Wow, January 2012 is already over!  I can’t believe how fast this month has gone (I wonder if the rest of 2012 will be going by this fast as well?).  January was a great month to start the year, as I had a lot of new things going on!

Important Happenings in January

• The biggest happening in January is that I started a Writing Service.  I’ve always done some freelance writing, as you may have seen on various income stream reports throughout 2011, but I really formalized it, and took advantage of a giant gap that was created in the market.  I will write more about that this month, but needless to say, it was a great source of income this month.
• In my December 2011 Multiple Income Stream Report, I made an announcement that I would be writing an article everyday in January at The College Investor.  I’m proud to say that I achieved my goal.  I also have been writing at least once a week at Entrepreneurship Life, and I hope to increase that to twice a week this year.
• I also launched my eBook at The College Investor.  It is called Student Loan Debt, and just like it sounds, it is all about student loan debt – how to get in smart and get out painlessly.  This has actually been a work in progress for a long time (since middle of last year), and I finally got it done and published.  I’m offering it for free, just sign up for my newsletter!

Multiple Income Streams

• Investments
• Dividends: $1,374.51

• Websites
• The College Investor
• Private Advertising: $1,770
• Affiliate Ads: $100.01
• CPC Ads: $12.51
• Amazon: $2.83
• Sponsored Tweets: $3.40

• My Multiple Incomes
• Private Advertising: $170
• CPC Ads: $4.86

• Entrepreneurship Life
• CPC Ads: $1.50

• Niche Site #1
• CPC Ads: $5.75

• Other
• Writing Service: $820

What I Learned

1. My biggest learning this month has been time management.  I wrote a post everyday for The College Investor, which was huge.  I also found the time to write tons of articles for my writing service, as well as post here.  What I’ve discovered is that writing a bunch at once, and then scheduling out posts has been a huge help.  I’ve discovered a plugin called Editorial Calendar, which has been very helpful in allowing me to plan and visualize my posts.  I’ve also found that by planning, it allows me to have a cohesiveness across series of posts.

2. You’ve always heard the saying – to get people to sign-up for your newsletter you’ve got to give them something great for free.  That was my strategy with my eBook, and it is really paying off.  I’ve had my current newsletter at The College Investor up for about 6 months, and in the two weeks I’ve had my eBook launched, I’ve been able to double my subscribers!  Insane!

One of the interesting things about personal finance is that in the business of blogging about personal finance, January to April is prime time.  As such, I really hope to continue to drive great results across my web properties, as well as through my writing service!