April 2018 Income Report
Dividends
As expected, April was a light month for dividends.
With the exception of CubeSmart and the few pennies I earn each month from the Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund, all of my equity positions pay dividends on a quarterly basis.
This means I'm going to see a surge in this income category about once every 3 months.
As you can see from the report above, I earned a whopping $26.76 in the month of April from dividends. Still a heck of a lot better than nothing!:)
Real Estate
It was another status quo month for my duplex. However, don't let that $8.89 "profit" deceive you.
Let's remember that I'm not the one paying the mortgage. My tenants are paying the mortgage every single month and with that the principal on my loan is reduced each time.
So that means my equity in the home is growing with every payment made by my tenants!
Once me and my fiance move to a new home, this income category will spike because I will have a new tenant in my side of the duplex.
If you haven't already, go check out my article on why millennials should be house hacking.
In addition, my current tenants are paying below market rent. I will raise this in the future, but I'm waiting for them to find their future home first.
I'm doing this because they are future family members and they also brought me the deal in the first place!
They had been living in the duplex for years before I purchased the property, so I'm happy to keep their rent at what they were initially paying.
Pop Machine
You see I wasn't lying! I finally went and checked the machine and pulled $70 of one dollar bills out of the machine. I'll use this shortly to go purchase more inventory.
There is a ton of quarters in the machine, but I usually only pull those out and count them once or twice per year.
So this income category will fluctuate big time from month to month even though it's technically a lot more stable than it appears.
Blog
I've got so much to learn here and so little time with my job and business, but that is no reason for an excuse!
I'm taking my time with this and as Gary Vaynerchuck says, "content is currency." I'm going to continue to pump out content and see what sort of opportunities open up for me.
If nothing else, I'm happy to be producing this blog to attempt to help others, but also to leave a story and blue print for my future children.
Think about how valuable it would be to point your kids to an online book all about how you achieved success and financial freedom!
I know my Dad was and continues to be a huge influence on my entrepreneurial spirit. I would pay huge sums of money to read his "life book" on exactly how he achieved the success he has today.
It's one thing to be told about how someone did something, but to be reading along with them at that particular moment in their lives offers unparalleled insight.
That's just a whole other reason why blogging is so great.
My future kids will be able to read all of these posts someday and see the daily struggles and wins I went through to achieve financial freedom.
It's so easy to gain motivation from a book, but often times books only highlight the wins along someone's journey. But it's the trials and tribulation where we truly learn our lessons.
Books make it seem like success in life and financial freedom were achieved easily and without tribulation.
However, all of us in the daily grind of life understand the road is a lot more bumpy than what a cleanly written book will portray.
Boxit-N-Lockit
It was a great month for Boxit-N-Lockit. We are heading into the busy season now that the weather is finally getting nice around here.
If you're new here and you're not familiar with my side business, check out my website www.boxitnlockit.com.
Self-storage is a great business. It avoids many of the headaches you incur from a typical rental property.
Storage units don't have toilets, trash, landscaping, and tenants calling in the middle of the night. Plus, there is a lot less maintenance on storage units.
They are sturdy and just store people's stuff! So, the damage they incur over a long period of time is significantly less than a traditional rental property.
Don't get me wrong, I love rental properties, too. I just love self-storage even more.
In the month of April, Boxit-N-Lockit brought in $3,652.20 of revenue and incurred $709.07 worth of expenses for a net income of $2,943.13. Keep in mind, this is before debt service.
I have a decent amount of debt right now as I'm scaling the business, but I report the figures above so you can see how profitable the business is and what a wealth generator this is becoming for me.
Remember, similar to my situation on the duplex above my tenants are paying down the debt on my storage units and I'm building significant equity with every payment.
I'm also excited to announce I have a new order of units coming in sometime this summer! So, hopefully this number will continue to grow and thrive.
The best part is I am able to finance each storage unit purchase with 100% debt and no money out of pocket! Once I get several of them rented out I'm cash flowing from the get go.
Total
For the month of April, I brought in $3,048.78 of income other than what my day job produced.
For the record, my first goal is to achieve $5,000 of monthly passive income, then $10,000.
I'm ecstatic to see this number continuing to climb. For context, I live in the middle of nowhere in a podunk town that struggles economically.
Many residents in my town live well below the poverty line. I only say this because so many people make excuses as to why they can't achieve financial freedom in a small town.
Things like "I can't achieve success in a small town" and "I don't live in a big city so it's hard to make extra money" are excuses I often hear.
Those excuses are only tricks your mind is playing on you that you allow yourself to believe. You can achieve financial freedom no matter where you live. It's about consistency and intentionality.
Get out there are start doing. Remember that your daily actions have a lifetime compounding effect. Even if it's a few dollars a week, start an investment account and get moving!
Thank you for taking the time to read my monthly income reports, everyone! Please get a discussion going in the comments below. I would love to hear more about your side hustles and how you're generating passive income.