Hi and welcome back to SavingsPinay! Today I will be sharing my 2021 Side Hustle Income Report.

This is the second time I will be sharing this report publicly. As I mentioned last year, I want this to be an annual thing and look back at how my side income grew through the years.

For 2021, I felt like my side hustle income was at its best. I was able to book a number of good paying projects not to mention long-term projects! I surpassed my year-end goal of Php 100,000 net side hustle income which is A-MAZ-ING!

I also got BIR registered! For years I’ve been planning to do this step but I always felt like I was too small to do it. But God is good. He is never too late or too early. Truly when you are ready to receive the blessing, He is more than willing to give it to you.

Eternally grateful to God for blessing me with the skills and platforms that I have today.

So without further ado, let’s begin with the 2021 Side Hustle Income Report.

My Side Hustle Income Streams

Just like what I always mention, it’s nice to have more than one source of income. 

Having side hustle income streams enabled me to:

• Have sure extra money;
• Attend to my financial obligations; and
• Accomplish my bigger goals in life

Below are my side hustle income streams for 2021:

Consultancy 

Let’s start with consultancy which is where the biggest chunk of my side hustle income is from for 2021. I couldn’t even begin to express my gratitude for the two long-term projects I got last year. And of them even renewed for this year which means I will get steady extra income for the rest of year. Sweet!

I can’t expound much about what I do as a consultant for privacy reasons but if you’re curious and not to mention you need help as a business in the finance field, shoot me a message here – izza@savingspinay.ph.

Paid Webinars 

I enjoyed doing paid webinars so much and I am so thankful I am able to do it 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 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 the actual execution of the webinar in the price. The main topic I covered this year is How to Create a Solid Financial Plan. 

Should you be needing a speaker for your event or you want to recommend me to your HR for an employee wellness webinar, please feel free to email me at izza@savingspinay.ph. You can also visit my Invite Me as Speaker page.

Sponsored Posts

I’m very careful saying yes to sponsored posts because I don’t want SavingsPinay.ph readers to feel like everything I post are ads. I only say yes to sponsored posts that are valuable to my readers. For 2021, I only have two sponsored posts published. 

Money Coaching

I started doing Money Coaching when I get random messages from readers asking I do coach and how much it would take. Last year I had three students and this 2021, I had two students. 

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 students in doing money coaching but more of additional friends whom I will forever be thankful for. 

If you’re interested in what money coach is all about you can also send me a message at izza@savingspinay.ph.

Google Adsense

My Google Adsense Income for 2021 seems higher than last year but still worse than what I used to get. I remember in 2018 when I hit my Google Adsense payout of $100 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.

With the revamped website I am hoping 2022 will be better. 

The Budget Template Notepad

In August last year I launched a Shopee shop with my very first product – The Budget Template Notepad. This is the printed version of The Budget Template online version I launched in November 2020. 

Before 2021 ended I was able to get back my capital which is great news. I still have stocks left and I sold everything I am already at profit. Yay!

You can learn more about it HERE. 

My Side Hustle Expenses

Now let’s talk about the expenses for 2021 which I do have a lot of.

Email List Provider

An area where most of my side hustle money went to is my email list provider. 

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 subscribers are my tribe. They were added in the list because they wanted to be on the list!

I may be paying a lot of money to send emails but if it means adding exclusive communication and engagement to my audience then it’s super worth it.

Product 2 capital

This I really thought I will be able to launch the second physical product in the Shopee shop before 2021 ended. I already invested money to it as you can see in this report but wasn’t able to work on the product release just yet. 

I’ve been very honest how much I procrastinated last year and you’ll see it by the amount of content I post compared to the past. Now that I already have boxes sitting in my office I need to work on the Product 2 release faster.

Website revamp

Before the year ended I was able revamp the website!

This is something I’ve been meaning to do but I wanted to find the right person for the job. 

Someone from our online community at church which I lead randomly messaged and said that she does website design. I sent a private message, did a preliminary meeting, and we just clicked!

In less than a week she was able to accomplish more than what I expected. I was so delighted with the outcome. My website now feels like an extension of my brand. It is readable and appealing at the same time. 

If you do need a website designer I highly recommend Viane of VianeHamor.com

Business Registration

In August 2021 I decided to pursue my goal of registering my business. Since I’m very new with the whole BIR Registration and I still have my day job to attend to, I thought of finding someone who can help me with all the process.

I found MBLiason on Facebook and she responded right away with my message. The service fee when you hire someone to do the process for you is not that cheap. She will be the one going to the BIR center and apply for you. 

