My four friends were bombarding me with questions – their words muffled by the overwhelming thought that most of the people I know have no idea what I do and even think the worst of me!
Ever experienced one of those times when everyone is talking to you and nothing they say is getting through to you as you sink deeper and deeper into your own thoughts? That was me.
Anyway…I thought it was kind of cool and a little disturbing considering so many people would actually think that a regular guy like me, was a criminal because my lifestyle was so different than theirs and I had improved myself.
Funny, people will think the worst before they even think you actually achieved something great legitimately, but I digress.
Back to the story…
So there I was…my four friends at the table began asking me all sorts of questions about what affiliate marketing was and I started to explain what it was in great detail.
The problem was as my wife’s saying goes, “I lost them at hello.”
In other words, I confused them at the very beginning of my explanation.
“Hmmm,” I thought, “How do I explain this as simply as possible?”
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks!
So… I started drawing it out on a napkin for them.
Little did I realize I would also be helping you and I even more by clarifying the idea in my head.
This is not the napkin of course, but here’s it is in a nutshell:
As you can see, affiliate marketing is simple a matter of finding traffic (people looking for something) – and connecting that traffic with products and services that other people have to offer them.
SIMPLE!
You get paid for any purchases that are made and you don’t really have any kind of support or customer service to deal with. Sure there are a lot of benefits to being a product owner, but that’s something you don’t need to start out with.
Heck, there are affiliates out there making tens of millions of dollars a year and they don’t own a single product.
In fact I just heard from another stay at home dad like myself who makes a killing of of other people’s products. I’ll introduce him to you soon.
Anyway, the truth is…
If you want to become an affiliate marketer and you “don’t” have money to begin with, then you need to accept the fact that it will just take you a little extra time. You’ll need to invest time in developing content like articles and submitting them to directories and also developing social media properties like a free Twitter account, a Facebook fan page, Hubpages, Squidoo lenses and free blogs.
Sure, it seems time consuming, but in the end you will profit and you can start investing your income into things such as your own domain with a blog, advertising on PPC, PPV or other methods of advertising and having others write articles or blog posts for you.
It’s simply a time or money thing.
You either have lots of time and no money to start with OR some money and no time to do the work.
On one end you can invest your time and do things free and on the other end of things, you can invest your money and save your time.
My friends were excited by the possibilities and were all talking about making tons of money without their jobs. In fact two of them make six figures a year… and they can’t wait to get OUT of their jobs because they”re practically slaves and live for working only.
I continued on and told my friends the same thing I’m going to tell you…
Remember making money is about enjoying your life, not about simply making more money.
Honestly, when you’re an old man or woman and your time comes…will you lay on your death bed saying…”Damn, I wish I had made more money!”
I doubt it. Instead you may regret not taking the time to automate your income so you could stop and enjoy your life.
I’m interested in hearing from you.
Which one are you – money and no time or no money and lots of time? What is your #1 question about affiliate marketing?
Leave a comment below…
