I know on a daily basis I talk to individuals that are interested in getting into the industry. They all usually have the same expectations which is they want to make more money. Hell, who doesn’t? The problem is some will come in and hear about mister so and so or misses so and so [...]

I know on a daily basis I talk to individuals that are interested in getting into the industry. They all usually have the same expectations which is they want to make more money. Hell, who doesn’t? The problem is some will come in and hear about mister so and so or misses so and so making xx,xxx or even xxx,xxx a month that tells them how easy it is to get started and get it going. After a while, it all seems simple to the person operating the system – however beginners will be faced with a very harsh reality once they actually look for results. The problem is not only on one side however, but both sides set the expectations so high.

From the Users Perspective

• High talk of “MAD MONEY!” (xx,xxx – xxx,xxx/month.
• Almost never a mention of the work it took to get there
• There is almost never any “step by step” on how to get to the top. DUH!
• Most will get sucked into make money online ebooks and get pissed, and quit.

From the Industry Perspective

• Newbies are usually annoying and want the world for a dollar.
• They want you to give away your keyword lists, instantly turning them into a millionaire.
• They don’t consider the fact that time spent on them, means less time on your work.
• Newbies want to make millions by tomorrow, which is the bottom line.

Don’t get me wrong – I got into the game thinking the same things. I wanted to make millions upon millions of dollars, drive lambos or corvetts (you know, depending on the day) and fly across the country “just because” whenever I feel like it. What peple need to really realize is that every dollar counts when it comes to Affiliate Marketing. Some people try AM and spend $500 on PPC and only make $600 back, which results in $100 profit. That’s not enough and they think they wasted their time, which causes them to halt persuing affiliate marketing.

Guess what boys and girls, that $100 is still a phone bill. Maybe it’s an insurance payment, or part of your utilities. My goal for starting out was simple: pay off one bill per 3 months and move my way up carefully. If you talk to Slightly Shady at any point and ask him about my “careful growth method” he’ll probably laugh his ass off. That’s because I live by the “go hard or go home” theory on a project-by-project basis which I was stupidly talking about dropping 30,000 links to a site “just so I can see what it would do”. He helped me work on throttling my want to “go hard” and focus more on safe and more life expectancy per site.

Now I understand completely. A few of my EPN sites are penalized in the Google SERPs but are still bringing me some money. This of course gets me interested because it’s long term revenue. Long term in the realm of blackhat SEO isn’t years but merely months, but that’s plenty of more time to get more sites up to roll over the revenue stream and pick up the pieces.

The whole goal of Affiliate Marketing (in my opinion) is to be able to help you lighten your bills up until you have enough consistently coming in to stop a Full Time Job (a 9 to 5). Heck, even downing your 9 to 5 to a part time or contractual basis is a whole other ball game. To be honest, I would do AM just to be able to sleep in until 10 AM every day instead of waking up at 6 AM to go see my boss and put on a fake smile.

The point is that don’t be weary of a slow first month, or even year. Most normal people won’t catch on the make decent coin until after the first year and a half to two years. That’s just how it works to learn your way around and do your deed. Let’s really think about how many dollars you’d have to earn to make a difference in your life – I bet you don’t even realise how small of an amount it really is (especially with all of these “I MADE xxx,xxx WITH THIS EBOOK” types out there):

• 10 Dollars: A few meals at McDonalds
• 20 Dollars: 1 or even 2 pairs of jeans
• 50 Dollars: That’s a cell phone bill *MILESTONE*
• 100 Dollars: That’s an insurance payment
• 300 Dollars: Most monthly car payments *MILESTONE*
• 500 Dollars: All of the above. Talk about a massive load off your shoulders.
• 1500 Dollars: Most mortgage payments *MILESTONE*
• 4000 Dollars: Consider quitting your 9 to 5. This is what I call, the *PAYOFF*

Most people won’t really see it in that perspective. The stupid “make money online” ebook kiddies keep spamming useless tag lines to create buzz such as “I made xxx,xxx in 34 minutes using these 3 techniques” which I will give to you for just $77.77! Hey, just FYI, if they could make xxx,xxx in 34 minutes why would they need your $77.77? I can’t believe some people don’t just put two and two together when it comes to this.

I hope that this helps some people re-think how they’re doing in the industry. You dont have to have life changing numbers to change your life with Affiliate Marketing. Good luck guys, it’s a liquid industry!