I figured the first step in my journey to income diversification was to look at what I was actually already doing towards that goal, meaning what extra revenue streams do I already have, apart from my job? Even if it only got me a few cents, or if didn't but has to potential to do so, it's time to look at what where I'm starting this journey from:
1. Publish0x
I joined Publish0x in January 2020, so the timing is perfect to look back and see what this freshly joined platform got me last year. I now have 146 followers, after having published 46 posts. My most profitable article got me about $10, the vast majority ranging around the 10 cents mark. Most of my earnings came from tipping though, I try to come here every day and tip all of my favorite authors. For the longest time, I haven't really had any plan for what to do with my earnings, I mostly converted it to BTC, ETH, XTZ, DAI, depending on what I had in mind at the moment. I'm starting to draw out a better thought plan though, that I will detail in a coming post.
Total earnings in 2020: $60.45
Projection for 2021: I plan on writing way more than I did last year. Just documenting this journey will already force me to write regularly, and I still have so many things to talk about on topics that Publish0x is lacking (aka anything not crypto related). And if I can get some subscribers on my other social networks thanks to Publish0x, it's a win-win.
2. Brave browser
I have been using Brave since mid 2019, when I was looking for a privacy focused browser. I found out later on about Brave Rewards, and this is what got me into cryptocurrencies and, eventually, here. I have been using it on my laptop and my phone all year long, with the Rewards active, and I've referred some friends, so I've earned quite a good amount of BAT in 2020. I converted most of it to BTC, XTZ and DAI, but I plan on converting any new BAT that comes my way to DAI in the future.
Total earnings in 2020: $85.13
Projection for 2021: I will keep using Brave daily, as I really enjoy using this browser, but I don't expect to earn as much as I did last year. I won't be getting new referrals since the referral program has been discontinued, and I feel like I've been getting less ads these past few months, so we'll see. It's still definitely some easy cash falling into my pocket every month so I see no reason to stop using it.
3. Selling stock footage
I started thinking about selling stock footage in late 2019, but unfortunately this idea was cut short by the pandemic. Spending months under lockdown or curfew didn't really encourage me to go out and shoot photos or videos...
- Blackbox: Blackbox is an aggregator of different stock footage websites. You upload your videos there, and they will distribute them to a handful of the most used platforms (Shutterstock, Adobe stock, ...). Blackbox is not the best for sellers, as it takes a pretty big commission (15%) and doesn't provide any sort of credits to the author when it sells, so you can't really build a portfolio. It is convenient though, and, as always with this kind of tools, you either pay for convenience or save money and spend more time on your task, so I'll see if I keep using it. Earnings: $26.38
- Shutterstock: Since Blackbox only covers videos, I use Shutterstock to sell my stock photos. I only sold 3 pictures this year, at a sadly low price, for grand total of $0.63. Unfortunately, you can only withdraw your earnings when you reach $35, so I'm not close to getting there. I mostly shoot wildlife and trash as my focus is the environment, but I will definitely need to widen my range in order to reach more people and sell more. Earnings: $0.63
- Pond5: I use Pond5 to sell the same photos I put on Shutterstock, plus some videos, but I haven't sold anything there yet.
Total earnings in 2020: $27.01
Projection for 2021: Hopefully the world starts healing and feeling better in 2021, and I'll be able to go out more and keep shooting photos and videos to sell, because I truly believe this can be a good source of revenue. The key is to be consistent, regular and to study the market to see what people are looking for.
4. Staking and interests
- NEXO: I recently joined NEXO and their very attractive "savings" accounts. Celsius might be better, but I need something that I can use on a computer, unfortunately I can't rely solely on a phone app... I only have a couple hundred dollars worth of BTC on there for now, building up nicely with 5% interest compounded daily. I plan on using NEXO with DAI this year though, with their 8% "APY", going up to 10 and even 12% if I get some of their native tokens, which I still don't know if I will. My plan is to convert every BAT I will earn with Publish0x and Brave to DAI and stack it there eventually. Although I will probably only transfer big amounts at a time to avoid high fees. Earnings: $1.35
- Compound finance: I have some DAI on Compound through the Exodus wallet, but I'm thinking of moving that to MetaMask and go straight from there or even maybe putting it on NEXO, I'm just waiting for ETH fees to go down so it's actually worth it to transfer. Earnings: $0.57
- Staking: I also use the Exodus wallet to stake some XTZ at 5.5%, it's not a lot, but it's something. Earnings: $1.52
- FIAT interest bearing accounts: Most of my capital is still held in euros in regular bank accounts, and even though my interests only get compounded annually (and therefore won't appear in my monthly income), they should appear in this 2020 report. Earnings: 116.34€ ~ $142
Total earnings in 2020: $3.44
Projection for 2021: This one should definitely go up this year. Whether I focus mainly on Compound or NEXO I don't know yet, but I plan getting more BTC and more DAI on there, so you can expect a NEXO/Compound section in my upcoming monthly income recaps.
5. Faucets and earn programs
- Cointiply: Being a newbie in the world of crypto at the beginning of last year, with little or no money to invest, I obviously started by looking into faucets to get some of these precious coins for "free". I tried a bunch that I don't really remember, but I stuck with Cointiply all year long, as it is easy to use and trustworthy. Earnings: $30.06
- Coinbase earn: I joined all the waitlists possible in January and it took half a year for Coinbase to accept me and start sending me invites, and I must say it was well worth the wait! Just watching some videos went a long way. I converted all the earnings to DAI, BTC or XTZ, and anything else I might earn through this will probably go to my DAI savings. Earnings: $52
Total earnings in 2020: $82.06
Projection for 2021: I will probably spend less time on faucets, and I don't think Coinbase earn will get me as much now that I've done most of the earn program, so I'll probably earn less in this category, but the time saved will be put into bigger projects. I also found out recently that CoinMarketCap had an earn/learn program as well, so I might look into this when I have some time!
6. Youtube
I hesitated to add my Youtube channel in this post, since it did not really earn me anything, but it's still a big par tof my everyday life and I can try to find ways to earn something with it. I posted a lot of videos during lockdown in 2020, but I haven't had a lot of time in the second part of the year as I spent most of my time working for client videos instead of my own. I'm far from meeting the monetization requirements (1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time in a year, and I'm at about 100 subs and 250 hours when I'm writing this), but it's definitely a way to reach more people and maybe bring people here, or find new clients, so I'm hoping I can make more videos for myself this year. As a way of monetizing my vids, I usually write a post here every time I upload a new one, so creating more will help me move towards my goal regardless.
Cumulated total extra earnings in 2020: $400.09
Please note that these were all prices at the time of the earning, I did not account for fluctuations in crypto prices. With the run BTC and altcoins are having now, the total is most definitely higher than that.
I must say I am happily surprised by this number, I really did not think that I would have earned that much with all these little things combined, and especially considering the fact that I did not have the mindset I have now about making the most of it. And yet, I also realise that it represents so much time spent on little things that I could put into much bigger projects... I thought sorting out all of my 2020 extra income would be a good place to start my year. Some of these will go up, some will go down, and it gives me a good idea of where to focus more of my time.
In my next post, I will list some of the new ideas I already have in mind to grow my extra income this year.
Again, any advice or feedback is most appreciated, and thank you for your support!
Talk to you soon!
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