Journey to $682,816 in 2021 (31)

I never intended to write this thread, but after @jaybot shared his yearly stats in his follow-along, I felt tempted to write one too.

And moving forward, every year, I’ll be sharing my yearly progress on STM forum and I’ll also share my experiences, mistakes and learnings from that particular year.

My 2021 Stats






(In the 2nd Image, i have purposely hidden the name of some of the traffic sources because these are unique to me and i don't wish to reveal them).

I Made around $682,000 in 2021. Currently, I focus on only 4 traffic types

1. Calendar traffic
2. Push traffic
3. In-page push traffic
4. Native Ads

Out of $682k, around $500K came from calendar traffic alone and the rest of it is from push traffic.
I take all my payments in crypto and since price of crypto (in India) is 7-8% higher than that of US, I end up making 7-8% more each time I convert my payments(crypto) into Indian currency. So, the total revenue comes out around $730,000.


My Biggest month of 2021(in terms of profit) was August 2021.



In the entire year, I never crossed the milestone of $100,000/month (in revenue) or $50,000/month (in profits).
For some reasons, I am way too attached to my ROI. I don’t like my ROI to go below 100%. So, even though I could have easily scaled my campaign to $100,000/month (in revenue), but then I would have to comprise with my ROI – which I was not willing to do.

I am still very young and new to media buying, I feel if my campaigns were run by more experienced media buyers like @twinaxe, then he could have ended up making more than 1 million dollars using the same campaigns that I am running. But i don’t have that type of work ethics or discipline. I am still learning.

MISTAKES

1. Running away from taxes

When I was making all this money, I knew that 30% of this would go to government (as tax).
And i was quite adamant that I don’t want to give any share of my income to government. So, at that time, I was under huge depression and was also looking at the possibility of buying a citizenship of some tax-free country.

Also, in India, you have this rule that if you make less than $10,000/year you don’t have to pay any tax. So, I started giving out my money to my siblings and relatives (who were unemployed) and I asked them to hold my money for couple of months. But at the end nothing worked, all of them ended up getting a tax notice and whatever money I gave to my siblings and relatives, I didn’t get even a single dollar back.

So, I did all this with the intension of hiding tax, but rather I ended up losing all the money. So, after that I decided that i'll never lend my money to anyone. Even if it's $1. And it’s better to pay taxes than going through all this pain.

2. Not enjoying my life while making money

I was in college until April 2021.
And then I did job for 2 months (June 2021 – July 2021).

While I was in college, there were days, where I could have worked little bit extra and could have made $500-$1000 more but I sacrificed those thousand dollars, so, I could complete a 10-mark assignment that my teacher had asked me do. Ridiculous right? But it’s true.

At peak of my career when I was making $15,000/week. I was doing a 9 to 5 job that paid me $1400/month and then at night I was working 5-6 hours a day on my push ads campaign. I didn’t have the courage to leave my job, I was so scared of the idea of being self-employed. Also at that time, I had lost connect with my friends, family. I used to sit in 1 room, work 12 hours a day, was overweight (102 kgs). And going through a severe depression.
So, I regret not enjoying my life while I was making money.

First mover advantage

The only reason I was able to make all this money is because of the first mover advantage. I started buying calendar traffic in Jan 2021(when no one had even heard of it).
Also, I was promoting certain offers and testing angles that no one was doing.
I strongly believe that if you want to succeed in this career, you have to find your own unique path. I believe one cannot make half million dollars by ripping/copying other people’s stuff.

Moving forward

1. Travelling

I am someone who likes to travel a lot. But I never enjoyed traveling with my friend or family. So, last Christmas, I decided to go on a vacation (Turkey) with complete random strangers. There were 8 of us in the group and none of us knew each other. We met each other for the first time at the airport(while boarding flight). It was a complete random thing and that’s how it was meant to be. But that vacation had a huge impact on my life. I am someone who doesn’t like to plan things. I am someone who enjoys randomness. The joy of unpredictability, for example, dancing with some random girls in some random country, or sharing cigarette, food with some random person in some random airport – that’s the kind of stuff that gives me happiness. Thus, moving forward in 2022, I would want to pursue such trips more often.

