Tag Archives: getting ahead

Adsense Blogging Goal Met For The Year!

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My secret Adsense goal for this year was to have my blog earn over $100 in 1 month via Adsense.

Fireworks

Fireworks

I’m happy to announce that I met this goal this past August with just a few cents over $100.  Next month, I probably won’t hit $100, but that’s okay because it wasn’t part of my goal.

This seemed like a stretch goal for me because for the first 5 months after starting my blog (almost 2 years ago), I only made 5 dollars.  To be fair, I didn’t even run Adsense for the first 2 months though.

So to celebration, on the way home from my day job, I got some food at a pulled pork place and bought myself an ice cream cone (mint chocolate) at the ice cream shop next door.  Not a big celebration, but it was nice to celebrate the goal accomplishment in some manner.

My Adsense goal for next year will be to earn $150 in 1 month.  Nothing over the top, but respectable.  Actually I have a financial range for next year.  I really want to hit between $150 to $200 per month.  So at a minimum, I would like to hit $150, but really if by some miracle I passed the $200 mark, that would be a much bigger celebration.

To some these goal might seem trivial and they are right, they are trivial to a certain extent, but I find that little milestones on financial goals work best for me.  I used financial milestones in paying off my mortgage, and to help motivate me to contribute and grow my 401k balance.  Financial milestones/goals really do make a difference!

So am I going to become a full-time blogger next year?  No way, I don’t expect this blog to ever make enough money to stop working my day job.  But as a hobby that provides an alternative money stream, blogging is great!

Would I like to blog or do online businesses full-time some day?  Yes, but that’s a long ways off.

Thanks for joining my in my goal accomplishment for my blog for the year.

Have a great weekend,

MR

 

Wealth Tip #2: Working Both Harder and Smarter Can Make You Wealthy

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I have a wealthy friend who while working through college, became wealthy by eventually buying out a partner in the company where he worked at.  This was a risky but very successful move for him.

My friend (let’s call him Jay) was studying to be a mechanical engineer.  Jay comes from a family of 7 kids, and money was always tight for his parents so he had to pay his own way.  Every year, Jay had to work during college and during the summer.  He went through a few different temporary jobs, but the last one was with a small construction company.  At first, he worked as a construction worker, but eventually the owners of the company realized he was a smart kid and really good with numbers (plus he had people skills to boot).  So they hired him as an estimator/bidder for construction jobs.  He thrived at this, it was a great fit for him!

Jay graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, but never used it.  Instead he got lucky, one of the partners of the construction company decided to retire.  They offer Jay an opportunity to buy the retiring partner out (of course, the other partner retired very wealthy).  Jay, being a fresh out of school graduate, didn’t have the money, but said yes to the proposition (they worked out payment plan for him).

For the next 10 years, I didn’t see Jay much, he was constantly working, over 60+ hours a week (although we still kept in touch with an occasional game of tennis,  he also played in a basketball league).

Today, he’s a multimillionaire.  He still works long hours than most of us, but not over 60 anymore.

The point of this post, is that it’s still possible to get ahead with hard work and living a modest, frugal life.  Take Jay for example:

  • Jay never owned a luxury car,
  • his house is a little more expensive than mine (by  around $35,000 to $50,000 dollars more),
  • he does a lot of DIY projects (I’ve seen him even install a new kitchen fluorescent lamp).
  • You would think that since Jay is a multimillionaire, he’d hire people to do this yard work… but the doesn’t…  Every week during the summer, you’ll see him mowing 2 acres of his 10 acre property on his lawnmower.  You might be wondering why does he only mow 2 acres?  Well, he leases the other 8 acres to a local farmer.
  • Jay still works over 50 hours a week, but by choice now (or maybe even habit).
  • Jay still does the bidding and many other functions now.  He works very hard maximizing his return.

You might think that Jay is fortunate that he got lucky and was at the right time at the right place.  Yes, this is true, but I bet most young graduates would have passed on the offer (I know I would have).  Open your eyes to the possibilities around you.  You never know what may present itself through hard work and making smart decisions.

Jay, got a head because no matter where he worked, he gave it his all in a friendly likable manner (part of working intelligently)!

Do you have any personal successes stories to share, where you had to busting your butt to get ahead?  That’s what it takes sometimes!