Alternative Income Streams ““ September 2009

As I expected last month, my vacation made this post a little later than I thought. I’ll keep this brief, because I don’t really know if it excites anyone to read how much I made last month in alternative income. For new readers who are wondering what alternative income is, it’s a little like passive income. However, since income is rarely entirely passive, I like to call it alternative. Next month, I plan on putting together a FAQ explaining it in more detail.

This month was actually a good example of alternative income. I was in Aruba for a week and only spent a few hours online catching up with e-mail. While I was enjoying a pool named after me at the Marriott Surf Club (“Lazy River”), my websites were earning me money. It’s good money by alternative income standards, but not great by Silicon Valley standards.

I could beat around the bush a little more, but my alternative income for last month was $1,766.63 after accounting for taxes. The highlight of the month was Google AdSense. I don’t know what happened or how it happened, but it was 25% more than the month before.

Plans for this month are to really get working on How To Fix and perhaps start monetizing it a bit. I am starting another website similar to that, but I’m going to be using my real name for it, so I won’t mention it here. It will be more technology-oriented and focus on a niche, so readers here probably shouldn’t feel too left out. Also, I plan on playing the editor/marketer with that site, so you won’t miss my witty boring writing.