Earning

Making Money with HubPages Ad Program

When I first started writing online, I was frightened to start my own blog.  I was intimidated by WordPress and the thought of self-hosting.  I wasn’t sure that it made sense to pay for setting up a blog.  So I sought out totally free options and made it my goal to only devote time and not any personal funds to any online venture that I might undertake.

One of those sites that I happened to run across in May of 2009 when I started writing online was HubPages.  It provided me a “free” (or should I say “nothing out of pocket”) platform for writing.  So I started writing while reading and learning about keywords, SEO and ways of monetizing a site.

I signed up for the Amazon affiliate program and earned a little bit of money by placing Amazon capsules in my Hubs.  I also was earning with Google’s AdSense program.  Things seemed to be growing rather nicely until the Panda update about one year ago.  I saw traffic to my Hubs drop by more than 50% and earnings with AdSense drop by even more.

Panda Was a Good Thing

It turns out that the Panda Update was just the kick I needed to push past my fear and apprehension for starting something on my own.  I was also affected by the shutting down of the eHow writer’s compensation program and could no longer make any money using that platform.  So taking some of the money that I had sitting in the PayPal account from eHow, I decided to launch my own site.

I started out with Weebly, still afraid to go for it all alone and discovered that I enjoyed the blogging nature of writing content online versus a static site.  Ultimately, Cash Flow Mantra was the result of this journey, and I must confess that I wish I had started sooner.  It has been a great opportunity for me to meet fellow bloggers and interact.

My experience here has led to the formation of a second main blog, Grand Per Month.  I know several of you read that one as well for which I am incredibly thankful and grateful.

More Changes Coming

Which leads me to the point of this post.  There have always been changes to the internet landscape.  It will continue to shift and evolve with an occasional earthquake hitting.  Those that can adapt will survive.  I intend to be one of the survivors.  I am gradually making more money with the HubPages Ad Program and will be reinvesting those funds to hire writers for more blogs in the future.

In March, I will make just over $40 which will pay for about half of my paid content on Grand Per Month.  By the end of the year, I expect it to pay for all of it.  Then, I can start another blog or site and continue to grow.  I think that it will pay to be diverse in numbers of sites and types of platforms as well as methods to obtain traffic.

Ultimately, my goal is to grow my online income slowly and surely obtaining a nice base.  I view it as a marathon and not a sprint and have been planning for 5% monthly growth over the past 2 years.  I have been hitting these targets and will do what it takes to continue to grow in a sustainable manner.  I would like my online income to help pay off my debt more quickly as it has been doing.  Making extra payments will help the monthly cash flow which is what this blog is about.

Fellow bloggers, what changes have you needed to overcome online?

Finding Extra Money for Paying Off Debt

Now that I am seeing some progress in paying off the Discover Card, I am really looking into ways that I can find some extra money to do so even faster.  I am liking the fact that if all goes well, I could have it paid off by the end of the year which was a goal of mine for 2012.  However, if I were to really get serious and apply some extra funds, I could get it done by the end of summer.  That would free up some extra cash flow for the monthly budget, although I would probably work to knock out another debt.

Currently, I am paying $460 per month to the Discover Card balance.  This came as a result of paying the minimum on my other debts.  By not adding to my total debts, the minimum payment has decreased on some of my other credit cards.  So last year, as the minimum declined on other cards, I would only pay that amount and increase the amount to the Discover Card since it has the highest interest rate.  I am getting more bang for my buck.  But now, I want to take it one step farther.

Sources of Extra Cash

I have identified some potential sources of extra cash that can be used to pay off Discover even more quickly in addition to the little technique that I have mentioned above.

Recycling Aluminum Cans

We have a lot of people in our family and tend to drink a fair amount of soda out of aluminum cans.  We recycle these cans.  Last summer, I took in a year’s worth of cans that had accumulated in our garage and received $59 for them.  I also took in some a few months ago and got $21.  I haven’t done anything special with the money.  It is still sitting in an envelope.  I should take that money and make an extra payment.  It will be like making 23% interest on a savings account.

Spare Change

My youngest daughter and I wrapped the spare change that I keep in the jar in the office.  We ended up with enough quarters, dimes, and nickels to fill out $64 worth of rolls.  The rest was put back for the next time the jar gets full.  I should take that money and use it for an extra payment as well.  Coupled with the recycling money, I would have another $144 to put toward the Discover debt without crimping my budget at all.

