April was a good month for me. Not quite as good as March, but still a great month. In fact, both March and April were so good, that the relatively quiet month I've had here in May has felt like a bit of an anti-climax!
I spent a week traveling in Thailand last week, and it gave me some time to reflect on where the business is at, where it needs to go (or where I want it to go), and how I might get there.
I know for a fact that my ability to go to Thailand, which was pretty much a last-minute trip on a whim, is down to all the work I've been doing here at HumanProofDesigns for the last year and a half. I didn't have a boss to ask permission from, and I knew that while I was there my business would keep doing its thing.
This really is the “dream” – the ability to travel where you want, when you want, and all of that.
I write about it so that you can get inspiration and realize that the dream is very much achievable. I'm not trying to brag.
I write these income reports for that reason…but there's also something even more important about the reports, and it's something a lot of people overlook.
With everyone who shares their income reports, you get to see the journey.
The journey is something that often gets lost. We all see the guy who drives a Ferrari and makes 6 figures monthly. We all see the guy on stage speaking about business, and we want what he has.
The same is true for sport. We see the guys with the big contracts, and the young kids driving sports cars to training, and we think “wow, that's awesome. I want that too.”.
But please don't forget about the journey. The journey is the most important thing.
Don't forget about the long hours that those sports stars put in, day after day after day until they were good enough for that contract. The same is said for the Internet Marketers who succeeded.
I often thought recently, what makes me different from others? Why is it that I'm able to make a pretty good income online (even if it is relatively small compared to the gurus), when others failed?
At school I was a massive underachiever, my teachers always berated me for not getting the top grades when I should have been. It's the same for my websites. They do OK, but they aren't roaring successes. My products are good and my service is a lot better than others, but it's not the world's best service ever. I'm not the Apple of turnkey websites.
So with this relative mediocrity, why was I able to succeed where so many others failed?
I think the only answer I can find is that I'm still here. I didn't quit. I kept trying and trying and trying. I suffered through those mornings where I woke up and didn't even want to turn on my laptop. I ignored those late nights where I lay in bed wondering if I was ever going to succeed.
Every day I got a little bit better at working online, and every day I grew my business a little bit more.
And for that reason, here I am.
All you have to do is keep trying, and you will get here too. Do you keep doing the same thing? Do you keep trying new things? It's probably a mixture of the two. You have to travel your journey.
I'll admit this isn't how I planned on starting out this income report, but time away gave me time to think about some things, and I felt that this was a good place to talk about it.
Let's get back on track with the report.
The Entrepreneur.com Feature
At the very start of April, this post went live on Entrepreneur.com and a ton of traffic and subscribers came my way.
HPD doesn't usually get a whole lot of visitors, so seeing 1,200 visitors in one day was fantastic! On top of that, while I usually get 10-20 subscribers a day, I got over 100 for 2-3 days in a row.
What did all this equate to?
Well it's hard to directly track all the tangible and intangible benefits, but I know for a fact I got close to $1,000 profit from new business that this extra traffic brought it, so that's not a bad post at all.
There are also things like the ranking boost the link gave me, the new subscribers, the brand awareness that I got, and many other hidden benefits.
I also added a shiny new “Featured on Entrepreneur” to the footer of this site. I figured if anything, it would serve as a little reminder to me of some of my better achievements.
Call it my trophy cabinet if you will!
Let's dive down and see how the rest of the month went. As I've already gone off tangent slightly, I won't include a “team and systems” update like I did the previous two months. Not much to report there anyway.
April Income
Affiliate Income.
This is from my niche sites and doesn't include the affiliate commissions I earn from HPD.
Amazon: $452
Google Adsense: $50
Dragondoor: $35.96
Clickbank: $35.96
Total: $573.92
I changed my Dragondoor promotion to a digital Clickbank product midway through the month, and eerily made exactly the same amount with both!
HumanProofDesigns Income
This is usually where the majority of the income comes from.
Niche Website Building: $1967
Please note this is my profit for web building, not the gross income.
Premium Article Writing: $300
SEO/Link Building: $325
Website Improvements: $97
Keyword Packs: $75
Affiliate commissions
Wealthy Affiliate: $425
Jaaxy: $32
The Hoth: $638
Thrive Themes: $258
Total: $4124
Another solid month for HPD!
Other Income
Consultation: $500
JV: 21
Total: $521
It was pretty nice to receive some offers for consultation work, most likely as a result of being featured in Entrepreneur.
April Total: $5218
I was very happy to pass the $5k mark for the second month in a row. Doing it once is easy enough but twice in a row was tough, and I'm happy that the momentum carried forward.
