Happy One Year Blog Anniversary Fresh Life Advice

Happy One Year Blog Anniversary Fresh Life Advice

Happy one year blog anniversary to Fresh Life Advice! One year ago, I opened the doors of FreshLifeAdvice.com to the world.

Of course, these doors are electronic and metaphorical.

As a teenager, I can remember using some super cool website called Myspace.com to learn about HTML coding and website building. Myspace was the first social network to reach a global audience, but we all know how the rest of that story ended…

Rest in peace to Myspace as we pour one out for Tom.

Soon, Mark Zuckerberg took over the social media sphere. With roughly 2.89 billion monthly active users as of the second quarter of 2021, Facebook is now the biggest social network worldwide. In the third quarter of 2012, the number of active Facebook users surpassed one billion, making it the first social network ever to do so.

The internet, social media, and technology, in general, are rapidly changing. I had always wanted to a piece of that pie. FLA was my chance of making a small contribution to the big world wide web.

How FreshLifeAdvice.com Was Born

After college, I wanted to fill my free time with a project that would be beneficial to the general public.

I was already writing anything and everything to escape from the daily struggle of the corporate world. Lengthy emails to friends and colleagues, forum posts about stocks, and even personal journal entries.

Why not start a blog?

FLA was born with the mission in mind to help 10 million people with their own path to financial freedom. It sounds crazy, but every life-changing invention also sounded crazy before it revolutionized its respective industry.

As of January 2021, there were 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide – 59.5 percent of the global population. Of this total, 92.6 percent (4.32 billion) accessed the internet via mobile devices. Six in every ten people around the globe now use the internet…

Sure, the internet had plenty of personal finance blogs, but they all had a similar theme. Older retired bloggers who already had a large nest egg just didn’t seem relatable to the younger crowd about to embark on an arduous start to their careers. To be fair, they did inspire me to envision a prosperous future.

The millennial generation is who I wanted to reach, because, well…I’m a part of that crowd.

The mid-20s person sits at a fork in the road. It’s the age when the world presents a choice: head down a path of continuous stress and financial woes, or set yourself up for a lifetime of money mastery.

My net worth steadily grew after the Post-2008 financial crisis. Having this credibility might help people take my advice seriously, so I purchased the domain FreshLifeAdvice.com through Bluehost for any aspiring website owners.

The goal was to put a fresh perspective on personal finance. Hence, Fresh Life Advice was born.

The Great Blogging Experiment – One Year Later

I then spent the next six months nervously designing the site. Hey, I had some good-looking shoes to fill!

Of course, the design wasn’t actually the 6-month hang-up. Truthfully, I was terrified of going live.

What if nobody likes my writing? What if nobody cares what I say? And what if the only visitors are me and my mom, again?

Publishing all your thoughts and opinions for the world to see is scary enough. Baring all on a subject as taboo as money is even scarier.

Against my better judgment, on September 01, 2020, the blog you’re reading right now went live. This was the post.

When I published that first article, I made myself a promise: I was going to make it to FLA’s 1st blog anniversary, no matter what, before I could give up.

I knew I enjoyed writing, but the internet is a big place. And I was just one voice in the chatter. Maybe after one year, I’d be able to tell if anyone cared.

Well, here we are. One year later. I’m happy to report that the site has been a raging success, and I have zero intentions to shut it down.

This blogging experiment has truly been one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever involved myself in. Every time I receive a personal reader email, an inspiring article comment, or an enthusiastic Facebook share, I can’t help but get excited and marvel at the wonders of the internet.

So, I want to say THANK YOU! At the risk of sounding extremely cliché, you – the reader – are what makes this site what it is.

I’m just a guy typing some nonsense on a keyboard. You’re the one who keeps this site alive.

One Year of FreshLifeAdvice.com Blog Anniversary Statistics

299 Page views in the blog’s first month.

150 About how many of those page views came from me.

100 Page views the first day I thought an article went viral. I remember my heart pounding as I watched the page stats, refreshing them repeatedly.

697 The most page views in a single month.

8 Total email subscribers after the first 4 months.

52 Email subscribers today. (You are on the cool kids’ email list, right?)

25 Total articles published in the past year.

2,217 Average Words Per Post

Happy One Year Blog Anniversary Fresh Life Advice Annual Stats

Happy One Year Blog Anniversary Fresh Life Advice Annual Stats Breakdown

470,000 Total number of words in the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, together with its 1993 Addenda Section.

52,070 Total number of words written by FLA. That’s 11% of the entire English Dictionary!

