Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
I’ve been working overtime to perform some medical record audits at work. My manager said to spend the money on myself “go out and buy something nice for yourself “, but I prefer to pay off creditors.
I hate being in debt. While I don’t have a lot of it and my biggest source is my home, I still dislike it. Just having to work to pay someone has never seemed right to me. I think when people work, they deserve to keep the money they earn and do with it as they choose. And we can to some degree, but with all the things that we have to pay for in life, our money comes in one hand and goes out the other.
All of the overtime hours I’ve put in along with seeing my bills crumble caused me to think about how I’m earning money online and what my online income sources are. In reality, I really don’t have what I’d like to call an income source. I mean, I dabble in affiliate marketing and earn a few dollars here and there, but that’s really not a source source, if you know what I mean.
The affiliate checks I get are nice, but they’re not going to replace my day job anytime soon. In fact, they never will. Let’s take a look at what my online income sources are and then I’ll show you what I consider a real income source to be.
My online income sources
Currently I earn money from Adsense. I probably get one check a year, and since the default account balance has to be $100 or greater in order for you to get paid, it’s taking me an entire year to earn 100 bucks. I also earn money from Amazon’s affiliate program. The amount is sporadic. To guesstimate, I probably earn about 300 – 400 a year, maybe more. My third source of income is Squidoo. The money I earn there comes from ads, Amazon, and another source that I forget at the moment.
In a year’s time, I don’t even earn enough to claim on my taxes. That’s laughable, but it ain’t funny. In my opinion, these aren’t income sources. They’re supplements to income. Now I know power affiliates earn major bucks and being an affiliate is their full time job, but that’s not what I want for myself. I’d rather earn a few extra dollars through affiliate efforts and major dollars through passive residual sources.
Having residual income sources is my goal
Here’s what I mean. With affiliate marketing, you constantly have to create content in efforts of promoting a item in efforts of earning a commission. But, with an online content store or product site, I can create content, graphics, audio/visual files, and provide services such as ghostwriting and web site design.
With some of these prospects, I can work once and earn residual income from future sales of my product. I could also earn income from providing a service. This is what I mean by having a real online income source. If you’re not earning the money you want or need, you might want to consider having your own product and/or provide a service.
Having a product will allow you to earn passive residual income as long as the product exists. While providing a service gives you a more solid source of income. The more you work, the more money you make. When you think about it, having your own product or service is much like being an affiliate marketer.
The work is the same but the results are different
Essentially, you’re still putting in time and effort to produce a sale. But to me, there’s more security in having your own products and services versus dealing with a fickle internet market that may or may not buy an item based on your point of view, and if the affiliate product is seasonal, so are your sales.
I have decided that what I need is a product and to provide services. I want to put myself in a position that I feel will enable me to succeed and make the money I need so that I can one day be financially free. And, the more sources of income, the better.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Sound Off: So, what are some of your sources of income? Do you think you’d earn more by having your own products or services or is affiliate marketing enough for you?
