Passive Family Income

Increase eHow Earnings by 100% – SMART Goal Setting

pfincome — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:40:36 +0000

I have been busy working to establish my SMART Goals and objectives for the upcoming year. SMART goal setting will help me set clearly stated objectives that will allow me to grow my passive income business. Without these goals, I would not have a clear plan in place for the upcoming year, which would cost me my time and more importantly – lost dollars.

Today I would like to detail the plans I have to grow my eHow earnings during the next year.

eHow Earnings

While I have had a lot of success writing eHow articles in the past, I would like to increase my earnings. In order to meet this objective, I have decided to include this as one of my SMART goals for next year.

2010 SMART Goal – eHow Earnings
Grow my monthly earnings from eHow by 100% (or earn $500 per month) by June 30, 2010. I will commit to writing at least 21 new articles per month on eHow over the course of the next 7 months in order to meet my earnings target. I plan to continue to leverage past experience as an eHow writer along with several tools focused on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in order to maximize my investment. Doubling my monthly eHow earnings will allow me to use these extra dollars to fund new passive income projects, which will help my business to continue to grow.

Is my Goal SMART?

Writing for eHow has been a wonderful and exciting experience for me over the last year. I would like to leverage my experience and use it to accelerate my passive income. That is why I have decided to include it in my 2010 objectives. So is this a SMART goal? Let’s take a look -

Is my goal Specific?
YES – The statement “… writing at least 21 new articles per month …” gives me immediate actions that will help me reach my goal. Based on past experience, I have determined that writing 21 highly optimized articles each month for the next 7 months will allow me to reach my goal.

I have also included a statement of Why this goal is important – “… allow me to use these extra dollars to fund new passive income projects …”. I plan to use my projected earnings to fund new passive income streams that should allow me to grow my business significantly over the next year.

The goal also details How I plan to reach this target – leveraging past experience and using several SEO tools. I will continue to use Micro Niche Finder as a way to pick out keywords for my articles. In addition, I will continue to follow the guidelines laid out in the following eHow reference guide titled – How to Earn Passive Income on eHow.com: Maximize Your Online Earnings. Both of these tools have allowed me to grow my eHow passive income earnings over the past several months.

Is my goal Measurable?
YES – My goal to grow my eHow earnings has a measurable amount – $500 per month. This statement makes it clear of how I will measure myself at the end of June on the status of this goal. I have also detailed that writing 21 articles per month for the next 7 months are the steps needed to reach my goal.

Is my goal Attainable?
YES – While this goal will require some upfront hard work and time, I believe it is definitely attainable. Writing 21 articles will take up about 10 hours of my time each month. As long as I stay focused and plan my time accordingly, I should have no problem hitting this target.

Is my goal Relevant?
YES – Even with my recent frustration with eHow and their article sweeps, I still believe the site is a great tool. If I can increase my earnings by 100%, I will have establish a $500 passive income stream that can help fund other projects.

Is my goal Timely?
YES – I have set an exact time line to reach this goal – June 30, 2010. I have also broken my effort down into months by stating that I will write 21 articles per month. This will help provide me with a status check each and every month to ensure I am on track with my goal.

Final Thoughts

There have been some obvious flaws in eHow’s system recently that have not gone unnoticed by many long time members. I could decide to completely abandon this income stream in place of a new tool like Info Barrel. Instead of completely giving up, I plan to continue on with eHow for the time being as well as work to grow new income streams. With the recent addition of a new article approval process, eHow is beginning to take some action in cleaning up submitted articles before they are published.

Tell me what you think – Is my plan to grow monthly eHow earnings by 100% a SMART Goal? Is it worth the effort? Should I be concerned about eHow’s credibility?

For more information on SMART goal setting, check out – How to Create SMART Goals.

8 Tips for the New Info Barrel Writer

pfincome — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:04:31 +0000

I have been writing content on eHow for well over a year now and have found it to be one of the best ways to make money online. I have also found that eHow is not perfect and several of their flaws are now rising to the surface. Using eHow to build my first reliable passive income stream has been a wonderful learning experience.

Part of building a solid diversified passive income portfolio is branching out by leveraging other tools. I recently opened up an Info Barrel account as a way to start diversifying my income streams. This is something I had been planning on doing for some time. With the recent eHow sweeps and communication issues, I decided now is the time to start taking action.