Google AdSense and Blogging

I have already been using some of the blogging profits to make extra payments.  If you read the last post, you noticed that I was able to make a $400 payment using blogging profits.  Well, February was a good month to me on the AdSense front so I will be getting a check at the end of March.  I should take that check and make another payment since I really don’t have any other great use for the money.  That would knock about $130 off the debt.  Imagine how much progress I will be making once I am getting monthly payments.  This blogging thing has been good for debt busting.

Selling Some Stuff

I think I might be so serious about getting this debt paid off that I might even consider going to the trouble of selling some stuff.  Of course the added benefit of cleaning out the house would be a bonus.  Putting together a garage sale is a lot of work, but I am sure that I could get several hundred additional dollars to put toward credit card debt.  I have also read many things about selling books on Amazon or selling on EBay which might be worth a try as well.

These are just the ways that would work for me in order to make some extra cash for debt repayment.  I am sure there are other ideas and would love to hear any suggestions you might have, things that others have done or you have done yourself.  Help me out with a little brainstorming session in the comments.  Thanks for reading.

Working on Improving Monthly Cash Flow

There is no doubt that cash flow is one of the most important aspects to managing personal finances and building long term wealth.  It is only when one spends less than one earns can the excess cash be put to good use and be used to make additional income.  If you are constantly spending more than you make, then it becomes impossible to begin to build wealth.

It took me a while to realize the importance of cash flow, but now that I am trying to focus on this aspect of personal finance, I feel that I am beginning to turn the corner and will see marked improvements over the next several years.  Cash flow is much different than net worth.  It is possible to have many assets that do not yield much cash and to even have a positive net worth and be in danger of bankruptcy if those assets cannot be sold in a timely fashion.

Two Ways to Improve Cash Flow

The concept of improving cash flow is simple and yet can be difficult to implement.  You can either make more money, spend less money, or work on a combination of the two.  I am working on a combination of the two simultaneously.

Saving Money

First, I am saving money by using extra cash flow to pay off debt.  I have managed to pay off a business credit card and a business credit line in the past 6 months.  This freed up almost $200 per month minimum that I no longer am obligated to pay each month.  I am now working on paying off my Discover Card.  My goal is to get it paid off by the end of the year at the latest freeing up another $200 per month out of my spending plan.

Just these small moves make it possible to restructure some of my debt to create a reasonable plan for becoming debt free over the next 6-10 years.  That may seem like a long time, but I do have a lot of debt so I would be pleased to have it done in that time frame.  The net impact to my monthly cash flow will be negligible and easy to manage while relieving a large debt burden off my shoulders.

Earning More Money

I am also trying to pick up extra shifts at work when possible and using my blogging income solely for debt repayment.  There is a limit to how much I can work, but there is plenty of room for income growth from blogging.  The longer I am online, the more traffic and earnings that become possible.  As debt payments are made each month, more goes to principal.  There is a virtuous cycle that is created as I mentioned above.

I have other debts that will be paid off naturally over the next few years which will only continue to improve monthly cash flow.  I have been paying close attention to the debt balances and the minimum monthly payments.  Each month, they are declining leaving more room in the budget although I am committed to paying more than the minimums and creating more and more breathing room.

Looking for More Ways to Improve Cash Flow

There are other places that I could be saving money so I will be constantly reviewing these areas as well.  Looking at costs for insurance, trying to get lower interest rates for debts, eating out less and more frugally when we do are just some of the ways to save money.  I am also doing what I can to grow my online earnings through expansion of blogging opportunities.

I am trying to increase my focus on dividend stocks, but that doesn’t help me in the near term because they are in retirement accounts.  However, the experience and knowledge gained is invaluable for when debts have been retired and cash producing assets could be purchased.

Blogging has provided a great opportunity to focus the mind and to actually accomplish tasks.  The accountability is awesome.  When I started this blog, I had just come to the conclusion that cash flow was one of the most important priorities on which I needed to focus for a while.  Hence, the name of the blog.  Focusing on cash flow has been a great idea, and I will continue to do so documenting my progress as I move forward.

Thanks for reading and joining me on this journey.