Earning Three Grand Per Month - Baby Steps

Baby steps lead to bigger and better things.

To sum up this entire post in one sentence, I've decided to put three short-term goals into action. After reading a few inspirational posts (here, here, and here), I realized that I won't be successful if I just read blog posts, online income reports, and free eBooks all day.

Reading and learning new things is one of the greatest things you can do. Implementing the learned tips and strategies is the greatest thing you can do, when it comes to your success.

Therefore, I created three short-term goals to pull me closer to my vision of success: consistently earning $3,000 per month online. I decided that all three goals will be due August 20, 2011.

Goal #1 - $15,000 Savings

Currently, I am about $70 short from having $12,000 in savings. Therefore, I have to earn about $3,100 within two months to accomplish my goal.

You must be thinking: "Greeeeaat. But what does this have to do with earning $3,000 per month online?" Well, I plan to fund my savings account with earnings from Demand Media Studios. Usually, I earn about $1,000 as a freelance writer. This goal forces me to earn approximately $1,550 per month to accomplish it.

Why not increase my online earnings while funding my bank account at the same time?

Goal #2 - Blogging

By the due date stated above, I plan to have 50 posts live on 3 Grand Month. I realize that I didn't even come close to accomplishing the previous blog post goal of mine. Now that I've somewhat changed the niche of my blog, I'm more excited about posting new content.

Hopefully, motivation and having someone put a gun to my head as I write these posts will be enough for me to accomplish this goal. The incentive for accomplishing this goal? A nifty $10 domain (for this blog) that won't go to complete waste.

Goal #3 - Start Web Design Class

Right now, I'm almost finished with a course you must complete before you can take Web Design. I only have 14 assignments to go before I say good-bye to Computing for College Success and hello to Web Design I.

According to my Pace Chart, I'm supposed to take eight weeks to complete these fourteen assignments. (Well, I did get exempted from about eight assignments, though...)

No way am I gonna take eight weeks to finish up fourteen simple assignments! Instead, I'll go ahead of the Pace Chart, which I'm allowed to do. Basically, to accomplish this goal, I need to finish this course and start a new one by August 20, 2011.

When I look at these goals, they honestly don't look so mini or babyish to me. Honestly, these goals will take me a lot of effort to complete, but... These goals are nothing compared to my long-term goals!

Don't Put All of Your... (Part Two)

Photo by Ccharmon on Flickr

• Loaves in one bread holder
• Efforts in one website
• Cookies in one jar
• Supplies in one backpack
• Cars in one garage
• Horses in one stable

Okay. So, we all know that we shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket if you want to have a fairly consistent online income.

In the previous post, I mentioned that my only source of income was from freelance writing for only one client (Demand Media Studios).

I should be working on diversifying my freelance writing income, but instead, I want to focus on gathering other sources of income that aren't related to freelance writing. In this post, I will explore some possible new sources of income for me.

Freelance Work

One goal of mine is to take two classes to learn how to design websites with HTML. Once I take these classes, I plan to put my newly learned skills to good use by designing sites and blogs for other people. I think building websites for private clients in-between my freelance writing work will save me from burnout.

Unfortunately, I'm not very knowledgeable about web design. I have a feeling I will spend years practicing before I'll be able to create a website a client will be happy to pay for.

If I enjoy creating websites, I won't mind the long learning curve. On the other hand, if I don't really like web design, I'll probably move on to something else before I become proficient at creating websites.

Niche Websites

I definitely think that I have the potential to earn a few hundred dollars a month by creating niche websites. Of course, this will take a lot of work and effort on my part, but the mostly passive income will be worth it.

I'm not too sure when I'll get around to creating my first (well, second) niche website, but I'm hoping to start next month. Hopefully, I won't be so impatient about my niche website this time around...

Revenue Sharing Websites

Hubpages, Squidoo, and Info Barrel are three revenue sharing websites where users can post articles to make passive income. I don't really think it's a good idea to try making money on revenue sharing websites now because of the big Panda update, but it is something I"m constantly thinking about.

Perhaps I could post a few articles on these websites to get the hang of SEO before starting my first niche websites. If I experiment with keywords on these websites and fail, I'll only be out of a few hours of effort.

Even after writing this post, I'm still a bit confused about which stream of revenue I should experiment with first. I want to start creating niche websites, but I'm still thinking about other possible streams of income that I didn't mention above, such as creating and selling eBooks.

Don't Put All of Your... (Part One)

OT: Is it me, or are some of the eggs in that basket (er, bowl) bluish?

• Pencils in one pencil box
• Documents in one folder
• Socks in one drawer
• Words in one sentence
• Seeds in one garden
• Money in one wallet

In case you can't comprehend what I'm trying to say (because of my very poor attempt of trying to being original), don't put all of your eggs in one basket. By relying on one source of income, you are putting yourself in a bad position, and for obvious reasons.

Anyway, this post isn't about why you should diversify you income, nor is this post isn't about how to diversify your income either. (Honestly, I'm in no position to write a how-to post on multiple streams of income, and you'll see why later in this post). Nope. This is the first part of a three-part series (small series, I know, but you gotta start somewhere) about how I plan to diversify my online income.

Current Income Per Month

Just a wad of cash I had lying around... (Kidding!)

Freelance Writing Income

Currently, the only money I'm earning as a freelance writer is from Demand Media Studios. I'm planning to use this lone egg (or seed) to earn $1,000 per month for now.

I suppose I should be trying to find more clients, but I think I'm going to stop focusing on my part-time freelancing career in favor of other income possibilities online. I love to write, but I can't seem to write more than a few articles per day... I need something else to do in-between all the writing I do to avoid burnout.

Demand Media Studios is my only online income... (Go ahead, shake your heads disapprovingly). Fortunately, this will not be my only income by the end of the year. In fact, my short-term goal is to have at least three sources of income in total by the end of the year. I know these sources won't give me the three grand per month I desire, but it'll surely be a stepping-stone for me.

Cheers to finding more wallets for my moola!