Cracking the Code to Passive Income

Are we there yet?

I remember asking this question often as a child when we were on a trip to somewhere wonderful with my parents. We were over-the-moon excited about our family holidays and the road trip always seemed soooo long. (Remember those good old days?).

Lately, I find myself asking the same question about my online business.

Am I there yet? Have I reached my destination?

Am I lying on a hammock at some exotic beach resort smiling as I hear the delicious ping of payment notifications on my smartphone?

Am I cracking the code to passive income?

It's nearly 6 months since I embarked on my year of passive income... let's do a little stocktake.

I mentioned in my last post, 2020, Your Year to Create Passive Income Streams? that I had set up a few potential passsive income streams. Let's see how they're coming along.

E-Commerce

Dropshipping

I was gifted a dropshipping plugin by AliDropship. I installed it on my website and added a few items in my store.

Oops. That's as far as I got with that project.

I never promoted the items as I felt out of my depth with dropshipping. This could explain why I got ZERO sales.

I added an affiliate link to Ali Dropship in one of my blog posts and added one of their banner ads as a side widget on one of my sites. 1335 visits resulted in zero referrals.

Clearly, I did not focus on Dropshipping and, as I thought, this is not probably going to become one of my passive income streams (not without a LOT more promo). I've done the bare minimum and it shows.

Am I inspired to continue on this path? No. Mainly because my heart isn't in it and never was.
I don't believe there's anything wrong with this business model. I follow a number of YouTubers who are doing brilliantly with dropshipping. It's just not my idea of fun.

Print-on-Demand Store

So let's see how my other foray into e-commerce store is doing . I set up two print-on-demand stores on RedBubble, created a few designs, uploaded them and promoted some of them on social media.

Total sales to date? 2 Items

Total earnings to date? $5.70

Bwahahaha. Not even enough to buy the hammock, let alone pay for the holiday!

Still, 2 sales is enough to encourage me to continue with this passive income source. Especially as I enjoy the creative outlet. I like idea of designing my own range and sharing my message with the world on merch. As a branding exercise alone, I think it's pretty cool.

And RedBubble have been proactive on the social distancing thing. They've added masks to their offering and I've heard they are selling well.

On my to-do-list: Create a few designs specifically for masks.

Promote more of my merch on social media.

Online Course Creation

In my heart of hearts, I was certain this strategy was going to kick up the best results.

And it has. Although it's still a long way off from real income.

I created an online course and uploaded it to two platforms, Udemy (because they already have an audience) and Thinkific (to test whether I have an audience for my courses yet).

Let's have a look at the results so far.

Udemy

As most students know, Udemy frequently offers Sales. Most Courses are sold at rock-bottom prices, so it's a numbers game. You need loads of sales to make decent income.

That in mind, let's look at my stats so far - with one course on Udemy.

Total Enrollments to date: 21 Students

Total Revenue to date: $66.03

This is also not going to buy me a holiday, but at least it's enough for the hammock. ;)

I'm encouraged. And I'm patient.

One thing I learnt about earning on Udemy.

I chose Payoneer instead of Paypal as my payment gate for Udemy because I've heard Payoneer's fees are lower and global transfers are faster. I wanted to test it out for myself.

There's a snag. You can only transfer money from Payoneer into your bank account once you have $50 in your Payoneer account.

So the first time I'll receive any income for online course creation from Udemy, is in June.

And if I want to cashout again in July, I need to up my game - to $50+ a month.

I can't leave that to chance.

On My To-Do List: Create and Publish another Course on Udemy (on a popular subject)

Create a blog post and YouTube video to sell my existing Course on Udemy

Update my existing Udemy Course and a PDF download (and consider increasing the price)

Thinkific

I've uploaded 3 Courses to Thinkific, including the course I have on Udemy.

I promoted my courses on social media, offering them free for a few weeks.

Total Enrollments to Date: 17

Total Revenue: 0 - everyone enrolled when the courses were free.

Thinkific is a long-term strategy for me. When I'm ready to create my signature course, it's likely to be the platform I'll choose.

For now, I'm using their Free Version (which has limited functionality), will only upgrade to the paid version when it becomes worth it. (Basic is $39 a month, Pro is $79 a month).

On My To-Do List: Remove one course on Thinkific and replace it with the new course I'm creating for Udemy. (Can only sell 3 Courses on Thinkific's Free Option).

Email Course

A couple of months ago, I started teaching A Course in Miracles on YouTube.

Every weekend I create 5-10 video lessons and schedule the posts to go up daily on YouTube.

I upload the audio files of each lesson to a podcast on Anchor.FM, these are also scheduled to go up at the same time each day.

I have 60 videos and podcast episodes uploaded so far (not all live yet, some are still scheduled to go live).

To help students become accountable, I'm creating an email course with all 365 lessons.

Each lesson will go out at the same time each day and will include links to the video and audio.

Membership Site

I finally got around to setting up my Patreon page yesterday and have made my email course and online courses available to my patrons.

I'm still tweaking a few things before I start promoting it.

Affiliate Marketing

There's been a slight bump in affiliate income thanks to my online course on Udemy but, sadly no big numbers to report (yet).

Network Marketing

About a month ago, I made the decision to jump back into a network marketing business that's been dormant for a while. I've been successful in network marketing in the past and I'm really enjoying the team support and training.

This is a path to wealth that really suits my personality as I love recruiting and building leaders.

I'm currently studying Attraction Marketing to increase Affiliate sales, Online Course sales and generate leads for my Network Marketing business.

So far, I've learned how to attract leads, now learning how to convert them.

Watch this space.

What's the verdict?

Am I cracking the code to passive income?

If we only look at the numbers, the answer appears to be no.

However, I'm happy with my progress and I'm patient with my process.

To establish anything new right now, while also homeschooling, cooking, cleaning and keeping up with the sponsored posts that generate most of my online income, is a miracle in itself.

And let's be real. No-one's heading off to any exotic destinations any time soon. We're all staying put. Lockdown is the perfect time to get these strategies in place.

How's it going for you?

Are you there yet?

Are you cracking the code to passive income?

Which strategies are working best for you?

I'd love to hear how this year has been treating you so far. I know it's been a crazy time for many affiliate marketers with the latest Google update, changes to the Amazon program and all the changes to our lives since the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

How have these affected your online business? Are you managing to pivot?

Wishing you and your family perfect health, peace, happiness and... someday... that hammock on the beach.

To Your Success