Are You Willing to Work for FREE? (The Secret to Success in Anything!)
Let me ask you a question...
If someone asks you to work for him without him paying you anything in return, basically you're working for free, are you going to accept it?
Probably not.
What if I told you that this person who wants you to work for free is people like Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos? Are you willing to work for FREE?
Some of you may say yes and some may say no.
There's no right or wrong answer to this question. But your answer will most probably determine your financial outcome, whether you're struggling financially for life or you can enjoy financial freedom.
Here's the thing...
A lot of successful people encourage young people to go work for somebody for free, especially for people you love and admire.
Similarly, Robert Kiyosaki, the international best-selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, told the story in his book about how his "Rich dad" made him and his best friend Mike work for him (Rich Dad) without paying them anything at a very young age.
This is not a coincidence.
There's a rationale for how working for FREE can help you succeed.
How does working for FREE leads you to success?
The reason is this...
You need to detach MONEY from the amount of TIME and EFFORT you put into something.
We're so used to get paid based on the amount of time we work. Am I right?
That's how we were taught and raised. It is also how the traditional society works. There's nothing wrong with that.
But if you want to succeed in life and achieve financial freedom, you've got to change your mindset and think differently.
The reason why successful people like Gary Vee advises young people to work for somebody for free is because they need to put their main focus on learning, instead to earning.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to learn from someone who has already achieved success in that area. The only way for you to DIRECTLY learn from someone like that is to work for him/her for FREE.
Similarly, Robert Kiyosaki was taught to work for FREE when he was young because that's when he learnt how to make your business or your money work for you, instead of you working for it.
If you've studied people's success stories, you'll find that most people who succeed has undergone a long period of time working for nothing but a dream!
So, How does this apply to Affiliate Marketing?
Simply put, the only way for you to succeed in affiliate marketing is when you are willing to work for FREE.
Why?
Affiliate Marketing is just like any other business, it takes time for you to build your foundation, set up your website, create content, get your content rank in Google.
All these take time and you're not going to be PAID during this time period.
For those people who only focus on the results and how fast they can start making money, they'll likely to quit prematurely. Simply because they don't have enough patience.
However, if you're willing to consistently put in the hard work despite not seeing any results, there's a high chance that you'll succeed eventually.
If you keep taking actions, keep creating quality contents, keep learning, eventually Google will trust your website, give you the rankings and send you the traffic you deserve.
Affiliate Marketing and any other business work like an exponential graph:
In the beginning, you're going to put in a lot of hard work without seeing any results.
Slowly, you business will start to gain some traction over time if you keep putting in consistent hard work.
And eventually, your traffic, sales and income will just grow exponentially.
That's the reality. But in order for you to enjoy the huge reward at the back, you need to be willing to WORK FOR FREE and push through the tough times.
Here's my personal proof:
This was my income growth from Jan 2018 to Sept 2018.
Can you see how this pattern is exactly the same as what I've illustrated earlier on?
How long does it take?
A lot of beginners keep asking the same question: How long before I can see any results? How long before I can start making money?
The answer is simple: It depends!
It depends on how much time and effort you're willing to put into your business every week and every single day.
For me personally, I started working on this full-time since Jan 2018. Prior to that I was constantly learning for almost 2 years when I was still serving full-time army.
So if you have a full-time job or any other commitments, you're most likely going to take longer.
But the most important thing to know is that Wealthy Affiliate defintiely works.
And whether it works for you all depends on YOURSELF!
If you can change your mindset and start working for free, you're not going to ask those questions again and that's when you're more likely to succeed.
But for the sake of those who are really really curious and want to have a rough gauge, I'll end off this post with another post I've written on this matter:
How Long Does it take to Make Money at Wealthy Affiliate?
I know it's hard to change your mindset by just reading one blog post.
But I do sincerely hope that this concept makes sense to you and you can consciously make those changes in terms of your mindset and your actions day by day.
Slow and steady wins the race!
I wish you all the best and I'll see you at the top :)
Recent Comments
95
Bang on the money Jerry (no pun intended)!
When you detach earnings from your mindset it really helps with motivation too. I prefer to focus on building a customer base. If that means taking a hit early on so be it! I believe that any early hits will eventually lead to traction then take-off.
Paying it forward is one way of putting it but it's all about building a foundation and being patient.
Nice blog and yes - see you at the top!