82 International countries reached out the of possible total 195 countries. That’s 42% of the world!

Happy One Year Blog Anniversary Fresh Life Advice International Reach

‘Mr. Worldwide’ refers to the self-ascribed nickname of American rapper and music producer Pitbull. Soon, FLA will self-ascribe a similar nickname of ‘Mr. Personal Finance Worldwide’.

Happy One Year Blog Anniversary Fresh Life Advice Author Comments

These top 5 blogger commenters certainly deserve a shout-out. They’ve supported this site from the beginning. I enjoy reading and commenting on as many personal finance blogs as I can.

Happy One Year Blog Anniversary Fresh Life Advice Most Popular Time

The Most Popular Day is Friday, accounting for 21% of views. And the Most Popular Time is 3:00 PM, accounting for 9% of views.

There must be something about Fresh Life Advice that really gets people excited about their weekends.

99,999,999 About how many questions I get about my Side Income Reports.

It’s been quite the ride, and I still can’t quite believe how far we’ve come.

And finally, let’s hand out some year one article awards:

Article Awards

This is like the Grammys or the Oscars, but for a blog anniversary.

Most Viewed Post:

How Your DISC Personality Affects Your Spending Habits

The stats don’t lie. Every single human falls into one or more of the DISC personality traits so it was no surprise this appeal to many different audiences. It was FLA’s way of putting a fresh twist on personality tests and spending habits.

Conveniently, this post checks both boxes of fun and helpful.

Least Viewed Post:

Why Start A Blog | The Most Important 3 Reasons

Either there aren’t very many readers, or this post was a total flop.

Don’t answer! That was a rhetorical question.

Seriously, this was the first post on the site as well as one of the shortest articles to date. No surprise here.

I have no regrets writing it because it got the ball rolling for the rest of the blog. It also serves as a constant reminder of my purpose for blogging.

Most Shared Post on Social Media:

What Is Going On With GameStop Stock? | Explained

The meme stock mania was very topical, and this post was published during the midst of the hedge funds losing billions of dollars due to a short squeeze.

Most Controversial Article:

Why Don’t The Rich Invest In Index Funds?

The rich are always a topic of controversy. People like to point to inheritance, but this post explores more so how the wealthy invest their money.

Longest Post:

Weighing in at a whopping 3,394 words:

Stocks | How To Know Which To Buy And When To Invest? [Investing Strategy 101]

Shortest Post:

Fighting in the lightweight division, at only 487 words:

5 Scary Halloween Spending Facts That May Spook You

The Most Fun Post To Write:

Ideal Day of Retirement

I’m working towards F.I.R.E. just like most personal finance connoisseurs. This post lays out a rough daily plan for early retirement. See you there!

Most Profitable Side Income Reports:

December Side Income Report | 2020 – $544.01

March Side Income Report | 2021 – $443.70

August Side Income Report | 2020 – $437.97

Some Of My Random Favorite Posts:

I really enjoyed writing these ones, and I was happy with the way they turned out. But the stats say most of these weren’t read as much as the others, so here’s to giving them a second chance!

5 Foolproof Steps for Early Retirement – These are some of the most critical practices I implement in my own life to achieve F.I.R.E. as quickly as I can.

How Much Did I Spend on Amazon Shopping in 2020? – It was eye-opening to see the annual expenses I’ve spent on the e-commerce tech giant, Amazon.

Top 10 Best Money Blogs To Improve Your Personal Finance Knowledge ­– I spend a lot of time learning to provide readers with the best information possible. Credit is due to the pioneers of the personal finance blogosphere.

Happy Blog Anniversary (Blog-iversary) Everyone!

It’s been an awesome ride so far. Here’s to many more years together!

Thank you to every single person who has read FLA and supported this site! Happy Blog Anniversary Fresh Life Advice!

Disclosure: Fresh Life Advice is an opinion-based website. I am not a financial advisor, and the opinions on this site should not be considered financial advice.

Personal Capital: The Ultimate Tool to track your Net Worth, Budget and more.

Any advice for Year 2? What are your favorite things about a blog? Let me know in the comments below.

August Side Income Report | 2021

August Side Income 2021

Welcome to the 2021 August Side Income Report.

Let’s start this post with the obligatory caveat:

FLA’s side hustle income reports are not for the purpose of bragging. This side income amount of money is by no means impressive. The sole purpose of this series is to inspire you to create diversified income streams in order to help you achieve your financial goals faster.

I began this tumultuous F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence – Retire Early) journey almost immediately after graduating from college and shortly realizing it is never ideal to work for someone other than yourself.

