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Thursday, August 5, 2010

Putting Long Term Thinking Into Perspective

I just read a great post by Felicia over at nojobformom.com about big dreams and long term thinking. Of course, this got me to thinking about my longer term goals for making passive income online.

In case you hadn't read previously, my goal is to make $3000 monthly by the time my youngest is on her way to college. That means I have about 8 years and 10 months left to achieve this level of passive income. Considering that I made just over $58 last month, it would seem that getting anywhere near my goal in less than a decade would be impossible.

But, what happens if I start by making just $30 per month and increase earnings by 5% each month for the next 106 months? Certainly a 5% increase doesn't sound that unrealistic, does it? That would simply mean going from $30 to $31.50. At the end of 6 months, that would be $40.20. I am sure that I can be making over $40.20 monthly by the end of this year.

However, if I carry this out for the full 106 months, then I would be making over $5200 per month! That is well above my goal of $3000 monthly. So, the question becomes: What does it take to increase earnings by 5% each month?

Well for August 2010, it probably won't take a whole lot since I will likely be above the $31.50 without doing much. But what I do this month will make a difference 2 or 3 years down the line when the 5% increase is a much bigger number.

But just like compound interest can work to the advantage of the saver, the work I do now will compound and work to my advantage. Each backlink will metastasize into several backlinks. Each article will be read multiple times and will continue to earn month after month long after my effort has ceased.

Thinking about this is mighty encouraging. Even though growth seems fairly slow now, I realize that it doesn't take a lot of growth to add up into some seriously big numbers over time. It makes up for the burned out feeling that I was having last month and will inspire me to keep going and shooting for 5% growth each and every month. It will also provide me with a target each month to track my longer term growth. This means that in December 2011, I should have made $69 to stay on target. I think I can do it!

Photo credit: TakingITGlobal

13 comments:

  1. Kidgas,
    That sounds like a solid plan. You may even find you can surpass that goal once the earnings start rolling in. Sometimes the older the article/blog gets, if it is still relevant, it increases in income. I've found that to be true with both my blog and my Suite101 articles. Good luck with your goals! :)

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  2. I like looking at things in that way - makes it seem so much more believable and achievable! I agree with Deanna about things growing with age, definitely!

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  3. Thanks so much for your comments, both of you. I appreciate it immensely that you take the time to read what I have to write. I am looking forward to the rest of this year to see what can be accomplished.

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  4. I love compound interest examples and it's so interesting the way you've applied it to your income goals.

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  5. Hello Kidgas, I like the fact that you are consistently making goals and progress. I believe if you are bringing in some traffic you can start selling some products or putting a few product links into your blog like from Amazon or Clicbank. You can probably make the extra income this way..Just a suggestion..

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  6. Thanks, Julie. I love compound interest as well. I just need to get better at having it work for me rather than against.

    Jennifer,
    Thanks for your encouraging comment. I wonder how I would get Amazon or Clickbank on this blog. I am not exactly sure how that would work, but will try to look into it and think about it.

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  7. There are plenty of ways to learn about selling Amazon and Clickbank products. I know article marketing is a guaranteed way to get sales and using social media websites.

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  8. This is a very good example of the advantages of compound growth in earnings. I was aiming for a similar goal which I set in mid 2009 of $100 by the end of 2010, which with compound growth I thought I would be able to reach. However, I managed to have quicker growth and so have reached $100 per month already!

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  9. Thanks for replying Jennifer.

    BB,
    Congrats to you. If things continue to go well, I hope to be at that $100 monthly total also. It is possible that it could even be by the end of the year. Let's hope so. That would be awesome!

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  10. Kidgas I reckon it is definitely possible - tbh if I can do it with such a little amount of work anyone can! A key thing is getting people to sign up for websites etc using your links - this way you get passive income with even less work! I would estimate about 10%-20% of my monthly income comes from such links on Hubpages, Infobarrel etc and it is a constantly increasing number.

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  11. BB,
    That's great! Unfortunately, I have not gotten anyone to sign up for HubPages via my link although it has been clicked over 700 times if I am reading the stats correctly. Oh well, that just means that I will work a little harder and do it myself. I still think it is possible. I will have to see what happens in the next few months. At least the trend is starting to become positive.

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  12. Kidgas, thanks for the shout out and it sounds like you have a solid plan. Like Deanna said, sometimes those old articles become a gold mine.

    Stick with it. I'll be following your progress.

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  13. Thanks, Felicia. I appreciate the fact that you take the time out of your busy day to read my blog and will be following my progress.

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