One of the main reasons I started researching and developing an online business is because I wanted to work from home – be MY OWN boss. I am sure that I am with billions of people who want to break away from the daily grind and just have time to do what they love doing. The reasons for wanting to do this are as varied as the billions that want to succeed online and have more freedom.
My other reason for wanting to have an niche marketing business is to help people. In the really broke times, I never really got anything off the ground (after 2 years of studying the ‘how to’s) but looking back – I was trying to develop an online business for all the wrong reasons. I forgot to help. I forgot that the main thing about any business is about being authentic and putting service first. Not the money – which invariably comes if you put the effort in.
So, ten years later. Here I am again. With a better attitude and sense of purpose.
In the broke days that I spoke about, I was obviously more concerned about making money than anything. There’s nothing wrong with that (if that’s what you want to do) and many people are successful doing it this way. But, my question to you is: Do you want to trade a J-O-B (Just Over Broke) for another one?
Isn’t it going to be more important to have a succesful Niche or Affiliate Marketing business that doesn’t feel like work? This is why, it is so important to pick a Niche in an area that you are interested in.
The Pro’s
I have already outlined some of what I consider to be the Pro’s of having a successful Niche Marketing business but there are a few more that I can think of:
Uncapped potential to earn $$$
It doesn’t cost a lot to get started
Fire your boss
Turn your hobby into a business
Get your message out to the World
Spend more time with loved ones
Avoid spending time in traffic
Learn new skills
Only work with people you like!
The list really could be endless but I will stop there to avoid boring you to death.
The Con’s
This is a much shorter list! Actually, I can really only think of three.
The amount of new ‘stuff’ that you have to learn can be a bit overwhelming
If your business is just you – working from home can be isolating
It takes time – if you do it property
When you are new to niche marketing, the amount of ‘stuff’ that you have to learn can be pretty overwhelming at times but it is worth it – in the end. The best way to get through the overwhelm is to constantly remind yourself why you got into this business in the first place. Remember.
It’s not hard to deal with the isolation side of working from home either. If you belong to a great community like Wealthy Affiliate, you don’t feel isolated because there are hundreds of authentic, good and knowledgeable people there that are willing to help/chat at any time.
How to find a Profitable Niche Market
When I started doing some research into writing this post, I though the first place that I would start would be Wealthy Affiliate – just to see what would come up. As expected, there is was a wealth of information about where to start for your niche markeing project. This was just a small snapshot!
There are some key steps to help shorten your search for a profitable niche market though. It may take you a while (if you’re really new to this) to get your head around some of the sites but just start the search. You will figure it out along the way but the main thing to do is just pick a topic that interests you and see what affiliate product relate to your area of interest. There will most certainly be a product that you can relate to.
There is some excellent training that relates specifically to researching a niche market but I will leave that part to the experts.
If you are really new to online marketing, it is worthwhile to set up accounts for both Adwords and Clickbank but it’s not necessary to launch into anything immediately either. Once you have found a product that you would like to promote, start doing some research into that particular product as well.
One word of warning that I will add though (and many may not agree with me), if you are planning on promoting someone else’s product – spend the money and buy it. It feels a little unethical (to me anyway) to be promoting a product that you know nothing about.
What the SWOT? How Much Home’work’ Do You Need?
I am not huge on over planning but when you first start out it’s really important to understand a few things. Yes, you should probably do a decent amount of research (SWOT) in relation to your niche but don’t get too caught up in it. If you are anything like me, you will find that you are interested in more niches than you could build a good business on – so there is a good chance you could change your mind down the track.
And as Kyle from Wealthy Affiliate says, there is no such thing as choosing the wrong niche. The following is what he says to consider when thinking about a niche:
(1) You are going to be writing content within your niche (2) You are going to be communicating within your niche (3) You are going to be choosing products to promote within your niche (4) You are going to get to help people within your niche. (5) Your first niche PROBABLY won’t be your last (so don’t worry about it being perfect) (6) Any SINGLE niche website can become a “full time” income/business
Kyle – Wealthy Affiliate
Convinced?
I literally just watched a clickbank training video and in that the presenters said that there has never been a better time to start an online business. J-O-B security is a thing of the past and if we are entirely honest, not many of us like selling our life hours to someone else!
Niche/Affiliate marketing is probably the easiest and fastest way to get started online. If you have done your homework, you will know that you are promoting a tried and true, (hopefully) ethical product that you know will help others.
You will have the freedom to do as you please, contribute in a way you never thought possible and do it all on your own terms. The brilliant thing is that you can get started now and it costs nothing. You can go it alone with Clickbank and Google or you can get started with a supportive team of people around you – people that only want to see you succeed!
For years, I found it really difficult to get my head around SEO and how to figure out what keywords to use where. How to be competitive when it looked like every man and his dog had already ‘clamed’ the best and more lucrative keywords for every niche known to man!
I used the Google tool and didn’t find it that helpful and ultimately, it cost quite a bit of money to use the keywords that were generated by the planner. Even though the associated cost of using that keyword is also generated – if it is a popular keyword. Don’t get me wrong, the Google keyword search tool is a useful tool but it’s not as good as Jaaxy.
