Here I am again, the only person sitting with a laptop in a beach bar. I’m actually in Otres Beach near Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
My last quarterly business report was written in Koh Samui, Thailand (in another beach bar probably). Since that time I’ve been to Chiang Mai, Bangkok, back to Koh Samui, over to her sister island Koh Phangan, and then into Cambodia to see Angkor Wat via Bangkok again. All this time, I’ve been working on my business and creating content.
Travelling around while working on a digital business, while perfectly possible, is not without its challenges. It was easier to focus whilst settled in Chiang Mai but, hey, I’m not complaining. I wouldn’t swap this experience for anything in the world.
Passive Income
For those of you who missed it, I published my passive income report from the first quarter of 2015. The total passive income revenue, mainly from product sales, from the last three months was $23,118.12 compared with $21,624.45 in the previous quarter.
All well and good. But the figure was swelled somewhat by a windfall from my latest course launch from my membership site and a couple of other factors.
Threats and Weaknesses
While the passive income for the moment seems consistent, there are inherent weaknesses in this business model. Udemy alone accounts for 60% of the revenue. If something happens to Udemy. it’ll seriously affect my business’s income.
So, I’m too reliant on platforms such as Udemy for my income and I’m not making enough from my own site.
Personal goals
My personal goals were too general in the last report. “Exercise more”, “eat more healthily” and “help people” are all great in principle, but goals should be specific and time-based.
I know I’m giving you excuses but it’s really hard to keep to my exercise and meditation routine whilst “on the road”. Exercise more so than meditation. I’m actually only exercising once a week if I’m lucky.
As for my annual goal of speaking good conversational Thai by the end of the year, well, I’m in Cambodia now …
Business targets
Specific business targets
Here are specific targets that I set three months ago and more targets for three months’ time.
| Target | Q1 2015 Target | Q1 2015 Actual | Q2 2015 target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passive Income | $30,000 | $23,118.12 | $30,000 |
| Monthly unique visitors | 25,000 | 23,997 | 25,000 |
Both the passive income and traffic targets were missed! 🙁 The passive income appears to be plateauing at the moment so I’m going to be working on ways to increase it over the coming months. The traffic as well seems to be on a plateau. Although it is at least better when compared to the same quarter 2014:
General business targets
Last quarter I had three targets. Here’s how I got on:
- Release a major new course on Udemy on making passive income with info-products ✓ Target Hit! I released this major new course on Udemy, Skillfeed and Skillshare as well as on my site. The course has already earned me over $4000 on Udemy alone.
- Do a major Jeff Walker style seed launch for the same course to my list ✓ Target Hit! I did this series of 3 x 15 minute pre-launch video training but the results were not great. The course has netted me only just over $3000.
- Publish a personal development book on Kindle ✗ Target Missed! I have found it very difficult to write a Kindle in the personal development niche. I am currently re-writing it and the book will be about freedom – freedom of thought, freedom of finance and freedom of location.
So, here are my business targets from now until the end of the second quarter 2015:
- Publish a new Kindle book (see the last target missed above!). I’m currently on 4,000 to 5,000 words but I’ve made heavy weather of it so far. Remember, when you’re writing books, planning is everything.
- Publish a new video course. I did 4 courses last year but have slowed down on course and content creation which is a bad thing, no doubt. The reason for the slow-down was doing the launch and travelling so much. It’ll be a squeeze as I plan to be travelling even more this quarter but, ridiculously enough, I find video courses easier to do than books so I should make this one.
- Double the engagement on my Facebook Page. I’m currently taking a course by my friend Steven Aitchison called Your Facebook Challenge. Steven’s Facebook Page has over 800,000 Likes which brings in huge traffic and revenue. My Facebook Page, with only just over 1100 Likes, has a long way to go. But I’m going to concentrate on engagement. My engagement rate is currently 6.33% and Steven suggests I should try to double it. So my engagement rate target by the end of June is 14%.
