Easiest Way to Earn Online

We can all agree that one of the easiest ways in building passive income is doing it online. However, what online money making track is the easiest way to earn? That is a more specific question that requires a more specific answer.

In my experience, I have tried many ways in building money online. Many of it failed. But some of them did really worked and saved me several times in my on own financial troubles.

What did I tried and how was it? 

Here are several things that I tried that did worked, but not much.

1. Affiliate marketing - This is one of the best ways to earn online. It's just about sharing affiliate links to people with possible interest of the item you are sharing and when he clicks on it and buys through that link, you get some commissions.

This is a nice way, but really I find it a struggle because you need credibility to do this. And building credibility takes a lot of time. I have heard success stories on this one. But please note that they do have a very good credibility when it comes to products they are recommending.

2. Blogging - This is definitely a good way in making money online. But the problem with blogging is that, it takes a LOT of time to build a credible blog. If you are a good blogger then you can probably make a good money after 2-3 months. But if you are less than a writer, make it 2-3 years. But yes, I do get a few dollars on blogging, which is a "true" passive income.

You can read: 5 Reasons Why I Chose Blogspot Over Wordpress for this Blog

3. Adsense - well actually most of what I get from blogging comes from Adsense. So with that in mind, it means you gotta get a LOT of traffic before getting a substantial income from it. But it's better than nothing at all.

4. Selling ebooks - This is definitely one of the best ways to earn some money online. It is a pure passive income. But still getting a good amount of quality traffic, people that are interested on your product may take some time. But over time, this is an excellent way of earning online.

What works best for me? 

The above ways are good, but what's the easiest way to earn online is to "offer service". That's really one of the easiest and fastest way to earn online. In my case, I make wordpress sites.

There many kinds of services that you can offer online. In fact if you try to visit Upwork, you will see that website making is just but one of the ways to offer services. You can offer English tutorials, accounting services, design services, writing services, and many more.

There are also translator jobs, editing, encoding, and many others.

When it comes to how much you can make, it will depend on your skills and experience. I know some English tutors who are making as much as $1000 a month. A skilled coder from Asia can earn as much as $1500-3000 a month just working at home.  So it really depends on what you can offer and the skills you have.

Action Plan

So what you need to do right now is to evaluate what skills you have. Go to Upwork and scan some job openings. If you are good in writing, try to check the job requirements. See if your skills are good enough. If it is, then open an account, make your profile great, and start applying for some contractual jobs. As you do this, your reputation will also get better in time. As it gets better, you will have more chances of winning more contracts in the future.

There is no reason not to earn money online these days. If you have some skills, develop it and start earning. 

5 Reasons Why I Chose Blospot Over Wordpress for This Blog

For some of you who knows me, you know that I have been a Wordpress fanatic (I'm referring to Wordpress.org not Wordpress.com). I am a website developer and have been using Wordpress nearly for my entire freelance sideline. I have set up and have collaborative jobs for hundreds of Wordpress power websites. But how in the world did I ended up with blogspot platform?

Here's my reasons:

1. This blog is all about making passive income. This is my own personal adventure of making passive income. And part of this is minimizing the cost for websites.

An average hosting is between $90-150 a year. And it depends if you want a host that specializes on Wordpress, then it is for sure a more expensive one.


But guess what, blogspot is hosting this for free. I don't plan as of this moment of making this blog a real site. I want it to be just blog, blog that helps people. So I guess, Google will love it as it is more on content. Therefore, there is no reason for me to spend another dollar for hosting account. This is good enough. It gives me an outright savings and my only cost is my domain.

2. Blogspot is a way LOT faster. It's powered by Google. Believe me, no other server that costs $100 a year can match the speed of blogspot.

3. It is more open for monetization than Wordpress.com. When I started learning building websites, blogspot is my first option to learn in familiarizing myself on website development. It gives more option for monetization. It has a built in Adsense integration and you can do a lot of things here, except of course spamming. Google never liked spam, so just make sure you are not violating their terms and conditions.

Wordpress.com on the other hand is a good alternative. But, they are more allergic in monetization like ads, and even affiliate links.

4. More chance with SEO. Since it is owned by Google, it can easily be integrated with Google environment like Analytics, Console, and Adsense.

5. Better security. Again, it's owned and run by Google. It is way more secure than any other Wordpress sites hosted independently.

I love Wordpress, but these 4 reasons did made me decide to put this blog on blogspot. And I do enjoy it.

Have you tried Blogspot? What are your experiences?

What to Do With The Excess

In our previous post which is about basic budgeting, we were left with an excess budget. It is small since we only have a very simple budget. But then again, it is important to note that no matter how small it is, if it will be accumulated, it will become big later.

