"So.what do you do?"

29
2.9K followers

I was at a party last night for my friend's birthday, and there were lots of us there, all the same age, all with a similar background in marketing and communications, some were writers, others in video production, but all in the same industry in one way or the other. What's one of the first things you ask, after saying hello...? "What do you do...?"

Aside from explaining that I am a legal assistant and web/graphic designer, (zero connection), I have thought about briefly talking about affiliate and network marketing, but find that I have a difficult time explaining what that is. "I write a blog and sell other people's stuff"...? Or -- "I am trying to make money online"...?

Comparing myself to all these people with stellar careers (in my mind), it is difficult to talk about this venture, since nothing has happened with it, as my site is so young. I think the 1st problem is that I am comparing myself and immediately put myself into the "lesser" category -- and the 2nd problem is that I usually get a response of bewilderment and "ohhhh.....! That sounds interesting?" -- and I know they have no idea what I am talking about.

How do you guys handle this, when you are compelled to share what this is all about? It's not healthy for me to discuss this in a way that diminishes the value.

Thoughts?

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Recent Comments

48

If I don't like them I tell them I have a bad case of "Niche" a very contagious disease I got when I was in WA! Maybe they will scatter.
If you like them tell them you are a writer

Ha! I like that response, I'm going to use it. With your permission of course, Brad.

By all means Carson Go For It mate

good post thank for sharing

You can give out business cards and discus 3 0r 4 points about affiliate marketing Amy. The secret though is after you leave a QUICK FOLLOW UP to drive the information home and keep it in your contacts minds!

Good suggestions! Thanks.

I am so glad you brought this up. Many great suggestions. I love the business card idea. I have been doing this for almost three years now and do you know that not one of my close friends or family members have a clue of what I do, neither do they care to hear it. My sister even told me flat out she didn't care to hear anything about it because she believes its a scam. So I don't talk about it either.

These suggeats are sure to help.

Oh wow -- not good energy for you. Too bad people can be so ignorant sometimes!

Well, I have an update to my comment. The hubby and I stopped in at a creamery today after hiking where my 17 yr. old nephew works. God love him, he said that he has seen my postings on Facebook and wanted to know more about Wealthy Affiliate.

He is the only family member that has even remotely seemed interesting in finding out what I do.

Has as bad energy, It used to bother me really bad. Now I try to not let THEIR bad energy effect me.

When I am feeling bad, I come hang out here with all the positive and supportive people. I call it my happy place :)

What you do is as important as any other job in communications and media. I usually say that I develop websites for different ventures and go from there.

Love that too...!!

I'll just say I am with Wealthy Affiliate currently having the training to become my boss in making my own income.

I say:" I am affiliate marketer and for that matter, I have a website. Here is my business card. Do you order regularly online at Bol . com? Can you please favorite my website and go to the store using my banner link? Every time you do that, I earn a few bucks, hundreds of people do that already, and provide me a full-time income. Do you like to know more about how I do that?

wow that's great -- ! Business cards! Never occurred to me. Thank you...!

ohhhhh..that is sooooo good!..Have to write that down and get some business cards made!!!! :)

I have made them at Vistaprint

When my site is ready, I'll contact you and order them through your link then! :)

Thank you:)

Send me a link to Vistaprint!

I will PM you, thank you

Sorry Terry, no longer relevant, they just kicked me out of the program:'(

what..why? Because you advertised it here?

No, not because of that, because I didn't make a sale in the required time

ohhhhh..kinda like Amazon! You have to make a sale within 180 days or they close your account, but they allow you to resign up, which I had to do a couple time...lol You going to re-signup with vistaprint? Or just leave it?

I leave it, there are better options

I understand your hesitation. I totally get it. I think we have all seen so many scams or at least MLM's that it feels scammy or at least confusing to discuss anything online.

I say I am working on creating my own business/website and don't get into the details with most people.

Love that -- thank you... :-)

the best way to approach that is to say you've left the corporate world and become an entrepreneur. When they ask you more questions then you can talk about your niche market and how you learned about affiliate marketing to bring in extra income while you build your business.

Good suggestion, and thanks -- but I agree with Craig that I don't want the ensuing negativity to flow my way because most of the time people don't get it...!

I generally don't discuss WA with anyone unless I know that they are already predisposed to find it of interest. Most people will fall back on the default assumption that "anything online= scam" and I don't want to deal with that negativity.

Once I have a successful site running and have regular, full-time income I will tell anyone and everyone about it, but not until then.

I think you're right -- I am very sensitive to all of this, as we all are, and don't want to fall prey to the negative vibes. It is difficult enough to trust my own instincts. Thanks, Craig -- and by the way, how long have you been at this?

I joined in April 2016 and fiddled around with things for maybe a month or two, before leaving. It wasn't a lack of interest, but I just had a bunch of other things going on.

I came back at the end of October and have been here since, so I count from there. Thus despite my 1-year badge, I tend to say I have been working at this for 8 months.

How long did it take you to start earning $$...?

A long time. Lol. But that is mainly because I was focusing on other things. I just wanted to get some content up and start drawing traffic first, so I kind of failed to actually monetize my site until very recently. Like, a month ago!

In that time, I have had one small sale and one almost-referral to WA. I say "almost" because while they came and made a profile, they did not complete it with an image and bio, so i don't think they'll be sticking around. Still, where there is one, there will be others.

So, I am not trying to be evasive... An actual, honest answer is that I haven't really made any money yet, but consideration needs to be given to the fact that my site wasn't set up for that.

I understand what you mean -- I don't think you are being evasive at all. There are many reasons why we are where we are -- and why we are or aren't making money. I don't think it is just one reason. We have other obligations while we try to build up our sites, and just like in life, there are many factors that go into everything we do --

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