a while now and find it quite easy to use but there's many downfalls to the platform as well. Now as Pat pointed out, he uses Wordpress and but sticking to the topic, he did his research and found a site that have some great responsive blogger themes that the lady on the show can use for her website.
The Link to the site:
www.biglittlegeek.com/best-responsive-seo-optimized-blogger-templates/
This was useful information because as he stated, he knows that many of his fans are still using Blogger and switching to Wordpress might not be as easy for some as it is for others. I wrote a short article on the advantages and disadvantages of using blogger for your niche sites, but I don't think that I went into much details that I probably should have. So I am currently working on an article that will fully explain the good and the bad, the failures and winnings that I've had with blogger since using it.
One other important thing that Pat acknowledge was the fact that the lady on the show was making good money with affiliate marketing, Amazon Associates to be exact. I'm a big fan of it and use it in many of my sites including PMI in certain articles but what he pointed out was an issue many of the affiliates are having.
The problem was that if you are an affiliate in the U.S. and someone in the UK clicks on one of your link and purchase something, you would not receive the credit. GeniusLink provides a solution to the problem. It allows you to become an amazon associate in many other countries outside the U.S. without having to register to receive credit from purchases in each individual country.
I've never used the tool but I am really looking forward to using it soon as possible and as Pat explains it, when you use one of their links to promote something on your site, when someone from another country clicks on your links, GenuisLink determines which country the click came from then redirects them with your amazon associate link for that country so that you are able to receive credit from their purchase.
Niche Sites
In November, something happened that I did not mention because I thought I would be able to work at a fast pace to create what I had lost. After years of downloading music, movies, and what I consider hardcore usage, my laptop finally gave out. I had over 15 articles and about 7 videos prepped and ready for final touch ups saved on my laptop which now I no longer have access too. Its somewhat okay because I have a desktop that I can continue working on but I will have to rewrite the article and produce the short videos over again. On top of all the other content I'm building and creating for the niche sites and the other platforms, I currently have a hand full. This is the main reason I am quickly trying to organize things so I can easily create and publish content on a more efficient scale.
January was another month that consisted of me producing tons of content for my sites and social platforms. One of my goals that I have NOT kept up with was to produce at least 10-12 articles per week which would amount to around 2 articles per day. In reality, over the last few months, I've only got up to about 5 per week, and that's on a good week.
Some weeks, only 1 was completed, on others, 2-3. I am really trying to get focus and get a on schedule with my goals for my niche site portfolio. Right now, being that it is just a one man operation, it's going to take some time to complete all the work on the table right now but for the most part, I am seeing some progress.
Here are some of the things that I have completed or still working on right now to go into the New Year:
Niche Sites, YouTube Channels,
- Producing 100% quality original articles
- Finish writing my first fiction book
- Creating new content for YouTube channel
- Organizing a schedule to post and interact on sites and social media platforms
- Building several new niche sites to add to my portfolio
- Develop a streamlined process for building niche sites and creating content
There's a few other things I'm also trying to get organized and develop in a systematic order, but those listed are first priority as of right now.
Also, a funny thing has been happening lately. One of my sites that I built early last year which up until around Late October was just plain dead. The site had 0 views for the first 6 months of the site going live, then a spike a views occurred which is due to a single article which is now getting between 50-100 views per week. The article is ranking very well for the keywords used so I am using this article as a reference for producing more articles for the site.
December and January proved to be a success because I was able to focus in and get a lot of content prepped and even published some. I am currently stacking up on content so even if I am behind, I still will have something to publish to keep the sites updated. In December, I wrote a total of 15 articles and created 4 videos. In January, I did 19 articles and 7 videos so in all I have 34 articles prepped and saved in my MS word files, and 11 videos saved and ready to be published. I will start releasing content on a scheduled basis at the beginning of March. There will be more details about this as we go along. Now it's time to get into this months online earnings.
Income Report - January 2016
Income
Affiliate Earnings
- $1.98 - Amazon Associates Referral Fees from Amazon.com
- $1.99 - Revenue from Niche Sites
- $0.00 - Mobile Advertising
Expenses
- $0.00 - Since most of my sites and apps have been up before I started this challenge and are hosted on subdomains, I did not include the expenses I paid earlier in the year for the domain names, fees, etc. I'm pretty sure it will not stay like this for too long once things start to pick up!
- $10.33 - Domain Names
- $25.00 - Google Play Developer Fee
- $40.00 - Development of Mobile Apps
Short Recap
Much like December, January was a month that consisted on catching up on things like creating and publishing content for my niche sites and other platforms. I'm really excited about the T Shirt collection that I'm working on and i think you guys will like it as well. I would greatly appreciate any comments, suggestions or improvements I can make once the designs are revealed to make sure that I can create the best quality design possible.
Thank You for being apart of my monthly online income report. I am look forward to your comments and any suggestions as I am always looking forward to improving and learning new things that will help me grow and build my online business.
