My Monthly Report – October 2009
Another month down, another monthly report to share!
It seems like a lot of time has passed since my last report, but I think that’s because I’ve been focusing a lot on creating quality posts on a consistent schedule for you to read. I feel, and I think most of you would agree, that the content here on the blog this past month has been some of the best so far. It shows in the number of comments and in the amount of traffic I’ve been seeing lately. For all of you readers out there, new and old school – I just want to say thanks.
Important Going-Ons in October
On a personal note, April (my wife), just entered her third trimester! She’s doing well, and the baby is healthy and moving around…a lot. Just the other day, I put my hand on her belly and felt the baby slowly move across where my hand was. It kind of felt like one of those back massagers you put on a chair, with the balls that move in a circular motion that you’re supposed to lean your back against, but in super slow motion. It was crazy!!!
Online, a lot of crazy good things have been happening too.
GreenExamAcademy
Although sales are expected to slow down a bit for the holidays, I’m super stoked to report that with Google’s recent PageRank update (it’s slowly coming along, it may or may not have hit your website already), GreenExamAcademy is now PR 5! That’s after intheleed.com had to be shut down, which made my new domain a PR 0 – so this is definitely an amazing feat. I also rank in the top 10 for all of the major keywords. I’ve got to give props to my VA who I hired from elance.com. He did a wonderful job, even after changing the primary domain in his campaign halfway through his 3 month hire period!
Smart Passive Income
If you remember from my last report, one of my plans was to expand the SPI brand to other channels like YouTube and Facebook. So far, branding has been going very well. Starting from scratch, in just a little over 2 weeks, I have gained over 200 fans on facebook, and 35 subscribers on my YouTube Channel. To top it off, I’m approaching 30k twitter followers. I’m reaching out to people on various platforms who would of never found me before, and I am seeing more and more traffic coming from these specific channels every day, which is awesome. I haven’t researched the exact numbers yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I now have more traffic coming in from social media websites than any other sources, including search engines and links from other websites combined.
I’ve actually had so much fun creating new videos, that I’m kind of getting addicted to it. In the last 2 weeks I’ve put out 8 videos, and I don’t plan on stopping. It’s a great way for me to put my voice and face out there, as well as provide some helpful content to you that would normally be difficult to do with just text on a blog post.
Alright – it’s time. Here’s the breakdown:
Income Breakdown
- GreenExamAcademy.com Product Sales:
- Ebook Only: $1856.90
- Audio Only: $204.65
- Ebook + Audio Package: $1,772.50
- Total: $3,834.05
- Last Month: $5,773.95
- Difference: -$1,939.90
- Google Adsense:
- Total: $57.16
- Last Month: $87.65
- Difference: -$30.49
- Total: $57.16
- eHow Earnings:
- Total: $198.18
- Last Month: $188.92
- Difference: +$9.26
- Total: $198.18
- Affiliate Earnings:
- Total: $3,450.98
- Last Month: $3,123.67
- Difference: $327.31
- Total: $3,450.98
- iPhone Applications:
- Paid Applications: $759.50
- Free Applications (via Ads): $361.91
- Total: $1,121.41 (did not report in previous months)
- Paid Applications: $759.50
- Gross Total in October: $8,661.78
- Last Month: $9,174.19
- Difference: -$512.41
Overall, things have been pretty consistent the past several months. I expect things to die down with the holidays coming up, since more people will be focusing on vacations and spending time with their families, rather than studying for an exam. Hopefully, things will pick back up in the new year. There is one thing pending that may have a significant impact on my future sales: the company that administers the exam is planning on coming out with their own study material soon. We’ll see what happens.
Things I Learned in October
I’d just like to briefly talk about one very important thing that I learned.
For a long time, I’ve always thought, “why not me.” When someone wins the lottery…why not me. When I hear about someone else’s half a million dollar product launch…why not me. I realized that when I would think this way, I would be basically putting myself down.
No matter what I’m doing online, I shouldn’t dwell on how much better someone else is doing. I think its okay to be inspired by someone else’s achievements, and use that energy for my own productivity and success, but it’s not healthy to wonder “why not me”.
From now on, every time I begin to think “why not me”, I’m going to immediately change that to, “what’s my next step”. This way, I’ll get right back into a productive state of mind. I will no longer worry about what could have been, but instead I’ll focus on what will be. What do you think?
Plans for the Future
This blog’s redesign should be completed very soon. You should see a far more organized website, with more room to breath. If you’re interested in exactly what the changes will be, I’ve created a video entitled: Is Your Blog Optimized? Here Are 5 Questions You Can Ask Yourself to Find Out.
Also, I’m almost ready to debut the Smart Passive Income Podcast. More on that later.
Lastly, since October 2008 was when I wrote my first income report, I thought it might be cool to do an annual income report, so look out for that next!
Thanks everyone, and I wish you nothing less than success!
Cheers!