Follower numbers
I like to keep an eye on these indicators.
| Indicator | 1st July 2014 | 30th Sep 2014 | 31st Dec 2014 | 31st March 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| My Twitter followers | 2742 | 2842 | 2959 | 3071 |
| My YouTube Channel, subscribers | 1477 | 1843 | 2309 | 2802 |
| My YouTube Channel, video views | 428,668 | 486,948 | 566,054 | 639,658 |
| Facebook page Likes/Fans | 720 | 822 | 1010 | 1129 |
| Subscribers to RobCubbon.com | 6276 | 6692 | 7511 | 7910 |
Not much movement here. But let’s keep an eye on them.
What does this all mean? And what am I doing?
So, why am I in Cambodia? Where’s my business going? What am I trying to achieve?
Why am I in Cambodia?
I spent $5000 last year booking myself into Chris Ducker‘s Tropical Think Tank – which is a 5 day long mastermind/bootcamp for entrepreneurs where I’ll get a chance to mastermind and hear from successful entrepreneurs such as Lewis Howes, James Schramko, Darren Rowse, etc.
I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in March and I need to be in Cebu, the Philippines, in May. So I decided to spend two or three months travelling around South East Asia. Wifi is everywhere!
What have I been doing?
My Jeff Walker style launch on my membership site was OK but not great. Also, I experienced some shortcomings with the membership plug-in MemberMouse during the launch and the support I received was less than perfect. (I’m thinking of migrating to a different membership plugin – DAP.)
These issues affected my ability to create content during the first two months of the year. Then I left Chiang Mai to travel which has caused a further drop in content creation.
Meanwhile, to give you some positive news, I have had a full-time VA for most of the year and that seems to be working well. This is the first step of a major new stage for my business – team creation.
Where’s my business going?
Obviously, money is coming from my digital information products generally and the video courses on Udemy specifically. So, my time should be spent creating more of those. However, I would get bored if I spent the whole of the year doing that.
Although I will, at least, write one Kindle and do more video in the coming weeks, I feel more inclined towards the marketing than content side now.
What am I trying to achieve?
So, I’m thinking of increasing the revenue generation from existing products rather than just churning out products.
Every time I put out a product, on whatever platform, it sells. So I know that there’s a market for my products. I now find it more interesting to optimize the profit from products rather than going crazy creating them. This would be more interesting to my audience (that’s you!) as well. I would be able to help people by explaining how to increase profits, rather than about how to increase product creation.
And, this is inline with my main business and personal goal: to help and inspire people to greater financial freedom and happiness.
What do you think?
What do you think about these goals? Can you suggest any others for me, or yourself? Please leave them in the comments.
Rob, as ever very inspiring and i always enjoy reading your reports. I am surprised at your Twitter numbers growing so slowly. If you recall my course on Udemy affiliate marketing – check out my Twitter growth tactics from the course. I am sure it will help. Not a plug and no links here. Just a little reminder.
Best regards
John
Thanks for that John. I don’t think I’ve had a chance to get to that bit of the course. I’m going to be concentrating on my Facebook Page for a while so I’m not sure about spending much time on Twitter.
Great article Rob. Love your transparency. Currently building a Kindle business myself. I also host a podcast called Corporate Warrior. Do you think there is a single best passive income strategy? Do you think Tim Ferriss’s Muse in 4HWW is the fastest to most profit?
Hello Lawrence, I think there’s no best passive income strategy because the best strategy for you will depend on you, your talents and your interest. The best strategy for you will be different from my best strategy.
Hey Rob,
congrats on everything you have achieved I love your updates!
I’m pretty sure you will be able to get those goals next time.
Maybe you should think about partnering with someone else who likes to create products and doesn’t get the promotion site right.
Not only as an affiliate but you could both profit from a partnership and split earnings.
Just an idea,
Cheers
Hello Philip, thank you for your encouragement about my goals. You’re right about the partnering. I don’t do enough of that. One day, I’ll meet the right person and things will go from there, maybe.
Hello Rob. How are you ?
It seems you are doing fine in spite of the fact that you have not reached all of your goals. No concerns from me, because I see you are doing better than last year at the same time.
The one thing that concerns me is that a large percentage of your income is coming from Udemy. I am glad to see that you are placing your video courses in other locations. I still do think that you will reach your goals for $30K this quarter or the next. Seems you were close on the first quarter. I am sure it will continue to grow.
