If you’re starting off in affiliate marketing, or even have been there for a while and may not be getting the results you expected, that question probably sent a chill down your spine.
Chill or no chill, it’s a question that you must ask yourself about any ventures you get into and life in general…
Do I have what it takes?
The fact is that you have what it takes to do whatever you put your mind into. So what is stopping you? What is it that makes you get a great idea and leave it before you’ve hardly warmed it? What makes you invest $10,000 in a new venture and then a few months later let it all go down the drain? What makes you get a great life partner, and at the slightest sign of a hitch, you’re ready to chuck it all in?
In life today, instant gratification is the norm – you expect results instantly; otherwise you are wasting time.
As an affiliate marketer, you may set up a great business and promote great products; but if in 2 or 3 months you earn no money, instead of trying to understand why there is no money, you let go of probably what is a great business that’s experiencing a short slump.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, let go of the instant gratification mentality. If something is going to get you phenomenal results, you’re probably going to need phenomenal patience.
And patience needs time.
If you choose wisely what product to promote and are properly set up in doing something little every day to increase traffic and build a list, then give it time. They say that the secret to patience is doing something else as you wait. Get on to something else, and it may as well be learning more about your business.
There’s proof of this in the internet business. Look at the dot com bubble. Unrealistic pegging of values on stock of virtual businesses proved itself to be nothing but a way to lose your money overnight.
Who rode out the storm? They are the companies that had been there, who had put in time and value. So that when their stocks were valued, they were realistic and could be converted into cash.
So what can you do as an affiliate marketer to give yourself the spine to ride the rough waves when they come? Here are some tips:
1) Study the big shots in your business.
Who has made it big in affiliate marketing and how did they go about doing it? What are their main principles in business? What do they do when the tough times come?
Associating with like minded people usually means that you start to think like them. Learn how the successes made it and fashion your business along their advice.
2) Learn to wait things out.
Tomorrow cannot come before today – but you have today. Do the best that you can with today. Go back and study trends. Perhaps you are already in a cycle and you will soon be riding the crest.
3) Knowledge and information are everything.
Arm yourself. Half the battle is in knowing where to attack; and to know, you have to study the terrain. Don’t go out there without a battle plan.
The only way to get one is to read, talk to others in the same market, and know as much as you can about affiliate marketing. Expand your network, experience and knowhow to get an edge in your field.
You’ll find that in many circumstances that may seem difficult, you will be able to get a plan that will help you out somehow.
3) Get rid of the instant gratification mentality, and do it now.
Making money, keeping it, investing it and making it last are all skills; and they take time to learn.
That’s why there are scientific records that show that 99% of lotto winners lose it all in a few years, if not months. The steps along the way are important for you to go through and experience. They teach you that having and keeping money is more than a million dollars in the bank; it’s a skill.
4) Learn to listen.
It’s probably the greatest thing you’ll do for your business. In the olden days, experts took on apprentices. They were young boys, and it was for a reason. A young boy, faced with an old man who is an expert at something, will be very likely to listen and learn. The young boys eventually ended up learning as well as the master and becoming as great as the master himself.
The value of listening in today’s info-packed world has been diminished. Do you ever wonder why some people who attend a seminar on increasing sales might reap no results while other attendees multiply their earnings? That’s because the people who improved their bottom line listened and actually applied the methods.
Listening is more than an open ear. It’s opening your mind and heart to information and absorbing it, then applying it in your life. In your quest to become a better affiliate marketer, listen more than you talk. You will learn a great deal.
There is more to be said for becoming a great affiliate marketer than this, but treat it as a guide. Don’t read it and then tuck it away somewhere – the best things are those that you implement immediately, because you otherwise lose momentum. Momentum lost is opportunity lost.
Below is a great short 13:31 minutes video explanation of what affiliate marketing is about – basically helping people by matching a solution to their problem. Enjoy this training on the 3 steps to starting now using Amazon or Clickbank.
To your success,
Keith Choy