Stuffing envelopes, answering e-mails, putting Google ads on websites, completing surveys are just a few of the "Money Making Opportunities" I looked into when I searched for the income I needed to be fully retired. Something I could do from home.
I figured that I worked for over 50 years for someone, somewhere, and My dues were paid in full. But a problem existed-how can you tell a Real opportunity from a rip-off? Once I clicked on those little ads that populate website after website, my daily influx of emails increased by about 900%!
If my checking account was flush, I would have bought into some of that stuff. But it wasn't so that fact was a blessing. In all I spent a little over $100, but in a sense, I did get some value out of it from the experience I gained. As for what I did buy-it was crap. I began to think, look Don, you are just a high school graduate with not quite one semester of college. Try Walmart-they need greeters. That's honest work. And of course you have the fast food industry.
For the past 10 years I earned a good living writing complex technical manuals for a manufacturing company. The commute was 42 miles round-trip each day. What with gasoline prices being what they are-it may be more economical just to stay home. Yes-stay home and run my own business.
I'm not very talented in lot's of respects, and I know nothing about running a business. The awakening came like a bolt out of the heavens-affiliate marketing-touted one entrepreneur, Now, how does that work? Well, basically you sign up with a retailer and then sell their products. But I don't have a storefront, I don't have a website, and door-to-door? Perish the thought.
Affiliate marketing does have a simple side. Although many alternatives exist, I'm only going to tell you what I am doing-just to keep it simple. So I fired up my laptop and went to ClickBank. CB is one of the world's largest retailers of electronic products- electronic books and software. I signed inas an affiliate, filled out some online forms, and then explored CB's "Marketplace."
CB has a nearly limitless inventory of "How-To" e-books on just about any subject: Home improvement to healthcare, pet training to worm farming, gardening to rocket science (well, not really), and so forth. I decided to sign on as an affiliate on two subjects: digital photography and weddings. Why? Because I used to be a wedding photographer! I have since added a number of other affiliate relationships including treating high blood pressure, which I have, removing spyware and malware from computers, topics I deal with daily, divorce-been there, done that and affiliate marketing, which is what I do and want to help others to do too.
ClickBank gives me a "hoplink," which I include in the articles I write (like this one) that I post on FREE article directories. If you click on the link in this article it will take you to CB where you can place your order if you like the deal that is offered. Using the code in the hoplink, CB pays me a commission. I never handle or ship a product or deal with the purchaser. One of CB's conditions for posting their products is that the vendor must offer a 60-day, full refund if the purchaser is dissatisfied for any reason.
Well I had some problems with this article-writing bit. I write "technical articles" so I knew little about affiliate marketing, writing good quality articles and knowing where to post them. So I made one more on-line purchase-an ebook that taught me the basics of how to write and get my articles posted. It cost me about what I pay for a tank of gasoline for my compact car. My only other expense is the electricity to run my computer!
Success is measured step-by-step. As my articles improve and they draw more people searching for answers, my income improves. Some article sites share the revenue with the authors that they collect from those little ads appearing on the article page. So I earn income even if no one buys my affiliate products.
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