My Experience After 2 Years
Published on June 20, 2017
Published on Wealthy Affiliate — a platform for building real online businesses with modern training and AI.
I joined WA in June of 2015 and, I am still here!
I wanted to share with you all how much I've learned since joining and also some of the "fails" and successes that I've experienced along the way.
I hope that by the end of this post you can learn from some of my past 'mistakes' and also get some encouragement to continue moving forward with the training and your business...
Things I've (re)learned about myself.
I come from a working class background. From grandparents to parents to siblings. All I ever heard growing up was the traditional "go to school, get a job".
So that is what I did. Which, there is nothing wrong with.
(My dad, who has a well-paying job, still suggests that I get another job to this day. Something tells me even if when I one day double or triple his 'take-home' with a business, he will still not be impressed and suggest I go work for someone else) lol.
While at my last mundane job and going through the same motions of daily tasks, 6 days a week, I forgot how much I love to learn and be challenged.
I love to learn new things. If you ask anyone who knows me personally, they might describe me as being omniscient knowing random trivia or 'odd' facts.
I am constantly reading and getting advice from people (usually within my niche) and love doing so.
WA helped reintroduce me to that. As well as (this may sound like a cliche) the fact that I love communicating and helping others as well.
Moving on.
Before pointing out some of the small successes, I would like to focus on a few of my mistakes/fails.
FAIL!
I'm sure there are more that I can add to this list, but for now, there are three main personal "fails" that come to mind.

Fail #1 - Stepping outside of the training I just paid for.
When you're new to online business and have been working hard, there's one thing you want/need to happen to validate the work you have done. To make sure you are on the right track.
That thing is a sale. Or revenue.
I found early success in that it took me about 1 month to see my first sale. It was all the proof I needed and my mind was filled with all of the possibilities that were soon to come.
After that first sale, there was a period of crickets.....
I remember thinking, "What happened? Did I do something wrong?"
"Is my site functioning!?"
Of course it was. What happened is that while following the WA training, my second blog post ever created, ranked on the first page of Google in the #1 Spot.
It was a (500-word review, if that) and someone found it and decided to take action. Could this review have lead to more sales?
Of course it could of. Looking back at it now however, I almost cringe. It was poorly designed, not very informative, and wasn't written that well.
But still, it resonated with someone out there. Which in turn motivated me to push forward.
Anyways, after the first sale there were months of no sales.
This worried me and so though I was paying for membership to WA, I started looking at outsider advice to help me earn faster.
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This lead to more time and even money - down the drain.
(I bought apps to "get more Twitter/Instagram followers", paid for traffic, amongst other things).
It wasn't until I got serious, and paid full attention to the WA training that I started to see the results I initially joined for.
Fail #2 - Traffic Bots
While I was in a rush to earn, instead of learn the materials of properly building a business, I decided paying for traffic might result in more sales.
I spent some time on Fiverr (nothing against Fiverr) and found that someone will send "loads" of traffic to my site for a fee.
Again, all the endless possibilities came to mind. More people seeing my offers would result in more income $$$!
I was proven wrong.
Either my post and offers were bad, the traffic was low quality, I was being sent bots, or a mixture of all of the above.
Either way, this resulted in ZERO sales.
There are many effective ways to attract visitors to a website. My advice here is to avoid traffic exchange sites or paying for low-quality traffic from strangers.
Fail #3 - Complacency
To this day, I am confident I would be earning twice as much on a monthly basis had I not become complacent.
Again coming from a working background, I was use to going to work and earning a paycheck every two weeks.
Now, I was at home waking up to $100, $200, or even $300 on some mornings.
Wouldn't hurt to take the day off, would it? A single day became a few days, then week long breaks, and so on.
I went from writing 4-5 posts a week to 3-4 posts a month. Due to this, I began seeing a drop in traffic. I am still recovering, but traffic is improving.
For those who want to work from home, create their own schedule(s), spend more time with family, have sufficient income (whatever that means to you) and overall flexibilty...
Don't be lazy as I was. You have a business to grow and run :)
More success to come...
I've experienced some success along the way as well.
As I mentioned that first sale already, but there has been plenty more since.
I was serious about learning the materials and making this work. And so I have.
I had help from the community here, the training courses, and Jay's webinars. Take advantage of it!
Like I tell people all the time, I do not make a killing (yet) and there is much room for improvement. This keeps me motivated.
I do work from home 'full-time' and make enough to live comfortably in what I consider to be an expensive city in San Diego,CA.
Keep in mind this didn't happen overnight, but over time the investment I made to learn how to create an online business through WA paid off.
Another goal I accomplished was earning that invite to the annual WA conference early this year to meet Carson, Kyle, Jay, and some of the other guys:

You can read more about the trip here.
And as I pointed out, there is more success to come. For now, I am working on small goals, like more subscribers to my email list.
What made you join?
Like many of you, I can tell you that ultimately I joined WA for results.
I didn't fully understand what I was getting into when I joined.
But by taking the time to learn the process taught in the training and apply it to my own business/website, I have gotten results that have surpassed my expectations.
I see WA as a service and as a smart investment.
Feel free to share what made you want to join a service like WA in the comments below. I look forward to hearing your replies!
What to expect if you're just getting started...
I chose to work in the "make money/start a business online" space.
One of the most common questions I come by is: "Can I really make money?" OR "can people like me really make money online"?
The answer, Yes.
Realize, however, you can't just go from having some random idea into having a soaring business.
There's a process which includes work and effort that goes in between having that idea - to having an established/succeeding online business.
That process is taught right here at WA, along with all the tools you need to help you eventually work from home.
Thanks for tuning into my ramble/progress update/story. Hope that some of my experiences after just 2 years helps.
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