I have published a handful of articles over the past few weeks and have already noticed a lot of differences between Info Barrel (iB) and eHow. At first, it was a bit of a struggle for me to try and navigate around a new tool. I had been living in the eHow world for so long that I had gotten use to their platform.

If you are new to Info Barrel, or are thinking of opening up an account, here are 8 tips to help you along the way!

8 Tips for the New Info Barrel Writer

Earnings – Earnings work a lot differently on Info Barrel compared to eHow. If you plan to earn any money for your content using iB, then you need to open up a Google AdSense account and link it to your Info Barrel account.
Referral Bonus – Info Barrel offers a referral bonus for signing up new writers which adds some incentive to promote the site. While the referral bonus is not substantial (2%), it can add up to a decent income over time. If you decide to use Info Barrel, then be sure to use your referral link to earn additional income. I always wondered why eHow never offered a similar incentive?
Use the Navigation Bar – It took me a few days to figure out the navigation on iB. The one tip I would give you is to look for the link that says Open Nav Bar at the top right of your screen. I struggled the first few days using this new tool trying to find my draft articles – then I found the navigation bar!
Adding Links – You can actually add links to your other sites from Info Barrel articles! This was always a frustration of mine when writing eHow articles. If you do plan to add outside links to your iB articles, just make sure they are not in the first paragraph.
Article Approvals – One area that iB seems to excel at is their article approval process. Before an article goes live, it is screened to ensure it meets the sites standards. Be sure to read the article guidelines to see what is acceptable and what is not.
Categories – I found that trying to find the appropriate categories to link to your articles to be a little cumbersome. I suggest making a note of how you navigate to your frequently used categories so you can easily find them the next time.
Multiple Article Types – One thing I already love about Info Barrel is the variety of article types you can submit. They include the following types – “Blank”, “Video”, “How-To”, and “Review”. I have written several “Blank” article types already on iB and have really enjoyed not being forced to use the step or “How-To” format. Do yourself a favor and branch out from the “How To” format for a while and try something new!
Chitika – Info Barrel also allows you to link up your account with your a Chitika account to earn additional income on top of any AdSense income. I will be honest, I have not had much luck with Chitika in general but can appreciate the kind of diversity that iB is trying to provide. There is no sense in leaving potential income on the table, so make sure you sign up for a Chitika account and link it to your Info Barrel account.

What are your thoughts on Info Barrel? What other tips can you provide new writers that I am missing?

SMART Goal Setting #2 – (2010)

pfincome — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:34:04 +0000

What are your goals for the upcoming year? Do you have a plan in place that will help you reach your objectives? Whether it is for your personal business, losing weight, or making more money – defining clear and concise goals is critical for success.

I am sure everyone has a goal or two in mind that they want to achieve. But how can you ensure that you have the appropriate resources and time to take action on meeting your goals? Defining SMART Goals is a proven method that can help you.

I have plenty of goals myself that I want to achieve over the next year, which is why I am taking the time now to write them down.

RSS Subscribers

I believe that part of running a successful online business is to build a solid foundation of supporters and followers. In this case, RSS and email subscribers to a site can help bring in additional readers and links, which is priceless. Since I focus most of the sites attention on passive income, why not use that same philosophy when building your followers? Work hard at building your followers and let them do the rest by referring your site and adding links for you!

In order to meet a larger goal of growing my passive income business, I plan to build my list of supporters and followers. I recently published my first SMART goal for 2010 which detailed how I plan to increase my number of Twitter followers. Today, I would like to define my second SMART goal for 2010 that will involve attaining additional RSS subscribers.

Keep reading to check out my second SMART goal definition for the upcoming year.

2010 SMART Goal #2
Attain a minimum of 2,000 RSS subscribers to Passive Family Income by December 31st, 2010. I plan to leverage several social networking tools including Twitter and Facebook to attract new subscribers. I will also commit to writing 2 to 4 guest posts on other personal finance blogs every month to attract new readers. Finally, I will focus on writing unique content that will make my site the authoritative source for the passive income niche. Increasing the number of subscribers to PFI will allow me to increase my credibility, grow my passive income earnings, and meet additional goals for growing my business.