So the most logical answer on what to do with the excess would be is to grow it. You can invest it in something else.  So I listed below some ways where you can invest it.

Ways where you can invest the excess

• Self-improvement – Ex. Attend seminar, buy books. One of the best ways where you can put the excess is to invest it for self-improvement. Take note that your most important asset is yourself. If you have the capacity to do more, then you get more. If you know more things, then you can do more things. 
• Acquire assets – Ex. Buy land (depends on what you can use for business). Assets are something that can be useful in growing your business. If you have a land and you are not using it, it is not an asset at all. It only becomes an asset if you are getting income out of it. 
• Creation of passive income – Ex. Invest in websites, loans. Why not start creating passive income. This is our long-term goal, to create more sources of passive income. We will be discussing about this later.  
• Partnership business – If you already have a substantial extra, why not use it in partnership business? Having a partnership business is a good way to start generating extra income.  
• Add it in capital of a small business – Ex. Sari-sari Store. When you plan to start low, then investing it for a small business will also be good. 
• Invest in cooperatives – Ex. Paluwagan I am not sure how do you call this in your place. But cooperatives are helpful source of passive income. Contribute for capitalization, and also get a share of the income. 
• Invest in mutual funds – Ex. Sun Life Mutual funds are becoming big these days. More and more people are getting into it. The good thing is you only have to invest, and experts in investments will be the one to manage it for you. 
• Invest in stocks – Ex. COL Financial If you want a more hands-on acquisition of stocks, then look for reliable brokers who can handle it. 

Note: When investing in mutual funds and stocks, it is best to think “long-term”. 5 years is a good start. 

There may be some other ways that you can think of where you can invest that excess budget that you have. If you are just starting, make sure that your investment counts. 

How to Do Basic Budgeting

The very first thing that one must know in managing finances is budgeting. It doesn’t matter whether you are budgeting millions or just a few thousands. If you know how to budget, then not only that you will be able to save money, you will also be able to invest more little by little until it grows where you can feel it.

Know your average monthly income

The very first thing you need to know in budgeting is your average monthly income. To do this, you must list every source of income that you have as long as it is a regular source.

Think monthly. For example you only earn quarterly, then you will have to divide those earnings by three to get your average monthly income.

There are various sources of income.

Examples:

• Income from farm
• Income from services
• Income from being an employee
• Income from business
• Love Gifts – gifts given to you by way of saying “Thank you”.

The goal is, you will list whatever income you are generating. Some of you will probably see that you only have one or two sources of income. If that’s the case, then it means you will have to generate other sources later when opportunity arises.

So below is the example of income:

Note: Amount is in Philippine Peso. But if even if you live in other countries, the principles remain the same and do the same thing. List your sources of your average income. 

Example:
Income from Copra Php 2000
Income from Pigery Php 2000
Income from grass cutting Php 1000
Love Gift Php 3000
Total Php 8000

Know your average monthly expenses

Others
Tithes (not expense, non-negotiable) Php 800
Savings Php     500
Electricity Php     500
Water Php       50
Food Php   5000
House rent / maintenance Php   1000
Total Php  7850

Note: I included the Tithe here (read about Biblical Foundation on Stewardship). I always believe in God and his blessings including the giving of our ability to produce wealth. Therefore, I deemed it necessary to return to Him what is due Him in blessing me. I do not consider this as an expense but a form of worship. 

Excess Php    50

As you can see in our example, there is an excess of Php 50. It may not do much as it is. But when you save it and combined it in previous month’s excesses, it will still be big and substantial.

In our next post, we will be talking about how you can use and grow that extra.

Biblical Foundation of Stewardship

Many people these days struggles a lot when it comes to managing their own finances. There maybe some differences when you are managing huge sum of money vs your regular salary. However, the basic principles of financial management remain the same.

So my goal in writing this is not to make extensive financial management lesson. This is more on the basics. If you are already rich and has more extensive financial training, then this is NOT for you.

However, if you are struggling financially on day to day needs, then this is for you. The goal is to elevate you in your financial situation. We we will only cover the basics in this discussion. 

Basis of Being a Good Steward

The Bible teaches us a lot of things. And that includes being a good steward. The Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 is full of lessons and principles about becoming a good steward.  But notice the last part of it:

Parable of the Talents:  Matthew 25:14-30

 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Notice how the Bible warns about becoming a bad steward?  What he has will even be taken from him and he will be thrown outside into darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And this remains true even today. Many people are suffering because they have been a bad steward. However, if one is a good steward, his life will be fruitful and there will be rejoicing.

The parable is all about the Kingdom of Heaven and is about being a good steward in the ministry.

However, the same principles apply on being a good steward in financial matters.