Life is fun when things are not planned.

2. Real Estate

While I was making all this money, I was quite tempted to buy an expensive car, but somehow my father convinced me to put that money in real estate. And I am glad I did that. I invested most of my profits in real estate. I bought 2 properties in 2021.

And investing in real estate is part of my exit plan, I don’t wish to do affiliate marketing for my entire life. I am planning to buy 2 real estate properties every year until I am 26 years old and then move into full time real estate business. Because I feel real estate is a passive business. I could pursue my hobby of travelling while I am flipping real estate properties.

--------------------------------

Also, one of the things that motivated me to make all this money was – I like to pamper my parents. My parents are 60 years old and they have lived their entire 60 years of life as middle class people. Personally, I don’t have any attachment towards money. I like to give my money to my parents and it gives me happiness when my parents don’t have to look at price tag while buying stuff at shopping mall, or when my father negotiates thousands-of-dollars worth of real estate deals(For me) with some top-notch businessman. That’s the kind of stuff that gives me happiness.

Personally speaking, I am 24 years old, I don’t own a car, I live in a rented house and I am happy being like that. Money has more or less no influence on my happiness but it brings me joy when I see my parents happy.

interesting story man, keep it up!

"so, I could complete a 10-mark assignment that my teacher had asked me do. Ridiculous right? But it’s true."
you will only experience how important college is, when you are a bit older. try to find a healthy balance between work/school. and try to focus on school when at school.

"I strongly believe that if you want to succeed in this career, you have to find your own unique path. I believe one cannot make half million dollars by ripping/copying other people’s stuff"
yeah I am trying to emphasize this often but the ripping and spytool part seems to be more popular.

How motivating is this??

Thanks @Rhino for posting about your success, sharing what works, and revealing mistakes you've made. Hope you wouldn't mind, but I'm copying this thread to the "Success Stories" section also.

P.S. I've just PM'ed you.



Amy

Wow impressive numbers!

Having years of 'mainstream' online marketing and I don't even have a clue what Calendar Traffic is

Will put it on my list to find out, the search on STM doesn't really show a thread about this kind of traffic (or am I missed it?)

Great story and great insights. Thanks for sharing your personal stuff as well, which I find much more important and interesting than the money part.
Of course, one doesn't work without the other, let's not forget that either

Originally Posted by Rhino

So, last Christmas, I decided to go on a vacation (Turkey) with complete random strangers. There were 8 of us in the group and none of us knew each other. We met each other for the first time at the airport(while boarding flight).

There are crazy people like me on Facebook.

Or else try couch surfing.
But don't visit places like other tourist, most people book an expensive hotel, visit famous places, click pictures...and go back to their home. Never travel like that.

You wud want to dance with local girls, smoke weed with local boys, shout on streets at night, that's the type of stuff i am talking about.

Or else come to AW Dubai, we both can catch a plane to Antartica from there.

Originally Posted by ScottyG

Hey man, loved the update.

Where do you find random strangers to go travelling with? All of my friends have jobs or children and I've been looking for people to go explore and drinking with.

Congrats my friend, looks great.

I have 14k conversions in 14 days but nowhere that revenue, seems I could improve my game

But with Tier2/3 leadgens it´s probably hard to beat your numbers.

It´s interesting to see the trafficsources because I also tested and run quite a few of them myself, others I didn´t run yet but thought about testing them sometime so maybe you can answer few questions about it

1. Tubecorporate and Rivertraffic have only adult traffic, correct?
2. Do you also run on PushGround?
I see that you´re running Mobidea Push, when I checked them long time ago I saw that it´s exactly the same platform as Pushground and as far as I remember they even had the same supplies.
Do you know if that´s still the case?
3. Also interesting to see that you succeeded on ByMyAds, I ran only few small tests there for Push and InPage traffic but had extremely bad performance on proven and good converting offers.
One issue was that I had very high clickloss there, did you also see such high clickloss?

Apart from all this it´s amazing to see that Calendar traffic seems to have quite some volume, didn´t expect it.

