Blog

The goal was to get 100,000 total downloads. This was a huge success and well beyond our expectations. (accomplished!)
2018 Goal: Hit 5,000,000 total podcast downloads

This one really blew me away because I am not a big fan of the show. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a stimulating and thought provoking show. The format of the show and the banter between me and Matt made it popular. The show was enjoyable and easy to listen to, which made it a hit with our audience. Sometimes we agree and sometimes we don’t. It’s part of being in a relationship. We try to balance the mechanics and philosophy of money. We want to create a better understanding of how money works and how it affects our lives. Some of the success was due to the fact that we kept at it. We were relentless in our pursuit of success. We were 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 The finished product will be shared with our audience. Now that we both work online full-time, we have a lot of fun recording. It’s even more enjoyable when we take a break to play fun games. We appreciate it for all of you who have downloaded, listened, or shared it. We will keep recording if you keep listening. We want to provide the best audio experience possible. If you want us to cover any topics, please let us know. We want to explore new ideas and topics this year, so don’t hesitate to give us feedback!

2017 Goal: Write 100 new posts
2017 Reality: I wrote 71 new posts, which included guest posts (nope)
2018 Goal: Write 100 new posts (setting the bar high again, definitely need to pick up the pace)

Womp womp. I wrote a lot of posts in the first half of the year, but slowed down after signing a book deal. In the second half of the year, I’m going to start writing more posts on my website. A book is not a joke. It takes a lot of dedication, discipline and hard work to complete the task. For all of you who have written a book. It crushed me on some days. I didn’t feel strong enough to handle it all. I had a hard time writing consistently for both the book and the blog. I decided to focus on the book first and then go back to the website when I have more time. I put most of my energy into writing over 120K words for the book from June to December of last year.

As much as I enjoyed writing the book, I am excited to start my own website. I would like to thank all of the readers who have supported me. I am grateful for your support and loyalty. For me, the decision to spend less time on the internet and more time on the book was about the long game. I’m pretty sure that the book I’m writing will get more rewards in the long run than I could ever imagine. Writing a book is a lot of up-front investment that will hopefully pay off in the future. Knowing that you created something that can inspire and impact others provides a great sense of satisfaction. It was a great way to lay out my entire strategy for making as much money as possible. I was able to make changes to my strategy in order to achieve my goals in a timely manner. For updates on the book and for free stuff sign up here.

2017 Goal: Hit 100,000 monthly page views consistently
2017 Reality: Hit this within one month of setting the goal and now average over 500,000 pageviews per month (accomplished!)
2018 Goal: Hit 1 million page views per month by the end of 2018

My traffic has continued to increase despite my writing being less frequently. I attribute this success to my constant updating of my content. If you haven’t yet checked it out here are my top 67 SEO tips for bloggers (this post has been viewed over 200,000 times!). The basics do work. Don’t forget to think outside the box, as that is where innovation and creativity come in. The interest in digital marketing is compounded by search engine Optimisation. When done correctly, it can yield great returns. I’ve been able to capitalize ranking on the first page of Google for a wide variety of topics including side hustling, house hacking, early retirement, make money blogging, and a bunch of others. I haven’t hit the point where I need to get to 1 million monthly page views. With a bit more hard work, I can reach that goal in the near future. It could happen next year. Anything is possible if you know what the future holds. If I want to hit my goal of 1 million page views per month, I need to increase my posting volume. I can make sure that my content is seen by the widest possible audience by posting consistently. That is the plan. Let’s start right away.

2017 Goal: Make $100,000 from Millennial Money revenue and partnerships
2017 Reality: I made $401,681 from the blog (accomplished!)
2018 Goal: Make $500,000 and donate half

I did not start this money blog to make money. I started it to teach others how to manage their finances. I started sharing my financial independence story with people who were interested. I want to inspire others to take control of their finances by sharing my story. If a $5 bill is on the ground, you should pick it up. It’s free money. I have spent my entire career building websites for other people and this is the first website I have built for myself. I enjoy teaching others how to make money online. I help people realize their dreams of financial freedom and make money online.

