We all know that Google cares about engagement.
Keeping visitors engaged longer is going to improve your site’s rankings.
That means more traffic for you.
In this income report, however, I’ll be sharing a different kind of engagement.
But more on that later…
In this post, you’ll see:
- The traffic stats
- The income numbers
- What I created in April
- The BIG news
- Future plans
An Insider’s Look at the Traffic Numbers — Consistent
A couple small drops. Overall about the same as last month.
I probably have the easiest business in marketing.
When Tim Ferriss wrote the Four Hour Work Week, there was a mob of critics claiming it can’t be done.
Only four hours?
What the hell can you get one in four, measly hours…
Really not that much. Doesn’t mean you can’t make money, though.
The key is passive income.
If you have a business with sustainable income that rolls in “hands free,” forget the “four hour” work week, you can do an hour or less.
Here’s a look at the blog stats:
A slight decrease from last month.
Only made one post in April (aside from the income report).
It featured Kindle Publishing — A Beginner’s Guide
You’ll notice a YouTube video on this as well.
No surprise. I’m testing out Kindle.
There’s a whole swarm of people saying that Kindle is a dying business model.
My best advice is to ignore them.
You hear about everything in marketing dying.
- List building is dead
- Article marketing is dead
- Social media is a waste of time
It’s all bullshit.
Very few things actually stop working completely. Sometimes a method will become a bit more challenging, but often at a much higher reward.
If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
That’s the beauty of making money online. You just need to find something that you’re good at that others would find a challenge.
But I digress.
Here’s a look at the YouTube stats:
Also a slight drop.
Actually a boost if you consider that April had one less day.
An average day is about 2,800 views.
So we’ll call this one a draw against last month.
Was hoping for better results.
I created a bunch of new videos this month.
It started with a video on List Building for FREE
This is an advanced way to trade traffic with people.
Not exactly for beginners, but really powerful.
Trading traffic is a great way to build your email lists for free. A lot of people know me as the solo ads guy. I’ve bought thousands of visitors to my landing pages.
What people aren’t as familiar with is how much I trade traffic.
In the last couple years, I’ve spent less than $500 on traffic. My funnel is almost entirely fuelled by free traffic from trading partners.
All list builders should consider adding “trading traffic” to their to-do list.
The next video was on Five Ways to Make Money Online
I’m running out of niche topics to create videos about.
If you have a suggestion of a YouTube video, let me know in the comments below.
The five strategies in this video all work — as long as you do.
My preference is towards the methods that build into passive income.
Remember, it’s all about getting to the point of “hands free.”
At least for me anyways.
One of the ways to build passive income is with a blog.
I show how to do that in the third April video:
A blog is not for everyone.
Let’s face it, there’s a lot of work involved.
I’m an anti-worker myself. I’m sure Gary Vanderchuk would hate my style of business building.
That being said, if you enjoy blogging, you get to make money while having fun.
BrendanMace.com does not make much money.
But I love doing it.
If you want to make a living from it, blogging is not one of those things you can do half-assed.
Whatever your aspirations, blogging can be a good space to create.
Especially if you understand the BIG SECRET of marketing.
In the next video, I reveal my best tip:
Don’t usually like “over-hyping” things.
But this is something I truly stand behind. It’s probably the one thing that holds most of us back from breaking though in the online economy.
The video also talks about the two different types of traffic.
I’m partial to traffic that is controllable. Which is why list building is my favourite business model.
That being said, traffic that you don’t control can still be as profitable as a Vegas stripper.
Take Kindle Publishing, for example.
The last video shows how you can build a passive income stream with Amazon.
Sure, you can’t control how many people buy your books.
Just get enough books out there, though, and you have lots of chances to make sales.
This YouTube video gives you the Beginner’s Blueprint to making money with Kindle.
It’s got a section on finding that right niche for your ebooks.
But it also shows you how to rank for almost any topic. All you need to do is make your books free, and people will scoop them up, even if your topic is ultra competitive.
I actually proved that by getting over 500 book downloads in a single day.
And the best part is that this is my first month with Kindle.
Huge opportunity.
Ignore the nay sayers. You can do better!