I also thought about testing it many times but never did it because I guess the bids are too high for my offers and there´s also not much volume available for the geos I run, at least not on the sources that I checked.

@twinaxe, To answer your questions,

1. Tubecorporate and Rivertraffic have only adult traffic, correct?
=> No, i only buy mainstream traffic.

2. Do you also run on PushGround?
I see that you´re running Mobidea Push, when I checked them long time ago I saw that it´s exactly the same platform as Pushground and as far as I remember they even had the same supplies.
Do you know if that´s still the case?

=> Yes they both are 100% same, Mobidea push uses inventory of Pushground, and Pushground buys some part of it's traffic inventory from Tubecorporate.
I prefer Mobidea Push over pushground because, pushground charges me 4% tax on card payment. On mobideapush, i pay 0% tax on credit card top-up.
And that makes a huge difference.

3. One issue was that I had very high clickloss there, did you also see such high clickloss?

=> Yes there is huge clickloss, the numbers on my tracker and affiliate networks don't match quite often.

---------------------------
Also, i prefer to promote CPS offers, i don't touch SOI/or low payout offers. The easiest way to make good money is to promote high payout offers.

If you want you can hit me up on skype: live:97harnur97, we can have a conversation anytime.

Congrats on your success, that is awesome.

If I may offer you one piece of advice on taxes. This is something a friend shared with me years ago.

While I firmly believe in doing everything I legally can to reduce my tax burden, I love a big tax bill. Because all else being equal, a bigger tax bill just means I made more money this year.

As a US citizen, the government is always going to get their cut, unless I make it super big and get to play the games reserved for the 1% of the 1%. So I've made peace with it, let a CPA do his magic to get it as low as possible and then write that check every quarter.

And sounds like you've got an awesome dad. Definitely put some of that money aside. There are far too many people who make fast cash and then wake up dead broke in just a few years, most professional sports stars in the US and even many in entertainment.

But also, enjoy life. You're only 24 once, have some fun and explore. One day you may have a family and want to settle down more.

Holy shit. I inspired this?

I mean, the sharing of stats. Not the profits. Only way I can inspire profits is by scaring people with my losses.

In other words, Great Post!

I'm trying to imagine myself at 24 being this successful... not possible. Was far too drunk.

You've got a super bright future ahead.

Now I'm inspired by your inspired thread.

Let me match your numbers this year

Not buying push traffic from Rivertraffic, Only buying calendar from them.
They have mainstream calendar.

For calendar traffic they have managed campaigns. You need to contact their support staff for it.

Also, they don't have "normal push" they sell only "in-page push"...but it's not worth trying.

Originally Posted by twinaxe

Anyway, don´t want to spam your thread with my stuff.

Originally Posted by iwanttofly

As a US citizen, the government is always going to get their cut, unless I make it super big and get to play the games reserved for the 1% of the 1%.

This is fantasic. Congratulations on your big success @Rhino

Wow! Just wondering where do you get the Calendar Traffic? What website? Thanks!!

Quick question, What's the connection type for this Traffic: Lan & Wifi, Wifi, or Mobile Carriers? That would be nice to know thanks!!!! Appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Rhino

I never intended to write this thread, but after @jaybot shared his yearly stats in his follow-along, I felt tempted to write one too.

And moving forward, every year, I’ll be sharing my yearly progress on STM forum and I’ll also share my experiences, mistakes and learnings from that particular year.

My 2021 Stats






(In the 2nd Image, i have purposely hidden the name of some of the traffic sources because these are unique to me and i don't wish to reveal them).

I Made around $682,000 in 2021. Currently, I focus on only 4 traffic types

1. Calendar traffic
2. Push traffic
3. In-page push traffic
4. Native Ads

Out of $682k, around $500K came from calendar traffic alone and the rest of it is from push traffic.
I take all my payments in crypto and since price of crypto (in India) is 7-8% higher than that of US, I end up making 7-8% more each time I convert my payments(crypto) into Indian currency. So, the total revenue comes out around $730,000.


My Biggest month of 2021(in terms of profit) was August 2021.