Keep working on Facebook. I think that will be big for you.
All the best Rob. Great post. Thanks.
Hello Rene. I’m fine and I hope you’re well. Thank you for your advice. I’ll keep going and share everything here.
Hi Rob,
Hey I’m hoping your book will be a great success. It is almost as if you were inside my head. Wish I had thought of this (and wrote it already).
You have summed me up very well without even knowing me.
I have lived in Thailand for several years (loved it) but for the past 8+ years now I have been happily living in the Philippines. Going to Chris’ Think Tank sounds like a great idea, hope it works out to be even more than you hoped.
I’m living on Luzon, just outside Manila. If you are passing this way, either coming or going, drop me a line if there is anything you need or if you’d be able to make time for a lunch/dinner/coffee meetup.
Best of luck on meeting and d then exceeding your goals.
Hello Dave, thank you for your kind words. I’m struggling with writing about the “freedom of thought” bit right now! You should try to write it anyway. You’ll come up with something different from me anyway so it’ll be interesting!
Yes, I love Thailand and I’ve been enjoying Cambodia even though it’s so different. Not sure yet if I’ll be going through Manila but I’ll see and, if I do, would love to get in touch.
Best of luck to you, Dave!
Hi Rob,
Alright! I am big on looking forward as I keep in the present, and you are just sprinting through this journey. Well done! As for Otres, are you digging it? I like Sihanoukville quite a bit. Really gritty, with some characters walking around but Kelli and I enjoyed it and the overall feel to it. Definitely not a Thailand type beach lol….
Thanks Rob 😉
Tweeting and Pinning from Bali.
Ryan
Hey Ryan, hope you’re both well over there in Bali. Yes, your description of Sihanoukville is very accurate. Otres has good wifi and is a nice place to relax. I’ve really enjoyed my time in Cambodia so far. Sooo different from Thailand. 🙂
Wow, impressive numbers, Rob! I’ve been lurking on your blog for ages now and I keep saying to myself that I need to start creating Udemy courses. Think you’ve finally inspired me to start taking action on this!
Hello Shawna, it’s great that you’ve moved from “lurker” to “commenter”. 🙂 Please take action. You’ll be glad that you did. And thank you for the comment.
Hi Rob,
I love your honestly, you do great work.
In fact… I think I have read more of your ‘progress/target’ reports than I have actual blog post!
All the same… I love it
Naomi
I’m glad you like these posts, Naomi, because I wasn’t sure how popular they would be in comparison to the passive income reports. But people appear to like them. And thank you so much for your kind words and for coming back to comment.
Hi Rob,
I just went through your article and I am briefly going to point out a flaw that might occur.
You said your goal is to focus more on the marketing side instead of shelling out new product after product. While that might make sense at the beginning, you have to consider that Udemy (which is still in the center of your whole business as far as I see your numbers and courses) is selling everything for 10$ (19$ when your re lucky).
So you are putting in all that marketing effort to get new customers to sell them material for 10$ which you only see half of. Maybe that is not true for the first course you sell, but all the later courses you will sell for that price since Udemy is bombarding students with this 10$ offers. If you sell a course for 34$ it is also quite likely that customers will refund and get it for 10$.
What I am saying is, in this market (at least going the Udemy route, which you obviously do as most of inforpreneurs) you are somehow forced to continously bring out new stuff which Udemy markets for very low margins.
Just some food for thought – S
Hello, Sue, thank you for your comment. I wouldn’t say that Udemy is the centre of my business. Remember I also run a web and graphic design business and I have a number of clients. But, obviously Udemy is a big part of my passive income and I would like that to change in order to spread the risk.
This is why I’m investing more time in marketing the existing courses on other channels. But, don’t get me wrong, I will be making new products as well.
Also, I disagree that Udemy’s discounts are necessarily a bad thing: Udemy’s Discounts & Commissions Work – Why Fight Them?
But, you have a good question. It’s one I’ve tried to answer but, evidently, one that I haven’t yet answered well.
It’s is food for thought. And I thinking/eating it. Thank you 🙂