I am frequently contacted by prospective affiliates who want to know the secret to success.
Some are looking for a magic button. Others are in a state of desperation with stories like how they’re about to lose their house if they don’t get a big infusion of cash in the next three months.
In both cases, I explain that affiliate marketing probably isn’t for them. It won’t enable them to get rich quick. Maybe they will get rich slow with affiliate marketing.
They don’t like that answer.
The reality is that it’s hard to succeed on any level in affiliate marketing.
It requires sacrifice, patience, dedication, and innovation.
And there are plenty of opportunities to fail. Failure is an easy way out along the way, and it seems like FRANK wants it for you. FRANK doesn’t believe in this affiliate thing.
Who is this FRANK? That’s your Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors, and other people you Know.
You not only need to want to make it happen really bad, but you need to keep FRANK out of your head.
So my question is this… how bad do you want it?
If you were at Affiliate Summit West 2012, hopefully you caught the keynote from Eric (ET) Thomas (it’s on YouTube if you missed it).
He shared his story about a student who pursued a guru for the answer on how to be successful.
Long story short, they went out to the ocean, and the guru nearly drowned the student. He then explained, “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”
It plays a lot better when Eric is telling it, so I get if you’re not moved by that parable. You want a real life example, right?
OK, so at the recent Affiliate Summit in New York City, we continued our Pay It Forward scholarships, where we give out up to 50 free VIP passes to folks who need a little help.
One of the recipients was Paul Wallace. We received a nice, hand-written thank you after the show from him.
In the letter, he briefly explained how he had a bad business experience and he was rebuilding things. That’s a common story, but what he had to say next really had an impact on me…
“Money is tight + had packed crackers for food + thrilled to have meal tickets included. I even slept in my car to conserve $. Your show + ticket provided me with enough contacts to keep going.”
Do you want it bad enough that you’ll sleep in your car and have crackers for meals just so you can learn and network?
Really, how bad do you want it?
This post was the Editor’s Note in issue 20 of FeedFront magazine.