Hi everyone and welcome to a new post. Today I will be sharing my 2020 Side Hustle Income Report.
I believe this is the first time I will be sharing this report but I do want this to be an annual thing in the succeeding years. I want to look back at how my side hustle income grew through the years.
For 2020, I launched a number of income streams. Most were things I did for the first time like money coaching and graphic design and branding. I didn’t know I can actually do it and that there will be people who are more than ready to pay for my services.
I also got invites for webinar talks on the latter part of 2020 which boosted by net worth.
Eternally grateful to God for blessing me with the skills and platforms that I have today.
And so without further ado, let’s begin with the 2020 Side Hustle Income Report.
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Now let’s look at the details for each income and expenses I made for my side hustles.
Let’s start with income.
Paid Webinars
I enjoyed doing webinars so much and I am so thankful that I’m able to do it in 2020 amidst the pandemic. If you are a long time reader of Savingspinay.ph you know that I used to host weddings and events so I enjoy public speaking a lot. To be able to do what I love to do and get paid for it is such an A-MAZ-ING feeling.
I actually got invited for a number of webinars but I only recorded those that were paid.
For speaking engagements I include topic generation, creation of slides and actual execution of the webinar on the price. The main topic I covered this year on the paid webinars I did was financial planning during the pandemic. Such a timely topic that we all need.
Should you be needing a speaker for your event or you want to recommend me to your HR for an employee engagement webinar, please feel free to email me at izza@wordpress-661740-2303377.cloudwaysapps.com
Sponsored Posts
I’m very careful saying yes to sponsored posts because I don’t want the SavingsPinay readers feel like everything that I post are ads. I only say yes to sponsored posts that are valuable to my readers. For 2020, I only have two sponsored posts published.
Graphic Design and Branding
This is one of the newest venture I did in 2020 and kind of spontaneous to be honest. I remember one random day someone messaged me asking how much my sponsored post rate was. I answered and she asked for a Zoom meeting.
Little did I know that what she wanted me to do will involve graphic design and branding. I presented her my ideas which she instantly approved. A month after I also did the same work for a different client.
I only had two clients for this but both I enjoyed doing.
Money Coaching
Same as the graphic design and branding work, I also didn’t plan on doing money coaching this year. But it was one of the thank-God-I-did-it moment for me. I still remember getting random message from a certain person asking if I do money coaching and how much it would take. I literally froze and do not know what to reply.
Money Coaching is something I’ve been meaning to do for the longest time but I haven’t had the confidence of doing it because first, I am not licensed and second, I hate to be responsible on someone else’s finances.
But wow. If it is really for you, it is for you. God blessed me with three students. Three souls to teach. WOW.
All three wanted someone to talk to regarding the basics of personal finance. The topics we covered for each session were net worth calculator, budget set up, investment 101 topic and even side hustle. I gained not just three students in doing this money coaching but more of three additional friends whom I am thankful for.
If you’re interested on what this money coaching is all about you can send me a message as well via email on izza@wordpress-661740-2303377.cloudwaysapps.com.
Google Adsense
My Google Adsense income for 2020 was really, really low. I used to earn between $30 to $50 a month previously. I even remember the year 2018 when I hit my Google Adsense Payout of $100 for five consecutive times for a single year. And that’s a lot!
For some unknown reason the income I’m getting in Google Adsense decreased a lot. I now earn between $15 to $21 a month. Bummer, right? But I am still thankful for it.
I used to earn nothing in Google Adsense and now I get to hit my Adsense Payout every now and then. Now that’s progress.
The Budget Template
Last November 2020, I finally launched my first digital product – The Budget Template. The Budget Template is based on the 50-20-30 Rule of Budgeting, a rule of thumb popularized by American Senator Elizabeth Warren in her book, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan.
The basic rule is to divide your after-tax income into three categories – 50% on Needs, 30% on Wants, and 20% on Savings/Investments. It is one of the simplest and the easiest budget techniques you can use to decide what percentage of your income goes to expenses, savings or others.
You can learn about The Budget Template HERE.
When I launched The Budget Template I also didn’t aim for a 4-figure or even 5-figure income. I launched The Budget Template because I badly wanted to sell my first ever digital product after years of blogging here in SavingsPinay.ph.
I only priced the product at Php 49 because I want it to be affordable to everyone. I do have my plans for next year about this digital product.
Now let’s talk about expenses because I do have a few.