In the entire year, I never crossed the milestone of $100,000/month (in revenue) or $50,000/month (in profits).
For some reasons, I am way too attached to my ROI. I don’t like my ROI to go below 100%. So, even though I could have easily scaled my campaign to $100,000/month (in revenue), but then I would have to comprise with my ROI – which I was not willing to do.

I am still very young and new to media buying, I feel if my campaigns were run by more experienced media buyers like @twinaxe, then he could have ended up making more than 1 million dollars using the same campaigns that I am running. But i don’t have that type of work ethics or discipline. I am still learning.

MISTAKES

1. Running away from taxes

When I was making all this money, I knew that 30% of this would go to government (as tax).
And i was quite adamant that I don’t want to give any share of my income to government. So, at that time, I was under huge depression and was also looking at the possibility of buying a citizenship of some tax-free country.

Also, in India, you have this rule that if you make less than $10,000/year you don’t have to pay any tax. So, I started giving out my money to my siblings and relatives (who were unemployed) and I asked them to hold my money for couple of months. But at the end nothing worked, all of them ended up getting a tax notice and whatever money I gave to my siblings and relatives, I didn’t get even a single dollar back.

So, I did all this with the intension of hiding tax, but rather I ended up losing all the money. So, after that I decided that i'll never lend my money to anyone. Even if it's $1. And it’s better to pay taxes than going through all this pain.

2. Not enjoying my life while making money

I was in college until April 2021.
And then I did job for 2 months (June 2021 – July 2021).

While I was in college, there were days, where I could have worked little bit extra and could have made $500-$1000 more but I sacrificed those thousand dollars, so, I could complete a 10-mark assignment that my teacher had asked me do. Ridiculous right? But it’s true.

At peak of my career when I was making $15,000/week. I was under severe depression. I was doing a 9 to 5 job that paid me $1400/month and then at night I was working 5-6 hours a day on my push ads campaign. I didn’t have the courage to leave my job, I was so scared of the idea of being self-employed. Also at that time, I had lost connect with my friends, family. I used to sit in 1 room, work 12 hours a day, was overweight (102 kgs). And going through a severe depression.
So, I regret not enjoying my life while I was making money.

First mover advantage

The only reason I was able to make all this money is because of the first mover advantage. I started buying calendar traffic in Jan 2021(when no one had even heard of it).
Also, I was promoting certain offers and testing angles that no one was doing.
I strongly believe that if you want to succeed in this career, you have to find your own unique path. I believe one cannot make half million dollars by ripping/copying other people’s stuff.

Moving forward

1. Travelling

I am someone who likes to travel a lot. But I never enjoyed traveling with my friend or family. So, last Christmas, I decided to go on a vacation (Turkey) with complete random strangers. There were 8 of us in the group and none of us knew each other. We met each other for the first time at the airport(while boarding flight). It was a complete random thing and that’s how it was meant to be. But that vacation had a huge impact on my life. I am someone who doesn’t like to plan things. I am someone who enjoys randomness. The joy of unpredictability, for example, dancing with some random girls in some random country, or sharing cigarette, food with some random person in some random airport – that’s the kind of stuff that gives me happiness. Thus, moving forward in 2022, I would want to pursue such trips more often.

Life is fun when things are not planned.

2. Real Estate

While I was making all this money, I was quite tempted to buy an expensive car, but somehow my father convinced me to put that money in real estate. And I am glad I did that. I invested most of my profits in real estate. I bought 2 properties in 2021.

And investing in real estate is part of my exit plan, I don’t wish to do affiliate marketing for my entire life. I am planning to buy 2 real estate properties every year until I am 26 years old and then move into full time real estate business. Because I feel real estate is a passive business. I could pursue my hobby of travelling while I am flipping real estate properties.

--------------------------------

Also, one of the things that motivated me to make all this money was – I like to pamper my parents. My parents are 60 years old and they have lived their entire 60 years of life as middle class people. Personally, I don’t have any attachment towards money. I like to give my money to my parents and it gives me happiness when my parents don’t have to look at price tag while buying stuff at shopping mall, or when my father negotiates thousands-of-dollars worth of real estate deals(For me) with some top-notch businessman. That’s the kind of stuff that gives me happiness.

