I had a whole list of fuzzy aspirations for 2009 and decided there was no way any of that stuff was ever going to get done. There were too many things on the list, and everything on it was unspecific and big-picture. Most items had no metric to measure them. Most would have required several goals accomplished combined to say that item had been accomplished.
Then I listened to a public radio podcast, I don’t remember which one, but I think it was Marketplace, and one of the topics was New Years resolutions and why half of them fail, but on the bright side, about half of them succeed. I dumped my big list of fuzzy junk and decided on a couple of things I really need to focus on this year.
Resolutions for 2009:
- Increase my monthly online income to $3,000 per month ($100 per day)
- Increase muscle mass so I can lift a 40 pound bag of dog food without straining excessively
I’m sticking with these two for now. I know I didn’t put anything in here about how to make the world or even my community a better place, but until I get my own house in order I can’t be that much help to other people. Once my own affairs are taken care of, then I can make goals about helping others.
How I Am Going to Accomplish My Resolutions
Now for the sticky part, HOW am I going to make these resolutions reality? That is always the hard part. Saying what you want to accomplish is easy. Going about accomplishing what you said is hard because it requires hard work and commitment, 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Let’s look at them separately.
1. Increase Monthly Online Income to $3,000 per month ($100 per day)
Assess where I am right now – I earn anywhere from $90 – $297 per month or $2.97 – $9.79 per day. $100 – $2.97 = $97.03 and $100 – $9.79 = $90.21. I have a lot of money to make up to meet my goal of $100/day.
Mindset
- Focus on the tasks that need to be done first each day (avoid time-wasters)
- Accomplish daily tasks before checking email
- Unsubscribe from all lists that aren’t helping me make money or produce great content
What are my current income streams online?
- Amazon.com affiliate program
- eBay affiliate program
- Text ad sales
- MSNBC Going Green Network
- Other affiliate program sales (several)
- Squidoo
- Scribe Fire
- WordPress consulting
- WordPress website building
- Freelance writing
Which sites earn money and which don’t?
Earn Money:
Don’t Earn Money
Tasks for making more online
- Sell Home Office Organization (I’m not keeping this site up)
- Publish at least 4 posts to my active blogs per month, 2-3 per week would be better (I have 3 very active blogs, and I’ll post to Hurricane Katrina Pictures when something is relevant)
- Write the guest author article I promised last month
- Market my current sites consistently every week on StumbleUpon and Twitter
- Use StumbleUpon and Twitter at least once daily just as a user
- Find more friends on StumbleUpon, Twitter and Facebook
- Search within each niche for other blogs and forums, and comment on them at least twice per month (pick one blog or site every other day or so and market that site that day)
- Submit a post each week to STC (I’ve written a lot but not posted anything to the group)
- Update Squidoo Lenses monthly
- Join the Squidoo forum to get more traffic to my lenses, and thus to my websites
- Build 10 WordPress websites each month for local businesses (make sure new websites use my HostGator and AWeber affiliate links to set up their accounts for hosting and email lists so I can have some residual income from them; it doesn’t cost the user more but it earns a little each month for me in sales commissions)
- Spend at least 4 hours per week consulting on WordPress
- Set up at least 2 new niche websites per month that earn $10 or more per day consistently (focus on quality of high-earning sites instead of quantity of low-earning sites)
- Find a product that sells on Hurricane Katrina Pictures, or find an advertiser for that site
- Convert Batman Villains to WordPress
- Convert Superman Villains to WordPress
I need to print this list out and put it where I can see it every day so I stay focused on the tasks I need to accomplish 
2. Increase muscle mass so I can lift a 40 pound bag of dog food
Why a resolution like this? I have to lift 40 pounds of dog food at least once a month for my two large dogs. I have already had major hernia surgery and I really don’t like the pulling feeling I get in my stomach when I lift the dog food bag. Other common do-it-yourself items also weigh 40 pounds, like the smallest concrete sacks. You can’t buy 20 pound bags of concrete mix. I have to do a fair amount of concrete work around the bottom of my backyard fence when my dogs decide to find another way to dig out of the yard. Moving those bags around is really tough now that I’ve gotten older. I’m losing my strength and I need to get back enough to accomplish the tasks I need to do around the house.
