Welcome to the 2020 fourth quarter Finance Notebook Income Report and Happy New Year! In this post, I will talk about how much income I have made for the fourth quarter of 2020 and how I made that income. I will also go over the progress on the strategy to boost income in 2021 and beyond.
A Little Bit of Background
In the summer of 2019, I decided to retire from my main occupation. I have worked in banking for the past 30 years, mostly in audit and compliance roles. Instead of just retired, I decided to build this website and start earning money as an entrepreneur.
Take a look at the Rules and Goals of Finance Notebook to read about the overall objectives.
You may also want to see how much money I have made from the beginning.
Why I Disclose the Income I Make
I think it was Napoleon Hill, who said, “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” Without a deadline, a dream is just a series of thoughts, images, and sensations (Wikipedia). We need to act on those dreams to make them real.
To make my dreams real, I have set annual goals and will document my progress in these quarterly Income Reports.
You may be thinking that I publish these income reports to brag, but that’s not the case because I am not making a lot of money yet. I think what is important is not how much money I make, but whether I am accomplishing my goals.
Eventually, I am hoping that with hard work and a lot of determination, I can continue to meet those goals and maybe go above and beyond those goals.
I am hoping that over time this will become a roadmap for people who want to become entrepreneurs and other than want to earn additional money.
Finance Notebook Income for 2020 Fourth Quarter
During the 4th quarter, I had my eye on the price; that is, no matter what, I had to achieve $5,000 for the year, and I did it. I made $1,304 for the fourth quarter and a total of $5,224 for the year.
I just completed the 1st year out of a 6-year plan, which will take me to make at least $70,000 per year on year six. It is a steady personal challenge to little by little learn how to make a full-time income as an entrepreneur. Take a look at the details of the plan here.
You can see the breakdown for the fourth quarter by sources of revenue in the table below. You can also see the earnings for the 2020 first quarter here, the second quarter here, and the third quarter here.
It was a busy quarter writing for Site #2 Income Report (Home & Garden Niche)–more on this below, and working on several gigs, and continuing writing a couple of blog posts for Finance Notebook.
You can read individual reviews by clicking each link within the source of income column below.
| Source of Income | Rating (Max. ★★★★★) | Income Earned |
| Presto Shopper | ★★★★ | $464.00 |
| EasyShift | ★★★★ | $303.95 |
| Field Agent | ★★★★ | $208.20 |
| Prolific | ★★★★ | $118.10 |
| Site #2 (Home & Garden Niche) | ★★★★ | $52.18 |
| Site #1 (Finance Notebook) | ★★★★ | $2.09 |
| Gigwalk | ★★★ | $56.00 |
| Observa | ★★★ | $49.00 |
| Ivueit | ★★★ | $10.00 |
| Sweatcoin | ★★ | $18.50 |
| Fetchrewards | ★★ | $7.00 |
| ReceiptPal | ★★ | $5.80 |
| CoinOut | ★★ | $2.64 |
| Paid Viewpoint | ★★ | $2.54 |
| Lifecoin | $4.00 | |
| Total | $1,303.99 |
To clarify, the figures above represent income earned, but not all cash has been received, for two reasons:
1) For some of the new apps I have tested, I have not reached the minimum to get paid, and
2) For other apps, I may have requested the money at the end of the quarter and have not received it yet.
Cash Received Year-To-Date
Below is the income overview showing cash already in my business account. This is a screenshot from my Hurdlr app.
The Hurdlr app is an automatic business expense and mileage tracker app that keeps tabs of all of your income streams, expenses, and tax deductions in real-time, on the go. I am enjoying this app so far and recommend it to any entrepreneur.
As I mentioned above, the amount shown on the Hurdtr app (amount collected) will always slightly different from the amount earned.
Income From Gigs and Side Hustles-$1,249.72
The two apps that captured the spotlight for the fourth quarter were Presto Shopper and EasyShift. More than 60% ($768) of the income for the quarter came from these two apps.
Presto Shopper: Surprisingly the Star of the Quarter
I knew about Presto Shopper before the 4th quarter but I didn’t use it before because of the many negative reviews I found on the App Store. I gave it a try in October for one of the many gigs they offer and I couldn’t believe how easy it was for the money.
The only type of gig I have tried are the “Counting Cars”, which are assignments in gas stations. They pay $8 per gig and takes me about 20 minutes to complete.
I liked it so much that I completed over 50 gigs and made $464 for the quarter. And I am planning on completing more in 2021.
