2005 In Review
7 Jan
I came out of 2005 earning around $20,000 for the year just from side projects and while still a full time student. Not too bad, but not a living wage.
I am now graduated and can concentrate full time on the game of making money.
For my own reference, here is the money I brought in for 2005:
-Online Biz – Jan. – $ 502
-Work – $ 253
-Work – $ 281
-Ebay Sale – $ 100
-Change Jar – $ 55
-Online Biz – Feb. – $ 751
-Work – $ 271
-Change Jar – $ 30
-Rebate – $ 30
-Work – $ 229
-Lottery Experiment – $ 2
-Web Design – $ 100
-Online Biz – March – $ 946
-Syntel Dividend – $ 270
-Ebay Sale – $ 218
-Ebay Sale – $ 340
-Water Experiment – $ 5
-Work – $ 246
-Work – $ 248
-Online Biz – April – $ 836
-Web Design – $ 300
-Change Jar – $ 32
-Surveys – $ 55
-Books – $ 165
-Selling Notes – $ 105
-Work – $ 297
-Online Biz – May – $ 1,024
-SYNT Dividend – $ 21
-FO Dividend – $ 6
-GE Dividend – $ 10
-Work – $ 213
-Change Jar – $ 17
-Work – $ 167
-Online Biz – June – $ 718
-FO Dividend – $ 11
-Work – $ 274
-Work – $ 261
-Online Biz – July – $ 834
-Work – $ 304
-GE Dividend – $ 10
-SYNT Dividend – $ 11
-Change Jar – $ 35
-Acco Brands – $ 183
-Work – $ 210
-Books – $ 30
-Online Biz – Aug. – $ 804
-ACCO Dividend – $ 7
-Work – $ 228
-Change Jar – $ 76
-Online Biz – Sept. – $ 654
-Selling Pixels – $ 1,350
-FO Dividend – $ 11
-SYNT Dividend – $ 11
-GE Dividend – $ 9
-Online Biz – Oct – $ 1,120
-Misc. – $ 1,000
-Birthday – $ 200
-Online Biz – Nov – $ 1,630
-Change Jar – $ 115
-Online Biz – Dec – $ 1,801
—2005 Total – $20,021
There are some dividends and interest earnings missing, but nothing significant. I also do not publicly publish income made from partnerships I have going, as that violates other people’s privacy.
I ended the year with the following in my public accounts:
-General Account – $ 3,647
-Spending Account – $ 179
-Spending Account 2 – $ 350
-Investment Account – $ 2,234
-Bill Account – $ 1,379
-Permanent Savings – $ 3,342
-Stock Portfolio Value – $ 11,016
-Roth IRA – $ 6,680
-Emigrant Direct – $ 1,002
—Total Liquid Assets – 29,829
-Credit Card Balance – $ 0
-Business Holding – $ 1,647
—Total On Hand – $ 31,476
2006 will be the year I hope to firmly establish myself….or go really broke. Either way will be quite fun and teach me a lot :-)
Good Job, Nev! Keep up the good work and I always look forward to more of your posts!
Very impressive Nev, I’m sure every college student could use an extra $20,000 for spare time work. Your parents must be proud!
Now that school is done hopefully you can embark on larger things and make larger amounts of money rivalling the amounts your graduated and jobseeking friends will make!
Keep up the great work, and please keep posting!
hey the pixel sale came out pretty well eh?
and it looks like your online business profit increased dramatically. sweet
Congrats…
I look forward to seeing what you do now that you have tons of spare time!
Jay
Congratulations on making a good amount on a part-time basis. It should be an exciting year as you attempt to move it into a full time income. It should provide for some interesting posts in 2006.
On a side note – the million dollar homepage off of which you based your pixel ads has sold out and he’s selling the last 1000 pixels on ebay – and they have already been bid up to over $150,000. You need to come up with an idea like that ;)
Great blog! I just ran across it a few days ago. By the way, if you ever need any way to spend any money, you could always help me pay for college! ;)
Neville,
I stumbled across your site and was very impressed by your drive and enthusiasm.
I have no doubt that you will be a great success in the future.
Keep going and documenting your journey.
Bill G.
I’m extremely curious to know if they previous commentor is actually Bill Gates??
Nev -
Check your web stats! Any visitors from Redmond, WA with a Microsoft or MSN IP address around the time Bill G. posted?
[I hope this is not a cheap marketing stunt by you.]
Keep it up!
and no, that is not the real Bill Gates people ;)
(I am.)
Signed,
Bill G.
hey nev, how do you pay taxes, you never seem to mention that topic?
Similarly, as the poster above I have wondered about your expenses. Very funny acounting, Nev, income down to the $2 earned in the lottery “experiment” but no mention of the other side of your ledger…expenses.
I went to college once. Paid for it all myself, supported myself, worked full-time. Maybe the town I lived in was more expensive even then comapring to Austin, but 20K would not have taken me too far. Most of it would have been spent on living and school expenses. I take it that the “bank of mom & pop” paid quite a bit of your expenses. Am I wrong.
“2006 will be the year I hope to firmly establish myself….or go really broke. Either way will be quite fun and teach me a lot.”
Nev – don’t plan a single year as being one of two extremes; consider small steady gains toward your goals, so at the end of 2006 you can be proud of your performance (and ethical conduct!).
-Chris
Neville-
I am remiss as I have not posted or spoke to you in ages. And when we did I was heading out of town.
You are a force and I am always impressed so may I dare to share regarding one of the most misunderstood topics around
Having recently written a book and been blessed to actually have it picked up by a publisher and be a top seller I have learned a great deal about internet marketing from my own work as well as that of the PR team that was assigned to the marketing of my book, products and radio show with the Lady Chablis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Fame
As President and CEO of a Business Development Firm I certainly work my fair share of hours with clients using pay per clicks, but they can turn around to bite you in the !@#$ and eat away at a marketing budget in no time…
Some thoughts…
Marketers spend significant time and money increasing their traffic volume (click-throughs) while focusing less on the website conversion strategies that produce results from the click-throughs.
Why is this funny?
Because in essence, a “click-through” places money in the pocket of the pay-per-click search engine — only a “conversion” like a sale or sales lead creates money for the marketer.
Under a practical perspective, a “click-through rate” is the percentage of times your “FREE LISTING” (called an “impression”) is clicked on to generate a “PAID” visitor. Until your website conversion strategies “convert” the PAID visitor into a valued action, the visitor is an expense.
The higher your click-through rate the greater your expense and the more revenue you create for the paid search engines.
Thus by increasing traffic volume, you fuel the search engine’s growth, not yours
Another perspective is to envision a “click-through” as placing coins into a slot machine. You cannot win the jackpot without inserting coins yet your preference is winning with fewer coins than with more. Likewise, you need click-throughs from your paid search ads to your website to generate sales or sales leads; however, your preference should be winning with fewer click-throughs than with more. If your not focused on increasing your website conversion strategies than this gambling metaphor makes a great deal of sense, right?
Call me buddy and wacth me on Good Morning America in 2006 I have a segment.