- Walk at least a mile at least 3 times per week carrying at least one 2 lb dumbbell in each hand
- Increase weight when 2 lb seems too light
- Spread my outside work around to 3-4 days per week that include mowing, raking, hauling limbs, cutting up limbs, etc. to build strength over time and accomplish things that I have to get done anyway
- Do the outside work with manual tools as often as feasible
These are the only resolutions I am going to make, and I am going to work on them until they are accomplished before I tackle anything else that isn’t vital to our survival.
I copied these lists of tasks into another document and printed it. From that I will make a monthly schedule/check list that I can use to be sure I’m doing all the things I need to get done. Each month I’ll report my online income progress.
Have you set any resolutions or goals for 2009? If so, what are they and how do you plan to accomplish them?
Technorati Tags: 2009, avoid distractions, focus efforts, Goals, New Years Resolutions, specific and measurable goals
January 5th, 2009 Posted by joubess | Goals | no comments
Debt balances:
- Dentist: $415
- Attorney: $449
- IRS: $2,480.02 (TY 2007)
- LDR: $2,735.00 (Louisiana Department of Revenue, TY 2007, no payments scheduled yet)
- Chase HELOC: $4,815.82 (two months behind)
- CFCU Visa: $4,987.86 (one month behind)
- Capital One HELOC: $21,504.57 (caught up)
First mortgage balance: $116,283
Debt Balance excluding co-signed student loans and first mortgage: $37,387
Total debt including first mortgage, excluding student loans: $153,670
Student Loans:
- Co-signed student loans, approximate balance: $48,318 (got a letter this week from these folks; need a complete audit on these accounts; not sure this balance is correct)
Possible total balance including 1st mortgage: $201,989
Discussion
I get a lot of people commenting on my posts who tell me I can’t earn a full-time income online. Bull. An online colleague of mine is doing it and her site is in my sidebar. The site is My Debt Free Goal. I’m following her model and my monthly online income was increasing each month, until the recession hit so hard. When she started, she was working online 10-12 hours a day.
I don’t have that much time to spend online. I haven’t been able to ramp my online income up as fast because I work away from home. When you can’t do something full-time, it slows the progress of that work.
My first goal of earning $100 or more online was achieved in August 2008. My online income was $230.38.
- July 2008 – $50.00
- August 2008 – $230.38
- September 2008 – $222.66
- October 2008 – $294.89
- November 2008 – $133.15
- December 2008 – $90.60 (Sales were down in November and I didn’t make the payout threshold on some of my sites. Those amounts are held by the payers and not included in this total because I keep my books on a cash basis. I’ll get paid for it all In January because I’ve already made payout on January payments.)
Online and Other Income Goals
My next goal is to make $750-$1500 this month, January 2009, online and keep that upward trend going. How am I going to do that? I’m getting more website building work, and I’m getting as much of that work as I can during the first 15 days of the month before tutoring kicks back in. I’ll make this goal if I build just 10 websites at discount prices. If I charged full price, I could build 8, but I get more business if I offer a discount.
What tanked was/is my tutoring income and offline jobs. I barely made any money tutoring in September and October. November was half what I normally make. December was 2/3 of what I normally make. Pizza delivery was off then, too. I’m used to making $1500/mo tutoring those months and several hundred dollars delivering pizzas (amount varies considerably but it’s between $500 and $1300). But we had a hurricane, Gustav. Tutoring and every offline job were hit hard.
Making a $750-$1500 goal in January online may be challenging since we are in a very deep recession, and perhaps even a depression. But I stand by those goals and I fully intend to reach them. Even if I don’t quite reach them, I will greatly exceed my highest online income figure of $294.89.
So here are my three online income goals for January 2009:
- Exceed $294.89 in online income
- Meet or exceed $750 in online income
- Meet or exceed $1500 in online income
Offline income goals for January 2009:
- $1000 from tutoring (January isn’t a full tutoring month)
- $500 odd jobs
Tax and Economic Stimulus Hopes
I hope any Main Street stimulus package will lower my taxes, and that I will be eligible for a refund for 2008 that can be applied to my 2007 tax bill. If it’s enough of a cut and enough of a stimulus, it could pay off my IRS bill. That would be wonderful and allow me to work on paying off my state tax bill. I also made over $30,000 less in 2008 than in 2007. That should lower my tax bracket as well.
Why Pursue Multiple Income Streams
I’m continuing to pursue multiple streams of income because I don’t want to be in a position where any more than 10% of my base income requirement comes from any one source. That way if a stream dries up I only lose 10% of the income we need to live, and I can easily adjust for that loss and make it up quickly. When 100% or even 50% of your eggs are in one basket, a loss of a stream is a financial disaster.
