“When life gives you lemons then make lemonade.” I am not sure who said that but they are a genius and an incredible optimist. I may not have their level of optimism but I have definitely started making a new batch of lemonade after feeling the bitter taste of lemons in my mouth. June was my worst performing month online in 2013. Here is why.
In a previous post I talked about having two of my biggest income earning affiliate programs going south on me. If you have not read it then you should read about why I am dropping my two biggest affiliate programs here. To give you a summary, my goal is to make $250 per day by August 31st so I can quit my day job and escape the ratrace. I was at the point where I was earning around $111 per day online and was building a solo ad list with intent of it earning $100 per day. That would put me only $39 per day short of reaching my goal. That is when bad things started to happen.
The only thing we have in business is Character
This is something my coach told me back in January. He mentioned that because I was talking about my biggest affiliate program that was not paying me a bonus I had won by wining a quarter long sales contest. I was livid that they would do that. His response was quite simply that they have chosen how they want to conduct business and I have an option as to whether or not I want to continue to do business with him. I can kick myself for not listening more closely to what he was saying because if I had then I could have been working on building up another affiliate program (or two) over the past 5 months. My coach is an incredibly smart man and you should read about how I met him in this post. I will let the picture below sum up what I have learned.
Affiliate Marketing
This has been and probably always will be my bread and butter for making money online. Even with my 2 biggest affiliate programs going south on me, I was still able to make almost $2k in June from affiliate marketing. I have started to increase my exposure with other affiliate programs to recover. My goal is not to get back to what I was earning monthly but to greatly exceed that amount.
The biggest surprise is that I was able to earn $128.50 from a program that I do not promote very much at all. That is Best Quality PLR. I actually did some free work for Justin Popovich who runs Best Quality PLR. In this business it is very important that you network. I reached out to him and asked him what he needed help with and he gave me a list. I put together a list of names and contact information for people he could interview for a book on self improvement. I am including a banner that you can click on below if you are interested in learning more about Best Quality PLR.
For June I earned $1,909.61 with affiliate marketing. Add to that the $128.50 I earned from Best Quality PLR, in June I earned $2,038.11 with affiliate marketing.
Squidoo
This has been a slow earner but one that I have not spent much time in promoting at all. I purchased a lens from a guy a few months ago and now it is making me money. I am very pleased with this result. Ultimately I will need to spend more time on Squidoo since it is a proven money generator with very little work involved.
In June I earned $16.44 from Squidoo.
Product Sales
This is an area that you will see me focusing more on in the next couple of months. The best way to have control over your destiny is to create it yourself. And creating your own products is the best way to control your destiny. I can guarantee you that I will never go south on myself. If you are not making money online and want to start then this is the best way to get started.
Everyone is an expert in at least one thing. In reality most of us are experts in many different things. For example I could easily write about traveling cheaply throughout central Asia, best B&B in England, Paleo vs Vegetarian – which diet plan is the best, best places to purchase old metal Britain soldiers (I have over 15,000 soldiers so I could write on this in my sleep), and how to stop you cat from vomiting hair balls.
Never sell yourself short if you think you are not an expert at something. Pick your favorite hobby or something you have done many times and write on that. All of the topics above are something I have done multiple times and can write from my own first hand experience.
By creating my own products, I was able to earn $238.00 in June.
Book Royalties
Many of you might know but I own 20 rental units. I use to have 24 but recently sold 4 units this year. When you own rental units you learn very quickly on how to be a successful landlord. Nothing determines whether or not you make money or lose money each month that how well you do in getting tenants and keeping those tenants.
As a result of my experience I wrote a couple of books about real estate and real estate investing. I published these books on Amazon initially in paperback version and then eventually for the Kindle. Take my advice if you every publish a book, make sure you publish it in paperback and Kindle at the same time. I now earn more from the Kindle sales than I do from the paperback sales. I can kick myself for all those months I didn’t have the books for sale on Kindle. Learn from my mistakes. As they say “Success leaves clues.”
Anyway I was able to earn $73.90 in book royalties in June.
June Income Report
$2,038.11 Affiliate Marketing
$16.44 Squidoo
$238.00 Product Sales
$73.90 Book Royalties
———
$2,366.45 in June
Overall I was very pleased with this level of income from June even though I lost almost a 1/3 of my income from the previous month. Those 2 affiliate programs going south on me resulted in a loss of almost $1,000 in June. It would be tough for anyone to lose almost 1/3 of their income in a single month.
Let me put the first 6 months of the year into perspective for you. In my day job I took home $18,157.42 for the first 6 months of the year. My online income grossed $18.904.09. Yes, I am short of exceeding what I gross in my day job since I have to pay taxes and all but even so this is something to be very proud of.
I have already started working on my website for the niche site duel. I am still working on my solo ads business. I am going to be working very hard in July to take control of my destiny. Don’t be surprised if you see me offering multiple products for sale this month. I am going to keep pushing forward. There is one thing I know for certain and one thing that will be certain but unsure of when. The one thing I am certain will happen but not sure when is the August 31st deadline. With my 2 biggest affiliate programs going south this deadline might be pushed back a few months. The one thing I am certain about is that I WILL reach my goal of earning $250 per day online. The below image sums up how I chose to live my life.

Hi Jennifer,
I usually don’t leave comments since I’m not earning a dime(not even cents) online but this is my two cents. Don’t quit you job on August, simple, that target as in any business could be re-adjusted. I would quit when on only when my online income would be double of what I do this way when something goes south like it happened to you, you would have where to land safe.
If you can handle the load then move your target to January 2014. Take that pressure from you.
I could go on and on and on but that’s my two cents.
Take care
Rafael,
I am glad that you finally left your first comment! I think you and I are kindred spirits because we think alike. I earn currently $149/day in my day job. With a goal of earning $250/day then I would be earning $36,500 more than my current job. Enough cushion that I would feel secure in leaving the ratrace.
I am going to keep plugging away until I reach $250 per day which might not be August 31st. As you said it might be January 2014. All I know for sure is that I will reach the day I will be able to quit my day job.
Hope you leave more comments in the future.
Jennifer
Hey Jennifer,
Another great post and I was really interested to see how you would press on after the loss of that affiliate income. Must say, I admire your determination and I have no doubt at all that you will reach your income goals.
You have a quite diverse portfolio and over the last month or two I have also broadened my base from mainly concentrating on my solo ads business. My membership site is up and running and taking members and I have another WSO under my belt. I am also forging ahead with software creation and it is a great way to differentiate yourself from the crowd and add value I must say.
All the best and I look forward to reading your next post.
Best
Les
Les,
Thank you for your continued support. I had no choice but to regroup. I have a goal and I am not willing to give up on that goal.
Good job on branching out. As I learned, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Software creation is going to pay big dividends for you.
Jennifer
Great post and the transpercy is higly appriciated. =)
Victor,
Thanks for the comment! I want everyone to see exactly what I am doing and hopefully gain enough encouragement to realize they can do the exact same thing for themselves.
Jennifer
Revenue records you really inspired me, thanks, I always learn a lot from your posts!
Jess,
Glad to hear that you get inspiration from my monthly posts. I want to be transparent and allow people to realize that it is possible for them to walk down the same path I am on.
Jennifer