Blundering Noob Boob Blogger
Sometimes even doing what you love is not enough. I have always loved cars and machinery and I became a Class A mechanic. When I finished my schooling and my apprenticeship, I still loved cars and machinery but I hated this as a job. I broke my back and could no longer do this job. I ended up taking a bartending job after my surgery and learning to walk again. This was my calling and previous to this I never even went to bars or nightclubs. I couldn't wait to go to work plus on average I only worked 3-4 days a week, I worked in 16 countries, did lots of television and Hollywood movies, the people I met (have you noticed I didn't mention the money yet?)....and the money was the best I ever had in my life! 27 months and I had over $45K for a down payment on a house, everything was paid for, I had pretty much everything I wanted and I lived like a rock star.
I think doing something you love definitely makes the whole process more enjoyable but I think the real key is to make the most of what life puts before you. Never in my life would I have I chosen a job to make it my career and it's a shame I had to break my back to discover it.
Here I am now, a second broken back, I hate and suck at computers but look at what I am trying to make into a new computer-related career, something I never in my life would have chosen to make a career with a computer. Considering I had to be shown how to turn on my laptop, this is a mechanically inclined person too! So after being taken for just shy of $400 from 2 previous "affiliate schools" that took me 5 months to save up for, not easy on a fixed income to save money. I found a place that allowed you to be a free member...THAT'S THE PERFECT PRICE FOR ME!!!!
The first week was so much fun! The curriculum worked fantastically with my learning disability. You were given all the tools you needed for success. Never would I suspect I could have fun with a computer. Then an offer was ....well....offered to me to get my first month of a premium membership for $19 but I have a time frame in which to do it in. My last family member in Canada was my mums' mother, she passed away this past December and since I had become very non-mobile and usually in a lot of pain, I actually lost most of my friends too.
So I had no one to help me get this $19 which I felt was a no-brainer, I HAD to do this! So, I sold off my subway tokens for the week and decided I would just walk everywhere and skip 2 of my weekly medical appointments and I got my $19. I have budgeted myself with 2 fewer subway tokens a week and shorted myself $25/month for food and I now have my monthly membership. I needed this membership so I had access to tools, training videos and most importantly the support system. Support and mentoring that is available at this place where my website is hosted is unmatched. It's called, Wealthy Affiliate and is just the most amazing place to learn, challenge yourself and grow. By the end of my 3rd week, I have a website on the internet and Google has indexed my web page. It has not been easy but it has been fun (for the most part.)
Due to my own technical problems and to one very stupid mistake, I have had to start my website from scratch 3 times but this still has not discouraged me in any way. The 2 things I have found that I can share with other new members is that in the first 2 weeks that caused me problems and that I wish someone had helped me with (I should have just asked). First was the onslaught of information that is thrown at you, 10 must know secrets to SEO, this is the word for the key to great keyword research, how to write a blog, to Amazon or not Amazon, NICHE NICHE NICHE, make $10K a week while you sleep, and on and on and on. Which is important? What do I need to know now? Have I missed something? Is this article trustworthy and correct? Where do I begin?
The second being how to pick your niche. I found myself over analyzing everything about choosing a niche, I went into "analysis paralysis". I almost had a digital breakdown! The more and more I researched the further behind I became, I wasn't making any forward momentum with all this research.....did I even know if I was researching the right things? What was I even really looking for? Was I researching in the right order? I needed to get a grasp of things and quickly.
Sometimes all you need to do is take a single step back, take a few good deep breaths and slowly think about the simple things and the answers will come to you. So, I made a cup of tea, grabbed my tablet and went to the park to watch the sun go down. As I sat on this grassy knoll, I got to talking with someone I had met here on the WA and I had asked them, "how do you deal with all the information being thrown at you? Some days it takes me 40 minutes to get through all the blogs, lessons, notices and whatever else the WA throws at me before I even get to do any work? I also forget half the stuff I read, how do I handle all this and be productive?
I sit here on this grassy knoll watching the sun go down and the stars come out trying to figure this out, "please drop some knowledge on me!" Their answer was sweet short and seriously the best answer ever! "Just look at the star." Just look at the stars?!? WTF?!? That's what I was doing and the only thing happening was a mosquito died in my tea and another flew up my nose, "please explain?" I inquired. Look under the title of the article that you read. You see a green comment bubble and to the left of it an outline of a star. Sugar Honey Ice Tea I thought to myself, there is a star outline.
The outline allows you to create a tag for the article, so you can label it, "read later or SEO or tools for traffic", whatever you need it to be. Once you reach a new element in your progression, have a look at your tags and read the ones that relate to where you are now. This way, you only read what you need to and you don't lose anything that may be of value. So be sure to make those tags on all your articles or blogs that you receive as your premium membership starts off, then you have your own Rolodex of current literature for where you are at on your journey towards reaching your goal.