After withdrawing from the corporate world, I plan to fully indulge in my mission of helping 10 million people with their own path to financial freedom. I’ve discovered a wonderful community of people with shared mindsets. So I’m currently on a journey to see if we can turn FLA into a little business that supports the mission.

The reason I’ve decided to publish these income reports is because I want you to be a part of the journey.

After aggressively saving 70%+ of my annual income year after year, I’m approximately 25% of the way to retirement with 10 years to go. I’m aware that side hustles may never fully support one’s expenses, but I’m willing to try.

At the very minimum of making $1/month (what one may consider failure), I am ecstatic as I realize this can be considered supplemental income that will be able to be reinvested into this blog to enhance your reading experience on FLA.

Through my arduous journey, I’ve learned to focus on the future value of money. One dollar to you may look like a standard George Washington-faced bill, but to me, I see its potential.  Accounting for 3% inflation, investing that dollar could return 5 times its original value in 25 years. Yes, that’s like putting $1 into an ATM and having it return a $5 bill back to you. How amazing is compound interest?! Hypothetically, you can increase that principal amount, and you’ve got yourself some unbelievable returns.

My hope with these income reports is ultimately to present some transparency for you. By showing it doesn’t take much effort to earn and save, I may motivate you to chase one of your biggest dreams. Dreams may originally sound outlandish, but they all need to start somewhere, right? Without further ado, here is FLA’s August 2021 Side Income Report.

 

AUGUST SIDE INCOME REPORT

The best way to make money is to have various streams of revenue. The best way to protect yourself in the course of ill-fated events stripping you of some of your main sources of income is to diversify.

We have all heard the pragmatic advice of “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.” Well, put this theory into practice. The following is my best attempt to develop additional sources of income. Below are the six ways I attempted to make money from my side hustles in the month of August.

 

 

Stocks are my absolute favorite money-making assets. Your money can make money for you with the click of a ‘buy’ button! Sure, there are ups and downs in the stock market, but if you look historically at the S&P 500 Index or the Dow Jones Industrial Average, your investment generally grows over the long term. Remember, investing and gambling are not the same thing.

“If you aren’t willing to own a stock for ten years, don’t even think about owning it for ten minutes.”

-Warren Buffett, American Investor/Business Tycoon/Philanthropist/Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Investors and analysts contend that conducting research on which stock to buy may be active work, but it is a generally held credence that dividends are passive income.

What are dividends?

Simply, they are distribution of some of a company’s earnings to a class of its shareholders. In this case, you are the shareholder. Yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but the company you invest in will reward you with bonus money!

Let’s take a look at the aftermath of the stocks that paid out dividends this month:

August Side Income 2021 Stock Dividends

Which stocks have I invested in? I have a few individual stock picks, but the finance community knows this is a loser’s game. I mainly hold VTI, the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, which allows you to be diversified and capture 3,525 different stocks with a minimal expense ratio, or annual fee, of 0.03%. Index funds will often take you to the promised land in the long run.

Typically, you have 2 choices with dividends. You can either accept the dividend as cold hard cash or you can choose to reinvest the money back into the same stock automatically. It’s as simple as clicking the ‘yes’ button when prompted with the question on whether or not to re-invest dividends.

I strongly recommend you to reinvest your dividends and capital gains. Why? Well, look at this way: you didn’t have the earned dividend money to begin with. Do you really need it at this moment? Why not let your additional money grow even more? Open up an investment account and enjoy the magic of compounding interest by increasing your principal investment.

August Side Income – Stock Dividends / Interest Total: $91.56

 

In my free time, I participate in paid surveys. It’s one of my other sources of income. The surveys are mindless and allow you to temporarily escape from life’s struggles and reality. Oftentimes, you have a chance to play your part in society and provide meaningful feedback on hot topics that may be decided by top companies and government officials.

The 3 survey programs I use daily are:

  1. Prolific
  2. Pinecone Research
  3. YouGov

I strongly recommend any of these three survey websites because of the higher payouts. Our time on this planet is valuable. Always consider how much time you are trading for money.

Prolific

Prolific seems to have the highest quantity of surveys available. Each survey also previews an hourly rate to the user. This significantly helps in determining if the survey is worth your time. I’ve seen them range from $3/hour all the way up to $30/hour, but on average are $8/hour.

Pinecone Research

Pinecone Research surveys always reward you with $3 for every survey. Since each survey is typically around 10 minutes long, the site has a pretty standard hourly rate of $12/hour. However, the frequency of surveys is much less than Prolific.