Is my Goal SMART?

As you can tell there is a lot of information that is detailed in my goal to attain 2,000 RSS subscribers. So is this a SMART goal? Let’s take a look -

Is my goal Specific?
YES – The goal uses action phrases such as “Attain a minimum of 2,000 RSS subscribers”, “… leverage social networking tools …”, and “… commit to writing 2 to 4 guest posts …”. Right from the start I can use these actions to start building my list of subscribers and reaching my long term goal.

In addition to the action words, the goal also answers the question of Why -

increase my credibility
grow my passive income earnings
meet additional goals for growing my business

Finally, the goal answers How I plan to achieve this goal -

leveraging social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook
writing 2 to 4 guest posts each month
focus on writing unique content

Is my goal Measurable?
YES – The goal has been quantified by stating I want to attain at least 2,000 RSS subscribers to my site by the end of 2010. This is a very important measurement which will help provide me with a daily status and reminder of where I am at and where I need to be.

Is my goal Attainable?
YES – I believe this goal is attainable but will take some hard work and planning on my part. I have seen other personal finance sites achieve much higher numbers in shorter time periods. In order to break this goal down into smaller parts, I will plan to add ~150 new subscribers each month to make this goal more manageable.

Is my goal Relevant?
YES – Absolutely! Part of building a successful online business is attracting a solid customer base – in this case RSS subscribers. There are no direct monetary costs involved so I don’t need to worry about having a budget. My investment into this goal will include my hard work and time.

Is my goal Timely?
YES – There is a clear end date that I plan to achieve this goal by – December 31st, 2010. While I could have planned to meet this goal in a shorter amount of time, I believe it would have put me in a situation where I would jeopardize meeting the deadline.

Final Thoughts

Just as I set a 2010 SMART Goal to increase my number of Twitter followers to 50,000, I plan to build the number of followers on PFI. Over the next few weeks I plan to put together a list of personal finance sites that I would be interested in submitting a guest post to. I believe this will take some time, so I want to get a head start in order to meet my goal.

Speaking of guest posts, check out my most recent article that was published on Christian PF titled What is passive income & why you should care. I would like to thank Bob for allowing me to submit a guest post on his site.

Tell me what you think – Is my Goal to attain 2,000 RSS Subscribers a SMART Goal? Is it worth the effort? What types of strategies do you use to obtain new subscribers to your site?

For more information on SMART goal setting, check out – How to Create SMART Goals.

eHow Article Sweeps – The Good, Bad, and Ugly

pfincome — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:35:21 +0000

For those of you who write for eHow, I am sure you know by now that the latest article sweep is in process. I see this as a good and bad thing to be honest. Nobody wants to have their hard work deleted and thrown away, but the sweep process can help improve the quality of the site.

I wasn’t immune from the latest cleaning of the eHow article library. Yesterday, I received an email from eHow stating they are “… making great strides to clean up the eHow article library…”. I knew exactly what that meant – its sweep time again! I have mixed emotions about this process whenever eHow goes through these sweeps. This round was no different, so I thought I would break it down into the “Good, Bad, and Ugly” below.

The Good

Since posting my number one problem with eHow, it appears they have made some changes for the better. Here are a few changes that eHow is communicating -

Deliver article clean up communications every week.
Members of eHow will be notified shortly after an article has been published if it will be removed.
Articles will be pre-screened once they are submitted to ensure they meet the standards.

All of these items seem to be a very positive step in the right direction to fix things. The other thing I always notice (and can never really complain about) is the nice earnings jump that seems to follow immediately after the sweep is complete. I noticed it once again during this round.

The Bad

I don’t enjoy losing my hard work and articles that I have submitted. I lost 3 eHow articles to the latest sweep, one of which was a big earner for me (almost $40 in 3 months). The other two were not as big of a deal.

Fortunately, I have made copies of my articles and can quickly turn them around on a different site somewhere else.

The Ugly

I can live with the Good and Bad that I noted above as it is part of a cleansing process that I always seem to benefit from (even though I lose articles along the way). What I can’t tolerate is the continued poor communication between eHow and it’s members. As noted earlier, it appears they have listened to their members and have made some changes to improve the communication process. Unfortunately, they introduced new communication issues that I find to be unacceptable.