So now I dump out my tea, blow my nose and start walking home thinking about my second point, How do I come up with the perfect niche? I decided to go to my local and best coffee shop in the world TIM HORTONS COFFEE! I get a coffee, sit down in the mosquito free lobby and start searching niches on my tablet. When I looked up famous Affiliate Marketers and this is what came up;
- Darren Rowse. Blog – ProBlogger.
- Brian Clark. Blog – CopyBlogger.
- Seth Godin. Blog – SethGodin.
- John Chow. Blog – JohnChow.
- Yaro Starak. Blog - Entrepreneurs-Journey.
- Pat Flynn. Blog – SmartPassiveIncome.
- Neil Patel. Blog – QuickSprout.
- Yanik Silver. Blog – MaverickMBA.
First thing I noticed is that these were all bloggers. I started reading some of their blogs and even messaged a few of them. However, by the end of my coffee, I felt I still haven't found an answer I was looking for. Fast forward to the next morning, where I go to get TIM HORTONS COFFEE and sit down with my tablet and check my emails. A bunch of them emailed me back, that was a real surprise! I asked them all the same question, what is the key to picking out your first niche in affiliate marketing? The answer was unanimous across the board.
DO NOT STRESS ABOUT IT, pick a niche you know something about, you do not have to love it or it must be your passion or life that everyone claims. Create good, helpful, relevant content, get the website done, then get traffic flowing to it. Once you accomplish those two things, that's where the real learning begins as you will learn from what you did wrong and what you did right, then apply that to your next campaign. That experience is what is really valuable, learn from that and that's what will make you a great affiliate marketer. WHAM! WOW! That makes total sense and if I had just stepped back, taken a deep breath, I would have most likely came up with that.
So, let's recap. "Stare at the stars" and organize the content that you receive from other WA members such as lessons, blog posts even questions being asked by others (you can learn from the answers in the comment section down below) with tabs that are listed by topic for review later on. Secondly, do not stress about your niche, do not get "analysis paralysis" Just know a little about the niche, maybe do some serious keyword research and then run with it! Get the website up and running, start driving traffic to it and that's the initial snowball, the rest comes with time as it rolls down the hill. Along the way, you learn how to grow that snowball faster, how to attract more snow to it and in the end, bowl over your competition!
Now I have to get back to work myself. But first I am going to enjoy my Tim's coffee and watch the sun come up. I feel there is something very calming and centering about watching the sun come up and set every day. After all, we could not live without it. So, thanks for reading my first blog entry, well first real blog entry, if you even made it this far. I hope you can take these 2 helpful facts and put them to good use, they really helped me out a lot and I hope the same for you. So welcome to becoming a premium member at the WA, may you exceed all your goals and if your already a member that's been here for some time.....get back to work, you have had enough praise! BTW I also asked those Affiliate gurus what makes a good blog or how to write a good blog but that's totally....another blog. So this is the blundering blogger signing off.
*Jair the soon to be next WA Millionaire*
I promise the next one to be shorter and have pictures, still getting the hang of this blogging thing......what do you expect from a blundering noob boob blogger?
Recent Comments
37
With your positive attitude and endurance, I can see the headlines already, Jair, WA Millionaire! :)
Thank you for your kind words love. I do hope you right about the millionaire thing too, oh how I hope your right. This has been my biggest challenge working with computers as I have gone out of my way to avoid them as its really hard for me to comprehend anything about them with my learning disability. Learning to walk again, getting myself off the streets and not being homeless, beating an addiction of narcotics thanks to the doctors here, all were easier for me then trying to do this Affiliate Marketing on a computer. If it was a paper and pen, NO PROBLEM! But I am slowly getting the hang of it, I am making it a baby step at a time but most of all, I am feeling much more confident in my abilities. I just still have a real hard time with the language and termanology that goes with computers but I will never give up, I never have and never will cause I am stronger than that. I might have to buy a new laptop one day soon as some days I visualize a brick shaped hole in the screen lol. Thanks for reading and I'm glad you enjoyed it, me and my cat enjoyed writing it. Happy affiliating!!
-Jair
LOL, Jair. With your gift of the gab, you will go far young man. I understand your difficulties coping with computers language and terminology coming from the era before computers.
Best wishes
I hear you next WA millionaire...I can't wait to see your great success.. seems like you are already on your way!
.ariel
Thank you very much my walking love. Glad you enjoyed the read, I enjoyed the writing it....so did my cat as I had to feed her a ton of treats to stay by my side...shhhh (she's my secret writing tool) Thank you for the kind words and I do hope you are right about me on my way. Take care love, stay blessed.
Hi Jair!
What a life you have led and what a positive attitude you have!
In my humble opinion, I believe the key to your success is your ability to write as if I am sitting next to you having a "Double-Double" at Tim's (fellow Canadian)!