As part of doing this review, I had a look around to see if there were any other tools out there that would compare. And, from what I could see – they couldn’t.
Fake Keyword Tools
According to Kyle from Wealthy Affiliate, many keyword tools dress themselves up just to suck you in and take your money. He says that any keyword tool that has the following traits is likely to provide mostly (if not all) useless data:
Requires installation on your device
Only provides PPC guestimates
Anything that uses Alexa as the key factor in determining competition
Anything that requires several searches to accomplish a singular task
Tools that don’t pull results from ALL search engines
The Jaaxy Difference
Even if you are new to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), Jaaxy is a simple and effective tool that is not loaded with jargon to make you think that you are getting more bang for your buck! I always like to use the KISS principle.
Jaaxy focuses on the three main metrics that are ideal for affiliate marketing, without making it more complex than it needs to be.
Keyword competition
How much traffic does the keyword get
Does the keyword make sense
When I first started my research for making money online, I used the most ridiculous combination of keywords in my articles and blog posts because they were cheap and low competition. Result – bad google rankings and no traffic. Not good. And bad for any authority power you plan on in the future.
Jaaxy will accurately capture keywords that actually work and make sense!
Here’s an example of the difference between what Jaaxy shows you and what the Google adwords shows you by comparison:
Google Adwords Search – Being SpiritualJaaxy Search – Being Spiritual
“Being Spiritual” is not exactly the most searched for phrase. But, you can see from the two examples above that Google provides no data about this particular keyword search, but Jaaxy does. The QSR (Quoted Search Result), is literally just a click away.
What I Love About Jaaxy
Like I said, I like the KISS principal. I love my car but I don’t care how it works. I just know it does. Keeping it simple. It’s the same with Jaaxy. My favourite things about Jaaxy are:
Simple to use
Uncomplicated
Fast – search results (depending on your computer) are pretty much instant
Gives me millions of ideas for blog posts, articles and niche markets
Has all of the data I need to promote my site and write keyword rich copy
It’s inexpensive and price plans are flexible to your needs
Jaaxy Beats the Competition on Price
I looked at four different SEO sites to compare to Jaaxy and tried a couple of them out. During my search, it was clear that Jaaxy was by far the cheapest and most flexible price wise.
You could probably argue that the comparison sites that I looked at offer more per price plan but as I have already mentioned – more is not necessarily better. Over the course of years of analysing financial data and spreadsheet, I honestly believe we can spend our lives bogged down in unnecessary detail.
While the above sites do appear to have flexible price plans, they are all still expensive. Jaaxy has a free starter option but it is not limited to 1 week. You have the option of signing up to Jaaxy for free and you get 30 searches to use whenever you like.
It doesn’t matter if you are a super user or just starting out. Trying Jaaxy is risk free and awesome.
It’s never been easier to build your own website. Watch Kyle from Wealthy Affiliate build a Wordpress site in 30 seconds.
Building a free website has never been easier than it is now and Wealthy Affiliate makes it just a little easier. When I first started out researching the opportunities of affiliate marketing, building a website was near on impossible for a beginner. I’m the sort of person who knows how to drive a car but doesn’t need to know the mechanics of how they work. I’m pleased to say that now, I can be that way about websites as well. No more trying to figure out code or how to link auto responder – or worse still, accidentally changing the wrong bit of code and seeing your whole website collapse or disappear altogether. Fond memories. Not!
I know it seems like I keep banging on about Wealthy Affiliate but I can honestly say that I have not come across another training platform like this one that makes getting set up so easy. As promised, I will never promote or endorse a product or service that I haven’t personally tried and found to be excellent.
Proof! Building Your Own Website in 30 Seconds.
To prove that I am not just being a salesperson (there are affiliate links on this page), I have included this video that Kyle put together to show just how easy it is to build your own website.
This is one of the “Getting Started” videos that most beginners find super helpful. There are 13 classrooms at WA which makes it so easy to find a video from one of the experts to help you with virtually any issue you may have.
My Mission
At work, I have steered away from using the words “Mission Statement” or talking about our Cultural mission. Too many people nowadays will groan and roll their eyes because the corporate world has misused mission statements and rotated them as and when trends in the market changed or someone told them some new catch phrases. I know that sounds cynical but I have seen it all too often.
So, let me explain why I am using it now. I have sat in traffic, worked with unpleasant people, managed overpaid bosses and generally been unhappy in roles – just to keep the bills paid. I am a firm believer that this is the old way of thinking. That all of these “Brules” (Bullshit rules) as Vishen Lakhiani terms it are meant to keep us stuck doing the same old same old. This is especially true of my generation – ie: to get ahead, you have to have a job working a 40 hour working week. Selling your life hours to make someone else rich.
Therefore, it is my mission to help as many people (including myself) get off the mouse wheel and start living life they way they truly want and came here to do.
if this appeals to you, then there has never been a better time to get started than now. All you have to do is click any link on this page and sign up for a month of Wealthy Affiliate for free. If you don’t love it or get a huge amount of information from it, feel free to come back here and leave me a comment.
I am here to help and I thoroughly believe that Wealthy Affiliate is your best hope of getting on your way.
