So the first month of 2010 is almost at an end already, and it’s time to take a look at what I achieved this January. All in all it’s gone pretty well, though some of my plans have had to change.
Taking A Risk Throughout January
This month I decided to take a risk and slow down a lot on my active income efforts to give myself the time I need to focus on the passive income. This means my earnings for the month are way down, but I planned ahead and worked extra hard in December to give me the time I need. Sometimes you just need to take time out and take a risk, hoping that it will pay off in future.
Working On This Blog
One thing I decided to do in January was to work harder on this blog, writing more quality posts and also posting regularly twice a week – I’m pleased to say I met these goals!
I’ve really enjoyed getting more comments on my posts – through a combination, I believe, of both higher quality writing and spending time engaging with my readers and commenting on new blogs. I also wrote my first guest post, and I’m planning to write 1-2 guest posts every month from now on. The great thing is I already have a few offers to keep me busy 
My Passive Income Efforts
Aside from this, my main project this month was to develop a PLR website for an ultimately passive income. By PLR I mean ‘Private Label Rights’ articles. These are articles on various niche topics, but instead of being sold to just one customer they are sold to many customers. This makes it a lot cheaper, and I’ll probably be charging about $1 per article. The benefit for people buying is that they’re cheap, the benefit for me is that I can sell the articles month after month. Hopefully this will contribute to at least a small amount of passive income over the long term.
If you check my goals page, you’ll see that my aim was to launch this month. Whilst I am pleased to say I’ve written a lot of articles, done keyword research and packaged them together, I decided to delay launching because I’m going away for a week without internet in February. I might still launch it anyway, I’m not sure. But my new definite launch plan is between 22-26 February – I will also have a special free gift for any subscribers!
On top of this I continued to develop 2 new Adsense sites, 2 new IPK style sites, and 4 new product-based Squidoo lenses based on Tiffany Dow’s challenge.
Next Month’s Goals
As you can see, this month was about taking time out to work on projects that I’ve been putting off. It means my earnings are way down, but I’m pleased that I’ve taken the time out. Next month I’ll hopefully start to see some of those efforts pay off. Here are my February goals:
- To launch my new PLR site in the last week of February, alongside Warrior Special Offers (WSOs) to promote this,
- To continue to develop new passive income sites. I have a few domains ready, and a plan of action for these that is hopefully going to allow me to compare a few different methods,
- To complete marketing plans for one niche blog (get articles written ready for submission, and build backlinks),
- To continue creating a new IPK/Squidoo lens each month.
I will be away from 12th-19th February, so things may not move as quickly in February, and I may also have to take a week’s break here since I won’t have internet access to check comments or anything – we will see!
How did the first month of 2010 go for you, did you have to change your goals, did you exceed them? What have you got planned for February?
~ Web Career Girl
Forest (4)
Kidgas (4)
Loren Jaslyn (4)
Des @ Affiliate P... (3)
Eric (3)
Twitter: lisanthemum
Says:
January 28th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
I set some pretty hefty goals for myself this month and I fell a little behind. But I’m AMAZED at what I did accomplish and am already starting my list for next month. The month isn’t over yet either…so I still have a shot to catch up!
Twitter: webcareergirl
Says:
January 28th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Lisa – Yup still got a few days, I kind of felt like I was cheating my ‘ending’ my month early lol! And as long as you feel like you accomplished things I think that’s good enough!
January 28th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Sounds as though you’ve achieved a lot. I think I’m a bit behind on my targets to achieve before end of March, but I need to balance my on-line work against the day job.
Hope you’re managing to get away somewhere nice!
Des´s last blog ..Overcoming Those Lazy Moments
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 28th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Des – I don’t know about everyone else but I have come to realise that I am always behind on something… annoying but true. And that’s even with all the time I have! So I’m sure you’re doing a great job balancing the two. And I’m not exactly going somewhere *nice*, just up north – thought that will be nice in its own way, I just hope it doesn’t start snowing too much otherwise travel will be a nightmare.
Twitter: lbogaerts
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January 28th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
I was thinking of looking back to this month tomorrow or otherwise during the weekend if I had time. I did not bad at all, but my spending was a bit out of line. Will need to keep an eye on that for the next month.