Video Editor

One of my main goals for 2021 is to go back doing YouTube videos. I really want to publish new videos on my YouTube channel. I enjoy doing video content a lot but filming and editing videos can take up a lot of my time. 

I can’t believe that I am in the point of my side hustle journey where I can outsource this task to someone. I was able to hire someone to edit some of my videos so I can concentrate in other parts of my business. 

Domain and Hosting

Maintaining a blog comes with price which means I have to pay both my domain and hosting renewal every year. Mine is at Php 4,200 annually. Not that expensive but not cheap as well. 

Hard Drive

One of the early things I bought in 2021 is a hard drive. I knew that I will be filming videos again so I needed a hard drive that can hold a lot of videos. I didn’t know hard drives can be this expensive but so far it was worth all the money.

The Budget Template Notepad

The main capital I paid for the release of The Budget Template Notepad is Php 3,500. I initially released 50 copies. 

Canva Yearly Plan

Finally got myself a Canva Pro account and it was sooooo worth it! If you are much into social media then Canva is a good investment. 

SSL

It’s also time to renew my SSL or Secure Sockets Layer which makes my website run on https. This is an added investment for the blog so I can avoid the “not secure warning” when someone visits the website. 

My Side Hustle Income Plans for 2022

During my 2021 Mid-Year Review I made a list of things I need to do in order to grow my side hustle income before 2021 ends. They are as follows:

• I will do my best in the two long-term projects I have at the moment. The goal here is to create a relationship with the two brands and hopefully renew the engagement to next year.
• Publish new YouTube videos so I can increase my watch time hours and hopefully get eligible in the YouTube Adsense Program.
• Release the Season 2 of The SavingsPinay Podcast and look for sponsorships.
• Release a paid product.
• Leverage my email list and do Pinterest again to gain more traffic to the blog.
• Gain paid webinar opportunities if I can.

As mentioned in the beginning, my side hustle income is at it’s all-time high in 2021. My plans for 2021 came into fruition, not perfect but the progress is there!

2022 is also starting great:

• One of the long-term project renewed our contract for 2022!
• I was able to publish 7 new YouTube videos last which doubled my watch time hours. I am still far from getting eligible to YouTube Adsense Program but that’s okay.
• I released the first episode The SavingsPinay Podcast Season 2. 
• I released a paid product and not to mention a Shopee shop! Please check out The Budget Template Notepad here.
• I did paid webinars in 2021! I even had a big speaking engagement with Cebuana Lhuillier in celebration of their World Savings Day campaign.

Here are my action items for my side hustle income in 2022:

Publish 100 blog posts

For 2022, my goal is to publish 100 posts. 

My aim is to maximize the current work-from-home situation every other week to spend quality time blogging. One of the hinders I have in terms of getting things done is my screen time. I want to significantly reduce the time I spend browsing in my phone from social media, YouTube, to Netflix.

Send more newsletter to my email list

As you can see I’ve been spending money in my email list monthly. I know the importance of email list but I fail to send my newsletter consistently. 

I want 2022 to be the year where my engagement to my subscribers will be at its best. I want to serve my current tribe well, provide them with freebies at least once a month.

Follow blog schedule

Creating content is one of the hardest parts of blogging. I know this because I’ve been doing it for the past seven years maintaining two blogs with a full time job. 

For 2022, I want to fillow my blog schedule and get at least one (1) week ahead of blog posts and social media contents. 

I will try to keep on posting with the same schedule of Tuesdays and Thursdays with Saturdays reserved for announcements, collaborations, and paid press releases.

Do Pinterest Marketing again

I used to do Pinterest Marketing in 2019 and I gained a lot of followers and traffic because of it. But in 2020 I forgot about it.

For 2022, I want to do Pinterest Marketing again. I will start pinning on Pinterest every time I have a new post including my Instagram and YouTube posts.

Upload new YouTube videos weekly

Now that I already made a comeback in YouTube the next to do list is to upload consistently. 

For 2022, my aim is to upload a YouTube video at least every week. I will be focusing in doing more finance related videos, bullet journal, and vlogs. 

Work and Release more Paid Products

I will be working on more product launches this 2022. My main goal is to release my second physical product which I am excited to do my the first quarter of the year. 

I also want to do an online course and prepare for a financial planner by the end of the year. 

Final Notes from SavingsPinay

I am grateful for the income I earned in 2021 as a content creator. Most of my earnings come from those that require my service such as consultancy, paid webinar invitations, and sponsored posts. 

I am excited to what 2022 is in store in terms of my side hustle income.