YouGov

Finally, YouGov’s typical survey lasts for 10 minutes and will pay out $1.50, translating to an hourly rate of $6/hr. Even though it is the lowest payout, it still helps to have supplemental income. Again, always consider the balance between time and money.

YouGov is an eclectic group of the media, nonprofits and companies that congregate to find out what the world thinks. YouGov happens to be one of the most-quoted data sources in the US and across the world.

Prolific, Pinecone Research, and YouGov offer all kinds of rewards, but I normally recommend cash payout via PayPal. The transfer is usually instantaneous. Prolific does pay out in GBP, but the money is translated to USD when conducting a bank transfer in PayPal.

In fact, Prolific does not have a minimum payout, Pinecone’s minimum payout is $5, and YouGov’s minimum cash payout is $50, albeit YouGov offers the option of a $15 Amazon gift card.

August Side Income 2021 Survey Earnings

August Side Income 2021 Pinecone Research Cash Out

August Side Income 2021 Prolific Earnings

August Side Income – Surveys Total: $19.29

 

An additional passive income stream is selling your old goods or unused consumer products. Simply list your items with competitive pricing on Amazon and/or eBay, sit back, and let the buyers make you offers.

I often notice friends, family, and even co-workers constantly looking to throw out items that are still in perfectly good condition; it drives me nuts! Why not let someone bid on the product? Worst case will be that it doesn’t sell, and then you can throw out the item. No harm, no foul.

At the very least, donate your stuff. I typically enjoy donating old apparel to the Salvation Army and other charities. It always feels good to know your treasured clothing is not going to waste.

This month, there were no strangers to bite on any items of my personal inventory I was looking to discard. After fees and small shipping costs, I usually still walk away with a hefty profit.

August Side Income 2021 Seller Earnings

August Side Income – Selling Total: $0.00

 

As a blogger, I would like to keep the user experience as clean as possible. Therefore, I have chosen to keep all Google AdSense ads from my website. I am an avid reader of many other blogs, and I can truthfully admit it retracts from the reading experience. I am very proud of this decision and will continue with this route.

August Side Income – Google AdSense Revenue: $0

 

I published my first eBook titled How I Launched, Marketed, and Promoted a High-Traffic Blog in Under 15 Days last year. I only promoted the book as part of the launch, but several people found their way to the sales page. Again, this is a learning process to convert the views into actual sales. As Robert Kiyosaki alludes to in his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, it’s all about being a best-selling author, not a best-writing author. There is a subtle yet significant difference.

August Side Income – eBook Blog Startup Manual Sales: $0

 

Who would’ve ever thought that spending money would actually earn you money? Well, with cash-back credit cards, now it’s certainly possible. With my Capital One Venture Card, I can now make this dream a reality.

Depending on the card you have, you’ll score 1-2 miles with every dollar you spend. Capital One Miles can be used in a variety of ways and are generally worth between half a cent and one cent apiece.

Earn 50,000 bonus miles (equivalent to $500) once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.

This month I spent more than usual since the Covid-19 restrictions are now being lifted from from most U.S. states. Although I’m still trying my best to limit opportunities to throw away those hard-earned paychecks, the positive result is that I earn more in cash back from the credit card rewards.

August Side Income 2021 Capital One Credit Card Cash Reward Cash Back

After looking at my monthly expense report, I saw that I earned 9,136 miles, which is equivalent to $91.36.

August Side Income 2021 Capital One Credit Card Purchase Cover

In addition, I was able to use Capital One’s Purchase Eraser function to use my reward miles to earn a free $155 flight!

August Side Income – Capital One Credit Card Cash-Back Rewards – $91.36

 

Well, that’s it for this month’s side income report! Hope your 2021 is going well.

In 2020, I was able to max out my Roth IRA and 401k – I highly recommend you do the same in 2021 if you have the option! In January, I immediately transferred the maximum $6,000 limit from my taxable brokerage account to the tax-deferred Roth IRA for the 2021 year, with most of it invested during a small market pullback at the beginning of March. The sooner, the better since time in the market often beats timing the market.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my latest August income report and thank you for contributing if you have previously purchased something through one of my affiliate links!

If you wish to support this site, but don’t have a need for any of FLA’s affiliate products, you could simply do your regular Amazon shopping through any of the links on this site that lead to Amazon.com. You won’t pay any extra and FLA will receive a small commission. Thanks so much if you do so!

That’s a wrap for this income report! I am looking forward to earning more money on the side in the future. Stay hustlin’, my friends!

August Side Income 2021 Summary

Total August Side Income: $202.21

 

How was your August 2021 side hustling? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Editorial Note – Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

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