Dara's Progress: Month 4

Month #4 - January 2016

January started off pretty well, I was following my usual steady course of creating content, sharing on social media, improving my SEO and reading more training.

Then something happened. I have no idea what started it, since it's really its own beast, but my depression that I've been battling for over 5 years started a downward spiral.

I think I was trying to do too much at once; I'd received an email from the man who sponsored my membership here (is sponsored the right word? I clicked his link and joined!). The email was another affiliate program he's promoting, about an education course that promises to have you create a bestselling book on Amazon in 3 months.

I was interested, I have an idea for a book floating around in my head but hadn't thought much about actually writing it. So I started paying more attention to the promo materials and videos for that, which ran over the course of a week or so. Then I attended the live webinar since I was interested enough to join, provided it was in my budget.

Short story: it wasn't. I'm sure it's a fabulous program and I'd have been successful doing it, but I didn't have a couple thousand dollars to invest at this time. I was disappointed, and began researching more information abut just trying it myself.

I got way off track. It was like the hamster running my brain wheel was on crack or something. I couldn't organize my thoughts, got different ideas, went in two different directions and started 2 books.

By the time I realized that I needed to slow the heck down, it had been a few weeks of neglecting my website and I had to get back on track. I saw my doctor about my current meds, and asked him if I could have anything to help me focus. He didn't give me anything, since I see a psychiatrist in March who will then be managing my meds, and he didn't want to throw a wrench into what's been working all right so far.

FINE!

I stopped all activity with my book projects and am now focusing on my website again. It was not a very successful month since I wasn't paying too much attention to it. Here are my numbers!

Expenses:

Zero Dollars, but who knows how much in lost time.

Income:

$22.50 for my one WA referral staying another month!

$1.66 from Amazon sales

Profit or Loss?

Income - Expenses = Profit or (Loss)

$24.16 - $0 = $24.16 Profit for the Month

Total Profit or Loss Since Joining WA= $137.79 - $399 = (-261.21)

Month 4 Takeaway:

*sigh* I need to be more conscious of my tendency to become easily distracted. I'm not upset at all about getting that email about the book program; I hope my sponsor made a lot of sales for it! I should ask him how he did...

My depression is still in a slump currently. It's a big challenge I live with (along with type 1 diabetes and 5 little boys) and I hope so much that seeing a psychiatrist will help me get a real handle on it, and hopefully be able to get myself into a good upswing soon.

Goals for Next Month:

• CONTENT! Gosh darn it, content. MORE!
• I have an idea for a new site and I'm going to start outlining it

Personal note: I'm really having a hard time today (February 10th) since I found out yesterday that a good friend I have online died at the end of January. The only reason I found out is because I googled his full name, since I hadn't heard from him in awhile. You guys aren't my therapists, but if you want to read about the whole thing, visit my FindingBliss website (link on my profile page) and read the latest post.

Thanks everyone, have a good February :-)