For the Love of It!

81 followers

Updated 9 years ago

As my profile indicates, I am a software engineer turned homeschooling mama of 4. A few years back, before my oldest entered middle school, I was terrified at the thought of teaching the subjects we planned for his 7th and 8th grade years. I felt like a complete amateur and feared that my lack of formal training in the subject areas would be detrimental to my son's education.

There continued to be a nagging doubt about my ability to tackle Latin and formal Logic until I heard a conference speaker talk about the true meaning of the word "amateur". The root word of amateur is the latin word amo, which means "to love". So the idea behind being an amateur is that you do what you do out of love. It isn't lack of skill or polished final product that defines an amateur, it is the love that is poured into it. I love my kids, so I can teach them. And because I love my kids, I can love what I want them to learn.

I have personally seen that love take me a long way. Two years ago, the only Latin I knew was "et cetera." Now not only am I teaching Latin to my kids, but other parents pay me to teach Latin and 5 other subjects to their middle schoolers.

Many of us here on WA are creating websites out of what we are passionate about. We love photagraphy, we love teaching our kids, we love being healthy, we love the freedom that comes with building our own businesses.

And when that love is translated to our readers, it won't matter that we didn't go to art school or that we don't have a teaching certification or that we don't currently work as a nutritionist. What will matter is that the love we have for the subject of our sites translates into offering valuable information. And we don't have to be an expert to offer something of value.

Earlier today I was reading a blog post about starting a niche site by Pat Flynn, a former architect who has achieved great success with online businesses, including affiliate marketing. He noted that writing about something he knew little about ended up being "perfect for someone (else) who didn't know a thing about it" because he didn't know either. He found that he was able to translate the new information he discovered in a way that was easily understandable for beginners, because he was a beginner himself.

Now of course experts have a place and there is plenty to learn from those that have gone above and beyond in their fields to complete training, degrees, and certifications. This isn't an expert vs. amateur discussion, it's about how experts, amateurs, and those in between can all have a place at the table.

Am I a beginner affiliate marketer? Absolutely! Am I an amateur in my chosen niche? 100%! But I love learning about the possibilities that affiliate marketing can bring, and I love learning new and useful information about my niche.

So, if you are a complete newbie to affiliate marketing like me, and know little about your chosen niche but are excited to learn, be PROUD of your amateur status.

Peace & Blessings,

Falana