I bought a TI-83 Plus graphing calculator in autumn 1998. I used it for geometry class in my freshman year of high school. I found some assignments tedious.  Most of the problems required the same steps to solve—only different inputs were given. So, I wrote programs to expedite the steps. Granted, I still had to show my work, but I didn’t have to check it. I enjoyed automating my math homework and being efficient with my time.

I created a website for others to download and use my programs in autumn 2001. By that time, I had written several programs for Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Physics, and Statistics. It was a huge success. Within a year, the website had 50,000 page views per month.

I attended college and left the website alone for the next four years. Slowly, its popularity decreased.  I graduated in May 2006 and realized I needed to make money and survive on my own. I became employed as a software engineer.

I finally had some free time to tinker with side projects again. Once I got home from work, I didn’t have any other responsibilities. It was a delightful side effect of being done with school. I added Google ads to my calculator website; it grossed 12 cents that month. I didn’t touch the website for awhile and focused more on creating a life plan for myself.

I started reading voraciously. I read books and blogs about personal finance, career development, how to get rich, photography, relationships, and real estate. I went to a seminar in Las Vegas about “Blogging for Money” by Steve Pavlina in November 2006. I found that Steve and many other bloggers were making thousands (or more) every month from advertisements and product partnerships on their websites.

I brainstormed ways I could make passive income. I thought I might make it by selling photos online, but that didn’t pan out for me. So, I turned to a passive income resource that I already had: my calculator website.

I completely redid my calculator website in April 2007. I used WordPress as my content management system; it is optimized for search right out of the box. I ported all my existing webpage content (program download links, documentation, and screenshots) into blog posts. I wrote clearly worded titles. I researched the hottest placements for Google ads and implemented them on my site.  I made $9.31 that month. I was so excited! I had increased my earnings by nearly 100-fold from a year ago.

I polished the webiste in May and June of 2007.  I added a few helpful articles about how to use the TI-83 calculator. I researched Google Trends for the most popular searches about the TI-83 calculator. “TI-83 games” had four times the number of searches than “TI-83 programs.” So I added links to the most popular TI-83 games.

That sure grew the breadth of my site’s search space. You could find me for both “TI-83 programs” and “TI-83 games.” I effectively quadrupled my website’s popularity by adding some content about games; and therefore I quadrupled my website’s potential ad revenue.

My online income steadily grew over the next few months. It hit $186.77 in September 2007. It decreased as the school year drew on. It hovered around $50/month throughout the spring and summer of 2008. It hit $282.72 in September 2008. It decreased a little in October, and it will probably continue to decrease until next September. But one thing is clear: my calculator website is a dependable passive income source.

My calculator website continues to earn me money without my intervention. I haven’t touched the site since July 3, 2007. I probably worked on the site for 24 hours from April to July 2007, when I redid the site.  I have made $1500 since then.  Not a bad sum for three days of work. And I continue to receive checks from Google every month.

My next goal is to grow my passive income enough that I can survive on it. I probably won’t touch my calculator website anymore because I haven’t used a TI-83 calculator in six years. I’m not interested in that topic anymore.  My passion has shifted to travel, history, wealth, health, programming and relationships. I plan to make money from this website. I may create other information websites about topics that I’m passionate.  I also hope to make a software product someday—in my own startup company.

Steve James is an adventurous and creative nomad. He traveled around the world in 2005 and published his travel journal online. It’s full of wit, sarcasm, and character development—a great read. He makes passive income from it. He now travels the world.  Read all about Steve.