About Mike & His Affiliate Marketing Success Story
Hi everyone. What’s up? My name is Mike. Welcome to the page of my site where I get to brag and tell you how awesome I am!
In all seriousness, I’ve never become fully comfortable talking or writing about myself. It just feels weird and often times it feels like I’m bragging and just being narcissistic. When I talk about the success I’ve had in affiliate marketing, I also get nasty flashbacks of days past. You see, I have an embarrassing confession to make…
I used to get suckered into get-rich-quick garbage. You know the ones I’m talking about. The “guru’s” that stand in front of their Lamborgini’s holding 6 figure checks, promising they will tell you their “secret” or “system” that of course, anyone can do with very little effort? Yeah, those guys. I’m sad to say, I got suckered into more than a couple of those.
There, now you know. Don’t judge me!!!
*deep breaths*
Even as an already successful full-time affiliate marketer, I still got suckered in. Most of them are selling snake oil (send me $5 and I’ll show you how to be rich!), but that doesn’t mean they are bad marketers. Many of them are fantastic marketers. They show you legitimate and real 6-figure checks, show you their fancy cars, show themselves hanging out with celebrities, etc.
Well, I’m not that guy, nor do I want to pretend to be that guy. Yes, I’ve had great success with affiliate marketing, but I’m just a regular dude. Quite frankly, I don’t need an exotic car to be happy. The boring used Chevy I bought serves me just fine.
Ultimately, I did create this site you’re on to make money, but on this page, I’m not going to sell you anything. This is just my honest affiliate marketing success story. No bling, no secret systems, and no bullshit. I’m not telling you my affiliate marketing success story to sell anything, this is just to show you that it really is possible for anyone to make money online with affiliate marketing.
Even though it makes me a bit uncomfortable to tell my tale, I get a lot of feedback from others that they like my story and it provided them with motivation. So, here it goes…
When I Was A Kid, I Was A Little Slow
Yeah, so, I wasn’t a bright kid. I really wasn’t. I learned to walk late, talk late, crawl late… heck I was even born a couple weeks late! By the time I made it to Kindergarten, everyone kind of knew there was something a little, shall we say, “off” about me.
In first grade, I was so far behind my peers that I was forced to repeat the grade. It was devastating for me and blew away any self-confidence a 7-year-old kid can have. I still remember showing up to school the following year. All my former classmates, now in second grade, were asking me why I was still in first grade. I also remember overhearing kids talking about me. It was just awful.
That was just the start of my struggles in school. Due to my low self-esteem, my social skills weren’t much better. School for me was a very lonely and difficult time.
I somehow squeezed by high school, and even more amazing I BARELY graduated college! Check out my actual college transcript below. Look at that beautiful 2.2 GPA!
So, why am I sharing these embarrassing things about myself? Because I’m human. I have strengths and weaknesses like everyone else. There is nothing “special” about me. It is very likely that I am NOT smarter than you. The biggest thing going for me is that I can write pretty decently, but by most educational measures, I was always in the half of the class that made the top half possible (you’re welcome!).
Boy Meets World!
It was a struggle, but I did it! I went through all those years of school, and not only did I get a high school diploma, I even managed to squeak out a college degree! Wooooooo!!
I did what any reasonable person would do at this point. I got a fancy office job and immediately added to my student loan debt by buying a $30,000 sports car with no money down.
My fancy office job turned out to be a glorified telemarketer position. Two miserable years later, I got laid off in the midst of the worst economic recession since the great depression with more than $50k in debt between my student loans and the new car, along with some additional credit card debt I racked up. Fun.
To top it all off, I realized very quickly that working in an office building was going to slowly kill me via mental torture. I was a depressed and broke recent college grad with 10’s of thousands of dollars in debt and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. This was not a fun time for me.
Finally Doing Something I Loved And Was Good At
After much consideration, I decided to do something drastic. In a time when I was financially dead broke, I decided to become an over the road truck driver. So much for that fancy college degree, right?!
I ended up using my unemployment benefits to pay for my truck driving school. Unfortunately, the company I was laid off from challenged my employment benefits and won. They already paid out $2,000 in benefits and I was ordered to pay it all back. More debt. Fun!
As crazy as this decision was though, it was the best thing I ever did for myself. Truck driving is no joke. It’s a very tough job, but I really enjoyed it. I always wondered what it would be like to drive a big truck around the United States and Canada, two beautiful countries. For the next 2 years, I simply lived out of my truck and was basically on the road all the time. I went EVERYWHERE and it was amazing. Here’s a picture of my truck. Sometimes I really do still miss it.
The Start Of My Own Affiliate Marketing Business
When I first started truck driving, I began blogging for a site called TruckingTruth. I didn’t do this for money, I just did it because I wanted to help others who were considering becoming a truck driver.
After blogging on TruckingTruth for a while, documenting my experience as a truck driver, and learning the ropes, I decided, heck, why not create my own website and see how it goes!
For the next 6 months, I spent every free second I had writing content for my own site. If I was waiting for a new load assignment, I was writing. If my truck was being loaded or unloaded with freight, I was writing. When I stopped driving after a long 11 hour day, I wrote an article or two.
I also created a YouTube channel documenting my trucking career.
Then, it finally happened. One day, I earned a $7 commission. I was totally floored! It took me 6 months to make that first $7, but it proved to me that it really is possible to make money online. All I had to do was keep going, and keep going I did!
Quitting My Truck Driving Job And Becoming A Full-Time Affiliate Marketer
Just 11 months after starting my site, and just 5 months after earning my first commission, I was earning about $2k per month online. Things were really snowballing at this point. I decided to take yet another chance in life. I quit my full-time job as a truck driver and got a part-time freelancing job to help supplement my own affiliate marketing income until I could grow it further.