Hey Craig,
Yes building your customer base is very important. One thing I learnt recently that will help anyone in their business in the long run is personal branding!
Personal Branding is something that really takes time but it'll pay off by A LOT in the future if done right!
And yup, paying it forward is the way to go :)
Very well worded, Jerry. The comparison between working for somebody else (for free) and starting your own online business are almost identical.
1. Both are going through a learning curve or phase that are leading up to your understanding as well as developing skills.
2. You’re not earning any money for your time.
3. The more focus you can be and stay the faster you will reach your goal; expertise and knowledge.
Ken
Your post reminds me of the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. He tells of a man, I can't remember his name, who went to work for Thomas Edison for free so he could learn the secrets of Edison's success. The man became wealthy too. Good post.
Grant
You've raised a few extremely good points in this post. Yes, slow and steady does win the race... fingers crossed on that one.
I'm not sure that there are schools like ours all over my country, much less all over the world, but we have a good school system here where I live in Northern Virginia. They have children in grade school work on service projects and volunteer their time from an early age. These service hours are required in increasing increments in middle and high school. I think this teaches not only to give to others but the importance of working for free.
A study in our school system last year found that at the middle and high school levels, kids worked a total of 10 hours over their requirement per semester on average. It has also been noted that the rate of students who go on to some sort of post-secondary education has risen since these policies have been implemented and it is also rising each year.
I knew that it would take a lot of time and effort to put together my website. Yes, I would love the extra money at this point, but not because I am living at a loss. My husband makes a very good living doing what he loves to do. There are just so many more experiences I want to have and the best way to ensure that I get them is to start making money of my own to supplement what he makes.
Hey Anita,
Thanks for sharing all these!
I believe the intention for schools to have these volunteer service project is good.
But from my experience in Singapore, this kind of volunteer work is kind of like a requirement in order for you to have a good conduct grade or good report card when you graduate.
In that case, I don't think students really learn the importance of being WILLING to work for free because majority of them are just physically there to "meet the requirement". They don't spend their time there meaningfully and they don't learn any lessons.
At least that's my experience for Singapore schools. Even after going through these, nobody is there teaching them the value of working for free. Majority are still competing for grades and competing to get a higher-paying job, which is again working for money.
But anyway, you've raised up some good points so thank you for that! And I wish you all the best for your online business :)
I know that the points you made are valid for some of the kids around here. There are teachers at my son's school that are teaching the importance of working for free. At least the teachers I've come in contact with have stressed it.
I'm sure there are some kids out there who are just doing it so they don't fail. Grades aren't given in our district for service hours, however, you must complete them to move forward. In a way, that's the way it is here at WA. If you want to move forward, you have to put in the work.
There is a big movement in the US with Millenials to have more meaningful experiences than to have lots of money. They are going off the grid and buying tiny houses that are mobile. The less is more mentality.
My older daughter is not concerned with having the biggest and the best. She is concerned that she makes enough to pay off her student loans. Considering she wants to eventually be a doctor, those are going to be considerable. She didn't decide to be a doctor because it pays well. She's doing it to help others. It is something she has wanted for a very long time (since she was about 7 or 8).
It will be interesting to see what lessons we are able to learn in the future from having kids do service hours.
I've always subscribed to the belief that if you find a job that you love, then you will never work a day in your life. I had a good teacher. My grandfather (who raised me) was courted by several airlines after WWII. He chose instead to teach others to fly, which paid considerably less. He never once complained. He loved what he did!
It was a lesson I learned myself later in my life. I took several jobs in my life because I needed the money. I wasn't happy for long. In fact, the more I tended to make, the less happy I was. It wasn't until I decided to stop doing what other people thought I should do and started doing what interested me that I found happiness.
And here I am remaking myself all over again here. I had to give up being a medic (and believe me, they make next to nothing here in the States) because if a career-ending injury. If I hadn't happened, I would have been doing it for much longer. I even considered doing it for free when I first moved here at our volunteer fire and rescue squad.
Thanks for putting up with my long responses. It's been a good conversation.
Anita
Hey Anita,
It’s really inspiring to read about your story and what you’ve just shared!
I do agree with you that if are doing something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.
We definitely shouldn’t work for money. I believe money is the by-product of the amount of value we can create for our target audience and our society.
The amount of money we can make is in proportion to the amount of value we can generate :)
See more comments
Thanks for the great post dear Friend... Really Helpful...
Awesome! You're welcome :)