This is a portion of the email communication that I received about the article cleanup –

“For your reference, this email has been sent to you because one or more of your articles have been removed from your account for violating eHow submission guidelines. Please click on the link below to find a list of all affected titles with reasons for removal next to each of them.”

When I first clicked the link in the morning, I had one article show up. Several hours later, I noticed that my number of published articles dropped again, so I clicked the link and three articles showed up. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to send out the communication once the article cleaning process was completed? This is just another example of how poor the eHow site is at communicating with their members.

To make matters worse, notice the phrase in the quote above – “… reasons for removal next to each of them.”. Guess what? There were no reasons (AGAIN!) next to my articles telling me why it was removed. This is one of the most frustrating things that I find with eHow. Don’t tell me that there is a reason noted next to my article on why it was deleted when it isn’t even there!

Obviously they are still working out the communication kinks.

Oh yeah – and may I add that there is no security or privacy around the links that eHow sent out. If you got the link, you can simply change the username to someone else you know and see what articles they lost. Not cool!

Want to see my articles that got deleted? Check them out (it is obviously public information) – PFIncome Deleted Articles.

How did you make out on the latest eHow article sweep? Are you frustrated with the poor communication they use with their members? Is it enough for you to leave?

SMART Goal Setting #1 – (2010)

pfincome — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:07:06 +0000

In an effort to set some objectives for the upcoming year, I have decided to publish my SMART Goals that I am working to define. Using SMART goals will help me stay committed and focused on building solid and sustainable passive income streams over the next year. I think it is a good working exercise to define these goals here to help others understand the process. Maybe I can help pass along a few things to others looking to define some goals and hopefully I will learn some things along the way.

For those of us who have a career with an employer, chances are you are required to formerly state your goals and objectives each year. These goals are typically used to rate your overall performance and measure your value to the company. While the process may vary from company to company, any successful operation tracks the goals and objectives of their employees.

So what about those who are on their own? For those who create passive income streams or run their own business, one of the tasks that often is overlooked is setting good goals and objectives. That is not to say that goals are not set, just that they may not be clearly stated and manageable.

In an effort to take my passive income business to the next level, I will be defining several detailed and manageable goals as my objectives that I plan to meet. Keep reading to check out my first SMART goal definition for the upcoming year.

Tip – SMART Goals should have the following 5 attributes to be considered useful.
Specific + Measurable + Attainable + Relevant + Timely

Twitter Followers

I believe (and have shared my views many times) that Twitter can provide an excellent opportunity to create and build passive income streams. I can use use Twitter to drive more traffic to PFI or other niche websites I run, use it to help build credibility, or even earn some additional income through programs like Sponsored Tweets. Based on these beliefs, I plan to drastically increase my presence and following on Twitter which is the basis for my first goal defined below.

2010 SMART Goal #1
Increase my number of Twitter followers to 50,000 by December 31st, 2010. I will commit to adding at least 3,500 followers every month until I reach my target. New followers will be added by leveraging several FREE tools and Twitter apps as well as increasing my use of the site. Adding a significant number of followers will allow me to increase my monthly passive income earnings and meet additional goals for growing my business.

Is my Goal SMART?

The goal I defined to increase my number of Twitter followers contains a lot of details, but does it follow the SMART guidelines? Let’s take a look -

Is my goal Specific?
YES – The goal clearly uses some action statements like “Increase my number …” and “… commit to adding …. It also answers Why reaching this goal is important – to improve my monthly passive income earnings and grow my business. You may also notice that the goal answers How I plan to reach this goal – by leveraging FREE Twitter apps and increasing my use of the site.

Is my goal Measurable?
YES – I have quantified this goal by defining that I plan to have 50,000 Twitter followers and will add 3,500+ each month to reach that target.

Is my goal Attainable?
YES – I have set my goal so that it can be achieved in the amount of time I have set (over 13 months from today). You may also notice that I decided to include smaller attainable actions by stating I plan to add at least 3,500 new followers each month. I think this helps to break up the larger goal so that it is more easily attainable.