I then began to expand by building up even more sites. First, I took earnings from my first site and purchased a site called SharkSider.com. Then I created DogFoodInsider.com, CatFoodInsider.com, DogHealthInsider.com, DogObedienceInsider.com, along with several other smaller “micro-niche” sites.
After about 14 months of working as a part-time freelancer, I finally quit doing that as well and was able to focus on my own business full-time. I was also nearly debt-free at this point. A dream come true, all because of affiliate marketing!
Getting Back On The Road!
A huge reason I wanted to succeed at affiliate marketing is due to the freedom it provides. As I was initially growing my business back when I was still driving a truck, I used to look at the RV’s driving down the road in envy. That’s what I wanted. Total freedom. I would be able to go where I want, when I want, stay as long as I want, and really travel in style. That was my ultimate goal, and I could now make it happen.
I purchased a used truck in good condition, a brand new travel trailer, and I hit the road again, this time in style!
Here’s what it looked like on the inside. Not a terrible mobile office if I may say so myself!
I traveled from coast to coast here in the United States for a couple years with my dog and just had a complete blast. I lived in the forests, mountains, deserts, and just about anywhere else I felt like. I was able to work from just about anywhere. Not only that, but my income continued to climb as I lived this incredible lifestyle. Here are some of the places I went.
A few years ago I made the below video from one of my favorite places in the world. A little-hidden gem of a spot in the Rocky Mountains called Vallecito, Colorado.
The lifestyle affiliate marketing has provided me with has been nothing short of a dream for me. No doubt, succeeding with affiliate marketing has taken a lot of effort, but it has also provided me with unmatched freedom. I just don’t know of any other job that can give this type of freedom and pay this well.
7 Years Of Affiliate Marketing Profits
Many people wonder if there are any affiliate marketers who have seen long-term success. We all have our own idea of what “long-term” really is, but I earned my first $7 commission way back in June of 2011 and my businesses has not only withstood the test of time, but it has increased profits almost every year.
In addition to that, I’m more diversified than ever. I work with more than a dozen different affiliate partners across about a dozen different websites. This sure beats working for a company that could lay me off at any time or running a business that only profits from a single product or service.
I Never Thought I Would Be An Affiliate Marketing Success Story
You, too, could become an affiliate marketing success story if you really want this bad enough. I never thought I’d be an affiliate marketing success story. All I wanted was to earn just enough to get by without having to work for someone else. Heck, I was even willing to settle for a decent part-time income that I could just supplement with a low-stress part-time job.
I know this saying is overused quite a bit, but if I can do this, you can, too.
My Top Advice If You Want To Become An Affiliate Marketing Success Story
Have patience! That is my #1 tip for those that want to become their own affiliate marketing success story. You have to be patient. This is a business just like any other businesses. Most small businesses take, what, a few years to truly start turning a profit? Affiliate marketing absolutely is a legitimate business that can earn you well into the 6 or even 7 figures, but you should not expect that to happen without months, if not years of hard work and consistent effort.
The vast majority of affiliate marketers never find success simply because they give up. Most people are very motivated in the first few weeks, but then life gets in the way, other things take priority, and affiliate marketing businesses become deserted and go nowhere.
Want To Learn More?
In the beginning of this article, I made a promise that I would not try to sell you anything on this page, and I’m sticking to my word. I simply wanted to share my affiliate marketing success story with you, hopefully, to help motivate you and show you that making money with affiliate marketing is totally possible. I hope I also showed that I’m not some extraordinary person and I’m not smarter than you. I’m just a regular dude that happened to stick with something for a while and believe that it would work. Was I just lucky? Maybe, but I’ve been able to replicate this over and over and over again.
So, since I promised not to sell you anything, here is a free tutorial on how to start an affiliate marketing blog. Not ready to start your blog or website yet? Here are some other resources you can check out:
7 Legitimate Ways To Make Money Online – Don’t have months or years to build up an affiliate marketing business, but still want to make money online? Believe it or not, there are plenty of actual, legitimate ways to make money online and I’m not talking about stupid surveys or multi-level marketing crap. Here are 7 real ways you can start making money online quickly.
Why Affiliate Marketers Suck – Unfortunately, not all affiliate marketers are ethical people. Here are some reasons why affiliate marketers suck. If you decide to become an affiliate marketer, do not be one of the crappy ones that make the rest of us look bad.
How To Discover Good Niches For Affiliate Marketing – The amount you can earn from affiliate marketing largely depends on the niche industry you decide to go after. This article gives some tips on how to find a great niche industry to maximize your chances of earning a good living online.
Is Affiliate Marketing Worth The Effort? – Affiliate marketing is not fast and easy. It takes time and you must run your affiliate marketing business just like you would any other business. Running a business is hard, so is affiliate marketing really worth the effort? Learn about how much effort it really takes and decide for yourself.
How Long It REALLY Takes To Make Money Online – There are a lot of gurus’s out there claiming they can teach you how to make money online fast. I’m not one of them. This is my “no B.S.” answer about how long it actually takes to make money online.
That’s My Affiliate Marketing Success Story & I’m Stickin’ To It!
Well, I hope you found my affiliate marketing success story to be motivational, or at the very least interesting. If not, why are you still reading this!?
If you like my “no B.S.” style and want to learn more about affiliate marketing, check out the over 600 free articles (and growing) I have across this site.
If you get into affiliate marketing with the right expectations and tools at your disposal, there is no reason you can’t succeed at affiliate marketing, too. I promise you, all the hard work does pay off and once you start making money in your sleep, your view of money and your life will be forever changed.
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