The Income Numbers — What You Really Want to See
Here goes…
The dollars and cents 🙂
The #’s
– JvZoo = $1,185.66
– WarriorPlus = $545.34
– ClickBank = $467.49
– HostGator Affiliate = $450
– ListSpark Earnings = $34
– Aweber = $134.52
– BuzzBundle Sales = $0
– 7 Steps to Passive Income = $114
– Adsense = $1000 approx. (not allowed to give specific numbers)
– Solo Ad Earnings = $40
– ClickMagick Earnings = $74.40
– Amazon Earnings = $463.45
– Coaching Sessions = $4621.20
Total Gross Earnings = $9,130.06
Expenses:
– Aweber = $180
– ListSparkPro = $18
– TrafficPlanetHosting = $50
Total Expenses = $248
Expenses are same as last month.
Was it a good month?
Let’s do the calculations.
$9,130.06 – $248
Grand Total = $8,882.06
Really happy with the April results.
No surprise I’d have a little boost this month. I’m back in Canada and have spent more time on business than I did while travelling the world.
That’s pretty clearly apparent by the amount of YouTube videos I published.
The interesting thing is that the amount of time I put into my business does not significantly impact my short term earnings.
This month I spent more time on the laptop than the last four months combined.
I did not get 4X the results.
That sounds terrible, right?
It’s actually a good thing. Because it also means that when I take months off, I can still get a nice income stream while lazing on a beach.
So what’s the incentive to do ANYTHING?
That’s a good question.
The key here is that I’m only looking at the impact on short term earnings.
The reason why I make money whether I work or not is because of the passive income streams I’ve created.
Putting the time in now is building those streams. So even though it won’t dramatically improve my short term numbers. Over a longer duration, I will get paid for work I did this month for years to come.
And the beautiful thing about CREATING stuff on the internet.
If you create the right stuff, you can get paid from it for years.
The coaching program is the only part of my business that is non-passive.
At some point, I may close the doors to the program. As of right now, I’m enjoying working with people too much and I get students from all over the world.
Here’s a testimonial from April
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QTZsLLJl6s
There is really no better investment for your business (or yourself) than getting into a high quality coaching program.
When I started marketing eight years ago, I didn’t make any money for FIVE years.
I like to tell people that story, because if I would have found a mentor on Day 1, I would have saved myself years of struggling.
It’s possible to figure this stuff all out on your own.
But why waste your time.
A good coaching program will give you the streamlined path to exactly what you need to do.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to coach everyone.
You can apply to join the program here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1V2jGM6bq2_LvzpcIKROrbk1Qu7RuHaxnAvO_vwmj2UI/viewform
As for April, happy with the month’s earnings.
What else happened last month?
I’m a transparent guy.
You know I like to share what’s going on with my followers.
This includes business and also at times my personal life.
The BIG NEWS in April is that I got engaged.
And no, I’m not talking about business.
This time I mean that I popped the question to my best friend and life partner.
You’ve seen her in pictures. We’ve travelled together and been relatively inseparable for the last couple years.
An engagement was inevitable, it was just about the right time.
That time was in April.
Yes, I’m a sucker for social conventions.
I know that marriage is a construction that is unnecessary and probably invented by Jewellers to make fat stacks off wedding rings.
I don’t care.
Sometimes in life you just want to have a party and celebrate.
That’s what made me fall in love with Medellin, Colombia.
Colombians will use any excuse to party.
Xmas starts on December 1st. Halloween begins weeks beforehand. And soccer match is a grand performance.
Even more than Medellin, I’m in love with Caitlyn.
She’s the most fun person I’ve ever met, and I couldn’t be happier to invest my life with her.
Our wedding is August 26th, 2017.
Future Plans — New Property and YouTube
In April, I published a lot of videos.
That trend will continue in May. Not only do I enjoy creating these videos, but I have the time to do so.
I’m also considering the creation of my own business course.
The only apprehension is that I like to over-deliver. So if I did decide to create a product, it would need to be polished to the highest level.
Something I’m thinking about. Hopefully I’ll launch one in the next 365.
Other big news is that I’m bidding on a property.
If I end up getting it, I’ll give you details about it in the next income report.
As always, thanks for reading.
Toss me a comment below and share your thoughts!