Is my goal Relevant?
YES – This goal is definitely relevant to building passive income. Since I will be leveraging several FREE Twitter apps there are no monetary costs involved. I am only out my time (which is still important) that I devote to this goal.

Is my goal Timely?
YES – I clearly have put a deadline to reach my goal – December 31st, 2010. It can’t be any more clear than that.

Final Thoughts

Even though this is a 2010 goal, I have decided to start it a little early. Starting today, I plan to put this goal into motion and have given myself about 13.5 months to reach my target. As time goes by, I will provide periodic updates (probably monthly) on my status and how I am doing. I will also be providing details on the tools and Twitter apps that I am leveraging to reach my goal. Finally, I have added the Twitter counter to this post so that I have an up to date count of my status when I check back in.

Tell me what you think – Is my Goal to attract 50,000 Twitter followers a SMART Goal?

For more information on SMART goal setting, check out – How to Create SMART Goals

10 Secrets to Staying Focused When Writing Content

pfincome — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:04:37 +0000

One of the easiest ways to build passive income streams with no initial investment is to write and publish online content. Sites like eHow, HubPages, and Info Barrel are just a few of the popular places where there is no upfront costs to join. Writing an eBook, publishing an online newsletter, or building a niche blog are also opportunities to make money online that come at a very low cost.

So what do all of these opportunities have in common, besides their low barriers to entry? Each one of them requires the writing, editing, and publishing of online content that will be read by others. You could choose to spend a little money and hire resources to write this content for you. Or you could opt for the cheaper route and handle this task on your own.

One of the hardest parts of creating your own content is staying focused enough to make your time worth it. There can be hundreds and hundreds of distractions that can really throw a writer off track. So how can an author take steps to prevent outside distractions and stay focused? Keep reading to learn about some of the secrets I use to stay focused when writing my online content.

10 Secrets to Staying Focused

Here are 10 different distractions that face me when I am writing content and how I try to cope with them.

Avoid Email – Checking your email is one of the absolute worst distractions that people face. Consistently checking back hour after hour for emails to come in is very inefficient and will waste a lot of time. Try to limit yourself to checking email twice per day – once in the morning and once in the evening.
Turn of the Television – If you think the television is just some “white noise” that helps you concentrate, chances are it will still be a distraction. Even if you are just listening to the television, you are not concentrating on your task at hand – writing. If you are working out of your home, I suggest finding a room to work in where the television is off.
The Twitter Effect – Social networking has become as much of a distraction to people as email. There is a time and place for Twitter and other social networking sites – just try to avoid it when writing.
Stop Looking at AdSense – Checking your AdSense earnings can be very addictive to those who choose to make money online. It is okay to check how your earnings are doing as a motivator but there can be a limit. Try to limit yourself to check AdSense and other earnings to once per day – probably in the evenings when you check your email.
Don’t Multitask – It amazes me how many people think that multitasking is an efficient way to get tasks done. If you think about it logically, multitasking is actually very inefficient. Trying to jump back and forth between two, three, or even more tasks at one time can lead to mistakes and time wasted. Try to concentrate on the task at hand and don’t leave it until you are satisfied with your results.
Work from a Detailed Outline – Create an outline of the content you plan to write about to help stay on track. This is especially important when you are writing content for a larger piece of work such as an eBook. I have found that creating an outline really helps me stay focused when writing a blog post or even an eHow article.
Go for a Run – There are times when you may need to just take a break and clear your head. Exercising can really help to get all those distractions out of your head and allow you to refocus on your task.
Set Small Attainable Tasks – Before embarking on a big writing project, try creating some SMART Goals that can help guide you through the process. Having some predefined goals can really help you meet milestones and keep on track.
Relax – There may be times when things just are not clicking. During times like these, it may help to walk away from writing for a few hours or even days. This can help you relax and “recharge your batteries”. I find that this helps you get your mind off of writing for a while and allows you to easily jump back in at a later time.
Visualize Your Results – One important secret that I like to use when writing content is to visualize my final project as well as my earnings. There is no direct science to this, but I believe the power of the mind can really help you meet your goals and stay focused. Try to visualize the final product on your next blog post, eHow article, or eBook that you are writing. This will help you to focus on the steps that need to be taken to get you to your final product.

