Photo taken in Doha, Qatar…
Reader Phil writes in to ask…
“Seriously, appreciate your content though. If you consider making a post these days on how your income’s been evolving recently and from what sources, that’d be really cool.”
It’s an excellent question and one that I’ll answer with a few grains of salt thrown in.
First and foremost, in today’s day and age, it’s nearly pointless to brag too much about yourself.
Why make a target from it?
Unless, of course, you’re in the business of selling the dream of yachts and Lamborghinis, so in that case you just post lots of photos of yourself with those things to give the general impression that you’re living the good life (but that most people who are not 13 years old see right through).
I’m not exactly Mr. Secrets, but the amount of stuff some people are willing to share with total strangers on the internet is pretty baffling.
Plus, I learned right off the bat, when I was making a measly $2,000 a month in passive income…people are always going to not believe you.
It was completely, utterly inconceivable to people that after I had been writing online for nearly 4 years, and doing it full-time as a job for over half a year, to be making $2,000 a month from it. That wasn’t even half my take-home salary at the corporate gig when I left it.
Regardless of this, I will share a little bit about what I’m up to…
Probably the most important thing is this:
The same things that got me to six figures will not get me to seven.
I do believe you can legit “grind” your way to making $100,000 a year online (“relatively” easily). You can do it with just pure good ‘ol hard work, and you will likely eventually get there.
It’s pretty much what I did.
But, that next step?
It’s a LOT harder. You can’t just grind your way to a million. You have to have the systems and people in place to do so. And, more than likely, you might screw that process up a few times before you get it right. It’s extremely frustrating.
Regarding my income, I’m still taking home a hefty salary from niche sites, I still make money from “Trouble” – i.e. my personal blog/brand and email list, podcast, etc.
I’m still not drawing a salary from Selo Oils (although my partner Martin is), but as of now I do not need to.
And, I’ve also started an agency which hopefully will have some high-end clients on a high-end retainer to add to the monthly bottom line.
I’ve also made a few investments that have done reasonably well, too.
Other that that, I’m also just trying to not really “grow into” more money. My income keeps going up but other than splurging for the occasional trip, I’m keeping my actual spend the same it rarely crosses $2.5k a month USD in Kiev, and that’s realistically for two people, not just myself.
This seems like such common sense but is something that the majority of people in the 9-5 life choose to completely ignore.
At their own peril.
So, that’s that.
Anyways, as I’ve mentioned, I’m toying with the idea of starting a month premium newsletters, and one of the things I’d likely include in said newsletter would be a monthly breakdown of all my expenses, and perhaps even a breakdown of my recent trip to Thailand, too.
Stay tuned for more info, as early as next month.
Keep causing trouble,
Kyle Trouble
[UPDATE: I did it. You can sign up for the newsletter here.]