How to Explain Wealthy Affiliate to Friends and Family

byGooglmans

3.1K followers

Updated 7 years ago

The other day, with a little tone of skepticism in his voice, a friend was asking me how my online business is going.

My usual response would have been something like "It's coming along."

Sometimes I try to explain the process of building an online business only to get the deer in the headlights look.

In this case, I decided to go with an analogy to explain my journey.

I started to explain my brick by brick analogy,

There once was this guy; we'll call him Bob, who had no clue how to start a thriving business.

He went on with his daily routine of commuting to work to a job...that paid the bills. His job was "OK," but not more than that. Bob didn't wake each morning with a skip in his step. It was more of crawl out of bed, drag himself to get ready to face the daily routine of making a living.

Finding WA

One day, Bob was introduced with an opportunity to build his own business. All he had to do is pay a small monthly fee, and he was provided with a property to build his business, manuals and a pile of bricks.

People would commute past the property and its pile of bricks daily, taking a mere glance as they went by.

Bob would start by sitting down at his property and bricks daily to read his manuals and practice to lay his bricks on top of each other to make a wall. Many times his wall would fall, or he would knock it down as the wall looked horrible, but he didn't give up.

Bob kept going, one thing the people commuting past each day didn't see was Bob walking over to his neighbors every day who were building their businesses.

The whole WA street had people like Bob that were provided with the same business opportunity. Some were new to brick laying, some had experience but were using the wrong bricks, or their foundation wasn't strong enough.

After a while, Bob was confident enough to put down his foundation. His education and practice of laying bricks allowed him to start building his business.

Bob would continue to stop at his property daily after work to either lay a few bricks, do some cleaning up, read more manuals and talk to the neighbors.

As Bob's building started to have some bricks stacked, commuters would glance and now would slow down to have a better look.

Bob would continue building, cleaning and learning week after week. He would make some mistakes, putting a wall where it shouldn't be, neighbors would come over and provide some feedback and suggestions.

When Bob wasn't there, the neighbors would leave a note of encouragement or questions about his technique for building his walls.

Soon, Bob was having neighbors coming to him for advice on how to lay their bricks.

Bob remembered how it was at first, trying to get those bricks stacked up nicely so people driving by could see that his business is looking nice and will be solid.

People saw that once that building is finished, it will be a safe place to go in and that guy Bob is determined to make that a trustworthy place to be.

Temptation

Once in awhile, Bob would notice on other streets; people would build and open their businesses in weeks. They would drive up with these expensive campers they bought from a "Buy your instant business" lot, park it on the property and put up a facade on the camper with bright signs and flashing light arrows pointing towards the front door. The signs would describe products and services that just didn't seem possible. Bob would ask himself, "How can I compete with that?"

Bob would question if it is all worth it. Here he was laying bricks month after month only to have a shell of business with only a few people stopping to take a look around.

Then you had these guys with trailers, and people were going into their business by the bus load.

Bob couldn't help himself; he had to see these trailers for himself. Maybe he should change how he is building his business.

Bob would walk through the front door expecting all kinds of products and staff to help him out, only to find an empty trailer with more flashing signs, pay booths and doorways leading to more campers with signs and lights. Bob tried to find an exit as he went through the doors but there was no escape so retraced his path and left the building from the same door he went in. Bob thought that was a stupid crazy experience, no way he would ever consider buying such a business. Bob knew that one part of his business is to warn others not to buy into these fly by night scams.

Soon enough he would see that camper trailer pack up and leave, only to be replaced by a new camper. The campers would set up and leave within weeks.

Focus

Bob and his neighbors kept building their businesses with their bricks. Looking at each brick closely, placing them with care, knowing how each brick looks and feels. They know every inch of their business from the foundation up to the roof.

Now that Bob had his building, he was able to start stocking his shelves and put up his business sign up front so everyone can see. People would still commute past, most just a glance, some would stop and browse.

Bob would notice that the same people visiting his business would end up at another business down the road that had more people going in and out.

The other business would have front page listings in the Goozette and TheBingStar business directory that people had access everywhere. People would search the directories for something, and the directories pride themselves to direct people to trustworthy businesses like those on Bob's WA street.

They would NOT even look at the fly by campers. The only way the campers can get in their directories would be with paid ads, but they would only get in there by lying about having products that were not really available. As the directories noticed they lied in their ad, they would pull the ads and soon enough those campers would pack it up.

Bob would get visits from those other successful business owners. They would provide Bob with encouragement, describe their journey of success started at the same place where Bob started.

Road to Success

That is why Bob continues to lay one brick at a time, day after day. Even when Bob is not well enough or has little time to spend at the business, he stops every day and does something.

The Goozette and TheBingStar are starting to notice that Bob isn't another camper. They are moving him up the ranks in their directory. Bob is starting to get more visits to his business.

Bob knows he is on the right track.

Bob knows that his work will be successful just like his neighbors. The neighbors explain there is no magic secret, only hard work and determination to make a business successful and that takes time.

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My friend nods with approval and asks, " So you're selling bricks?"

Paul stands with the look of a deer in headlights and responds "It's coming along."