This article was originally posted on my blog
In this post we're going to take a look at how 2019 was for me (mostly professionally) and we're also going to set some goals for 2020! 🤩
I really love numbers so I'm also going to show you how 2019 was in numbers and I'm going to share some of the earnings that I made blogging, creating content and freelancing.
Hopefully this will inspire you to start working on the things that you love (as I am doing now 😃).
Note: the first part of the article is my 2019 story so if you are only interested in the numbers and earnings part, jump at the end of the article. 👍
2019 In Review
General Overview - The story
I started blogging again in February 2019 after taking a break for 1.5 years. At the same time I was working as a Remote ReactJS developer for a company and spent my evenings and mornings writing articles.
I always liked the idea of sharing the things that I'm building so I decided to start blogging again determined to make it work this time. 🔥
I also started being active on Twitter. Had around 300 followers back in February 2019.
Quickly found out that the Twitter community is amazing so it was a joy to share the little things that I was doing with the community and the feedback was great!
Soon after that (somewhere around April or May) I've seen that people really enjoyed the things that I'm doing (and saying 😆) so I decided that starting with January 2020 I'm going to go full-time as a blogger, but... considering that I'm not the most patient guy in the world 😅, in June I told my wife that I want to quit my job sooner. Like 6 months sooner. 🙀
At first she wasn't 100% on-board (I couldn't blame her as I was the only one providing for the family - she was still in school), but after doing some calculations we saw that I could give it a try because we had enough money saved to live off of for the next 6 months. So she agreed (and I can't thank her enough, not only for accepting, but for supporting me throughout this journey 🥰).
Become a full-time blogger + the "semi-depression"
So I did it. 5th July was my last day as an employee.
My journey as a full-time blogger & content creator began! 🤩
Note that I also had some deals with publications which involved me writing tech articles for them - so at least I had a prospect of making a little bit of money. 😃
I ended up only writing one or two paid articles (shame, shame!) and I soon got into a "semi-depression" (at least that's what I call it).
It mostly came from the fact that after 1-2 months of being a full-time blogger, I didn't achieved my expectations of writing X articles, making Y amount of money, etc... all the things that I've been planning.
By this time I was making around $150 a month from Ads and Patreon - which obviously wasn't the amount I was expecting and it was all my fault.
I had the opportunity to write paid articles but for some reasons I couldn't do it. I believe it was because of the pressure I put on myself for writing PERFECT articles because they were paid.
We took a 2 week break vising the Black Sea and it did wonders for my mental health. I stopped putting so much pressure on myself and I started enjoying the process.
After we came home I took on the $200 in 4 days Challenge and I proved to myself that I am able to make money if I have to. This boosted my morale and my productivity increased!
Soon after that I started the #100Days100Projects Challenge - creating one project every day for 100 days in a row.
This challenged ended up getting me one of the biggest deals ever which covered us in terms of the income for the rest of 2019.
Started a YouTube channel
Fast-forward to November, after struggling a lot thinking that my accent is bad (more or less in my mind), I decided to start a YouTube channel.
It exploded quickly thanks to my wonderful followers on Twitter, reaching 1,000 subscribers in less than a month! 😱
Finally made some cash 💰
I've read many books and watched probably thousands of hours of YouTube videos and courses on how to monetize your passions (blog, YouTube channel, etc) so I finally ended up actually doing something in that regard. 😆
I did 3 things to earn some extra money:
- Added ads on my blog
- Created a Patreon page to be able to accept donations
- Became an affiliate and started promoting web development courses
Below you can see how much I made.
The Numbers - 2019
My blog
- wrote 53 articles on my blog
- had 124k visitors for a total of 309k page views
- got 1200 email subscribers (although I haven't promoted it very much. In 2020 I have to do a better job)
Here are my Google Analytics stats:
YouTube
- created 11 videos and made 2 live streams
- got 1,779 subscribers
- 13.1k views
- 414 watch hours
Subscribe here if you want to follow my YouTube journey. I'm planning a lot of interesting things for 2020 and you wouldn't want to miss it! 😃
Other achievements
- got roughly 400k page views on my articles on Medium, FreeCodeCamp and Dev.to combined
- got 11k followers on Twitter - the best community ever! 🤩
- wrote 8.5k+ tweets - had to put in some work to get people to notice me 😊
- created the app-ideas repository which got 8k stars on GitHub
- created and finished the #100Days100Projects Challenge
- won the Top 7 award on dev.to - twice
- Top 100 Contributor for FreeCodeCamp in 2019
- Top 500 Contributor for Dev.to in 2019
- Top 12 most hearted pen on CodePen in 2019
- had 25 1-on-1 meetings
- gifted 11 Udemy Courses as Giveaways (more of these coming in 2020!)
