Side Hustle Stats - January 2011

The phrase "side hustle" was first used by my coworker, Moshen Chan, to describe the personal projects us folks at Mochi Media do in our free time.

January has come and gone and there are some stats to take a look at. As always, sponsorships are always the quickest way to make a "good" amount of money. I took a good amount of freelance illustration gigs this month too, so I guess that's pretty helpful too, though definitely less "passive" than letting ads run.

Numbers in the parenthesis indicate change compared to the prior month.

January 2011 Side Hustle Stats

MochiAds
• MochiAds - $87.31 (- $43.41)
• MochiAds Impressions - 197,152 (+ 12,190)
• MochiAds eCPM - $0.44 (- $0.29)
• Top Game: (Don't) Save the Princess - 69,057 impressions
• Second Game: Zombie Farm - 40,735 impressions
• Third Game: Order It Up - 19,076 impressions
• Latest Game: Burger Quest

AdSense
• AdSense - $52.24 (+ $1.66)
• Top Site: Shen Games

iTunes App Store
• Can't pull stats. :(

Sponsorships
• Artwork for two games (including Islands of Empire) - $650.00 (+ $650.00)

Wandering Panda Store
• Ritz the Robot Plushie - $11.99 - 1 total (- $11.99)

Other Freelance Work:

• Illustrations for Educational Institution - $200.00 (+ $200.00)

Grand Side Hustle Total: $1,001.54 (+ $820.58)

If there are any additional stats you would like to see or think would be interesting to see, please let me know. I'd like to be as transparent and open as possible here. The more info we know as indie game developers and such, the better off we'll be.

Side Hustle Stats - December 2010

The phrase "side hustle" was first used by my coworker, Moshen Chan, to describe the personal projects us folks at Mochi Media do in our free time.

Happy new year everyone! This year has certainly been an interesting one. Let's take a look at how December rounded out. Some key things to note are the following:

• I didn't release any new games.
• I started posting more on this blog (art and junk) as the month came to a close.
• I began to properly track all of my sites and registered their specific domains accordingly during the last week of December (everything used to just forward to a folder off of wanderingpandacomics.com)
• I added stats from physical toy/art sales (not quite passive per se...)
• Numbers in the parentheses show change from the prior month.

I think the most important piece of information I took away from this month is that sponsorships, regardless of how large or small, still make the largest chunk of side hustle for a game maker like myself. I'm sure all other Flash game developers out there would agree and it's not new news. Some things I will focus on for January are the following:

• Complete at least two games (sponsorship or not).
• Keep up and post at least one blog post a day.
• Properly update Mister Goh, a webcomic property I revived for 2011.
• Implement Facebook pages for a handful of my sites (Shen Games, Mister Goh) and its Connect functionality on those sites.
• Continue to spend time on Twitter and tweet accordingly.

December 2010 Side Hustle Stats

MochiAds
• MochiAds - $130.72 (+ $6.94)
• MochiAds Impressions - 184,962 (+ 5,428)
• MochiAds eCPM - $0.73 (+ $0.03)
• Top Game: (Don't) Save the Princess - 50,914 impressions
• Second Game: Zombie Farm - 39,096 impressions
• Third Game: Perfect Match Fit - 28,178 impressions

AdSense
• AdSense - $50.58 (+ $0.62)
• Top Site: Shen Games

iTunes App Store
• Paid Apps - $4.20 - 6 total (- $2.10)
• Free Apps - $0.00 - 1,147 total (+ 624)
• Updates - $0.00 - 450 total (+ 450)
• Released: Sheep v1.2, EZ Caltrain 1.0

Sponsorships
• None. (- $800.00)

Wandering Panda Store
• Ritz the Robot Plushie - $21.98 - 2 total

Grand Side Hustle Total: $180.96 (- $799.08)

If there are any additional stats you would like to see or think would be interesting to see, please let me know. I'd like to be as transparent and open as possible here. The more info we know as indie game developers and such, the better off we'll be.

Side Hustle Stats - November 2010 Stats

The phrase "side hustle" was first used by my coworker, Moshen Chan, to describe the personal projects us folks at Mochi Media do in our free time.

My coworker Ada Chen (hello, SEO!) recommended that I read a blog called Smart Passive Income. I don't quite recall the initial reason why this was recommended to me, but I do know that I came out on the other side coming to a realization: I should be as transparent as possible with my "side hustle".

I'm not making millions nor thousands with my side hustle. I am, however, having a lot of fun doing it. What else am I going to do on my 2+ hour roundtrip commute to work everyday. Sleep? [hearty laugh]

I also feel that if I share this data, others who are in similar boats or would like to be in a similar boat will have another point of data for their own research. If you have any questions, please feel free to use the contact form to send me a message. I've disabled comments for the moment only because it's filling up with "fantastic deals on brand name purses". Hopefully I'll get some kind of verification CAPTCHA dealie worked out soon. Without further ado, my November 2010 stats.

November 2010 Side Hustle Stats

MochiAds
• MochiAds - $123.78
• MochiAds Impressions - 179,534
• MochiAds eCPM - $0.70
• Top Game: (Don't) Save the Princess - 49,739 impressions
• Bottom Game: Grow-A-Lincoln - 138 impressions (don't play it)

AdSense
• AdSense - $49.96
• Top Site: Shen Games

iTunes App Store
• Paid Apps - $6.30 - 9 total
• Free Apps - $0.00 - 523 total
• Updates - $0.00 - 0 total
• Top Paid: Sheep - 9 sales
• Top Installs: Sheep - 523 installs (free for one week)

Sponsorships
• Push and Pull - $600
• Going the Distance 7 - $200
  
  Grand Side Hustle Total: $980.04

If there are any additional stats you would like to see or think would be interesting to see, please let me know. I'd like to be as transparent and open as possible here. The more info we know as indie game developers and such, the better off we'll be.