Around this time last year, I was banned from Redbubble. You can take a look at the post I wrote here about it all. It took me about two weeks to emotionally get over the fact that all that money I was making for no effort was gone, and even after, even now, I still think about it. What a mistake that all was. ‘Looks like this account has been suspended’ is a message you never want to see when logging into Redbubble.
I thought about this yesterday, and now after a year or so of basically no major updates, I figure it’s time to talk about what I’ve been doing, how life has been after Redbubble being my main side income, and all that. maybe it can inspire other people who have been banned, maybe it can just help me get my thoughts in order.
Firstly, it’s not all about the grind
I don’t enjoy a lot of passive income things. I don’t especially enjoy creating art to be sold, uploading it, creating websites. I do it solely because I know that it will pay off later; that the effort I put in now will reap greater rewards later on. It’s only recently that some of my newer sites are picking up in AdSense revenue; these things, they take time.
There is a certain mindset that is glamourized when it comes to working online, passive income etc, and that is ‘the grind’. It’s all about the grind. I am guilty of it as well. I often feel guilty if I am not being productive, and because of this I sometimes struggle to enjoy things I know I like doing; walking in the woods, playing a videogame, having fun with friends or chilling with my family. There is more to life than repetitively uploading designs.
Having much less enjoyment from passive income now
When I started my whole passive income journey, I was so excited when I’d make 50p a day or something like that. I don’t get that anymore. It is because my Redbubble was making me £30-40 every day that I lost sight of the small gains. I suppose this is normal. I’ve made about £3 total passively today, something I’d have killed for 5 years ago or so when I started.
Negatives over, let’s look at what I’ve done since the Redbubble account suspension;
Renting a spare room
This isn’t for me. I had one lodger, and while I’m glad he paid his way (and my mortgage), I can’t do this anymore. I just don’t like to share my space I think. The housing market is crazy right now, so I am looking to sell and downsize, with the thought of later buying and renting out flats.
Renting a spare room might be great for you though, so definitely consider it. If you get the right person, or live in the right type of house, then it can definitely work out.
Being Overemployed while working from home
I have a fulltime job now. I also have my side job. Sometimes (cheeky), if there is nothing to do at my fulltime job, I will just open my other laptop and do my side job during work hours. if anything comes in for my main job, I’ll stop and get back to it, but 6 or so months in now, it hasn’t been an issue.
Working from home has been great for this. This may be a personality shift to consider, but no company is your friend. As a worker, you should be looking to maximise your time, if any, spent working. Now is a great time to do this; so many roles are remote.
For an example of the maths;
Main Job (p/hr) | Side Job (p/h) | Total Hourly pay |
| £14 | £15-£20 | £26-£31 |
That’s around £26 an hour. Of course this depends on workload, and I rarely do more than one hour of my side job during my main job time. The sidegig is also not at all consistent, sometimes there, there is nothing to do, but this does a good enough job of illustrating that you can basically double your income during those working hours when you were doing nothing anyway.
Take a look at ‘Overemployed’ for more info
Monetising my free time
Again with the side job, I’ve developed a habit of just doing it when I know I’m not doing anything else. Planning to watch something on Netflix? Sidejob on my laptop. Playing a passive game or something? Sidejob in another window. I do switch off and just enjoy these things too, but I have a lot of free time so I do put some of it towards making money, even if it’s a little bit.
All these little moments can add up. It’s just that thing where a little bit of effort every day builds up.
I’d strongly suggest having a side job. I’ve been made redundant twice now in the past 4 years. It’s always good to have a backup.
POD Platforms
I am on the following POD platforms still;
- Society 6
- Merch by Amazon
- TeePublic
I’m still making sales on all of these and I still upload to them, although much less than I tell others they should be doing. I maybe make around £150 a month from these, all added up.
Share dealing
I have a Trading212 account now, and I put in around £50 every week. Honestly, results have been mixed, but I’m treating this as a long term thing now. I find Trading 212 a bit better than other share dealing apps and I quite like their pie feature as it allows you to easily spread investments, as well as copy popular traders.
Summary
If you ever get banned from Redbubble, or your main platform, remember that you can always put your work elsewhere, use your skills elsewhere, and look for other opportunities.