Make the Most of Your Time

Time is such a huge factor when starting a home business and building income streams. Managing and coping with distractions is one way to put more hours back into your day. These extra hours can make or break your business, which is why it is so important to stay focused.

If you are a writer or are thinking about starting, then try out a few of the secrets I have listed above. As the old saying goes – “Time is Money”, and sense you are probably in this business to make money you need as much time as you can get!

What other distractions do you find to waste your time and push you off track?

How to Create SMART Goals

pfincome — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:28:28 +0000

Do you have any goals? How do you set your goals? Any important part of being successful in life is to set goals. Without them, you may find yourself wandering back and forth between a project or task with no clear direction.

Goals can come in all different forms and not all of them are positive. Just because you create a list of objectives you want to achieve, does not mean that they will help you get to where you want to be. For example if you want to lose weight, saying “I want to be skinnier” does not really give you any guidance into obtaining that goal.

So how can we set goals that will actually help us? Establishing SMART Goals is one strategy that can help you design a set of guidelines that give clear direction. If you are interested in learning more about smart goal setting, I urge you to keep reading. There are 5 key attributes that make up a SMART goal that are defined below.

SMART Goal Setting

Specific – Any goal that you set should be a clear statement that describes what you plan to accomplish and defines an outcome. The goal should also state why this is important to you and how you plan to achieve it. Setting vague and unclear goals will not give you clear direction and will make it hard for you to meet your objectives.

Tip - Try answering Why?, What?, and How? in order to have a Specific goal. It is important to use action words in your smart goal setting such as – “Lead a project …”, “Manage a group of employees …”, “Create new revenue streams …”, etc.

Measurable – A successful goal needs to be quantified or “measured” in order to let you know if you have succeeded. If a goal can’t be measured, then how will you know if you have met it? Be sure to establish criteria that can be used to achieve a desired result.

Tip - Measurable goals should include attributes like quantity, quality, and cost. It may also benefit you to break down your goals into smaller shorter term measurements or milestones. This will help to keep you focused and on track.

Attainable – Is your goal achievable in the amount of time that you define? Setting a goal that is too far out of your reach because of lack of resources and time will probably not be attainable. It is very important not to over commit yourself if you know a goal will be hard to reach. If you continually set goals that you cannot attain, it may do yourself more harm than good. Having a sense of accomplishment from meeting a goal is a huge motivator.

Tip - Try taking a larger goal and breaking it down into smaller parts that may be more attainable. For example, instead of saying – “I plan to lose 50 lbs. by the end of next year”, try saying “I plan to lose 5 lbs. this month”. Once you have hit that achievable goal, set another one that is attainable.

Relevant – Creating goals that are not realistic or relevant to you are worthless. This doesn’t mean that you can’t think big and set a goal to reach your dreams. As long as you “believe” you can achieve something, then it is a realistic goal. It is only when you don’t believe in yourself that the goal becomes unrealistic.

Tip - Decide if you have the time, money, skills, and resources available to achieve your goal. If you don’t, then think about how you can get these resources to make your goal more realistic and achievable.

Timely – Every SMART goal should include a reference to time. Without this attribute, you may not meet your goal as you have not defined when it needs to be accomplished by. Having a set deadline to your goal will make it clear and give you a target to work from. Having no deadline to a goal will allow you to continuously put it off so that it may never be met.

Tip - Try answering When? you plan to reach your goal by in order for it to be Time Bound. For example, a time frame for a goal could look like – “… in 1 year…”, “… by the end of the third quarter…”, “… before the age of 40…”.

Setting SMART Passive Income Goals

Smart goal setting is often used by businesses to help their employees meet objectives. These objectives not only help the employee with their professional development and career building, but SMART goals can also align with a companies overall objectives and strategies.

SMART goals can also be used by those who run their own business. This can include individuals who create passive income streams. If you can set realistic and attainable goals centered around your passive income building, then you will have a plan and guide to work from which will lead to success.

Be sure to check back for a list of my passive income SMART Goals I will be publishing very soon!

Do you set SMART Goals for your at home business? What about your passive income streams?