There are still lots of changes and improvements on my mind for the upcoming months though, no rest for the wicked.
I'll be looking forward to sharing them all with you in the near future.
Hey Bryon,
I’ve been looking over your last few income reports as I’m in the process of collecting a load of income report data from many blogs.
I would love to feature you in my upcoming roundup report if I may and would love to see your May numbers.
In the mean time keep up the great work with your blog.
Raj
Sure thing Raj. The next income report (May 2015) will be out on Thursday.
Great stuff, I’ll keep an eye out for it.
Another super month Bryon, you really inspire me to work harder.
I have seen increases in my eBay shop which is getting better by the month which I am happy about.
However I’m still not proving to have your success in the websites yet although I know I have a long way to go in content. I’ll keep moving forward though.
PS love the new look to the website, very plush!
Didn’t change the website much Mark! It must have been a while since you last visited!
Bryon I got here because of your helpful responses in another place. I have to congratulate you on the open manner in which you have shared your income information.
I believe this is the first time that I have seen anyone be so transparent with their dollars in this online business. It is most refreshing to see it in a world that is so often littered with exaggerated claims.
It gives me hope of achieving an adequate and sustainable income stream in the future too.
Thanks Ian, I hope you manage to replicate it too.
Congrats on a very good month Bryon! It’s been great to see your growth and contributed some feedback.
The feedback you gave me about a year ago was fantastic Tung, it really helped me improve some things and I’ll always remember it!
Congrats to another $5k month Bryon, inspiring stuff!
You should have had my themes referral in there somewhere, I love it!
Ah which theme was that? I did get a random one from an affiliate link I forgot I had!
autocorrect – thrives referral, just the basic package.
Not just an impressive month, but an inspiring post. The journey, man. That journey is many times what makes or breaks us. So many peaks and valleys along the way and the ones with enough fortitude and drive to succeed are the ones who come out on top.
I can’t wait to eventually share my story. It’s been a hell of a ride and boy were those peaks high and those valley’s low. However, I have also noticed that as I have continued my journey, I no longer fear those valley’s. It’s probably because I am more prepared for them. I don’t fear them. Instead, I prepare for them and have better insight to avoid those valley’s from sinking too low. The fear becomes far less daunting each day, month and year.
It’s always great to run into those select people that help educate, inspire and motivate me to become better. I literally learn something new every day. I don’t fear the unknown. I don’t fear the deep end. My confidence continues to grow and I am grateful for the business relationships I have built and continue to build along the way with people from all walks of life from around the world.
Congrats on the Entrepreneur mention. That is something to truly be proud about and an accomplishment in and of itself. Keep up the great work, my friend and I hope to work together on more projects in the future. Things are looking bright, but in the grand scheme, it’s just the beginning and I couldn’t possibly be more stoked. Now, if I could only manage to somehow get a little more sleep somewhere along the way, lol. It’s hard to walk away sometimes when you love what you do. All the best, Bryon!
Great Month Bryon! Hitting 5000$ a month is really a lot if you ask me! I started to build a few new niche sites on my own. Those old are getting better for now, it will be my biggest month. I’m not earning a lot, but my first step is to reach 500$ a month online.
I’m also interested in offering services for bulding niche sites for others like you. Do you think there is still room for me? I think I know how to build them. Above that I know people who are making 3000$+ a month just from niche sites and I here and there ask them a question. I’m really thankful to them.
I’m sure there is still room for you Tomaz, but the main thing is that you can grow and audience and build trust. If you can do that, people will be happy to hire you.
Tomaz,
I don’t build websites (for others, anyway), but I’ve been in the online income game for well over 10 years now, and I can assure you, there is ALWAYS ROOM for quality competition. Actually the only specialty or sideline I would be extremely cautious about is the “space” where there are no competitors.
If you see such a “space” you _may_ have a great idea, but then again there maybe no competition because there’s just no money to be made there.
Go where the proven money is, WORK (re-read the excellent into to this article) and you will succeed. Godspeed.
Congrats Bryon! Glad to hear the Entrepreneur feature helped you out – was my pleasure to feature you!
Thanks Thomas. One of those features every month would be handy!
+1 Bryon! Or even bi-weekly 😛
Haha, that would be more than welcome.
Awesome month, Bryon! Nearly $2,000 profit building out and selling ready-made affiliate sites is really inspiring!
As for the SEO/link building, I am thinking of getting into that space as well 🙂
There’s plenty of room in that space Mike, although people are more wary of it these days. Maybe when they see more of your results they’ll think otherwise 🙂