To you "crushing it"!!!
Barb
Thanks for reading Barb I'm glad you enjoyed it and what such nice words you had to say. Honestly, that's how I exactly write. I was never a writer, even in school. The only time I ever wrote anything that had any context was those letter you wrote in high school to a lovers quarrel, that was my experience. One night I was writing some content here, extremely overtired (I'm a clinical insomniac due to some of my medications) I was around 85 hours without sleep. I couldn't get anything to flow out. My cat came and plopped on the floor beside me (we have conversations) I say something to her, she meows back, sometimes several meows, depending on the subject lol so I wrote this piece completely talking to her. This blog entry was the second piece. Seems like people like it, I think it still needs some refining which will happen as I write more. So I guess it does come through in my writing, which is great news for my web page as it's an instructional page which should work really well. Thanks again for your critique, really made my day :-)
I'm glad I could "make your day"!
Perhaps a "Cat-talking" Therapy Niche would be fantastic for you - you coud feature your cat - photos etc - audios and videos including her - could be very very unique?
What do you think???
Could also make me look crazy lol. I have been working with Kyle on a niche I originally wanted to do as it is my field of expertise and has eras of content possibilities. I have been involved in this niche for over 33 years. Kyle finally gave me enough piece of mind to make a go at it. But first I am going to see my current niche through of dog training. This way I will hopefully get most of my mistakes out of the way and learn as much as I can from my first time around. In my spare time I will write posts, start dummy web designs to perfect and curate the greatest impacting site, have items set to split test out of the gate so that when I am ready, it will go together faster than hot snot! Thanks for the idea, you have sparked my interest, maybe some research into the niche, if there is one, may be needed.
Congratulations Jair!!!! You are doing a wonderful job. I would never have thought that you were a noob boob!! In all our exchanges you have always given me such great direction and insight!! I thought that you were an old hat at this, AWESOME!!
Keep up the good work and this will turn out like bartending...FANTASTIC!!
T
I am very glad you liked it Mrs.T and it's ok, you can call me an old fart, I don't mind lol Before this I had taken some schooling on Social Media Management and started my own company which I later sold. I really didn't like it and it was really hard in my demographic to be competitive to the big firms here in Toronto, so I approached them to buy the company and they went for it. I heard about Affiliate marketing and went through 2 others schools which were in the blog and here I am now at WA....a boob who hasn't had this much fun on a computer yee-haw!! Thanks for the kind words. Believe it or not but being a good bartender makes you a jack of all trades except computers...thus why I am no good with them but I am getting better!
Thanks Mrs T that means a lot to me. Get better soon and if you have a sore throat or coughing a lot;
1.5oz brandy or cognac
0.5 Peppermint Schnapps
Built in a rocks glass over ice with a mint sprig slapped across the top of the glass, then wipe the rim of the glass with it and toss in.
or
6-8 large mint leaves (Zebra mint works really well but any mint will do) into a cocktail shaker (you can make in a glass as well.)
1 tsp of raw or granulated sugar, muddle to tear and bruise mint.
add ice then 1.5oz brandy or cognac
If in a glass, stir vigorously, if in a cocktail shaker, shake what your mama gave you! Fine strain into rocks glass over ice.
With a mint sprig slapped across the top of the glass, then wipe the rim of the glass with it and toss in.
Back before medicine was a big thing, if a doctor could not cure what ailed you, they would send you to the bartender, seriously. This is a natural cough suppressant and anti-inflammatory which late became a cocktail by the British known as a Brandy stinger. 2 of these, also a good sleep aid.
I have everything except Schnapps, which I have sent my brother to purchase. I hope it helps!!
Thanks!!
T
Just make sure schnapps, not creme de menthe. Schnapps is higher alcohol and less sugar, creme de menthe is less alcohol and more sugar. Some people heat it but I am against that as it becomes too sweet, but you can always take a little in a saucepan heat slowly and keep tasting to see if you like it heated. Plus you lose some of the alcohol when heated and we all know alcohol kills germs, marriages, problems lol. I prefer the colder the better as that also heats take down inflammation. I promise you, your throat will feel better after.
I think that cold would be better too. As soon as he returns, I am going to make me one of those. I think that it will help. Maybe the coughing will stop for a bit.
T
You know what they say: 'Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain'. :)
Keep it up!
Cheers,
Meena
Thanks for reading Meena, glad you enjoyed it. I grew up 90% of my life living on a sailboat, my favorite sailing was always rough weather, I would actually get seasick in the water was like glass and the boat just bobbed up and down. Dancing in the rain is best done naked! Thanks for the kind words, happy affiliating.