Right now I have the following sources of income, and I’m working to increase the lesser ones considerably to pull more weight:
- Scribe Fire affiliate advertising
- Amazon affiliate sales
- eBay affiliate sales
- Squidoo product sales and advertising
- MSNBC Sponsorship
- Other affiliate programs (all too small to count by themselves)
- Text link advertising
- Writer’s fees (freelance)
- Website building
- WordPress consulting
- Tutoring
I throw in lawn mowing and pizza delivery when I need cash fast, so those are my back-ups when other things fail. My largest sources are currently website building, WordPress consulting and tutoring, so I have most of my eggs in 3 baskets. I’m working on spreading that out considerably over the next 3 months by substantially increasing the other sources listed, or find new ones, to make up a larger percentage of my income.
Cost Reductions
With the hard hit to my income, my son qualifies for SCHIP and I qualify for the Medicaid spend-down program, so that will save us over $400/mo in medication costs alone, let alone if one of us gets sick.
We also qualify for refunds for August, September and October for me, and all out-of-pocket costs since August for my son. I have to mail that paperwork today.
If you do not have medical insurance and you make an income of 250% or less of the poverty level for your family size, your children qualify for SCHIP and you may qualify for Medicaid spend-down. You can usually apply online at your state’s department of health and hospitals website or department of social services website. SCHIP is a federal program but it is administered by the states.
Catching Up Late Payments
Since our medical expenses will be lower this month and we are due some refunds, I plan to use that money to catch up on any payments that are past due after covering our basic necessities.
Technorati Tags: debt free or bust, Debt Reports, Dec 2008, Goals
January 2nd, 2009 Posted by joubess | Debt Reports, Goals | one comment
Talked with DR Counselor
I was able to talk with a Dave Ramsey counselor today. We discussed my income and the level of my debts and how fast they’re growing. I’ve been working the plan just as prescribed and I’m on the right track. I just need to keep working on getting my income up as much as I can, which I’m doing.
My counselor suggested paying $10 or so each month to the creditors I can’t make a real dent with right now and focusing what money I do have on the next debt in line in the snowball and get it paid off. That will put more money toward paying the debt, and less maintaining a relationship with the other debt collectors. Basically, I stop paying on a pro rata basis and start paying a flat rate. That will leave twice as much money to pay on the lowest debt than I had on the pro rata plan. That will make a big difference in making the money I have work harder for me.
I am making progress. I’ve paid off 6 debts. I’m just discouraged because I’m not making any headway on the back end of my snowball. I’ve got to keep plugging along and work toward getting a bigger shovel (more income, a lot more).
I’m going to try this over the summer and work on increasing my online income while I’m delivery pizzas and tutoring. We’ll see where I’m at in August.
If it gets too tough to handle or I’m not making progress, I can always file for bankruptcy at any time. I found my pre-bankruptcy counseling certificate and I have all my paperwork in order. All I have to do is take it to my attorney. I’m going to keep it ready to go and that is my fall-back position for now.
Need to Get Medical Insurance
This is one of the “inside your own 4 walls” issues I haven’t taken care of. Before I put more on the debt I need to get with the local health insurance ELP about what coverage I could at least get for myself. I need something to cover me if I get really sick and need to go to the hospital. As far as I know, if I needed a hospital stay I could go to the public hospital (Earl K. Long Hospital) and my costs would be waived for lack of ability to pay.
My son is on Medicaid, but I only use it when it’s something bigger than I can handle. I pay cash for his routine doctor visits or when he needs to see his pediatrician when he’s sick. Medicaid pays for his prescriptions because they are really expensive but vital to his survival. They would reimburse me for my expenses, but I don’t do that because I can manage my costs okay on my own so far.
I don’t want to stay in this position any longer than we have to, so I’m seeking reasonable coverage for both of us that won’t break us financially. It may require that I keep searching for a solution for awhile. I have been searching for 2 years now, but things are changing and more products are becoming available in a more competitive marketplace.
The only reason we don’t qualify for food stamps is I have an IRA. The state considers that a usable asset and won’t award food stamps to anyone who has any usable assets, no matter what the tax consequences or how that asset is viewed by any other law, like the bankruptcy law.
Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, Dave Ramsey counselor, medical insurance, on track, pushing income up
April 30th, 2008 Posted by joubess | Debt Reports, Goals, Legal Issues | 4 comments
