I've Never Talked About This Here.
Hi there, many of you are probably pretty new here and it's likely you've never seen my face or name pop up on Wealthy Affiliate before. I assure you, though, I've been here a while in the background.
In 2017, I first started seeking means of earning an income outside of my standard W-2 job. I was constantly chasing different side hustles and most of them, per usual, were just scammy get rich quick schemes that luckily I didn't really buy into.
I understood pretty early on that most of these outlets were just there to regurgitate information that was available for free on countless platforms with just basic access to the internet and subsequently charge some exorbitant fee often in the 4 or 5 figure range.
This repetition of looking for a means of drawing an income online, finding a scam, and then immediately writing it off and looking for the next opportunity got really old. One day when scouring the internet I stumbled upon a blog post from Kyle himself that led me to Wealthy Affiliate.
I learned that there was opportunity in the website creation space if you understood the basics of building a website, staying consistent and harnessing the power of good Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
I spent COUNTLESS hours of my life watching almost every video lesson WA has to offer and even took part in some of the coursework that the folks here would put out on an application basis.
I built multiple websites during that time, but after a year or so of intermittent bouts of consistency I lost track of those sites. However, I did not lose the knowledge I had gained.
I made a lot of W-2 career moves and chased down some relatively lucrative real estate investments but I never stopped striving to build an online business of some sort.
Little did I know that my understanding of SEO, attributed to my learnings and growth here at WA would do SO MUCH to help me grow at a relatively rapid rate on other platforms.
Since 2017, I have stayed a member here at Wealthy Affiliate and I now host countless websites that back up real businesses. I am less engaged in the community (my apologies life is busy) but have still put enough up front work and time in to maintain a Top 1,000 rank here which is pretty wild.
The wealth of knowledge that WA has offered me has allowed me to grow a YouTube Channel that I started back in 2020 to over 1,500 subscribers in well under 2 years. It is now monetized, and has led to my building an Instagram and Tik Tok following as well.
The lessons that you learn here surrounding content creation and building a massive web of content all pointing back to one major central location has been critical in my development both as an online personality and a 'business' for lack of a better word.
I have been able to start bringing in real income and free product from product sponsors, Adsense, and the community that follows and supports me.
My revenue now streams from multiple sources of online income including Instagram Reels, etc.
This would not have been possible whatsoever had it not been for the valuable lessons learned right here at Wealthy Affiliate. As I've just recently gotten monetized, I'm excited to see what's to come with this online business. Cross platform engagement is going well, and I have a loyal viewership and community that are happy to watch, engage with, and learn from the content I put out into the community.
The concept of niching down is far more powerful than you think. HOWEVER, the one key point I want to highlight here is that I've been at this since 2017. That's 4-5 years now.
The over-arching point is that you do have to stick with it, don't get discouraged, and continue learning forever.
My YouTube Channel alone took a solid year and a half of consistently posting (over 100 videos) to even become monetized and see over $100/month in income.
I hope this little success story helps you find some motivation today. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions you might have about my journey in the comments below. While I'm less active here in the WA community than I used to be, I will try and do my best to respond and interact with the community that made this all possible.
Here's a special thanks to all of you who have ever answered one of my questions, responded to a post, followed me here or elsewhere.
Best of luck!
Dalton
P.S. If you're interested in seeing what I've built my YouTube Channel is 'Walt Does Bikes' and I'm @daltontberry on Instagram.
P.P.S. If it weren't for Wealthy Affiliate I wouldn't have multiple YouTube videos ranking #1 in Google Search Results.
Recent Comments
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It's great to read a post from someone who has stuck to it and been successful. This kind of post is an inspiration and an incentive for people who are just starting or who may be getting discouraged.
I sometimes forget how everything started and it's nice to remind myself from time to time. If I can share that with other folks in the process it never hurts. Especially if it can inspire someone even just stick it out one more day and give it an honest go. Thanks for reading and stoked to hear folks can find inspiration here.
That’s awesome! I have a similar story, but haven’t built mine up to where it’s producing earnings yet.
I love the success story. Thank you for sharing. It’s very inspiring!
Happy to share and best of luck on the continued success. The monetization will come. Just a matter of patience I've found. :)
As a key point that I did NOT mention. Do not be a victim of analysis paralysis. Results will come with time and it's likely you're only seeing a very small point on what could become an exponential curve of traffic, revenue, etc.
Awesome post Daltn and the P.S is also important. If you do nothing you cannot tweak what you do, but if you take action no matter how small, and it is wrong, you can correct t. Take action everyday and tweak what you have learned
Thanks so much, Catherine! It really has been a long time coming and perseverance has finally paid off in the long run. Patience is key and just like anything... it will come.
Also, what a great point on learning and tweaking. Constantly developing and refining your craft truly is the ticket. Have a fantastic day!
I forgot to say congratulations I look forward to hearing more about your successes.
In my opinion every time you learn something you should go back over the wole site and implement it. What do I mean by learning anything? Everything you lear, whether it is optimizing images, or creating a standard writing template
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Thanks for posting your story. I know there are many people just like you who are in the background at WA and who are happy with what WA gives us.
WA is a good place, in that we can work silently in the background and we do not need to do anything more. WA allows us to be ourselves and earn our own way.
It is a great place.
Alex
It truly is great that there is no community engagement requirement, haha. While I do love the community it is a bummer I just don't have the time I used to to engage here.
If I was still primarily promoting WA and affiliate marketing as my niche then I'd likely be here a bit more but cycling has taken over as my primary focus these days. Working silently in the background is the best way to put it.