Fear is a terrible and often unspoken about thing. It holds you back from becoming the person you were truly put here to be and stops you experiencing everything that you came here to experience. If you want to get rid of it, read on.
There are many techniques available both online and in person with a Counsellor. Personally, I have never experienced one on one Counselling but I know a lot of people that have had excellent results. As with online, Counsellors have numerous tools at their disposal to help alleviate the symptoms of fear but if you are like me, I would prefer to deal with my fears in the privacy of my own home and in my own time.
After doing a bit of research, I found John Assaraf’s (Neurogym) Winning the Game of Fear. I liked the idea of having to do very little to heal. All I had to do was commit time.
I liked that Winning the Game of Fear was online. I could do it when I felt like it sitting in the comfort of my office. I didn’t have to speak to anyone I didn’t know and it is subliminal! Nothing to do here!
At first, I didn’t really think that subliminal re-programming was going to work but I had brought the programme so I thought I may as well give it a go. As it turns out, I was being held back by my brain. I am not saying that it is a cure-all but Winning the Game of Fear has certainly put me on the right track.
Recent scientific breakthroughs have found that our brains are still operating on a primal level even though we no longer have to run away from that Sabre Tooth Tiger that wants to eat us – badly!
!
Our brains are probably holding us back because of conditioning from bad experiences that we have had either in this life or (if you believe as I do) past lives. Through WGOF, I learnt that the hidden cause of our fears are operated by negative neural patterns running through our subconscious at all times.
The good news is that we can re-programme that part of our brains to anything we want.
So, what is Winning the Game of Fear?
WGOF is a 40 day programme that subliminally re-programmes the negative neural pathways in your brain.
It will help you to overcome debilitating fears, emotions, doubts, anxieties, stress or worries. I know it sounds unbelievable, but I can (from personal experience) tell you that it does work. I no longer have the debilitating anxiety attacks that I was having daily, I feel more positive about the future and I am not being controlled by whatever it was that was causing the anxiety.
The Good & the Bad
The Good:
PRO #1 – It’s convenient.
You can do this programme from the comfort and privacy of your home – sitting down with your cat on your lap!
PRO #2 – It’s easy and relaxing.
Not only can you do this sitting down, the breathing exercises during each audio act as daily mindfulness exercises that mentally prepare you for the audio but are also incredibly relaxing.
Just relaxing at home.
PRO #3 – It works!
I don’t know the stats or experiences of everyone that has completed WGOFbut I do know that this worked for me. Also, the evidence doesn’t lie.
The Bad:
CON #1 – Takes Time
WGOF takes time. 40 days may seem a bit daunting for all of us who already have busy lives! But, the 40 sessions do not have to be done in 40 consecutive days (I didn’t do this but I think it would be better to if you are more disciplined than me) and each session is no longer than 30 minutes and most are less. You’re worth it, so make the time. You’ll be happy with the results.
CON #2 – Costs Money
Even though there are probably some free courses that profess to free you of fear, this course is worth every dollar. I have gone from having at least one panic attack a day to zero in over two months now. This is not an expensive course and you have the option to pay it off over a number of months.
Winning the Game of Fear is for Anyone!
Even if I could find one person without fear, I would recommend this programme. Our subliminal or hidden fears are silent killers and I wish that I had found this programme and implemented into my life much earlier than I did.
Not only that, but if you are lacking in self confidence or doubt yourself, WGOF helps with that as well. Each audio is loaded with powerful subliminal affirmations that really get to the heart of your fears and doubts. That sounds like a real sales pitch but that is coming from me who has tried it and have the confidence to tell about it.
Subconscious fears are the hardest fears to shift because you don’t even realise they are there. Winning the Game of Fear brings them to the surface so that you can take them out, have a look at them and then get rid of them for good.
Winning the Game of Fear – Bonus Resources
As a bit of added motivation, these are released as you complete each step. Well, it motivated me. These are excellent resources.
Protecting Your Brain from Fears, Worries and Traumas – Mark Waldman
Achieve Your Natural State of Happiness and Well Being – Dr. George Pratt
Winning the Game of Procrastination
Post-Traumatic Growth -Dr. Joan Rosenberg
Self-Sabotage: Tame the Critic in Your Frontal Lobe – Mark Waldman
Avoid Burnout & Beat Stress Addiction – Heidi Hanna
The New Science of Goal Achievement
3 Brain Boosting Innercise Audios
Winning the Game of Fear – Support
Apart from the excellent ticket system if you have any technical issues, Winning the Game of Fear has a private facebook page where you can share with the Community and Daily VIP Coaching and support.
Honestly, I went into this fully expecting it not to work for me. I am very happy to say that it did. If you are suffering from any fears that are stopping you from doing anything or just making your life a little less rosy, this programme is for you.
If you are still not convinced, go and have a look at the video that Owner John Assaraf has put together here.
Overview
Website: Winning the Game of Fear Price: $497 or three payments of $199 Owners: John Assaraf – NeuroGym Overall Rank: 95 out of 100
I have long thought that there was a connection between fear (any fear) and money. Or should I say, our ability to manifest money. This is one of the reasons why I invested in and completed Neurogym’s Winning the Game of Fear programme.