Posted on : November 2nd, 2009
Related posts:
- My Monthly Report – October 2008
- My Monthly Report – May 2009
- My Monthly Report – February 2009
- My Monthly Report – December 2009
- My Monthly Report – September 2009
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29 Comments (Click Here to Leave a Comment Below)
You are really great. Your blogs give so much motivation and inspiration. I believe this is just a beginning for you. I wish you all the best brother!
Thanks Menandro! All the best to you too!
Make sure you keep her eating Folic Acid, Pat! (Deep Green leafy vegetables)….it’s essential to fetal well-being (Prevention of neural tube defects like Spina Bifida and Anencephaly)…..
I appreciate the tips Howie!
Thanks Pat for another top quality post I appreciate the tips. Can’t wait to see the new layout!!!
Gosh, me too! I hope it all happens soon! There will be a lot more room to breath, definitely!
You are absolutely right about that “why not me” thing.Learning,implementing and improving everyday and every minute should be our only motive – success will follow it for sure.
I couldn’t of said it better myself
Pat, congratulations on your results. Will you also share what exactly is the SEO VA doing for you?
Thanks Hynek.
My SEO VA was working on article / press release submissions, specifically targeting the keywords that I wanted. Also, directory submissions, and also on-site SEO to make the site friendly for the engines as well.
Solid numbers Pat! And thanks for the video link…it was very helpful.
Thanks Sarah, I hope your photography business is going well! Your pics are amazing
Another great post Pat! Being some what of a stats guy it’s really great reading all your earnings posts. Very inspiring! I hope to be seeing those kind of numbers one day.
Looking forward to your podcast as well. I’m close to recording mine soon. Just sorting out the editing etc. I’ll give it a test run by the end of the week to see how it goes.
Keep up the good work!
Marty
Goof luck with getting the podcast setup. Let me know when it’s ready and I’ll have a listen and leave you a review if it’s on iTunes. Cheers!
I love these posts Pat.
Thanks for providing your monthly numbers and personal down to earth thoughts…its great motivation!
Look forward to the podcast and new layout
A new fan….
Andy
Thanks Andy! Glad to have you as a new fan! Hopefully I can keep up the inspiring posts for you.
Love that “what’s my next step” attitude!
Thanks Will – it’s stopped me from dwelling and helps me get right back into action!
Hi Pat,
Thank you for this report. Actually, that is major topic that diffirentiate your blog from many other similar ones. Still , I really like your other posts as well.
I have a question though. You publish only Income breakdown but never publish how much money you actually spend to run the business. For example you need to pay to develop iPhone applications, you need to pay to SEO expert etc. It would be nice to see those numbers as well in here. Anyway , thank you for a great articles!
Hi Alexei,
Thanks for your comment!
Well, this post is dedicated to my income only, and I actually don’t spend very much on my business. I’ve talked about how much I’ve spent in other posts actually, but most of my expenses are just one time fees that I’ve already paid for a while back, and don’t have to keep paying for again. The iPhone apps were paid for, for example, one time, 8 months ago (for $2500-3000). The SEO expert I’ve hired a couple of times, for $300 per campaign, which usually lasts a month or two.
Hope that helps clear things up! It’s hard to insert my monthly expenses, because I don’t really incur too much damage
A lot of the times when I ask “why not me” I can’t think of a good reason
That can be encouraging but you’re right that it’s best to think of what you should do next. It’s usually not that hard; I’ve recently been seeing more and more evidence that the standards I hold myself to – which I thought were just normal – are actually not that common in my industry. If you’re always improving and doing your best to help people you can go far (but you still won’t win the lottery). Thanks for the inspiration!
I love podcasts that I can take it with me to the gym and on errands. Im an info junkie and that would be great~ cant wait!
Asking ” why not me” can change your miind set, its agreat way to start each morning.
I am doing a local SEO service using video to earn money for a few VA’s to work on my blog. I felt stuck not having enough cash flow so Im putting my SEO talent to use.
Matts (revised) blog and site is almost complete. Next is his continuity hitting school.
Thanks for sharing Pat!!
That’s a very interesting figure for ehow… not shabby at all. Wandered over to your ehow page – 150 articles in one month! That is impressive. I find that it takes me quite a while to just post to my blog and then do some article marketing. I will definitely take a closer look at ehow.
Keep up the awesome work … it won’t be long before you’ll be joining the ranks of the mid five-figure income earners!
Wish you all the best. ……..valentina
It looks like you are making money hand over fist! I am very impressed. Although your totals are down from the previous month there is a clear understanding why..”Due to the Holiday”…a lesser marketer would have panicked and packed it in. You have a good lead time to adjust your game plan should the exam company go through with their own in-house product.
Good luck
Pat, I have been thinking the same thing. “What’s my next step” Doing my best to make things work.
By the way, the income looks great as always. Keep up the great work man.
This is very inspirational pat. It gives me more motivation to continue with my online venture. Your blog is full of very useful information and very organized. Thanks again for the inspiration.
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You bring up a good point here Pat. It’s good to be motivated by the successes of others, but sometimes that obsession can become a detriment and hurt your own efforts.
“What’s my next step,” I love it!