Domain and Hosting
Maintaining a blog comes with a price which means I have to pay both my domain and hosting renewal for a year. Mine is at Php 4200.00. This is not that expensive but not cheap as well.
SSL
I also got myself an SSL. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer which makes my website run on https and not just http. This is an added investment for the blog so I can avoid the “not secure warning” when someone goes to my website.
If you’re curious as to who my Domain, Hosting and SSL provider is, you can check out this link.
Email List Provider
An area where most of my side hustle went to is my email list provider.
I used to run my email newsletters on the free version of Mailchimp. However, since I already have more than 2000 subscribers (the limit of the free version) I had to upgrade to be able to continue sending emails. I was supposed to pay roughly Php 3700 a month just to maintain my email list.
I opted not to upgrade and instead found a more affordable alternative. For the past nine months I’ve been paying a total of 1,946.55/month for my email list.
This may seem too much or irrelevant to some but I learned early in my blogging career how important having your own email list is. These email list subscribers are your tribe. They were added to the list because they wanted to be on the list. That’s how valuable they.
I may be paying a lot of money to send emails but if it means added exclusive communication and engagement to my audience, then it’s super worth it.
Facebook Ad
I run one Facebook Ad campaign in 2020 just to try it out and only spend Php 1000. This is a complete Facebook Page Like campaign which I did had a return of investment after all. For the investment I made I was able to gain more than 1000 new followers for the SavingsPinay PH Facebook Page.
Graphic Artist (199jobs.com)
I also hired a graphic artist in 199jobs.com to create the layout of The Budget Template. I am not as good when it comes to layout so delegating this task to someone more knowledgeable was a great relief.
I did the original layout in pen and paper and grateful I found a layout artist in 199jobs.com to get the job done. Here’s the link of Iya, the one I got to do the digital layout of The Budget Template.
One lesson I learned this 2020 is the power of delegation. I am grateful to how found Iya because she was able to do the job well done.
My Side Hustle Income Plans for 2021
During my 2020 Mid-Year Review I made a list of things I need to do in order to grow my extra income before 2020 ends. They are as follows:
- Continue saving every penny I can now that I’m working from home.
- Release paid eBook.
- Publish new YouTube videos so I can increase my watch time and hopefully get eligible in YouTube Adsense Program.
- Create and release an Email Course.
- Launch the One-on-One Coaching Program to public.
I believe out of the five, I only did the first one. I never got to release the paid eBook, publish new YouTube videos, release an email course and launch the one-on-one coaching program to the public.
So here are my big moves for 2021 to make sure that I will grow my side hustle income even more.
Publish YouTube videos again
YouTube is just a platform that I want to work on this 2021. I want to make videos again. My channel has long been on hiatus and I wanted to revive it again. More than the possibilities of monetizing the channel, I wanted to publish videos to reach wider audience. Having an active YouTube channel will also help in people finding out about my blog and/or checking out my social media accounts. This is one of my top goals for 2021.
Do More Podcast
The SavingsPinay Podcast was also put on hold for quite some time now. I haven’t been able to upload a new episode and got stuck mid-way of Season 1 on 10 Most Important Lessons to Learn in Personal Finance. For 2021, I want to establish a posting schedule I can stick with.
Market The Budget Notepad
Since the launch of The Budget Notepad, I haven’t done a proper marketing for it. I wasn’t able to post more about it on my Facebook and Instagram Page as well as do paid advertising for it.
Part of my plan is to also create a “Shop” main page on the blog so it gets to be seen more by readers.
Work on at least 3 Digital Products
I would also like to create at least three digital product launches for 2021. Of course the eBook and the online course are both in the works and I want to create additional paid templates.
If I will be good in following the timeline, then I will be releasing something in April, July, and October next year.
Update Blog Main Pages
I know the both this blog and my personal blog badly needs some facelift. I want to create better main pages and really sort out all my blog contents to important categories.
Establish Blog Routines and Stick to Schedules
Something that I always fail at doing is establishing blog routines and sticking to schedules.
For someone who have been managing two blogs with a full time job, life just happens. I really want to succeed in becoming more productive and consistent as a blogger and I badly want to maximize the newfound time due to the work from home possibility.
For 2021, I want to ensure that I know and follow a schedule whether it be creating content or social media post.
Final Notes from SavingsPinay
As you can see clearly I don’t earn that much as a content creator. Most of my earnings come those that require my service such as paid webinar invitations, graphic design and branding work as well as sponsored posts.
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