WOW I Joined Wealthy Affiliate 12 Years Ago
HAPPY WANNIVERSARY TO ME!!!
It is now August 2025 and I joined Wealthy Affiliate 12 Years ago as a Free Starter Member in August 2013. Though I knew right away that I would upgrade to Premium, I needed to wait until September for my financial situation at that time to play out. Once I did upgrade, there was NO TURNING BACK!
A LOT HAS CHANGED IN 12 YEARS
When I joined WA in 2013 I had just retired from 25 years in the Video Game Industry, developing games for Nintendo, Sega, Online and iOS Apps. This explains why I have a vivid imagination and why I have no shortage of niche ideas, which I often freely share here with the community.
In 2001, twelve years before retiring from video game development, I knew that my future income would be coming from sales on the internet. I started selling on eBay and within a few years I became a Top Rated eBay Power Seller. As time went by eBay started increasing their Seller Fees, I needed to find another solution.
I wanted to build my own e-commerce website and use drop shipping with the wholesalers I was already purchasing products from. However, I had no idea how to build a website and I knew I didn't want to pay and rely on someone else to build it for me. This is when I found Wealthy Affiliate and affiliate marketing.
A Banner Image From Long Ago
Kyle's explanation on the simplicity of building a website at WA and what was a Niche, hit me like a bunch of light bulbs flashing in my face. I grasped the concept immediately and knew that my original desire to build an e-commerce website for drop shipping was not the way for me any longer.
DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE I MADE
Though I am doing much better financially now, it has been a journey filled with UPS and many DOWNS. I was so pumped at the simplicity of building a website and having so many niche ideas I wanted to pursue, I made the mistake of starting more than one niche website before the first one gained traffic.
This is a trap that I see so many newbies here at WA making. My first two websites saw very little traffic and it wasn't until my third website, promoting WA, that I became focused on growing it. Eventually I was able to earn about $900.00 a month in commissions. This is something I intend to revive soon.
To succeed in affiliate marketing takes hard work, focused effort and lots of patience. Do not think for one second that building two niche websites at the same time will make you more money quicker. That rarely happens if at all. It's like building a skyscraper. You start with a foundation and build upward, shortchanging nothing.
What WA looked like in 2013
Success comes from running the race slow and steady, making modifications as you go. Just look at how Wealthy Affiliate is constantly changing and upgrading their platform. This latest update is probably the 4th or 5th update I've seen since joining in 2013. Evolution is necessary for lasting success.
You are going to face tough challenges and you are going to make mistakes, but winners never quit! Just remember, Jeff Bezos the CEO of Amazon, started out just like all of us. He had a dream of making money on the internet, starting his company in a garage when the internet was young. Now look at his success. He didn't quit.
I've often said that success is not a point in time but a journey of ups and downs that leads to a better future. Don't look for financial success to come quickly. It will take lots of effort to get it going and to keep it going. There is no better place to be than right here at WA for success in affiliate marketing done right!
HERE'S TO ANOTHER 12 YEARS!
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Recent Comments
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The 'newbie trap' trying to start more than one niche website" at the very begining resonates well with me. Guess i got too excited at getting multiple niches to begin with and couldn't sustain the motivation to do it consistently. Thank you for the insight!
BTW, Congratulations 🎊 and here's to another 12 years of success with WA family.
Thank you and you are welcome. I fell into that "newbie trap" and I know so many others who have. Making mistakes like that and even bigger mistakes, should always be embraced as the learning process and a way to learn from those mistakes.
Everyone who starts a successful business will put their 100% effort into that one business, to see it grow into a functioning money maker. Diversification, whether it be another related product or a new niche, will only happen after the prior is firmly in place.
Great story hope to be able to simulate it, kinda in the same situation you where then.Currently reading Elon Musk's book "Insane Mode"the story of Tesla recomended by Vic Strizheus who really seems to know his stuff,he's trying to alighn your thinking and mindset showing you how all the great successes went through many pit falls and struggles but persevered untill they succeed.The book aslo highlights other electric car startups that failed and are still struggling interesting read.
Thank you! I'm happy you enjoyed my story. Success comes in many forms, most of those successes are not even financial.
Though we all would like to avoid the troubles and trials of mistakes made along the way, these tough times are part of the journey.
They are meant to teach us how to do things better moving forward. Embrace the hard times, humble your heart and learn from the mistakes.
Wow! Thats a long time! And so promising for us new users that someone is sticking around that long! Im new to this, but ready to get it going! Thank you for the post.. and im so happy that you had the photo of the 2013 WA dashboard! Its awesome to see how far the dashboard has come! Although, even that one looks great!
You are welcome Allan! One of the reasons I'm still here, and there are many, is that there is so much knowledge to be learned here.
There are many of us long time members who are still here, even after starting successful money making affiliate marketing businesses.
Though it's not necessary to go through all of the training here to achieve financial success, I'm staying because I want to learn more and help others with that new knowledge.
May you too, experience success here at Wealthy Affiliate in the years to come. - Robert
Hello, Rob congratulations on your 12 years at WA, this is a big accomplishment, this is what I said to my son last week stop jumping job to job all the time you are better off staying at one company for a longtime, my two sons gone to Australia for 6 months working holiday and they might stay over there. But my start in affiliate marketing, I got told it is easy, and you make lots of money, [really, let's go] it wasn't easy I started not knowing anything at all even had no computer skills, but I ended up back at WA for the second time and I am here to stay, I had a look around got to know some people and found the hard way who are the real people and those people are always helping and giving decorations, and it is good, but still got lots to learn, just the contacts that I got know is a gift full of experience and knowledge what I am going to learn. just like here WA, thanks have a great day Jon
Thank you Jon! I have never been one of those people who jump from job to job. I think for me it has to do with the fact that I never do a job strictly for the money, even though money is important to pay the bills.
If I don't enjoy my job, I just won't start it in the first place. Too many people put too much emphasis on "how much money can I make" instead of "this job will be fun so I can serve and help others with it."
Just my thoughts.
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Join FREE & Launch Your Business!
Exclusive Bonus - Offer Ends at Midnight Today
00
Hours
:
00
Minutes
:
00
Seconds
2,000 AI Credits Worth $10 USD
Build a Logo + Website That Attracts Customers
400 Credits
Discover Hot Niches with AI Market Research
100 Credits
Create SEO Content That Ranks & Converts
800 Credits
Find Affiliate Offers Up to $500/Sale
10 Credits
Access a Community of 2.9M+ Members
Happy Anniversary Robert and congratulations👏👏👏 for sticking it out this long and persevering with your endevours! I have a similar story enjoying the journey, and working toward - living the dream! then I can watch the bucks roll in lol! You are a true example, good on you! Well done!👍
Julia.😀
Thank you Julia! I remember when I first started at Wealthy Affiliate, Kyle said in his training that "a niche solves a problem a person is looking to answer." At first I didn't quite understand what he meant until I knew someone looking for a kind of cosmetic for her African American oily skin.
A niche of cosmetic products for women of color who had oily skin would obviously be different from cosmetic products for women with lighter skin tones and oily skin. So a niche that deals with cosmetics for women of color with oily skin IS what Kyle meant. It's a focused narrowed down niche.
Once I started focusing on building a niche that gave solutions to the reader seeking what my niche provided, I started seeing the results of what a niche really is and how it could be profitable for me to engage in. The WA training helps us to bring all of this together but we need to make an effort to see it through.