But other than completing the programme, I have never really delved into the connection between our fears and the ability to manifest money. But, I recently watched a masterclass called “Make Your Way To Millions” that was hosted by Vishen Lakhiani with his guest Rock Thomas.
It may be that I have been hiding under a rock (excuse the pun) but I had never heard of Rock Thomas before but as always, Mind Valley only ever hosts pretty exceptional people. And, this masterclass was no different.
One of the things that jumped out at me was one of Rock’s first comments, “Fear is the biggest obstacle to making your way to millions.”
When you really think about it, this all makes a lot of sense. One of the foundations of manifesting abundance is to not dwell in the past or fester on the ‘reality’ of what is not working in our lives. The focus should always be on the feeling of having already attained what it is that we want to manifest.
Doing More Of What We Love to Get More Of What We Want
For a long time now, I have been a firm believer that what we see in our 3-D world is not real. I’m not the pioneer of this type of thinking by any means but I do believe this at a soul level.
At any given time, we can CHOOSE our path. We can CHOOSE how we react to situations and we can CHOOSE what we want to create. But, it takes time and effort to be continually present. Observing our positive and negative thoughts in a non-judgemental way to change the patterns that we have picked up along the way or been taught.
What I have found is that when we do more of what we love, we get a whole lot more of what we want. This is where choice comes in.
To manifest the life of our dreams, we have to sustain 100% focus on what it is we want to achieve. How to go about doing that is an individual’s choice and it will be different for everyone but I firmly believe that the first step to changing your life is to do more of the things you enjoy and less of the mundane/unnecessary crap. Again, this often comes down to letting go of our fears and deeply rooted beliefs that keep us stuck in an ordinary life. The 9-5’s.
Fear that we will be judged if we do it differently to other people. Fear that we won’t have enough money to support our families because we are spending more time skipping than sitting in traffic jambs to get to our J.O.B. Or the fear of failure.
Open Minds Thrive
Fear and all of the associated negative impacts that come along with it, close our minds to new and greater possibilities. If I was a conspiracy theorist (which I am not), one would say that fear was created to control the masses. Keep them down. What I say is, fear is simply our flight or fight mechanism in modern day overdrive. We still need it (for life threatening situations) but it shouldn’t be our constant companion.
We are living in a new age. Not the new age of “War of the Worlds” but an ever expanding global consciousness that is manifesting new and MUCH better ways of thinking. But, and this is a big but – we have to be open to and embrace the new ideas/ways of thinking that are evolving daily.
Self development is not only important, it is necessary if we want to thrive and survive in this new reality.
This leads me to another one of my core beliefs.
Money is JUST Energy
Who didn’t love the movie Wall Street? Revelling in all of greed, corporate war strategies, fast pace and glamour. It was a fantastic story line but looking back, that movie really made money REAL. It made you feel envious of the lifestyle and hunger for that super rich lifestyle. Well, I certainly did.
My favourite TV shows growing up was Falcon Crest (yes, showing my age) and Hart to Hart because of all of the fabulous clothes they wore, the cars they drove and the opulent lifestyle they lead. Not any more.
Now that I don’t focus on the ‘real’ I find that I want less and less ‘stuff’. My focus now is on living the best life that I can live. Reminding myself daily that it’s the journey that counts not the getting.
In my view, money is JUST energy. Having this as a core understanding (not just at an academic level) is key to mastering the art of manifesting more of everything in our lives. We need to take our Gordon Gecko like focus off accumulating more bits of paper and focus on being happy. Everything else will come.
As Jon Butcher puts it:
TRUE FINANCIAL ABUNDANCE IS A STATE OF MIND
Jon Butcher from Lifebook Quest – Mindvalley
To finish off with a quote from Rock Thomas, “Don’t feed your doubts. Feed your beliefs.”
Like a lot of people, I find procrastination to be one of the biggest obstacles to building a website and online business. There are a number of strategies that can be implemented (and pretty quickly) if you are prone to it as well. If you exercise discipline, they kick procrastination to the curb and help you to stay focussed.
I got so off track one week that I have since had this picture of a woman trying to balance a pencil between her nose and lip in front of her computer with the caption:
“What are you doing? Are you on Track.”
It’s kind of silly but you would be surprised how much it has helped me!
The strange thing is, I am really good at staying focused when I am at my work but when it comes to actually sitting down and writing for my blog I can easily find any number of excuses to avoid actually getting on and just doing it. Even though I love to write!
… I need to spend time with my partner.
… I have to cook dinner.
… The dogs need to be fed.
… Aw but, my favourite show is on.
John and Missy Butcher’s Lifebook Quest through MindValley had some really good pointers on how to beat procrastination but the one that stuck with me the most was the “not do” list. I have probably misquoted this but you get the point.
The “Not Do” List
You’ve probably heard of the term ‘I-phone’ guilt. I-phone guilt is a now common issue facing parents and spouses alike. We spend far too much time on our phones and most of the time it just unnecessary surfing. Yeah. We feel guilty about it but we still do it. Add this as the first thing on your Not Do list and then keep adding to it. Here are a few more things you could add:
Checking emails 24/7 – Limit the times of the day that you check emails and let your boss and colleagues know when you will respond with an out of office or some other tool.