Leslie´s last blog ..New Ideas To Monetize Blogs That Are Geared Towards Teens
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 28th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Leslie – Yeah I have that problem too. It was one of my resolutions to stop spending this month and, on the whole, I succeeded. Though my subscriptions e.g. Unique Article Wizard, Hostgator etc really still add up! I think you’ve had a good month anyway, just need to hold back on the spending in Feb
Twitter: BobBessette
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January 28th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Hi Ruth,
I’m looking at more long-term goals for the coming year. I also want to develop my blog and eventually monetize in some form or fashion. I want to keep growing the blog organically and gain readership. It will be tough for me to post more than once a week due to my full-time job and I have an online class I’m also taking that will be a lot of work. I do like being busy though.
Can you elaborate on what a PLR website is? Maybe I should know this acronym but I don’t. Enjoy your time off from the 12th-19th of Feb. Hopefully it’s a fun trip for you and not work-related..
Best,
Bob
Twitter: webcareergirl
Says:
January 28th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Bob – Thank you for asking, I think it’s something I should have included so will just go back and edit now. Basically it means I am writing ‘private label rights’ articles. These articles are sold to multiple customers, who can then rewrite them or re-purpose them how they like and put their name on them as the author. Because they get sold to multiple customers, they will be a lot cheaper than hiring a ghostwriter (roughly $1 per article I think).
As for your goals, that sounds good – at least you are enjoying being busy! I think it’s ok not to post that often. I was doing three times a week here but have cut back to two and honestly am doing much better because it helps me stay focused. Good luck on growing your blog anyway! And hopefully I will come up with a guest post idea for it soon
Twitter: BobBessette
Says:
January 28th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Sounds great Ruth. That sounds interesting (the PLRs). That’s an interesting concept. Good luck with that and keep us posted!
Best,
Bob
Bob Bessette´s last blog ..5 Parental Tips for Dealing with College Separation Anxiety.
January 28th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Hi Ruth, congratulations on writing your first guest post. It must feel good to get it out there. January went by pretty well for me. I’ve been working more on my active income in freelancing and it has made more more discipline in terms of time management. For the next month, I want to have a better balance between freelancing and working on my blog. The writing style for both is completely opposite though! Anyway, I hope all is well. Thanks for sharing this.
Hulbert´s last blog ..Trust Your Intuition – How I Almost Joined a Pyramid Scheme
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 28th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Hulbert – Thanks for the congrats
I know what you mean about freelance writing and blogging being very different! I hope you find the balance between your different projects, and good luck in February!
Twitter: pfincome
Says:
January 29th, 2010 at 11:51 am
My goals are not getting met this month, mostly because of my job taking up 70 – 80 hours per week of my time. That doesn’t leave much time left to hit my goals.
I am interested and excited to hear more about your PLR sites. Let me know when you want to swap guest posts!
John´s last blog ..What does eHow and the Recession Have in Common?
Twitter: webcareergirl
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February 1st, 2010 at 2:25 pm
John – I am going to come up with a guest post soon I hope, will email you about that. About your goals – I don’t blame you for not meeting them! Just to get anything done outside of your main work is an inspiration! Keep going.
Twitter: frugalzeitgeist
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January 29th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Hey Ruth,
Thats all excellent stuff and I am sure things will start to pay off. Your PLR site should be a great exercise.
Ive been sick and had a friend visiting so Jan has been a little haywire but I think I earned enough (yet to do accounts)…. Looking forward to feb, although I do have another friend arriving in 2 weeks!!
Forest´s last blog ..5 Reasons Why Frugal Living Is Good For Your Health
Twitter: webcareergirl
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February 1st, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Forest – Ahh I can imagine how disruptive it must be to have those visitors, I guess they all want a nice break in Egypt
Anyway, I hope you manage to get a little work done and have fun with them when you’re not working.
Twitter: frugalzeitgeist
Says:
February 1st, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Ha ha, yes we have another guest arriving in 2 weeks for 3 months!! I hope we can take a more relaxed schedule with her!