Passive Income eHow Updates – October (2009)

pfincome — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:10:23 +0000

The month of October has come to an end and things are looking very bright for eHow. I have logged my 14th month as an eHow writer and continue to be inspired by the potential of this passive income tool. If you live in the United States and are interested in starting an alternative income stream, I strongly suggest you check it out.

During the past month, I hit an important milestone in my short eHow career. I officially passed $1,000 in total earnings which is a wonderful feeling! The great thing about this is that I only spent a few hours in October working on this income stream as I pushed passed this mark.

eHow Dollars per Hour Earnings

I enjoy tracking my eHow dollars per hour earnings each month to show the power of passive income. While this number varies from month to month depending on the number of articles I publish, it is still a great motivator.

I wrote 4 new articles in October, which took me about 2 hours to complete (30 minutes per article). Based on my October earnings (see below), I earned $126.92 per hour for the time I spent during the month. For every hour that I spend now building this passive income stream, the more dollars per hour I will earn in the future.

I have been asked many times – how can I write eHow articles in just 30 minutes. I always tell people it just seems to come with experience. Some of the first articles I ever wrote took me over an hour to complete. There are also a few tools that I try and leverage in order to increase my efficiency. One of these tools is the Micro Niche Finder. This tool has really helped me to quickly narrow down topic and keyword ideas and is well worth the investment!

October Updates

As I begin focusing on building other passive income streams, the amount of time dedicated to writing for eHow has dropped. I was still able to sweak out 4 new articles during the month and saw a 13.4% increase in earnings compared to September. Seeing my earnings growing by double digits while only writing a few articles is a wonderful feeling. This is what passive income is all about!

Here is the breakdown of my eHow earnings from the past 14 months -

October (2009)
- Earnings – $253.84
- Articles Published – 4
September (2009)
- Earnings – $223.79
- Articles Published – 12
Year #1
- Earnings – $656.48
- Articles Published – 224

GRAND TOTAL (14 Months)

Earnings – $1,134.11
Articles Published – 240
Articles Deleted from eHow – 10

Are you looking for a free way to start increasing your income? If so, eHow is one option that allows you to accomplish this goal. There are people just like you earning over a $1,000 each month on a recurring basis just by writing “How To” articles. If you are new to eHow, one place to start is by checking out a great resource called – How to Earn Passive Income on eHow.com: Maximize Your Online Earnings. I purchased this resource several months ago and have made my money back within the first month using the guidelines laid out.

100 Article eHow Challenge – October Results

Back in August I conducted the 100 Article eHow Challenge, where I had a goal to accelerate my earnings to the next level. I didn’t end up finishing 100 articles, but published a respectable 72 instead. To show how successful this challenge has been and what it has meant to my eHow earnings, I have decided to track the results each month.

Here are my earnings from the 100 Article eHow Challenge -

August – $119.48
September – $113.95
October – $75.47

Total Earnings – $308.90

As you can tell, my earnings from these articles are trending downward. Once these articles get a bit older I fully expect to see the earnings shoot back up very soon.

How are your eHow earnings coming along? Are you seeing increased earnings each month?

5 Lessons I Learned from Flag Football That can Be Used in Starting a Home Business

pfincome — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:02:37 +0000

My 5-year old son just completed his first season of flag football. Over the 12 game season he learned a lot about the sport and about socializing with kids his own age. Believe it or not, I actually learned a lot as well from watching he and his teammates play.

As an avid football fan, I didn’t learn anything new about the rules of the game. Instead, I learned several lessons that can actually be translated into starting a home business. Sounds a little strange I know, but you would be amazed at what 5, 6, and 7 year old boys can teach you.

Here are 5 lessons I learned from watching my son play flag football that can be used to start a home based business.

1. Always Play by the Rules

It is hard to believe (at least for me) but there were some kids on my son’s flag football team who didn’t always play by the rules. In some cases, it was kids just making mistakes and holding onto the shirts of their opponents. In other cases, it was kids tackling the opposing ball carrier instead of pulling their flag. In any case, each time a player did not play by the rules, the entire team was penalized.

A home based business is no different. In order to establish credibility with your customers and suppliers, you need to play by the rules. Operating a business that is not ethical can lead to fines and possible criminal charges. Even if you are not breaking the law, you should still follow best business practices in your operation.