Blah, blah, blah – Try not to spend too much time having rambling conversations that drain you and leave you feeling unmotivated. It’s pretty unproductive as well.
Sleeping with the Enemy – Stop taking your phone to bed. Apart from the likely EMT’s that you are subjecting yourself to, try to overcome any separation anxiety and leave your phone at home sometimes.
Answering calls from unknown numbers – I never do this but I know a lot of people that do. Unknown numbers are generally spammers or scammers and a huge waste of your precious time.
Attendance at meetings that have no agenda or end times – Just don’t do it to yourself. If your boss is the one asking for your attendance, perhaps write the agenda yourself and share with other meeting attendees.
Utterly Exhausted!
The Not Do list can be as long or as short as you want it but in my view, the longer it is – the more productive you will be.
Plan, Plan and Then Plan Some More
I’ve been really resistant to getting a plan but the more I do/read/study, the more I realise that the saying: “Fail to Plan, then Plan to Fail” is true. Yes, sad but true.
There are heaps of really good templates for putting a plan in place so I won’t bother providing a link because different ones will appeal to different people. Try to start with a simple plan and then build on it. Some things to consider for your plan:
Your purpose for doing this in the first place
Set an intention for what you want to achieve
Goals and milestones
Important/critical tasks
Little wins – things you can do quickly and tick off your list
Task timeframes
Dates to review progress
Rewards for tasks achieved – maybe a new pair of shoes?
Daily action lists
Prioritise
Daily action lists are a really good tool to help you to prioritise but a little more thinking also needs to go into what your priorities for any given day are.
“Instead of saying ‘I don’t have time’ try saying ‘it’s not a priority,’ and see how that feels”
Anonymous
This probably should be a heading of it’s own because it’s incredibly important to know what parts of the day you are at your most productive. There isn’t much point in prioritising key tasks if you are planning on ‘fitting’ them in when you are exhausted.
On that note, try not to prioritise emails or voicemails first thing in the morning or last thing at night either. Emailing last thing at night eats into your sleep. In fact, Dr Michael J. Breus (The Sleep Doctor) notes that the bluelight behind smart phones will stimulate the brain and reduces your chances of a good sleep.
Finally, on prioritising. We all have incredibly busy lives these days. If all else fails, make you a priority, be feral with your time and put a “Do not disturb” sign on your door and the world out so that you have the head space to do what you need to do.
Before you even think about starting your Affiliate Marketing journey, it pays to stop and have a think about what is important to you. There are so many courses, articles, ads and experts online that sometimes it is difficult to know where to start. Knowing what you truly want to get out affiliate marketing or your online business should be at the forefront of your thinking.
Once you figure out what it is you want, choosing an affiliate marketing training course gets a whole lot easier. The spectrum of things that you get gain from affiliate marketing or any other online business is huge. For example, do you want to use affiliate marketing as a means to monetising your website or do you want to learn it to get a better job?
It doesn’t matter what it is that ‘floats your boat’ but the attributes of the online course needs to reflect what you ultimately want to achieve.
When you are starting out, Affiliate Marketing platforms will try to differentiate themselves with some key attributes.
Reputation
Accreditation
Expertise
Technology
Convenience
Fits Your Learning Style and Skill Level
What’s In A Reputation
“Our reputation is more important than the last 100 Million dollars.“
Rupert Murdoch
There is a great deal of chatter about how important a reputation is but when you are picking an Affiliate Marketing course or platform, reputation does rank pretty highly.
Doing research is good in terms of finding the top ranked Affiliate Marketing Programmes but Google isn’t everything. It pays to go a bit deeper before taking the plunge.
Testimonials are always good when trying to decide on the best programme but these are also not the be all and end all. The cynical person in me will say that testimonials can be faked so it’s good to read them but go deeper still. Testimonials backed up by a free trial are an excellent option because you get to ‘try before you buy.’
Looking at the stats is always helpful. As an example, Wealthy Affiliate has been around for a long time, is international, has a huge community, expert coaches and has proven to build many thousands of business for people looking to build their online presence.
Read as many of the online reviews you can find or until you are satisfied that what you’re buying isn’t a scam. There are so many Affiliate Marketing platforms out there that will promise ‘Get Rich Quick’ schemes. If you plan to develop an Affiliate Marketing business, you need to be prepared to be in it for the long haul so pick a platform that can support you and provide all of your technical and learning resources.
Status Isn’t Everything
Accreditation is something that is important in any industry if you want the real deal but in Affiliate Marketing I don’t believe that it’s essential. Between online reviews, testimonials, articles and an opportunity to try the school before fully committing – everything is covered.
You either like it or you don’t. Plus, you can opt out any time you like if the affiliate marketing programme isn’t working for you.
Joining an affiliate marketing programme isn’t like employing the services of an Accountant or a Financial Advisor. It’s not like you are going to lose it all or invest in a ‘risky’ investment. Investing in a long term affiliate programme comes down to you and how much time you’re prepared to put into it.