The main complain people have is the App doesn’t work well all the time, which is true, but usually I just have to reload it and keep going. I can leave with that.
You can read my full review of Presto Shopper here.
EasyShift: a Change of Heart
In the 1st quarter I completed one EasyShift gig and I was so frustrated with the so many pictures I had to take that I said I was not going to do another one.
This changed in the 4th quarter when I decided to give it another try and I was surprised. While you usually have to take many pictures, some gigs are still doable and pay relatively well.
The result, I made $303.95 becoming the second best app for the quarter. So, you just never know. The lesson for me is to is not to rush on decisions and give these apps a second chance.
You can read my full review of EasyShift here.
Other Mystery Shopping and Retail Audit Apps
Field Agent has been the star in prior quarters but was only my 3rd best performing app in the 4th quarter. It is still a strong performer and made over $200, but I think Field Agent is changing a bit.
I have noticed that more and more gigs pay less and less for more work. I can still find some that pay a reasonable amount and are convenient for me, but they are the exception more than the rule now. But this may change in the future.
I also made $56 with Gigwalk, a similar App I also use when I see something interesting. Like last quarter, I don’t see many jobs from Gigwalk in my area, or the ones I see are not interesting. Otherwise, I would use it more.
I made $49 with Observa, less than in the past. I have a love/hate relationship with Observa. Most often than none, the jobs are too much for the pay, but some make sense. I will keep using it when it makes sense.
Ivueit is a promising app I discovered in the 4th quarter. I only made $10 with one gig because I didn’t see other ones near me. But that can change. You can read all about my recent full review of Ivueit.
Survey Apps
Prolific
Prolific continues to provide nice money for convenient and relatively well-paid surveys. I made $118 this quarter. I could have made more because there are always surveys available when I look at my dashboard. Unfortunately, I don’t always have the time because I either have to be writing blogs or working on other gigs outside that pay more.
Since I started in November 2019, I have completed over 544 surveys and made $911. I think that’s very nice for a survey platform. You can read my review of Prolific to learn more.
Other Survey Platforms
I haven’t spent time with other survey platforms because I think my time is better spent somewhere else.
I made a couple of dollars ($2.54) with PaidViewpoint.
Receipt Apps
I have continued to use three receipt apps this quarter. Spoiler alert –you will not get rich with them. They give you rewards for scanning and submitting receipts. To summarize, you get very little money for very little effort.
This is what I have made this quarter:
- Fetch Rewards: I have made $7 with Fetch Rewards. To learn more, you can read my blog post.
- Coinout: I have made $2.64 with the Coinout app. To learn more, you can read my blog post.
- ReceiptPal: I have made $5.80 with ReceiptPal. To learn more, you can read my blog post.
Again, nothing to brag about but I can have maybe 5 free cappuccinos for scanning receipts this quarter. As with everything I share in Finance Notebook, you ultimately decide if this is worth your time.
Youtube Channels
I have paused the Youtube channels for now because I don’t feel it is my strong suit. At least for now my main focus is blogging.
Blogging Strategy
I continue to believe that blogging has a lot of potential and I have spent quite a lot of time working on Site #2 Income Report (Home & Garden Niche).
The content of Site #2 revolves around the new house my wife and I built in Lewes, Delaware. I can easily come out with 1,000 articles for this site, which means I will be able to produce content for a long time if it is successful.
I have completed a total of 100 articles since I started in May 2020. The goal for 2021 is to complete about 200 more articles. That is about 4 articles per week.
I added some ads in November and have earned $52, which is actually more than I expected. This amount should increase as more articles are ranked in Google.
I keep a review and income report of Site #2 here.
Finance Notebook (Site #1) Progress
I have only completed 2 articles in the 4th quarter because Site #2 continues to be the priority for this quarter.
Finance Notebook is the site where I record overall strategy and money making opportunities. I don’t want to fill it up with a bunch of nonsense I am not interested in.
Because of that, I have not added much content yet. I am planning on writing one article per week in 2021. Mostly side hustles that may be of interest to me and hopefully to you.
Below is the Google Analytics Chart for 2020. Traffic is slowly but steadily growing. The dip in December is due to the December Google core update, which affected most bloggers.
Final Thoughts
The focus for 2021 will continue to be blogging, but always keeping an eye on my income goal for 2021, which is $10,000. That is I have to make $10,000 as an entrepreneur and independent contractor.
So, if the blogs’ income for 2021 is $2,000, I have to make at least $8,000 from other business activities. This is part of my Rules and Goals of Finance Notebook.
Thank you for reading.
Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think.
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