It feels like the Wild West within the making-money-online realm. It’s almost like a modern-day gold rush, with people from all walks of life trying to strike it rich. It is easy to make more money, so it is fun to test and share new money-making strategies. In the digital age, there are more opportunities to make money than ever before. Launching a business and building an audience and network has never been easier. Technology has made it easier to connect with potential customers and partners. I am still learning the same things as everyone else. I know that there is always room for growth. That makes it so enjoyable. It’s a great way to push your limits. Making money online feels similar to playing a profitable game. It’s important to have the right mindset and strategy in order to succeed in this game. I think a lot of people have the formula completely backwards since they focus way too much on social media or tweaking every SEO dial without first creating quality authentic content. Creating high-quality content that meshes with your target audience is the best way to build a successful online presence. Here’s the formula that seems to be working best for me:

Here’s a Breakdown of My 2017 Blog Income of $401,681

If you actually want to make money online, then you have to build a strategy and be prepared to put in a lot of work. People who say it is easy to make money online are probably lying. Making money online requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and consistency. 1/3 of the money I have made on this website is passive income, but at least 1/3 has been active income because I have had to trade my own time and expertise to make the money. The active income has enabled me to more quickly increase my earnings, while the passive income has allowed me to have a more consistent and reliable stream of income.

If you aren’t consistently creating new content and getting more traffic, your revenue slows down if you sit back and make money on display ads. It’s important to regularly create new content and work on generating more website traffic to increase your revenue potential. This is why it is important to think about a platform instead of a blog. It is possible to establish yourself as an authoritative figure in the industry with the help of a platform. You can make a lot of money on a platform. A profitable and sustainable business can be created by using different ways of making money online. To learn more about turning a blog into a platform, check out this post on how to make money blogging.

Direct Advertisers and Sponsored Content $17,800

Most of the sponsored content and direct advertising requests I get are random. I mostly ignore them and focus on creating high value content that is relevant to my audience. I say no 99% of the time, but occasionally a brand will reach out with a cool new product or idea that can actually help you save money or make more money, so then it’s a win-win. I have sold a few sponsored posts and will keep selling them when they make sense. I’m always interested in hearing about new opportunities for sponsored posts. There are other brands that want to buy a display ad on the website. Many businesses recognize the value of having a presence on this website, so they are willing to invest in advertising space. If the price is right, I will sell the placement. The product will be a good fit for my audience.

Brand Partnerships and Consulting (SEO and marketing): $92,900

I signed my first direct brand partnership with Fannie Mae to help bust the myths of homeownership. I’m proud to say that this partnership has helped many people realize their dreams of becoming homeowners. I also sold 14 SEO clients directly from the website (or more specifically, this one post on the best SEO tips and this Rockstar Finance thread on SEO). Four of them were very profitable. We were pleased with the results of the 14 projects that were completed last year. I was able to add some value and peek under the hood of some really successful money blogs by helping four of the top 20 finance bloggers in the world with search engine issues, so I was both able to add some value and peek under the hood of some really successful money blogs. I’m proud to say that I’ve been able to demonstrate my skills with the help of these top finance bloggers, and I hope to continue to do so in the future. Two finance companies hired me for consulting jobs that took very little of my time but were a lot of fun. I enjoyed helping different organizations create solutions for their financial needs. I scaled back my consulting work because it took so much of my time, and I plan to only work with a few brands and other bloggers in the year. There will be anseo for bloggers soon.

Affiliates and Display Advertising: $127,400

I am going to try and make my revenue more consistent in order to grow it. I’ve begun looking into ways to increase my revenue, such as exploring new affiliate programs. Most, but not all of the affiliates I work with are listed on my best money tools page. I am in the process of scaling a few of my affiliate relationships. I work with MyFinance and run display ads through the AdThrive network, but I have been scaling them back to make the reading experience better.

When contextually relevant, display ads are nice, but they can get really random and cluttered up. If you run a display ad network on your website, it can undermine your affiliate revenue since most affiliate commissions are based on last-click attribution, not first-click. It is important to consider the implications of running a display ad network in relation to your affiliate marketing program. If someone clicks on your link, but then comes back to your website and clicks on a re-marketing ad from your affiliate, you might not get an affiliate commission. The customer would need to click on the original link in order for you to receive the commission. If you have run display ads and have affiliates, be careful, I realized I was losing a lot of commission this way. I realized that I needed to make changes to my marketing strategy in order to maximize my affiliates’ success.

Everything else: $163,581

I cannot say how much money I am being paid for some of the projects, so I am lumping them all together. I’m very thankful for the opportunity to work on these projects and the recognition I’ve received so far. Signing a contract for my book is one of the things in this bucket of income. I’m looking forward to seeing where this income will take me in the future. Since I am going to speak more, release at least two more courses, and take on a few more coaching clients, I expect this number to grow.

If the new courses being developed are successful and website traffic continues to grow, I might be able to achieve my