Earnings:
- $491.15 from donations on Patreon (pre-tax, since May/June)
- $359.11 from Ads (since May)
- and $1,046.97 as an affiliate promoting web development courses (since November)
Plans and goals for 2020
My main focus in 2020 will be my YouTube channel.
This is why I started the year with another challenge: #31Days31Videos where I'm planning to post one video every day at 4PM (UTC+2) for the entire month of January. Hopefully this will help me why my goals (see below).
YouTube channel goals:
- upload 150 videos
- have at least 30 live streams
- 100,000 Subscribers by the end of the year 😱 - this is probably the biggest goal that I've ever set!
- 4k watch hours by the end of March - this is needed in order to get monetized on YouTube (it would be great to get some extra money, right?)
- 1M views for the entire year
Blog goals:
- write 100 articles
- get to 100k monthly views by the end of 2020
- or a total of 1M views
- get to make $200 / month from ads by the end of 2020
- 10k email subscribers
Social Media goals:
Money / earning goals:
- $2k / month average from January to June (or $12k)
- $4k / month average from July to December (or $24k)
- $36k in total
Other goals:
- create 3 digital products
- create an online course
- write an ebook
- build a SAAS (or something with MRR / monthly recurring revenue)
- mentor 4 people directly
- read 26 books
Conclusion
I hope you found this article useful and that it inspires you to start going after your own goals! Make sure you write your goals down (either on a piece of paper or in a word document as I have it). It's important!
Come back later if you want to see my own progress.
I wish you have an amazing 2020! 😃
Top comments (13)
Wow what a story. WTG @florinpop . Am an aspiring coder myself(ala freecodecamp). Am buckling down on absorbing the full curriculum, one day at a time. I use to code webpages/websites in the mid 90's(with HTM(3)and JavaScript(1 - 1.2, dabbled with CSS(1) and Java). Was trying to learn DHTML back in the day.
Accidentally found out what I was doing was basic coding and thus my interest(and passion). Steve Jobs once said, "If you do a job you love, you'll never work a day in your life!" That's my motto I am living by.
Respectfully,
Prince Alarming
I love that motto!
Keep up the good work! 😃
@florinpop Thank you for the encouragement! I joined a 30daysOfJavaScript thread on here. Plan to have a decent working knowledge of it. Granted I know some js but, I don't know it inside and out. I know how to make an alert(very simple to make), a button and frames(and that was an act of God to help me understand that). Other than that I'm lost. Just finished Day 1 of the challenge. I am determined!
Man I just wanted to say how much I appreciate seeing folks like you say "screw it" and just start forging their own path. It's a grind and probably pretty competitive feat, no doubt, but man I respect when people like you put themselves out there, just set some goals, document your progress, and go. It's such a shouting match out there these days but am confident if you keep at it you'll find yourself in a financially self-sustainable spot, doing what you love, instead of getting relegated to some 9-5 soul sucking gig. Keep at it man! And keep experimenting and reflecting along the way!
Cheers,
Chuck
Thank you man! I wish you all the best too!
Woah...what an ambitious plan! 😱
I'm amazed at how you have come so far since your humble beginnings. And now, you've set yourself with a big goal, I can't help but sincerely root for you to achieve your goals.
On a separate note, your English accent is not bad really. The fact that over 2000 people (including me) has subscribed your channel proves it's not an obstacle. Just believe in yourself and go make more videos! You'll improve a lot before you even notice it.
Thank you for the kind words!! I appreciate them! 😃
I just watched the CSS loader video on YouTube, your accent and English is great!
I'm English native and had zero trouble understanding or following along. Drop the doubt, you can do it dude!
Thank you very much man!! It means a lot to hear this! 😃
I really admired your work last year, didn't realise you only started in February! Congrats on what you've achieved in such a short amount of time 🎉
Thank you Emma! 😃
Cool Florin! Good luck with all of your endeavors! ☺️
Thank you very much Nino! I wish you the same!