How Wealthy Affiliate Has Changed My Life - 6 Month review

They always say time flies when you are having fun, and it must be true because I find it hard to believe that I joined Wealthy Affiliate 6 months ago. In these 6 months many things have changed for me and today I would like to share with you how WA has changed my life.

My Outlook On Life

Prior to WA I was generally a positive minded guy, though I struggled with some mild depression occasionally, especially through the end of Fall and Winter months. It must have been fate that guided me to land at WA just as those times were starting. For the first time in a long time, I did not go through my annual depression as I was so excited about the opportunity I had found.

As I progressed through the training and engaged myself in the community, I found that I was building on my beliefs of being positive. I was taking everything I learned and experienced and advancing myself mentally to a new and higher level. Now it is not uncommon to see me blog or post about the importance of having such a mindset, which only further increases my level.

Career Choices - Light At The End Of The Tunnel

With the beginning of the century I had landed a job at what would become a worldwide company in T-Mobile. I quickly climbed through the ranks, starting off as a temporary worker in a call center, to being a store manager for my last 2 years there. Then, a few days before Christmas of 2006 that all came crashing down when I was fired. They said I did a great job, but were going a different direction. In reality, it was either a personal vendetta or that I was at the top of the pay scale for my position and due another raise.

It took me another good two years before I would find stability in my career again. This time I ended up at a small "mom & pop" insurance agency. While I was not making near the money that I was just years prior, the stress levels were much easier to handle. However, as I neared my 5 year anniversary here the financial strain was starting to build.

This is when I started looking for way to start my own business on the side and build something while I worked my normal job still. I thought I could find a way to earn money online and began to investigate that avenue. After almost falling for a "scamish" opportunity, I found WA.

Wealthy Affiliate Just Felt Right

When I found WA I had that immediate gut feeling that I had found what I was looking for. I was bouncing off the walls with excitement as I spent my first week going through the training on the free trial. By day 6 I was even more excited and knew in my heart that it was the right place for me, so I popped for the premium membership.

Month after month went by and the initial excitement that I had continued to linger and if anything grew stronger. It would only take 6 weeks before I was satisfied enough with WA to start a second site to promote it. Initially I avoided that as I did not want to promote something that I did not know if it worked or not.

Climbing The Ranks

I have always been torn with this issue as on one hand my ranking here is not important to me, but on the other I use it as a gauge to help me know that I am doing what I want to do. What is it exactly that it helps remind me to do? Help others on their own journey.

Why is helping others important to me? Well, I could probably wax on about that for a long time, but the long story short is that I feel it is the right thing to do. I am a firm believer in the Golden Rule & Karma. When I help others, not only am I planting good karma seeds for myself, but I am also treating people in the way that I would like to be treated too.

As I approached the Ambassador level of Ranking I began to struggle with these two different thoughts, but in the end I made the push to continue to be helpful as much as I was able to. See I figured that if it helps to surround yourself with other successful people to help find your own success, then I would make sure all of those around me here were as successful as I could help them to be. This has resulted in me having the honor of being a Wealthy Affiliate Ambassador.

My Financial Perspective

One of the reasons I started this whole process was to help relieve the financial stress that i was under. However when it comes to doing business, I have always taken the slow and steady approach. I want to be well versed in the knowledge that I present and build a business that will work over a long period of time versus a quick buck.

As I progressed through the training here, my focus on the money side became less and less. I put all of my efforts towards building solid foundations that I would be able to monetize more at a later point.

Now all of this does not mean that I have not earned anything, as I have. I have earned money via both of my websites as well as for the training that I have created here. I am still in the red after popping for the annual premium here, but with every month that goes by my income continues to climb.

Also, the more that I learn here the more brighter my future becomes. Soon I will be officially starting my Web Design services for local businesses in my area. I have already been in talks with a few perspective clients. In the end, it would only take one of these to put me solidly in the black. Once again though I am not rushing into this avenue until I feel that I am completely ready to provide a solid service to my clients.

So How Does This All Add Up?

Well, it is my opinion that I am in the right place. For the first time in my life I feel like I am actually holding the reigns to my own future. Now it is up to me to steer myself in the right direction and I feel that I now have a great grasp on how to do just that.

If it were not for Wealthy Affiliate I would be no where near where I am today. I would still be stuck in the dark with no light shining in my tunnel at all. It feels great to be on the cusp of a bright future and one that I am in control of.

My Thanks To YOU!

In closing, I would like to extend my thanks to everyone here. From all the people that have helped me along to all of the people whom I have been able to help. Special thanks go to Kyle & Carson, who have both helped me get through issues on several occasions.

If you are interested in learning more details about my journey here, you can visit my WA promotion site where I do catalog my experiences and knowledge gained.

Keep Working it Wealthy Affiliaters!

James W D