I Took Advantage of 2020. And Here’s What Happened!

3 min read

Many people dream of working from home and growing an online business. But, few have the balls to build a website. And stick with it for a year.

Too bad for them.

2020 provided the perfect opportunity. And I was able to take advantage of it.

2020 Year-End Report

With a little persistence and a lot of luck I made my first dollar on the web. But, the story doesn’t start there.

The story starts with an index fund portfolio. So, let’s open up the books and see how my index funds did in 2020.

Investment Performance

2020 was a great year for my index fund portfolio. Because it was the year my investments exceeded $1MM.

Here’s the Breakdown:

This didn’t happen overnight.

I’ve been investing in index funds over the last 14 years. And I learned the key to building a large nest egg is your savings rate. Not your rate of return.

So, I’ll continue working my long term plan. And growing this nest egg to $2MM.  

Blog Growth

In 2020, I wrote 17 blog posts. And it was a great learning experience. In the process, I learned that a blog is a tool to make your audience aware of your product or service. 

If you don’t have a product or service, it’s really hard to build a great website.

So, I pivoted away from blogging and wrote an e-book. After publishing, I promoted the book on Twitter.

So far, so good.

E-Book Sales

I never thought I would publish an e-book because I intended to be a blogger. But, I saw the need for a simple investing handbook.

So, I wrote it.

And I’m proud to say that the Beginner’s Guide to Index Funds sold 40 copies and generated $107 in 2020.

Expect more sales and growth to come in 2021.

Twitter Growth

I’m happy with my Twitter Growth this year. I started the @AlmostVested account in 2018. But, I didn’t do anything with it until 2020.

In January, I started tweeting to ~35 followers. And my tweets were terrible. I didn’t know how to use Twitter.

So, I decided to switch up my game.

I read e-books and took courses to learn the Twitter Hustle. And I figured out what I wanted for my account.

As a result, I ended the year with 1898 followers.

Podcast Appearances

I was fortunate to meet two awesome people on my path to Twitter stardom.

Alex Bender and Miles Longstreth

These gentlemen were gracious enough to have me on their podcasts. And listen to me speak for an hour.

I did my first podcast with Alex. And we discussed side hustling on the internet.

Then, a few months later. Miles offered the opportunity to do a second podcast with him. And we discussed personal finance.

I had a blast.

It Was A Great Year.

The stock market boosted my portfolio to $1.2 MM. And Almost Vested became a real brand. All things considered, 2020 was a great year.

If you missed the podcast, catch up by watching the videos below.

Bender’s Podcast

https://youtu.be/X-CwDhBk3-0

Miles Longstreth Podcast