But, having said all of this everyone’s needs are different. If you need a formal certificate that is recognised in your chosen industry then accreditation is probably the way to go.
What is Your Skill Level?
Like with anything, technology is advancing at a great rate of knots. It’s very difficult to keep up with it all and stay in front of the competition in your Niche. Your skills need to constantly develop to keep ‘modern’.
It doesn’t matter what your skill level is. There is always more to learn. You should pick an Affiliate Marketing learning platform that can support the development of your business on an on-going basis.
One of the key things is making sure that the affiliate marketing learning platform can fit in with your learning style. I firmly believe that a person can always learn something new but mostly providing that their particular learning style is catered for.
Belonging to or being part of an affiliate marketing community that that is supportive and there when you need them can’t be underestimated either. Mentors and battlers alike always have something to teach us.
Technology – Boring (for me) but Necessary
Don’t get me wrong. Technology is important. But for me personally, I want the most advanced affiliate marketing platform but with ease of use. Just like I don’t know how my car works – I don’t need to know all of the behind the scenes stuff that makes up my website operational. I just want to get on and drive it.
Going back to thinking about skill level, even if you are one of the most advanced coders around – ease of use of any affiliate marketing learning platform is surely a must. Wealthy Affiliate makes developing a website quick and easy. Perfect for the impatient beings on the planet that want (and need) instant gratification.
“Instant gratification takes too long.”
Carrie Fisher
www.azquotes.com
If you have ever lost an entire website (which I have), it’s really good to know that the technology that sits behind your website is reliable and provides the security for your site. That means back ups as well as any potential hacks.
I can’t over state this as there is a huge amount of cyber crime out there for one – which can often result in malicious dealings not to mention the threat to your reputation if someone takes over your site and misrepresents you.
Convenience is KEY!
It is highly unlikely that any one starting out with an online business comes into it without any responsibilities. Most of us have jobs, kids and bills to pay but even if you only have bills to pay – any affiliate marketing learning platform has to be convenient. This work generally has to fit around our lives. At least in the beginning.
This is the beauty of having an online business. The dream of getting free. Getting unstuck. Having unlimited passive income and working the hours you want. One of the things that I have learnt and choose to live by is that there is absolutely no point in exchanging one ‘job’ for another. Affiliate marketing or online business has to work for you and stay fun – otherwise, what is the point?
I know I bang on about Wealthy Affiliate but I can say from personal experience that there is always someone on the planet ready and able to help when I get stuck, cutting edge technology that is virtually push button for websites (remember my short attention span), thousands of templates, tutorials and more to show you how to get it done and genius SEO tools.
Kyle and Carson have the personal touch when it comes to your/my success and I really like that. Access to experts is untapped as far as I can see and all of the experts at Wealthy Affiliate have the years of experience and success rates to prove what they are.
Finally, Wealthy Affiliate never sleeps. It is always there when you need it or feel like getting a bit creative.
Affiliate Marketing is Fun!
The WordPress community
Learn How To Build Your Affiliate Marketing Business with Wealthy Affiliate!
One of the main reasons most of us get stuck is because we are not following our passion. The problem is that most of us struggle with what that actually is. We are taught from a young age that the only way to get by is to get a good job, buy a house, pay your bills on time, get a good credit rating so you can buy more of what you don’t need. All so you can stay in debt, sit in traffic 5 days a week, watch 8-12 hours of your life get eaten up by a job you more than likely don’t enjoy and take shit from your boss because you need the money.
Of course, that is worse case scenario. There are huge deviations of that type of life but the results are the same. A life less lived.
Millennials have it right. Well most of them. Those that refuse to live that “dream” and create their own way of living that really kicks the 9-5 life to the curb. We who live the 9-5 life can learn a lot from following our passions and having a blurred line between ‘work’ and play. Like the old saying goes, you will never work a day in your life if you do what you love.
As Maya Anjalou writes:
Maya Angelou
“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”
But how do you find it?
1. Get Intimate with Your Core Values
According to Natalie Ledwell (Founder of Mind Movies and Bestselling Author), one of the keys to finding your purpose or passion is to introspectively look at your core values. Research support this by reinforcing the fact that if you aren’t living the life you are passionate about you can become unhappy, unmotivated and procrastinate more.
There is even a recent product that has some pretty big endorsements from the Rich and Famous called “The Passion Test”. I haven’t tried it yet but if the endorsements are anything to go by, it’s pretty robust.
2. Lessons From Your Own Personal History and Present
Social conditioning has a massive impact on all of us without even realising it. Parents, Friends, TV, Radio, PodCasts, YouTube, Netflix. Whatever your personal medium or influence is, it is important to realise that external influences can have a negative subliminal impact upon your decision making and I’m sorry to say “dumming down” of your life.
Meditate on what messages you have taken on board as gospel. Especially when you were younger. Things like:
You’re not good enough
You won’t be able to make it
You aren’t educated enough
You don’t have the skills
These ‘blocks’ need to be recognised, brought up into the light and let go.
3. What Did You Love Doing As A Kid?
Do a deep dive and ask yourself some questions:
What makes you happy?
What peaks your interest?
What did you love to do as a kid just for the fun of it?
