What a Disaster
Oh No! Engine Failure
A couple of years ago, I was driving my Uber passengers to the airport when the dreaded Engine Failure message appeared on the screen.
Followed quickly by the engine turning itself off with the loss of power steering and braking.
Wrestling against the weight of the car, I barely managed to use its momentum to get it into the service lane.
Out of the traffic at least.
But now I had passengers freaking out over missing their flight.
Fortunately, I was able to flag down a passing Uber driver, whose passengers agreed to let him help out with mine.
But that was just the start of the problems.
The car had to be towed and was off the road for weeks while a new high-pressure fuel pump (plus all the other stuff that makes it work) was sourced. The repair cost thousands.
What Do I Blame?
I put the responsibility squarely on Uber driving.
Or more specifically, the extra kilometers racked up by Uber driving.
I worked out that without rideshare driving, I would have sold the car some 20,000 kilometers before this disaster.
This Forced a Rethink
This led me to a major rethink.
I started by listing the upsides and downsides of Uber driving.
UPSIDES
- I can work whenever I want.
- A percentage of my motor vehicle expenses are tax deductible.
- I meet some nice people.
DOWNSIDES
- The pay rate is about the same as flipping burgers.
- The best times to work are the worst on the roads.
- I meet some assholes.
- The wear and tear on my car is significant.
- Income is totally dependent on how many hours I can work.
- I’m increasing my exposure to illness, including Covid.
If you can think of more, please let me know in the comments below.
Can You Relate?
Are you at a place right now that’s like where I was 2 years ago?
Would you like to be earning the money you deserve, with a passive income that sees it coming in even while you sleep?
It can be done!
There’s Gotta Be a Better Way
The upside I wanted to keep was “I can work whenever I want” and I wanted to eliminate all the downsides.
After a lot of research, I came across the one thing that gives me everything I want.
It’s called Affiliate Marketing.
Let me explain.
With affiliate marketing, there’s no face to face or telephone selling. People order products they want through your website, but they are filled directly by the vendor and you are automatically paid an affiliate commission.
You don’t maintain inventory and you don’t fill orders. All that is taken care of by the vendor that you’re an affiliate for.
How Much Are the Affiliate Commissions?
It varies from vendor to vendor.
At the low end, there’s Amazon, who pay around 5%. But a) they’re Amazon, so your customer feels very confident buying from them and b) they do sell high-ticket items like golf clubs, road bikes and exercise equipment, so even a 5% commission can be significant.
But there are also others. For example, I’m an affiliate for a skin care vendor that pays me an affiliate commission of $120 on a product that sells for $69. This seems unbelievable, but you need to understand that they are taking into account the lifetime value of their new customer.
I only have to sell 5 of this product a day to make $18,000 in just 1 month.
And it costs me nothing. The $69 is paid directly by the customer to the vendor and I collect the affiliate payment just for facilitating the sale. How good is that?
These are American dollars by the way. So if you're in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK or anywhere in Europe, you're even further in front.
BUT... your website needs traffic (visitors) in order for you to be successful. You'll benefit from reading Affiliate Marketing Traffic Tips. You can check it out now. It will open in a new window, so you won't lose your place here.
How Many Vendors Can I be an Affiliate for?
As many as you can handle.
Did You Say Website?
Yes, you need a website. But don’t worry, I’m going to take care of all that for you.
I got my start from a training site that teaches you all about affiliate marketing in a series of video-based lessons that you follow along step by step.
It’s also a huge, world-wide community of people who are on the same journey as you and who will freely give their time to help you if you stumble.
And I’m now one of them!
But if there’s one thing that I see new members stumble over, it’s the first 3 steps:
- Select a niche.
- Register a domain name.
- Build a website.
Fear not. I’m going to help you with 1 and 2, and actually do 3 for you – along with a video showing you just how it’s done (so that when you’re ready to build your NEXT website, you’ll be armed with all the knowledge you need.
How to Get Started?
You can join for free!
Absolutely for free. You don’t even have to flash your credit card.
That’s how confident we are that you’ll see how good this is and proceed to the next step to become a Premium member.
As a free member, you have access to the first 10 lessons in each of the two training streams, Online Entrepreneur Certification and Affiliate Bootcamp, plus 7 days of access to Live Chat where you can ask any questions you like of other members.
Get started by clicking on this link:
When you’re there, click on the big orange button to Join WA and then (this is very important) come back and fill in the form underneath that button with your name and email address.
This is what will qualify you for my offer to help you get started and build your first website.
If you have any difficulties at all with this process, please let me know in the Comments below and we’ll sort it out together.
And if you've got more questions, I have lots of answers at Affiliate marketing: Your Questions Answered.
