Time to Stop Making Excuses and actually build a profitable affiliate marketing business!

byharmsey89

304 followers

6 months ago

Hey everyone,

Most of you probably don’t know me, even though I’ve been paying my premium membership fees for nearly 7 years now. It’s crazy to think about, it’s also 7 years of believing in what Wealthy Affiliate offers while barely doing anything with it.

I keep paying because I genuinely believe this platform gives people the best shot at making money online.

The training is solid, the tools are here, and the community actually wants to help. But believing in something and actually executing on it? Two completely different things.

My Track Record

When I first joined WA, I had some early success. I followed the training, built a site, used Amazon affiliate links, and drove traffic via SEO and Instagram. Nothing earth-shattering, but I was making some money. However, when it wasn’t life-changing income, I quit. Traffic died, and I let the domain expire.

Before WA, I’d bounced around trying different ways to make money online. Started with eBay sales and actually became a low-tier top seller, but man, was it time consuming. Then I tried running penny auction websites, again, low profit and ate up all my time.

That’s when I realized affiliate marketing is where it’s at. No customer returns, no shipping headaches, no dealing with product quality issues, and once you get momentum, it can generate passive income. The benefits are obvious, but I made excuses.

My Greatest Hits Collection of Excuses

My primary site has been sitting here this entire time, in the make money online niche. Over 7 years, I’ve thrown maybe 15-20 articles on it. That’s it.

I got trapped by perfectionism. I spent so much time obsessing over the brand and design that when it didn’t look exactly how I envisioned, I’d quit and start over. I believe both Kyle and Jay have essentially said that Perfectionism kills progress.

Then there’s the shiny object syndrome. I’ve bought more software, programs, and training courses than I care to admit.

And sure, I’ve got all the usual life excuses too. Started with no kids, now I have two. We’ve moved multiple times. Work gets in the way. I’m getting older. The list is endless, and honestly, they’re all just excuses.

What I’ve Been Up To, I’m finally getting serious

Over the past month, I’ve started picking up the pieces. After a self prescribed reality check, I can say I’ve wasted A LOT of money over the years.

I’m rebuilding my website from scratch. Cut the expensive page builder I was using (saving over $200 annually) and since I have a web design background, I’m recreating everything myself.

I’m also recreating and updating my old articles, trying to make them actually useful instead of just filler content. I’ll be using AI to help speed things up, but let me be clear, I’m not having AI write my content. It’s AI assisted, not AI created. My thoughts, my experiences, but AI helps me make it flow better and catch things I miss.

The Plan for the Rest of 2025

My focus is simple: create genuinely helpful content for people looking to make money online. My primary promotion will be Wealthy Affiliate – not because it guarantees success (I’m living proof it doesn’t guarantee anything), but because it’s honestly the best solution for training, support, and having all the tools you need in one place.

I’m not limiting myself to one income stream either. Cash back apps, eBay sales, building assets that generate income – the goal is to make my money work for me, then have that money make even more money.

Wrapping This Up

So that’s my story, 7 years of paying for a platform I believed in but have barely used, I’m finally ready to stop making excuses and actually build a successful online business.

I probably won’t be posting much in the forums going forward, except for the occasional progress update. I’ve seen too many people (including ambassadors) get caught up in the community aspect and lose focus on actually building their business. My goal isn’t to become an ambassador here, though if it happens naturally, cool.

If you have questions, feel free to reach out. Like I mentioned, I’m actually a solid designer, that was never my problem. My problem was everything else.

Here’s to finishing 2025 with some actual results to show for it.