Affiliate Marketing Day!

OK, I don’t know how genuine the day is, but Shawn and Missy over at Affiliate Summit have seemed to classify  today, September 14th, as Affiliate Day.  I love the idea and therefore, I plan to celebrate it…and I start here with a reflection of both the power of affiliate marketing and why it gave me the opportunity to live that “home at home dream” that I live today.

I won’t get back into the details on how I got >here<.  You can read that on my “About Matthew Bredel” page or over the TheWebReviewer (I just realized that I need to update the family photo since I now have 3 kids!).  But I do want to stress the importance on WHY affiliate marketing is the reason it happened.

I remember back in mid-2005 (this is about a year before I knew anything about internet marketing).  Growing up, my parents owned a few Baskin-Robbins franchises and the itch to run my own business was always in my blood.  My parents took the leap when I very young and I so wanted to take that same leap.  Still, I had 2 kids (at that time), a few mortgages, a few car payments and a need for health benefits.  I was still always on the “look” for that business-escape that I always sought.

So, in mid-2005, I remember going to a franchise show with my father at the Del Mar fairgrounds.  It was exciting!  So many business were there!  From Yogurt shops (which seem to have spouted up here in Southern California on every street corner) to embroidery to athletic shoes to cosmetics.  I felt the itch and in a few cases, I moved forward.  I set up meetings, discussed the costs and was shown predicted incomes.

It was all good, but not great.  Most of these franchises wanted over $100,000 to start off.  Then, I looked at the numbers and the projections were maybe incomes of $75,000-$100,000 per year.  So essentially, I had to pay for a job that would require more hours, more costs and ultimately make me less money (without benefits) that I was currently making in my 9-5 job.

I admit that my dreams were a bit crushed.

Six months later, I started to get that same itch, but this time it was online.  Really, I was just looking for other businesses to buy but I bought “that $47 eBook” (it was John Westbrook’s Life Empowered at the time…I don’t think he sells it any more).  It was about affiliate marketing.  You know…marketing other peoples stuff online and sharing in the profit.

I was intrigued.  I loved this idea for a few reasons:

• I could do it RIGHT now
• I didn’t have to invest in a $100,000 brink-n-mortar store
• The risk was exceptionally low
• There were no set hours to work (I could do it while stick holding a 9-5 job)
• And there appeared to be limitless earning potential

OK, I know this is sounding like some typical sales letter, but this is how I saw it after reading up on it.  I was always very skeptical at the beginning.  It seemed too easy.  But maybe just by understanding how this worked (if it worked), maybe I could leverage my experience into an online store (which is what I was originally considering before I discovered affiliate marketing).

At the end, I did learn the truths about affiliate marketing:

1. It does work!  (though, it took me over 3 months to be convinced of that)
2. It wasn’t exactly easy as they said.  It required work, but the steps were simple.
3. The initial costs were low, but I did lose about $1000 before I ever made a dime.
4. The potential does seem limitless.

Affiliate marketing gave me that opportunity to live my dreams.  I don’t know if I ever would have been able to take the “leap” if it wasn’t for affiliate marketing.  My risks were always low yet the rewards have been unmeasurable.

I still do affiliate marketing for much of my income, but I have grown a lot into other online fields such as product creation, selling products, lead generation and education. Organizations such as Affiliate Summit have been key to my own development and networking.  And being an affiliate for some major online vendors, I have developed relationships that can never be broke.

I’m proud that they have created an Affiliate Day!  Without affiliates, the internet marketing world would not be a fraction of what it is today (how do you think Amazon.com grew to be so popular?).

In honor of the day, I’m more than happy to share an (old, but still very relevant) video of mine that goes into the details of what affiliate marketing actually is and how it works:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

And if you get a chance today, be sure to twitter the Affiliate Day to your followers with the hash tag #affday09.

You can also just click here to send your tweet!

Happy Affiliate Day!

cheers…matt

P.S.  If you are interesting in learning more about affiliate marketing, you can always check out my Tru-Guru education.  The 15 day trial is only $4.95 right now!  Click here to learn more…