What is your intuition guiding you to do?
What makes you angry? Flip it around to see how you can turn it into a passion.
These are not the only questions you should ask yourself but often these deep dive questions reveal a lot about what we love and are passionate about. The next step is just figuring out how you can make money doing it. That is probably the easy part.
4. Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
What have you always wanted to do? That nagging feeling that keeps coming back time and again to encourage you to give it another go? That thing you would do if you didn’t have bills or other constraints. Something that you have always wanted to do but have been afraid to try?
For me, it was writing full time for a living. And to be honest, there was a big part of me that really didn’t want to start writing because of the fear of failure and the judgement of others that read anything I write. Particularly given what I plan to write about is still very contentious and open to evil trolls! So, I got out of my comfort zone. I knew that my fears were a block to manifesting and to doing what I truly love.
After 40 days of doing Winning the Game of Fear, I can now honestly say that I just don’t care. Read it. Don’t read it. I’m writing! Like it. Don’t like it. I’m writing! Call me names. I’m writing!
Anyway, my point is. Do things you haven’t done before, like:
Surfing the internet for things that interest you. Pinterest is quite a good place to start because there is so much ‘Stuff”. Be careful not to fall down the rabbit hole though. It’s very easy to do and won’t be supportive of you finding your passions. Try ten minutes a day.
Print up your interests for your Vision Board. Put this in a prominent place and see what comes up for you.
Meditate. I’m the first to admit that I find meditating difficult because to put it politely, I have a ‘busy mind’. But, after 49 days of practice I can tell you it helps you to zero in on what matters to you and helps prioritise.
Mindfulness. I love this practice. I’m still not that good at it but it makes you feel awesome after a session. It only needs to be for ten minutes or so a day but it is worth it. If you are really struggling with your passion, then ask the question and then breathe. You will be surprised at what comes up. Don’t judge yourself. Just watch your thoughts.
Brain re-training. Winning the Game of Fear is a good start but so is MindMovies because your subliminal re-training may be for something else or more general.
Finding your passion really is the (in my view) the foundation for manifesting what you want in this life. However, none of it is going to be worth the effort if you don’t take guided action. Do one small thing a day towards finding your passion and then find a way to make money doing it.
8 things you need to know to get started as an affiliate marketer.
Starting an Affiliate Marketing business has probably never been easier than it is today because of all of the tools that are online and the successful online marketers that have made a business out of teaching others how to do the same. Now there is a known system that just needs to be learnt and applied.
But, it does still take time and effort. Before starting, these
1. Check Yourself!
Before starting your Affiliate Marketing journey, check in with yourself. Make sure you know what it is you really want to achieve. To be successful in any business you need to know your WHY. Ask yourself these questions:
What motivates you to get up in the morning?
What are you passionate about?
What can you contribute to the world through your Affiliate Marketing products? Providing value.
What do you want to achieve?
Do you have the commitment?
Are you prepared to learn new things?
Will you take inspired action?
Write it all down. You will need to refer back to these answers when you hit a road block. Sometimes maintaining a positive, powerful, can do mindset is really difficult. But, it is probably the singular most important thing when starting and building an online business.
2. Know Your Products
Not knowing your product is a huge mistake. You have to know what you are selling. If you don’t, why would anyone buy from you?
Personally, i would never endorse or even think of selling an affiliate product without trying it first. This is (in my view) the ethical way to go. Also, it will give you the personal touch and gives you authority when promoting the product. It will help your customers get to know you a bit better and trust that what you say is true.
You have to make sure you are in a position to answer any questions that your clients have about the product. Not experiencing it for yourself is the road to exposure. You wouldn’t run out the door without your clothes (well some may), so don’t sell a product before you have experienced it.
3. Know What It Takes To Sell It
Fully researching and knowing your niche is priceless! You need to know what problems your customers need solved in order to provide value to them. Know all of your products features and benefits. It’s all about them. Service, service, service.
The more you know about your product, the more you will sell.
Some fundamental things to know about your niche are:
Age, Income, Education, Family Status, Relationship Status (if you’re selling a dating or relationship type products), Hair Colour, Eye Colour, Geographical location, Likes, Dislikes. You get the point. The list is endless but try to know as much about your customer as you can before trying to sell something to them.
What MOTIVATES them? Why should they buy from you?
5. Get Noticed
Most of us are taught to dim our lights. Don’t stand out. Don’t get noticed. Don’t cause a fuss.
That’s not okay when you are on the affiliate marketing path. You need your business to stand out. You need to get noticed. Be unique. That doesn’t require re-inventing a new product or niche, it just means that you need to differentiate yourself from your competition somehow.
Tell your customers why it’s better to buy from you.
You are:
Faster
Smarter
Cheaper
A better problem solver
More Understanding
More Trustworthy
Whatever it is, make sure you scream it from the rooftops. Blog comments, Twitter, Facebook, your own blog, Stumbleupon and paid ads. The main aim is to get traffic.
6. Be Believable – Tell Your Customers About Yourself
In email marketing, telling stories about yourself is one of the most successful strategies to earn the trust of your customers. Involve your customers in your life so that they get to know you and trust what you have to say. Writing soul-less content is probably the best way to fail at affiliate marketing. Make it personal and stand out from the crowd.
