When Things Start Getting Real

This is the story of an aspiring internet marketer and his cat in a house with 0 strangers trying to earn money in the comforts of his home without any prior knowledge of affiliate marketing. He is equipped with only his computer, monitor, mouse, and Wealthy Affiliate University. His cat has some kitten nip, a mouse(sometimes a gopher or lizard), and ...ya that's about it.


Ok, seriously now. I have started to make some "Real Life" connections with some fellow Wealthy Affiliate members via the WA forums. We have gone as far as to talk on the phone and start throwing ideas around for projects and campaigns. As far as I can see, these people seem pretty normal and really motivated and are all about working hard. People in my real, real life have no idea about anything related to internet affiliate marketing so it's refreshing getting feedback from those that understand this industry. Reading the forum posts and resource center for info can get monotonous so this real life contact is a great change of pace.

Getting First Hand Advice From The Top - Carson

It's my first week at Wealthy Affiliate University and reading through the endless amount of info on the site has already got me scheming on starting my money making program. My mind is racing with ideas as I feel like I got some Tom Edison discovering the light bulb mojo going on right now. As I am new, I needed some extra guidance from a person who has been successful in this industry. Naturally, I went straight to the top and private messaged Carson (the guy on the left of the pic/co-founder of Wealthy Affiliate University) with some questions regarding how to get the ball rolling. (The other co-founder is Kyle; so it's Kyle and Carson ,but they are known around the forums as Kyle and Cartman.






I'm not gonna lie, my private message was not just for advice. I've been looking at these guys' pic atop my WA home page and reading about all their promises for success and such, so I wanted to see if they were actually around or swimming with dolphins and hookers in Maui. From what I've read about Carson, I understand that he operates a ton of products/websites on the internet including Wealthy Affiliate. He is 27 years old and reaping in some filthy cash and definitely has me envious, so I felt pretty silly sending him a private message regarding my newbie marketing questions, but this was also about detective work.

I was stunned when i saw a private message with a thorough response to my inquiries from Carson a day and a half later in my WA mailbox. I thought it was sweet that this guy, with so much stuff going on with his businesses and site operations and dealing with the 12,000+ just on Wealthy Affiliate, took the time to answer a newblar question from a nobody like me. Maybe he had just flown in from Maui and was in a good mood. I'm not sure and will never know, but both he and Kyle have been around since I have joined and have been helping out a bunch of members so I give props where props are due.

His advice to my questions regarding my first campaign were not what I wanted to hear. He showed me some tough love when he pointed out various flaws in my plan that would result in a shaky campaign and pointed me in a different direction. I guess he saved me a lot of time and heart ache so I'm thankful for that, but I wish my Campaign was flawless!! It is definitely pretty cool having a successful marketing giant only a private message away.

The Rude Awakening

Information overload. Holy crap! Ok, Initial thoughts on my first look into Wealthy Affiliate University.

1. Yes! I didn't get scammed! I can tell a LOT of work went into the development of this site. There is a ton of information to ingest! And by a ton I mean this much.

Learning resources, video tutorials, step by step instructions, an 8 week action plan to structure your first campaign, a huge forum with 130,000 + posts and 12,200 + members, and a bunch of crazy tools that help with marketing campaigns are some of the amenities I have with my membership. The tools include clickbank research tools, various keyword tools, a competition spy tool, and a "user-friendly" website builder called Site Rubix that supposedly allows morons like myself, who have no knowledge of html, build a professional looking website.

I finally feel like I know what Internet Marketing entails and unfortunately it is not going to be a quick money fix, but rather a skill to hone that may lead to some future cheese in my pocket. Coming into this experience, I felt like the day I would make money off the internet would be the day pigs fly or elephants play basketball, but everything seems much more attainable right now.

Below is a video tour of the website. The guy taking you on this tour sounds like a robot but it does show you a little about what to expect. In the video, he says that you do not need "any technical skills whatsoever at Wealthy Affiliate University". That is not completely true. You don't need any "out of this world" techy skills but having them would help. A person like me (no tech skills) will have to learn stuff on the fly and it can be time consuming/frustrating. I'm in the process of this right now, but as I'm learning, I'm starting to feel like I'm developing skills that will stay with me for life. At the same time, my cat's cause of death due to strangulation has risen slightly.

There is also this feature called Wealthy Affiliate spaces. It's like myspace but for Wealthy Affiliate members. I'm pretty awful with social networking sites but those that like places like facebook and myspace would probably enjoy this feature. I put a pic up and have gotten some WA friends. I'm going to be a social marketing demon!

2. No! This isn't going to be easy and my dreams of a Ewen Chia Newbie Cash Machine are not going to come true. Honestly, I have never tried Ewen Chia's products and only joke because his face is everywhere around the internet and he just looks so funny. If you try out his product or have tried it before send me a comment and tell me what you think.

One note: I've been cruising the forums trying to read up on as many topics of Internet Marketing as I can, as I am a complete noob, and have been starting to develop a little feel for the community as a whole. I would say that 3 out of 4 people are very helpful and love to assist those around them and look out for new guys like myself. The other 25% are a mix of people that either a) do anything for a sale (i.e use their affiliate links in forum posts or in their sigs to try and lead Wealthy Affiliate newbies to products they are promoting b) read up on the info and keep to themselves/don't contribute. Right now, I'm ready to work and so far Wealthy Affiliate is giving me some solid insight on what needs to be done.