Never tried dancing in the rain like that. You leave me no choice but to believe you and never ask for more details. :)
You were afraid of that offending me?! Hello...bartender.....I had more offending things said to me in church LOL No worries love, I don;t even find that offensive in any way. But you really must try, just not on the 9th green of a golf course in the dark, you can step in the hole and twist your ankle or at least I am told hehe
How is your website coming along since signing back up? Are you doing the lessons or the bootcamp? I'm just glad I didn't make that comment on your page otherwise it would have been the old HIYA!!
What kind of church do you attend, man?
I'm doing the lessons, and I'm just about to finish the second level. I've been putting much energy into finding pics and improving my menu (adding more pages and splitting articles into two, and then rewriting and creating new pages etc.)
I'm glad you didn't make that comment on my page as well, as it wouldn't end up well for you. :)
As soon as I finish everything I need (for now) with my website, I'll kindly ask you to give me a feedback (nothing too fancy, just the length of this post for example) ... LOVE! ;)
No church, just an expression....bartender stepping into a church...?...I'd be struck by lightning for sure!
For sure on the website feedback, just holla at me.
Hi, Jair,
I am impressed by the thought and effort you put into your first "real" little blog and also your courage to reach out to find answers and advice and then pass it along.
You really didn't need pictures as I could visualize the grassy knoll, the stars, the sun setting, the cup of tea with the mosquito in it and the one in your nose too! ;-) I can also relate to the analysis paralysis you were feeling.
I think you did a fine job and are well on your way!
This was very interesting to read. It's great that you actually wrote to those bloggers to find out how they're doing it. What better way to learn than to go directly to the source! :)
I like the thought that we should not stress too much about picking a niche and making choices. Most choices we make will be good ones, either they make us progress or if not, we learn and find a better way.
I think that if we know enough about the niche and it's mostly nice to research it and write about it, it can work.
Thank you for sharing your findings here!
Sanna
PS. I agree about watching the sun come up and set. :)
Thank you for your kind words, Sanna. With Irmas' leftovers just reaching up here in Canada, the sunrises have been lacking a bit but the sundowns have been pretty awesome the past week.
You hear a lot of the longtime super affiliates talk about mentoring, and dropping $20K to learn this thing from this person, I do the exact same thing but on a poor person scale lol. With the people I am following, I don't add every single person who adds me, I only add people who I think I can be an asset too and help them or I add people who can be an asset to me and that I can learn from. Since I have control of that button, I use it like a tool. There's no possible way I can follow 12,794 people, I don't think I have ever seen that manner profiles yet. Some might say that's inconsiderate but I am here to help others and to help myself. (sorry, that was a little bit of a rant and off topic) So I will go and ask the proven super affiliates, I will ask successful bloggers, as much information that is in here at the WA (AND THERE IS A LOT!), not every answer is here.
There are two saying I live my life by 1) If it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't make sense. 2) A wise man has more questions than answers. And I mix the two of them together which usually give me good solid questions to ask that WILL project me forward in my ambitions towards my goals. This is also why I had to figure out a way to file and sort the content I was receiving from the WA.
Thank you for reading my novel...er um...blog and I appreciate your kind words and comments. I wish you the best in your journey and if I may be of any help, my inbox is always open to you my love. Happy affiliating!
I was going to reply to this earlier, but another work project took all my time and I didn't have time to come to WA for a while.
It was nice to receive such a long reply from you! Heh, I understand you rant about not following everybody just for sake of following. As a child I had a thought that I want to know everything about everything in the world, but learned later that it was not quite possible. :)
A few years ago I went to talk about a business idea to certain official to be able to get some (very small) funding for the business. After the meeting I realized that it was stupid to try to get approval of someone who isn't even an entrepreneur themselves but just someone who has learned *about* entrepreneurship and how to run a company and what business ideas generally are good.
Just thought I'd write about that here because after that I started to pay more attention to who I turn to if I want to really learn how the "big boys and girls" do it.
I've also learned that asking a lot of questions is a great way to learn and finally get answers. The answers will simmer inside my head and will eventually show me a few next steps of my own path.
Thank you for the long reply, not feeling too hot today so thinking I will make this a day to shut off and recover. I will write back a longer reply. Wishing you all the best and thanks for sharing your story.
Jair
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LOLOLOL! What a read!! So impressed at how driven you are, how tenacious to always get back up time and time again, the enormous talent you have, the great attitude...the hilarious story about the coffee weaved into it all...and the mosquitoes :D
Also I love those 3 nuggets in your second last paragraph, goo advice to all members
...and loved the staring at the stars and the layers of meaning you can bring into things and how if you just stepped back you could have thought of all that guru advice yourself...lol...yes, it does tend to get repeated in the classrooms quite a bit too - with a KISS attitude [keep it simple student]
really looking forward to hearing more from you, a serious budding online talent and [one of the] next WA millionaire[s]!!
You get a short reply as we are like digital penpals now lol, but thank you for the kind words and the empowering comments, I just hope I can take it up a notch next time, hope my cats ready!! All the best love.