Super late post, but better late than never. Time for another progress report!
I am currently in the amazing Chiang Mai, Thailand and am here until end of February/beginning of March. Unfortunately I didn’t surpass my October passive income milestone with my November performance. However, it was pretty expected. I hadn’t been working on my digital downloads Etsy store and I started working on another project with my dad. The good thing is I was able to spend lots of time with family.
Without further ado, here is my November 2017 progress report!
Travels
I spent most of the month in Hong Kong. To be honest, I was kind of a homebody. I didn’t do much there as I don’t really have many people to hang out with, and I tend to like to stay inside.
I did, however, go on a super nice Royal Caribbean cruise for a few nights. It was AWESOME…I love cruises! Yes there were mainly old Asian couples on the boat so there wasn’t much socializing going on, but I didn’t care. Eating at nice all-you-can-eat restaurants for free, rock climbing, playing basketball, hitting up the hot tub, attending “pamper parties” and movie showings, and just relaxing in my room, I was having a ball. The cruise went to different cities of Taiwan, but I was enjoying all the amenities and activities of the cruise itself, so I stayed inside most of the time.
Here is a collage of the food I ate out there…
I also visited my friends out in Taipei for a few hours. I went to the Gudetama cafe with 2 friends and met up with 2 others at a different restaurant. I was super happy that they came to hang out!
Passive Income – Bigger developments:
I’m going to start putting my larger developments at the top here:
Mobile Apps
I worked with developers and built TWO mobile apps. One of the apps was super basic for Android. I did not expect to do much with it. It was merely a test to learn the ropes of developing and publishing my very first app. And…*drum roll please*…I paid less than $100 for it. I’m serious! It was one of the cheapest lessons I’ve ever taken in understanding what the process was like. It taught me that creating mobile apps really does not have to break the bank.
The 2nd app I built was an iOS app. The creation of it made me realize that with my graphic design skills, I can wireframe, design, and build anything I want. The sky’s the limit! I really like the 2nd app I built, but after I published it I totally did not put in the work to market it. I am realizing more and more that maybe creating is my true passion. Since I’m diving into so many passive income streams right now, it is easy for me to move onto the next thing way too quickly. I hope in the future I’ll automate all these streams and focus on one thing that I care most about.
I Bought an iPad Pro (and a Drone)!
My graphic designer/animator friends introduced me to the awesome combination of the iPad Pro + Procreate app + Apple pencil. Supposedly it is an amazing investment for people who love to illustrate and want to draw directly on the screen. The Procreate app on iPad lets you do just that, and you just use the Apple pencil as the tool to illustrate on the screen. I purchased and shipped the iPad Pro to America so I haven’t been able to use it yet, but I’m super excited for it.
I also purchased a DJI Mavic Pro, which I hope to use for traveling and creating awesome music videos. I shipped this to America as well so it will be a while before I can use it. I heard there’s a huge learning curve, so fingers crossed I’ll be able to use and master it.
I’m normally a minimalist and don’t spend that much money, but I paid a decent amount for these devices. In my opinion, any purchase that can give huge value to your life/career/help you in your passions is a great investment.
MeWantTravel Book
As mentioned in my previous progress report, I am working on a book with my friend, for mewanttravel.
We started setting up weekly calls to work on it. We’re very excited to finish and publish it for the world, but there’s still a while to go. We’re going to make it an illustrative, interactive book so this will require a lot more than just structuring and writing.
Passive Income – Other Developments
Etsy
This month, there was definitely a dip in how much I earned on Etsy. I haven’t worked on it in a while. Previously I had a monthly tracker to make sure I was hitting my objectives, but this month I totally failed to keep up with this.
Check out my guides on how to make passive income with Etsy. On Etsy, I sell digital downloads which generates passive income (not considering the active work of responding to customer support e-mails).
If you’d like to open your own Etsy shop, you can use my link here which gives you 40 free listings – an $8 value – (and provides me with 40 free listings as well).
Merch by Amazon
Merch by Amazon is a platform that allows you to upload and sell shirts by simply uploading designs and crafting descriptions.
My profits were about the same as last month’s. I will admit it, I’m still pretty scared of termination and that’s why I am moving way more slowly on this platform. It’s way too easy to get design rejections. Going slowly for me essentially means I won’t beat myself up if I don’t hit the max amount of uploads I can put up each day. I just want to make sure I do my trademark checking constantly and not rush my uploads.
Amazon FBA + Kindle
My Amazon FBA and Kindle performance increased which helped make up for the losses on my Etsy performance. I believe this may be due to the upcoming holiday season.
If you want to see what Amazon FBA is and how to sell items on the platform check out part 1 of my guide here.
Check here for more information on Kindle. I also created a discount code with ewritersolutions (this platform is where I get my outsourced writing completed). So if you want to try it out, use my code “Sharon7” for 7% off your first book.
Conclusion
Though I didn’t hit a new passive income milestone, I am happy with November. There were many developments in different areas, and I am trying to make sure I always stay grateful for the process. I am constantly rushing to hit numeric goals, which is great, but if I forget to enjoy the hustle, what’s the point of passive income? I’d still be trading time for money in a sense. Got to stay positive and grateful!