2. Teamwork is Critical to Your Success

As the old saying goes – “there is no I in team”. Football is a team sport and requires 11 players (or 9 in the case of our flag football team) in order to function properly. While there may be individual players who stand out more than others, they still must rely on their teammates to win.

Operating a home based business is no different. Teamwork is absolutely necessary in order to survive. Even if you are running the business by yourself and have no employees, you still need to rely on others to succeed. Networking with others, hiring virtual assistants, getting support from your friends and family are all important. Believe it or not these people are also part of your team and you need their help to succeed.

3. Have Fun and Enjoy What you Do

As I sat through the 12 game flag football season, I noticed one thing each time. Every kid on both sides of the ball were having fun. The smiles and laughter were a pleasure to see. Parents, coaches, and players were there to have fun and enjoy playing and watching a football game.

If you decide to start a home business in something you have no interest in, there is a good chance it will fail. Even if the money to big to pass up, more than likely at some point you will fail with your business. In order to build a solid and long lasting business, you need to have fun and enjoy what you are doing!

4. Building a Solid Playbook is Crucial

The game of football requires a solid playbook in order to successfully operate an offense. Having no playbook or plan that the team can follow will give the opposition the advantage. Can you imagine how ugly it would be to have the offense of your favorite football team not have any preset playbook?

Running a home based business is no different than a football team. You need to have a playbook or master plan. In most businesses it is required to have a business plan in order to seek loans and other financial backing. Even if your business does not require a formal business plan, having a guide or plan is critical to your success.

5. Don’t be Afraid to Learn New Things

My son was very hesitant to play flag football this year. None of his friends were playing and it was a sport that he knew nothing about. After a little coaxing, he decided that he would give it a try and ended up loving it. Even though he was afraid to play at first, he ended up really enjoying it and made a lot of new friends along the way.

In order to start a home business, you need to be willing to try new things. Having the ability to change and adapt is critical to your success. For example, ignoring the latest technological advances can give your competition the upper hand and leave your business in the dust. Businesses that are willing to learn new things and adapt are much likelier to be around in 10 years as opposed to one that does not.

It is amazing how many life lessons you can learn just from watching an every day event. What other daily events do you follow to learn things about starting a business?

A Penny for Your Tweets?

pfincome — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:50:26 +0000

Would you pay someone to have them promote your company through their Twitter account? What about getting paid to tweet about products or services from advertisers through your account? There are plenty of services that offer these advertising opportunities today.

Sponsored Tweets is a new way to advertise your company using one of the fastest growing media outlets – Twitter. It is also a way for tweeters to earn income by tweeting advertisements out to their followers. I have been doing a lot of research lately on how Twitter can be used to build passive income. Getting paid for tweets seems like a potential opportunity to leverage the popularity of Twitter and one that I will be looking to capitalize on.

Is Sponsored Tweeting Legitimate?

As I investigate new opportunities to make money online, it is very easy to come across questionable practices that are not legitimate ways to make money. Let’s face it – there are a ton of scams out there just waiting to take your hard earned money.

So is Sponsored Tweets a legitimate money making opportunity? I believe it is for 2 reasons.

1. IZEA – IZEA is the parent company of Sponsored Tweets and is a legitimate operation. They also run SocialSpark (their social media marketing platform) as well as PayPerPost. I have used both of these services in the past and have been pleased with how they are run.

2. Pay Per Tweet Ethics – Sponsored Tweets requires 100% disclosure on any tweet that is sent through their service. Full disclosure has become very important to me, especially after the new FTC guidelines came out. Using the Disclosure Engine provided through this service helps tweeters easily add full disclosure to any tweet they may be receiving compensation for.

Building My Twitter Followers

I don’t know if getting paid to tweet will be a viable and sustainable passive income stream. What I do believe is that Twitter is around to stay and that I would be losing money if I did not try and take advantage of what it has to offer.

As a result, I plan to work to build my Twitter followers. There are a few things I have already done on this site like add the twit this button to the end of every post. I also have a few other updates that I plan to make as a way to attract more followers.

Outside of this site, I am working on several activities aimed at signing up more legitimate followers. As my followers grow, so will my opportunities to leverage Twitter as a passive income tool. I will be sure to keep everyone updated on my progress!