When the Going gets Tough

byJnsiah

2.5K followers

7 years ago

Life is never straight forward. It has its ups and downs and so is the affiliate marketing business. When you start your business, hopeful that you have stumbled on your future dream job of eventually working for yourself. For parents, it is having the flexibility to look after the kids whilst you earn some dough. You begin thinking, soon there will be no more answering to that arrogant boss, but then down the line you hit rock bottom. You notice that running a business is not that straight forward, you are not only are you running your department but you are also in charge of operations, website design, blogging, audience feedback, email marketing, social media marketing, accounting and keeping track of all your overheads. How do you deal with the reality check and move on?

Back to Basics

It is handy to record you initial plan on paper. Business plans are voluminous but you could use the one sheet business plan sheet by studying the business canvas model. Download the template of the model and record you initial plan. Stick the sheet next to you desk and refer to it anytime. In tough times it will be good to refer and find out where things haven't worked out. The question is have things worked out the way you thought? Business is about learning. Once you start a business, including affiliate marketing you current knowledge will exceed you previous. You may not realise that but it will all come together one day.

Ask for Help and help others

I for one think that I can do all things by myself. Not because I know so much but because I think I can do anything I put my mind to. My curiosity trait may be the other reason for this. But the amount of time I am spending on new things takes me away from doing what I do well. Asking for help will reduce your time by 50 - 100%. Don't wait for the tough times to appear before you ask, mitigate against the down times by asking for help in advance. People are willing to help when you ask nicely. Studies show that we learn well when we teach others and we feel good when we able to solve a problem. So ask on the WA platform, no question is stupid, save yourself from wasting that valuable time.

Outsource if you can

Thanks to the power of online, you can get things done for a fiver. I am very good at editing so even if I think I can do better with what was done I perfect it by spending little time but get a better outcome and save on the time I would spend initiating the whole process from the start. Some (cheap) spend can produce some amazing stuff and can only know only if you try. Doing everything by yourself can get you down. Most companies have sales, Marketing, Finance, production or operations and personnel department. There is a reason for that. To cut down on cost we take on all these tasks and sometimes we know very little about it. Knowing about finance is the backbone of your business if you want to profit from it. Non-profit venture businesses still need to understand what their burn rate is. The existence of outsourcing companies eliminates the need for all the different departments within your business. You can operate on "pay as you need" basis. By trying the different outsourcing companies you will know where the best talents are and who to use in the future. Ask your WA colleagues to recommend people to you and again they will be more than willing to do that.

Understand your audience

Avatar is one of the online jargon's I have come across and I am sure you have too. Picture who your Avatar is, what do they eat where do they live and where do they hangout. Once you understand them and keep learning more about your Avatar, you can predict or understand their actions. This makes you comfortable when dealing with your audience. Not knowing about your Avatar can get you down or make it difficult to find them. This can also contribute to the going getting tough. Paint a picture of your avatar and keep adding their needs. The list of your Avatar's needs will not end once you know them. Life can be very comfortable if you have those insights about your Avatar.

Monitor and Review

A study was conducted on people who were able to stay slim for the longer term and surprisingly it wasn't their strictness to dieting or an exercise regime. The studies found out that those who maintained a slim body kept a daily record of their diet and exercise. They reviewed their records and made improvements in the days ahead. We need to keep a record of how we are doing with our affiliate marketing. The effort and time we put in daily, the feed back, marketing, emails being sent as well as the reactions we get from the actions we take. The costs of the tools we use and how often we use them. Records of the return on investment generated from the tools we are using. I recently had to do away with a few of my tools when I reviewed the returns all the tools have brought me. I ended up canceling three of my core tools for info graphics, video and email marketing.

Conclusion

Without doubt there are moments when we feel things are not going the right way. Our dreams sometimes seems far away. But we shouldn't think of it as a failure but an experience that we can capitalize on to move us to the next step. Sometimes what we feel as failure may be a step towards our success. The tough times will always come but how we prepare for it and deal with it is the key. Sticking to the basics and reviewing what has changed will help us move on very quickly. We shouldn't get stressed about things that takes us longer to learn but ask for help or outsource if we can spend our time better on other tasks. Monitoring and reviewing our progress level is also key. More importantly let us know our Avatar, learn about them and get to know them more. We should also know more about ourselves and what makes us tick. When the going gets tough, know that it is only for a short period and it will soon be a think of the past. Wish you the very best.