I've held off doing an income review until I can get a year of post-covid income to analyse, or rather 'post chosen government response to Covid'.
Based on July - June 2021-2022, which is the first full year since the UK came out of lockdown my income doesn't look too bad, in fact it's slightly HIGHER than it was post Covid!
I'm not going to be so indiscrete as to give the actual stats, but relative to each other my income stats are as follows...
This is something of a change from last Autumn when I did my last one of these as I've lost one income stream - marking - but frankly that's a relief - it was my smallest stream and yet gave me the largest headache, even though I didn't have to spend that much time on it - it always loomed over me.
Now I'm entirely earning through passive income mode, which is NICE!
Resource Sales...
These are doing very nicely, I think the company I pay to do me SEO work is really coming through in terms of driving traffic to the blog.
And funnily enough India is now the second country for visits to my blog, after the UK - and the company is based in India - but that's cool, there's a HUGE middle class market for educational services in India.
I am thinking I should expand the content on my blog to cover Critical Thinking and more on Essay Writing skills - I think that has to be the way to go.
I also feel I need one 'KILLER RESOURCE' - I'm not sure what that is yet, but something awesome and pretty!!!
I'm in the mood for getting back to working on my main blog 20-30 hours a week like I used to, I am still not quite 'done' with it yet!
The Chatbot...
It keeps on giving - I'm working with the company to develop better click through advertising so hopefully this will just keep on flowing in.
I'm quite happy with the way this is going!
Ad revenue...
I'm still pissed off that this is 4 times lower than it was in it's heyday - I know I'm being fucked by WordPress - but I'm just not in a position to move to an independent hosting site - I will eventually - When I'm in a more secure financial position I'm going to take a risk and shift everything away from WP - they fuck me, I fuck them, but one has to time these things!
Other potential income sources....
I don't need ATM other income but it's good to keep one's options open!
One potential source is English language lessons/ or even just speaking practice online - that must pay at least $10 an hour - so one afternoon a week could = $160 a month.... it's nice to have it as an option.
I was also idling around looking at apprenticeships the other day - I saw one on content production for social media - and it got me thinking - do one of those for 12-18 months (some of them are virtual so you can work anywhere) - and then I could earn money, get a qualification and then apply all the lessons I learn to my own blog, it's a very tempting idea, maybe not as tempting as sitting around on my arse earning passively, but a POTENTIAL income source at least!
I could if need be give up the house rental!
NB I still get rental income which I haven't included in here because I was just curious about what my income would look like if I freed up the house in the UK - so I could spend more time back there.
I kind of like that idea!
And..... I could do it - things would be tight - but I can maintain my outgoings at current income levels and have my house back in the UK for own use.
I'll make a decision on this by early next year - I might free it up for Spring - but I'd want to give the tenants at least a couple of months notice!