7. Resources, Resources, Resources
Have a Plan
I am working through John Assaraf’s Having It All Programme and one of the points he makes is that one hour of planning will save you 8 hours of waffling. John says it much more eloquently but you get the message. There are some excellent templates online around that can help you stay on track daily, weekly and monthly,
Make a plan
Once a week, take some time to plan your actions for that week and then review your actions and plan monthly. It’s a great opportunity to pat yourself on the back for everything that you have achieved or a kick in the pants to do more.
Use All of the Tools At Your Disposal
Know your strengths and Weaknesses. Outsource the tasks that you don’t feel confident doing or are low profit. Delegate where you can and maximise your strengths, your uniqueness.
8. Take Action
Job done. Learn something. Join a community of Learning like Wealthy Affiliate. Get all the support you need and learn how to launch your business and fast tract to financial and personal freedom.
If you have ever done a search of how to make money online, you will know that there is so much crap out there. Promising the earth but never really giving you the actual tools to get there. The step by step guide to helping you actually have a functional, successful and profitable online business. I know this because I have done it. Any sales page that tells you that they have the 5 secret ingredients (or whatever the ‘killer’ headline is) to get you online and making millions in seconds is lying. There’s no sugar coating that. Making money online takes work, dedication and commitment!
I have made so many mistakes in this making money online business that I thought it would be good to share a few of them here:
1. Free ‘Stuff’
Tip 1 – As I have already kind of highlighted, you are never going to get the secret sauce from Free PDF’s, webinars, online courses or any other type of download. This even includes Wealthy Affiliate. I belonged to Wealthy Affiliate for years before it worked for me. But, that was not because of the platform. It was simply down to overwhelm. But, this was down to me – not the platform. I lacked focus.
Make sure you see these as a lure to a clever sales page or another product that is likely to just distract you from your mission of developing a successful online business. My hard drive is full of them and most of the documents I have downloaded, I have never looked at. Or, I have and they have taken my mind off the game, made me feel overwhelmed and led to paralysis analysis. Sometimes these webinars etc yield some very helpful information but my advice is just be choosy. These are often time consuming and can certainly overwhelm.
Don’t get caught up in this.
I now try to stick to the 20, 20, 20 rule for my morning. That is:
20 minutes for personal development
20 minutes for online learning – through a structured programme will all the moving parts
20 minutes exercise
Any other time that you have (I you work all full time like me) then use it to develop your online business.
Watch out for FREE!
Tip 2 – When you are starting out on your research, be strong! Don’t buy anything. Only join free sites (that will help you in the long run) and press the ‘x’ at the right of the screen when you temporarily get sucked into a sales funnel/sales page.
Tip 3 – If you do feel the need to sign up to anything in the early stages, have multiple email addresses so that you don’t get overwhelmed on your main email. Check secondary email accounts once a week and clear out the sales junk. Then get back to your main purpose.
2. Think Service. Not: When’s payday
Everyone who first starts out in this business is indoctrinated to believe that an online business is all about the profit. It isn’t. I totally brought into that mindset that if you do this & that, profits will just flow in. I have to admit to feeling a bit stupid now but there are some very clever marketers out there that could convince Britney Spears that she was really Donald Trump!
Years of personal development have taught me that it is not all about the money. My sole focus now is to help as many people as possible first and understand that making money online is all about enjoying the journey rather than racing to payday.
3. Making Money Online Needs a Plan
No one goes into a bricks and mortar business without a plan and an work from home business should be no different. Going into a making money online venture without a plan will find you signing up to all those newsletter, PDF’s, webinars and online courses I have already talked about.
Start with your overall goal and map out the steps to get there. Small, measureable steps that you can put a line through on your ‘To Do’ list. A plan should be tailored to you but could go something like this:
If you have the funds, find an online course that will take you through the process to set up an online business from start up to profit. Commit to that.
Set a research deadline for your niche and only deviate when you find out (if you do) that the niche isn’t viable.
Find your niche. Don’t spend forever on this but make sure that it is a niche that is going to be profitable in the long run and one that you actually like.
Get a blog.
Build content.
Research traffic ideas/methods
4. Take inspired action. Daily.
If you are working full time, it is very easy to lose motivation but take it from me. If you even do just a little bit each day, you will see your dream of a profitable online business getting closer and that is exciting. It motivates you to do a little bit more then next day and so on.
I have an actual pad that sits on my desk. For me, I find it easier to have sitting there so that I can write points in it as I think of them and it is very rewarding to tick things off that. It doesn’t feel the same on my smart phone. I spend enough time looking at screens as it is.
There isn’t much more that I can say on this one. If you don’t know your passion, dig it up. There are plenty of tools online to guide you to find your passion but for me, I think this is one of the most important things (next to service) that needs focus. Ultimately, I believe it is more difficult to be successful at making money online if you just pursue say the high paying affiliate products just because they are high paying.
Follow your passion
In my view, you will just end up replacing a J.O.B for a J.O.B at home. Sweating the long hours simply to be the heavy handed marketer that is just in it for the profit.