Forest´s last blog ..9 Ideas To Stay At Home On Saturday Night
Twitter: arafat21
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January 30th, 2010 at 1:07 am
I am on my way to achieve my goal. I have a year long goal and trying to go step by step and so far it going good. Good to see you too on your way.
Twitter: webcareergirl
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February 1st, 2010 at 2:28 pm
Arafat – Congrats on making progress towards your goal, one step at a time works for me too.
Twitter: Kidgas
Says:
January 30th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Well, Ruth, as you know January did not go well for me in regards to internet income goals. I was ill and physically unable to keep up after getting sick on New Year’s Day. Then the golf trip kept me busy. But, by the end I had golfed the best 45 holes of my life and am looking forward to the return of spring and summer so I can get out and golf some more.
Hopefully, February will be an improvement for me. I am glad to see that you were able to get quite a bit done. Fortunately in my case, I do not depend on my internet efforts to put food on the table.
Kidgas´s last blog ..Webinar from the Keyword Academy
Twitter: webcareergirl
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February 1st, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Kidgas – Sounds like you might not have met your online goals, but you certainly met some other goals in January after recovering!
January 30th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Nice job on the first month Ruth!
My #1 goal for this month was finally moving everything to the new blog and launching it…as weird as this launch may seem, I did it! (See what I mean by weird by clicking the commentluv link. lol)
#2 is seriously trimming my blog subscribing/commenting blog list. Over 100 or so blogs was…a bit much. I’ve devised a set list of things a blog needs to make my list; #1 being the blogger behind it must be personable.
Take this comment to mean you’ve made the list.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Hello & Welcome To The All New – DennisEdell.com/DirectSalesWebMarketing.com Merged – Direct Sales Coaching Blog!
Twitter: webcareergirl
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February 1st, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Dennis – Congrats on the move, I saw you did it and look forward to seeing more of what you do there. And I completely understand the need to trim your subscribed list too! It takes me so long to get through mine now that I think I’ll have to do the same. And I am very glad to have made your list
Twitter: goldenkoi
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January 31st, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Hi Ruth,
Sounds like your goals are moving along nicely … and your idea for the PLR site is brilliant. I am sure that bit by bit over time the passive income will grow.
My focus for January and for 1Q is to concentrate on increasing traffic … I mean I ended the year 2009 with such anemic results, that some decent effort growth was not a stretch. I read one of Darren Rowse’s posts where he said that at the beginning all he wanted to do was grow the traffic by between 10% and 20% month over month. On that note I have overachieved for January. I will be posting my own January review in greater detail and can say that on norm, I am pleased both with my main blog and my progress in IM.
best………….valentina
Valentina´s last blog ..Sunday Morn Musings: On Money, Elitism and Olympics
Twitter: webcareergirl
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February 1st, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Valentina – Thanks for the comment, I love that idea that you mentioned by Darren Rowse to increase traffic. That is quite a simple way of looking at it (which I like) and also seems quite doable. Perhaps I will add that to my own goals?? Anyway, good luck with yours, will be checking out your January review post.
February 1st, 2010 at 2:29 pm
I think it is great that you can find ways to generate income over the time, such as the PLR website. These are the kind of projects I really enjoy doing.
I see you are working on several projects now. For now, I am concentrating harder on my blog.
Isaac Ben´s last blog ..Download this resource to manage your personal finance
Twitter: webcareergirl
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February 1st, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Isaac – I think it’s a good idea to focus on one thing if you can. Somehow, I can’t seem to make myself do this!! Good luck meeting all your goals, your blog has been very interesting to read.
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:27 am
Thank you, Ruth. So has yours!
Isaac Ben´s last blog ..Download this resource to manage your personal finance
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:34 pm
@Ruth – you go girl, you already know that we have some hefty goals as well, so as long as we all support each other, the odds of completing them increase immediately!
@Dennis – Dude! 100+ blogs?? Man, I gave up my “commenting” schedule almost a year ago, it was eating up too much of my time and I’m not one to outsource these sorts of things.
I would highly consider it though if you want to maintain your level of activity.
Elijah´s last blog ..Passive Income Project Introduction
Twitter: webcareergirl
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February 3rd, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Elijah – Absolutely right! Good luck and I’ll be following your journey