Is Affiliate Marketing a Real Business
Some say it is and some say it isn’t, but what do you think? Is Affiliate Marketing a real business?
Wait! Hold on to your horses for a moment before you give me your answer because I’m about to expose a few naked truths about Affiliate Marketing, that may just help to change your outlook on the money-making opportunity.
What Is The Definition Of a Business?
A business represents an individual’s occupation, a profession or even a trade.
More in-depth, a business is an organization where goods and services are exchanged for money. In order for a business to thrive, it requires an investment of money, time and hard work, and a sufficient number of customers on a regular basis to generate a profit from.
But what has any of this got to do with Affiliate Marketing?
You will find out very soon, my friend!
Why Some People Say Affiliate Marketing Is NOT a Real Business
There are some “Gurus” and other successful online or offline business owners who will state various different reasons as to why Affiliate Marketing isn’t a business model.
Here are 3 reasons I have discovered online from Jeremy “ShoeMoney” Schoemaker (a successful online Entrepreneur), who says as an Affiliate:
- You invest all of your time hoping to make money online for other companies
- You invest your own money into testing a variety of products or services, hoping for a good return on investment
- You do all the dirty work for the companies, and you’re taking all of the risks to build up their businesses
This may be true for the 99% of Affiliate Marketers who lack the proper online business building knowledge, skills, tools, and who earn very little money, but Jeremy’s statements are not entirely accurate for the 1% of Affiliates who approach the game differently and succeed on the internet!
Here’s Why I Disagree With “Mr. ShoeMoney’s” 3 Statements
What the heck are you talking about, Jeremy?!
I guess we aren’t always on the same page when it comes to other people’s opinions, no matter how factual they may sometimes appear to be.
We are all entitled to our own opinions at the end of the day, so here are my own insights into Affiliate Marketing and why I think Jeremy’s statements are not 100% true!
Firstly, I want to say something! I do not believe in the word “HOPE” because it will never get you anywhere online. You need “SELF-BELIEF” and “FAITH” if you’re going to make online success happen!
1: You do not need to spend 24 hours a day or even most of your time “hoping” to make money online.
By learning how to earn money on the internet with the right training program, with the right tools and with the right kind of support from a community of other successful people,
you can invest as little or as much time as you like each day in to building a successful online biz.
The Compound Effect book by Darren Hardy, helps you to recognize how executing small corrections and behaviors every day will lead to enormous achievement over a period of time.
There are even some Affiliate Programs that will pay you “Residual Income” as a reward for your time and effort, and this type of income is most definitely a game-changer!
As your passive income builds month-in-month-out and reaches a comfortable level for you, you become “non-essential” to your Affiliate Marketing business, which means you would have the option to invest only a few hours a week into your biz!
2: You really don’t need to spend any of your money on products because there are various ways you can try them for Free when writing product reviews on your Affiliate website:
- You can claim refunds
- There are cooling-off periods and trials
- 30, 60 and 90 day “money back guarantees” are sometimes offered
- Information resources such as books can often be found on the internet in PDF formats, and even borrowed from other people
- You can request the products as gifts for Christmas and birthdays, etc.
- Declare the products as “business expenses” with the tax man
When it also comes to Affiliate Marketing training platforms, online tools, and services to build your online biz, you can sign-up for Free accounts.
I highly recommend the Wealthy Affiliate Community, the Jaaxy keyword tool, and the SiteRubix WordPress website builder as Awesome starting points!
3: I think Jeremy is puzzling Affiliate Marketing with your “JOB!”
“Dirty Work” is exactly what you do for your boss, making your employer richer by the day! The risks associated with jobs are financial struggles, lack of job security, poor pension plans and bad health problems. Do you enjoy living life this way, caught up in the “Rat Race?”
When you learn how to successfully make money as an Affiliate Marketer, you decide your own income level, and begin to take charge of your own life as you work towards financial freedom.
Not too shabby, hey? I personally recommend you read Risky Is The New Safe by Randy Gage, to put things in to real perspective for you!
As Jim Rohn once said: “Profits Are Better Than Wages!”
Even Affiliates Attack Affiliate Marketing!
Yep, there are Affiliate Marketer bloggers who promote Google Ads and products on behalf of Amazon, ShareASale Commission Junction, and a load more programs, and yet still have the nerve to publish negative articles on why it’s not a great business model! “Hypocrites” (cough, cough) is the word I’m looking for! We should “Never Bite The Hand That Feeds Us.” Don’t you agree?
Or perhaps those people just suck at making money online, and so blame Affiliate Marketing for their failures intead of putting the blame on themselves?! Visit Gramhir to find out more information
Just Sayin’!
I also discovered a blog post by an Affiliate, that was jam-packed with a whole bunch of myths, and here’s a few of them, for example:
- Affiliates have no control over the small commissions they earn
- There’s far too much competition on the internet
- It’s hard to build a full-time scalable income
This is complete babble! …
Is Affiliate Marketing a REAL Business?
Let’s sum up what Affiliate Marketing really resembles:
- It’s a profession created from your passions. (Network Marketing falls under the same category too)
- It’s an organization that enables you to recommend products and services to people
- It requires small investments of your money (for training and tools), and your time + hard work is also essential
- It’s a way to turn your Free website visitors into paying customers for big profits
- It’s a vehicle used to create financial freedom for you and your family
