Of course after a momentary celebration, I had to take a more detailed look at how I did it and how I should approach this residual writing stuff going forward.  Here’s how I got there this year:

• eHow 49%
• Suite 24%
• Google 16%
• Infolinks 4%
• Text Link Ads 2%
• Amazon 1%
• Chitika 1% (I’ve since dropped Chitika)
• Affiliate sales 2%
• Kontera, Orato and AdBrite 1%

Earning $20,000 in residual income is especially exciting considering how much it cost for me to do it.  My top two money makers cost $0 to join.  Most of the rest of my income is tied into my own sites which cost me about $100 per year in hosting and $10 per domain name (I’ve registered about 5 domain names this year and only used 2). When I renewed my existing domains last year, I renewed them for multiple years so I didn’t incur the expense this year.

So far in 2010, I spent about $150 (although, this doesn’t include purchasing a new USB headset when my other one crapped out on me a couple of weeks ago).  When I compare my current expenses to the expenses I incurred driving to a part-time job 5 days a week, I’ve got to say that quitting that part-time job and working from home was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. After all, the part-time job only paid $8.38 an hour.

My Goals Going Forward

It is quite obvious after looking at the percentages that I’ve got a lot of work to do. I need to balance my numbers a bit more and add one or two more revenue sources.  In addition to more diversification, I need to beef up my numbers all around.  By increasing everything else, my eHow percentage will have less of an impact on my income. I’m not comfortable with them being the lion share of my revenue source.

I also want to invest in my money making resources.  I need to do things like upgrade my computer software, blog themes and some of my computer hardware.  My existing software/hardware has done a fine job in getting me to where I am, but I’d like to ramp things up a bit going forward.

In addition to the physical ramping up, I’ve got some mental ramping to do.  I’ve got to spend more time studying, learning and improving on what I’ve done in the past three years.  The Internet is constantly changing and if I want my earnings to grow (I’m still aiming for $10,000 per month in residual income), I’ve got to change along with it.

Well, there you have it, $20,000 in residual income.  If I can do it, I KNOW you can too.

Kenneth Crawford stopped by my blog the other day and left a comment.  I checked out his blog, The Freelancer Today,  and was impressed. Not only did he list a few WordPress plugins that will make my blogging life easier, he has a cool tutorial on how to create a money making blog.

Ken’s step-by-step series  on how to create a money making blog is a must read for anyone looking to create one. What I especially like about his information is that he’s telling you in detail what he does (not what you should do).  In other words, he’s not standing up on a mountain talking down to you; he’s in the trenches with you.

No Gimmicks, No Products, No Bait and Switch

The other thing I like about Ken’s method is that he uses old fashioned sweat equity to accomplish his goals.  He’s not using expensive tricks or monthly subscription programs to create a financially lucrative blog.  It’s a lot of work on the front end, but it is so worth it on the back end.

As a matter of fact, Ken has me thinking about giving his tutorial a try. I’ve created moderately successful blogs, but never anything like what Ken is promoting. Family obligations prevent me from starting another blog before the New Year, but I’m putting his tutorial on my January To Do list.

The next time a newbie asks “How do you set up a blog?”  I’ll use Ken’s blog as the answer.

You guys should check it out.

Tiger reached the pinnacle of the golfing profession. I’m no golfer and learned more than I cared to learn as a result of being surrounded by men who love to golf and watch golf. Whether or not I was a golf fan, I knew about Tiger Woods’ rise to the top, his public fall from grace and now his attempts to rebuild himself, his life and eventually his career.

What I Learned from Tiger’s Apology

I watched his apology and decided to apply a little Tiger to my life.  I know there are folks who thought he was sincere and others who thought his apology was contrived and staged. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion.

What I expect will happen is Tiger, in true Tiger form, will stay out of the limelight, focus on what needs to be done and achieve his goal. He didn’t get to be the world’s best golfer by listening to what everyone else had to say about him. He had to block out the noise, set his goals, focus and work hard until he achieved his goals.