Personally speaking, I am 24 years old, I don’t own a car, I live in a rented house and I am happy being like that. Money has more or less no influence on my happiness but it brings me joy when I see my parents happy.

Originally Posted by bulltradeoptions

Wow! Just wondering where do you get the Calendar Traffic? What website? Thanks!!

Quick question, What's the connection type for this Traffic: Lan & Wifi, Wifi, or Mobile Carriers? That would be nice to know thanks!!!! Appreciate it.

@Rhino Thanks for sharing your journey. Good luck for the future.

Can you please share more information about how you did it or even some tips ?
Thanks

Originally Posted by shark-collective

Can you please share more information about how you did it or even some tips ?
Thanks

That's just fantastic, very well done!

wow so basically you're running cps on push? calendar is a type of push also, no?

Sent from my V2036 using Tapatalk

First of all, congrats on your personal and professional development through the year.
I'm pretty sure you have a lot of fun meeting people through CS. Been there, done that (and not that long ago). Also be aware that the novelty will wear off, so don't overdo it

Originally Posted by Rhino

For some reasons, I am way too attached to my ROI. I don’t like my ROI to go below 100%. So, even though I could have easily scaled my campaign to $100,000/month (in revenue), but then I would have to comprise with my ROI – which I was not willing to do.

Your ROI is insane and I see you saying "For some reasons, I am way too attached to my ROI. I don’t like my ROI to go below 100%. So, even though I could have easily scaled my campaign to $100,000/month (in revenue), but then I would have to comprise with my ROI – which I was not willing to do."

Been in the space for 8+ years and I can say first hand Id rather spend 100k a day at 15% ROI than spend 1k a day and get 100% ROI. Not only do you profit more but at that type of rev you unlock all sorts of perks from the networks / offer owners and traffic sources.

If you dont have the capital to spend 100X what your spending now per day fee free to reach out and id be happy to work something out to fund you.

Yes, I am too emotionally attached to my ROI, and the other reason was, after June-July month, i had lost my motivation to make money.
If you read my old STM threads, i have written multiple threads on money-happiness and mental well-being, to the point that @jaybot almost got pissed at me, haha.

But, back then, I didn't know why was i making money, because i was very unhappy in life and my monthly expenses were less than $500. Plus, I didn't know...how making more will make me any happier.

So, all those reasons were also responsible for me not trying too hard to scale.

Maybe 5-6 years down the line i may regret this, but fuck it.

Originally Posted by jason a

Your ROI is insane and I see you saying "For some reasons, I am way too attached to my ROI. I don’t like my ROI to go below 100%. So, even though I could have easily scaled my campaign to $100,000/month (in revenue), but then I would have to comprise with my ROI – which I was not willing to do."

Been in the space for 8+ years and I can say first hand Id rather spend 100k a day at 15% ROI than spend 1k a day and get 100% ROI. Not only do you profit more but at that type of rev you unlock all sorts of perks from the networks / offer owners and traffic sources.

If you dont have the capital to spend 100X what your spending now per day fee free to reach out and id be happy to work something out to fund you.

Originally Posted by Rhino

Yes, I am too emotionally attached to my ROI, and the other reason was, after June-July month, i had lost my motivation to make money.
If you read my old STM threads, i have written multiple threads on money-happiness and mental well-being, to the point that @jaybot almost got pissed at me, haha.

But, back then, I didn't know why was i making money, because i was very unhappy in life and my monthly expenses were less than $500. Plus, I didn't know...how making more and more money will make me any happier.

So, all those reasons were also responsible for me not trying too hard to scale.

Maybe 5-6 years down the line i may regret this, but fuck it.

Good job bro and I have question are you also using 10x payout to test this new type of push traffic?

Hey !

This is the first post I have read since I joined the forum and I am so glad I picked your post !
You have an amazing story at such a young age and it is really inspiring ! Congratulations for thinking out of the box and writing this post to help newbies like me

Have a great day !

Keep it goinG!

Marveillous and very inspiring post, that reveals such a beautiful person you are! We often don't remember that money is just a mean, not an aim, and the happiness Is something completely different. Go and realize your dreams, that are wonderful!