I have a elderly friend who does not know anything about the Internet. She told me one day that she wanted to buy a US$250 membership in an affiliate network. I immediately advised her not to do so.
1) She does not know anything about the Internet, so she won’t be able to make use of this affiliate account without external help.
2) She has a stubborn and difficult personality, so she can’t magically create a large and receptive social network to sell to.
3) She needs to invest much time and effort to make this a success, including creating her own unique marketing materials. She could commit neither time nor effort.
4) Her motivation is dubious: she just wants to earn money.
She ignored my reasoning, claiming that I was “close-minded”. However, she soon asked me to visit her and teach her how to use the features on the affiliate website that she purchased. I asked her why she went against my advice despite knowing next to nothing about the Internet.
She replied that “you never know until you try“. Shaking my head, I told her that based on her situation, she can only use email marketing. I have never heard anything more about this project from her ever since.
Likewise, some friends have told me of “great ways” to earn “extra income” joining their affiliate networks. They are doing it despite:
1) Their ignorance of their work: They do not know about concepts like SEO penalties for duplicate content on affiliate websites.
2) Their incompatible personality: They will have to change their lifestyles and ways of interacting with people.
3) Their unwillingness to commit time and effort over the long-term. Running MLM affiliates is hardly passive income, you will have to motivate and guide your down-lines in order to keep the money rolling in.
4) Their inability to add value, resulting in a “monkey see, monkey do” approach.
5) And their motivation to only make money rather than provide a useful product or service, making them opportunistic speculators trying to make a quick buck.
When a deal is mass-produced and conveniently served to us on a silver platter like those countless affiliate networks out there, it means that someone was already there long enough to develop their networks and churn out these automated systems. You can be sure that they have already taken either the easy profits or the lion’s share of the revenue.
So if you really want to get really rich, start your own affiliate network…