Freelance Writing

Ok, now is when I bring this rambling around to freelance writing. No matter what you do, you cannot please everyone all of the time, so don’t try. As a freelance writer you have to do your research, block out the noise, set your goals, focus and work hard until you achieve your goals.

The folks who are busy making money and becoming successful don’t have time to get caught up in negativity, speculation and theories. They spend their time working hard achieving their goals.

There are two types of folks; there are those that do and those that talk about doing. In Tiger’s case, I believe he’s a doer (no pun intended). The rest of the folks who love to talk about his situation, complain about his apology, rehash his transgressions and so on will be doing just that years from now…talking about it.

The same goes for freelance writing. Some folks write and make money, others complain about lack of opportunities, low wages, scams and so on.

Only Time will Tell

A couple of years from now, where will Tiger be? Will he be talking about making a recovery or will he be at the top of his game?

A couple of years from now where will you be? Will you be talking about trying to earn money as a freelance writer or will you be at the top of your game?

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I’m betting that Tiger will be at the top of his game. What about you?

I owe most of my income turnaround to eHow and Suite 101. They had to compensate for my dropping AdSense numbers. Those blasted AdSense numbers just seem to be forever slipping. It’s a good thing that I use Infolinks and Chitika.

Monthly Resolution

Since January is over, it’s time for me to make my next month’s resolution. I’m learning to stay away from New Year resolutions because a year has way too many days for me to make way too many excuses. It’s harder for me to make as many excuses in a month.

In January I set out to write 85 articles distributed over the several sites I write for. I managed to exceed my goal. Don’t get too impressed, instead of writing 85, I wrote 86 articles (20 of them don’t really count because they were for Demand Studios).

On to the Next

Now that February has rolled around, I’m looking at my January resolutions, modifying them based on my income chart and am formulating my February resolutions. I’m taking into consideration that there are fewer days in February and that my daughter has a pretty mean competition schedule this month so I’ve got to keep my resolutions realistic.

I’ve been guilty of setting unrealistic goals and then beating myself up for not reaching them. That’s a good recipe for failure. Having learned the hard way, I’m now kinder to myself. My goals are challenging, but realistic.

Small Steps

If I continue at this rate, by the end of the year, I should have a nice bank of articles online. Even if half of them are duds, I should still see a nice increase in my residual earnings. I just have to take small monthly steps.

How are your resolutions coming along?

(BTW, just curious, do you track how many articles you’ve written each month or do you just keep writing, figuring that if you throw enough out there something will click?)

On the freelance writing front it has been a profitable year. It’s easy to make a profit freelance writing online because the startup costs are either low or non-existent. Therefore, anything I earn is profit.

Better than Last Year

My earnings have increased over 200% from last year. A little over two thirds of that was residual income while one third was active income. No matter which way you look at it, 2008 was a successful year for me.

Where Do I Want to Be?

While the numbers are definitely trending in the right direction, my financial goals are far from being met. Most of you know that when I started full-time freelance writing I left a part time job because I believed I could earn more writing than the part time job was paying. I ended up doubling my part time job salary through writing (Don’t get too impressed, I wasn’t making very much working part-time in a bank).

My goal is to be able to give my husband options. He laughs when I say this, but he gets up daily and goes to work. I’d like my freelance writing income to be able to give him the option of deciding whether or not he wants to keep his job, or find something more rewarding to do with his time (as long as he stays out of the kitchen when I’m cooking).

Keep on Truckin’

I’ve got a while to go before we reach that day, but as long as I keep the carrot dangling in front of me, I’m going to keep on truckin’ until I reach it. After all, I doubled my part time job salary in the period of a year, didn’t I?

Take Time to Set Goals

Between now and the New Year is a great time to set goals. The more time you take in planning your goals, the less double work you’ll have to do. I learned the hard way that it’s better to take a little extra time in the planning phase to make the implementation easier and run more efficiently.

I believe we all have a bright writing future ahead of us. Lets set the goals, make the plans and reach for the carrot!