Welcome to this April 2021 Monthly Blog Review!
For those that are unfamiliar with our monthly reviews, at the end of each month we try to recap the previous month and talk about what we are looking forward to in the next month. We share any news we have, our monthly stats, new goals or plans, and then wrap things up with some personal experiences from the month.
New Blog Posts
Here is a list of new blog posts from April:
- March 2021 Monthly Blog Review
- How to Set Up a Computer For Productivity
- How to Overcome Distractions as a Teenager in 2021
- Habits that Kill your Productivity
- How To Set Up Gmail For Productivity
- How to Live your Life to the Fullest as a Teenager in 2021
- 10 Reasons Why We Blog
- How to Set Yourself Up for Financial Success
- How to Control your Spending Habits as a Teenager in 2021
Announcements
Podcast Launch
Our podcast launched on April 6th!!! So far there are 5 episodes out and we plan to keep posting every Tuesday. Eventually we’ll be looking to expand to 2 episodes a week which will allow us to have blog post recaps, interviews, and more! We got some great feedback on it and are excited to continue growing it. You can check out the Teen Financial Freedom Podcast wherever you prefer to listen to your podcasts!
What We Worked On
To be honest, we didn’t work a ton on Teen Financial Freedom this month. We’re in all the process of wrapping up school for the year so we’re all a little busy. We’re hoping to refocus in May and we have some big plans for the summer!
Podcast Updates
Most of our work this month was surrounding the podcast. There was a lot of work that went into the podcast launch and a lot of updates we had to make after the fact.
We ended up rerecording our intro and outro, recording a few regular episodes, and recording our first interviews! You all will begin to see these updates in the months to come if you listen to our podcast episodes regularly!
Refining Processes
We also spent some time refining processes that will help us a great deal in the future. We got Calendly set up for our podcast guests to schedule interviews with us, a new email system set up to manage potential collaborations, and a Notion hub set up for our team.
April Statisitics
Our traffic didn’t take off as much as I would have hoped this month. We did have a few pretty crazy spikes, but our numbers are still very similar to last month:
- 7,700 Users
- 23,000 Pageviews
- 193,000 Pinterest Impressions
- 304,000 Google Search Console Impressions
- 5,600 Google Search Console Clicks
I’m hoping for big changes in May because last year during May our traffic increased by 3x! But, don’t be surprised if our numbers are still the same next month. It wouldn’t be the first time I got one of these predictions wrong.
Personal Lives
Now it’s time to dive into our personal experiences in the month of April!
Jacob
Man am I glad April is behind us! If you recall our last monthly review, you’ll remember that I was struggling in March and was very stressed about April. After a crazy month, I’ve wrapped almost everything up that was stressing me out.
I finished my 100 hours of community service doing tax preparation for people in my community. This allowed me to qualify for a Presidential Service Award which is super cool!
I was having several difficulties with orders for my freelancing and shirt businesses last month. Thankfully, I wrapped up those orders and was able to focus on new ones.
I actually managed to sell my custom t-shirt business this month as well which was not something I planned on. My business partner and I are going our separate ways next school year, so we needed to sell our business before hand.
I put some listings up on a few websites thinking that it might take a few months for it to sell, but it sold within 2 days! Everything went so fast, but it feels so good to have the equipment out of my house, the weight off our shoulders, and the money in our pockets!
Lastly, I was stressed out about my college decision and graduation planning. After one last college visit and a few more discussions with my parents, I made my college decision! I won’t go into too much detail here, but it feels good to have the decision be made. We also got our plans figured out for graduation which is another weight off my shoulders.
So yeah…I was feeling pretty pumped about how April went. Everything had been nearly perfect until my computer decided to randomly die the other day. We have no idea what happened and have no idea how to fix it. Thankfully, all of my files are saved in cloud storage. The bummer part is that I now have to get a new computer and figure out how to do my work until I get one.
It’s only a small hiccup in the grand scheme of things, but feels pretty frustrating right now. Overall, still super happy with how April went and excited for May! This is my last month of high school ever!!! I’m so excited to be done, to be moving on to new things, and for my plans for the summer!
Terry
The month of April has been a little rough for me particularly in regards to my consistency with Teen Financial Freedom (unfortunately I missed a few weekly round-ups). On the bright side, I have finally wrapped finals up and have officially concluded my second semester of college! I have a few things planned for this summer. Firstly, I have a one-week trip to Puerto Rico in mid-May for school. Besides that, I’ll be doubling down on my work on Teen Financial Freedom, as monetization is one of our big goals for 2021 and I want to help the team reach that goal. However, I did notice how much I have been struggling with motivation and productivity lately so I reached out to a business mentor of mine and asked him to help me work through some of my struggles. Thankfully, he had some really helpful tips for me and said he would be calling me in a few days to make sure I had implemented them. So at least there’s a solution for my struggles! 🙂
Besides TFF, I’m hoping to run one of my side hustles “full-time” this summer and see how much of my student loans I can knock out. Even though I haven’t done much with it, my pressure washing business still has a lot of potential and if I put in the work required it could easily make more than enough income for what I would need on a monthly basis. So to recap, my three big things for this summer are, 1) A trip to Puerto Rico, 2) Double-down on TFF and our goal of monetization, and 3) Scale one of my side hustles to pay off student loans.
P.S. Oh, and we just recently started doing some podcasting collaborations with fellow-youth podcaster Chase! The dude has an insane hustle and drive and I am super excited to start working with him more. I highly recommend checking out his podcast!
Dani
Overall, April was a pretty good month for me. At the beginning of the month, my family and I went on a road trip to Arizona and I had a great time there! We spent a lot of time outdoors hiking, stargazing, and going on trails, and it was a great change from the usual zoom classes and meetings. While this trip was for fun, it taught me that being productive is not just working efficiently and not wasting time, it’s also doing the things you love and enjoying every moment!
When I got back home, I was fully ready to start working and grinding again. The trip refreshed me, so I could come back more ready and mentally prepared. I even think that I got a little bit more productive and efficient than before the trip. Of course, I still spend time procrastinating, but I’m grateful that the time I spend doing that is less than before. I’m able to write blogs in less time and I stopped waiting until after to get my tasks done. I was able to adjust my sleeping schedule and get closer to waking up at 7 a.m. It’s a work in progress, but every improvement matters. With all of these changes, it turns out I actually needed the 5 day break!
Along with this, as a final project for school, I had to research any aspect of math and I chose to do the stock market! I’ve always wanted to learn about it, but I never got around to actually doing it, so this gave me the opportunity to do so. The research really opened my eyes to how everything works and I’m glad I know a little bit about how to invest in the stock market so I can be prepared and ready for the future!
As for the future, I’m looking forward to the summer, which is in a month from now. I’m taking it one week at a time, and I only have 4 more weeks to go. I’m only in 8th grade right now, which is why the last few weeks of school aren’t as stressful for me (thankfully). I’ll be going to high school in August, so this is my last month of middle school and last summer before I enter high school. I don’t really have any plans for the summer, but I’m hoping to meet some friends (as COVID is getting better), write 2 blogs a week instead of one, play tennis more often, and enjoy!
This month flew by really fast, and before I even knew it, the first quarter of the year is already finished. Things are looking bright and I’m excited for what’s to come!
