I’ve found that there are three basic levels or types of income you seem to generate when you start out trying to make a few bucks, online or off. I’ve come to think of them loosely as ‘pebbles, rocks, and sand’. If you imagine a jar that, when full, will earn you as much money as you want/need, you then need to

Here’s what I mean:

Pebbles - Earnings I would classif y as pebbles can be one of two things. They are usually moderate to large amounts that are earned infrequently (i.e. $15 at a time and some months you have 0-1 and some months you have 5) or smaller amounts that are reasonably reliable but not a sure thing (i.e. $5 commissions that you steadily have between 5-15 a month) . Over time, pebbles will grow into rocks or disappear completely. I don’t see ‘pebble’ type earnings turn into sand very often.

Sand - Small, consistent earnings that you can count on to some extent every month. I would classify Squidoo adsense earnings as ’sand’ to some extent since you have a rough idea of what you will make each month. The amount you make from any one source of sand will often have a cap (i.e. lens payout tiers, etc). Sand can form a very solid foundation, but like sand, you need a lot of grains or sources before it adds up to much.

Rocks – Rocks are awesome. Big fat commissions that come regularly every month like clockwork. Hard to achieve and they can unexpectedly switch to pebbles and become inconsistent. Rocks should always be something you are striving for with at least a few of your revenue sources. however, if you have nothing but rocks, losing one affiliate program or ranking can mean financial disaster for your earnings.

Each of the three different types can be useful for making some bucks online or off. using the best aspects of all three to counter some of the other weaknesses can be super powerful.

How’s your earnings profile? Lots of rocks, sand, or pebbles?