Feeling discouraged at this point but still fighting!
Hi Guys
This is an update report on my progress here at Wealthy Affiliate.
I can't say I'm doing great unfortunately because after 4 months of putting in a lot of hard work and many hours, there are still no sales.
I don't want to use the word "results" because I get plenty results, just not the results I'm looking for :)
I understand the concept of how this is suppose to work and have no doubts that IT CAN work for some people or a lot of people... BUT if it's not working for YOU or ME, what do we do?
Back to the drawing board? Back to the lessons? Carry on fighting the fight? Just hold out and keep going?
I feel like I'm doing something wrong at this point and here is why...
When I started working online in 2009 this is what I had:
1. No experience.
2. No money.
3. No network.
4. Very little technical PC knowledge.
5. Young, impulsive and VERY ambitious.
I opened a eCommerce BidorBuy account here in South Africa and started selling random stuff (part-time). Had no idea what I was doing but that didn't bug me at all.
The first month I sold a printer cable! Yaaay, made about R30 ($2.20) profit but I was over the moon because it was my first online sale! :)
The second month I sold a few more items, some older Lego, comics and second hand stuff I didn't need anymore.
My reputation grew slowly and the ratings came in nicely (all positive), good progress was made.
After 3 months I was able to replace my chauffeur salary (previous job) which meant I could do this full time now!! YES, this was so exciting I remember, quit my job JUST LIKE THAT.
After the 4th month things were rolling well and have been pretty steady to date and growing slowly each year.
When I started with Wealthy Affiliate in 2016 this is what I had:
1. 7 years+ experience online.
2. A bit of money.
3. A network of about 8000+ contacts.
4. Much more technical PC knowledge and overall navigation and orientation.
5. Bit older now, conservatively impulsive (lol) but EVEN MORE ambitious and zestful.
BUT yet, zero sales after 4 months!
How many sales?
0
Yes I know, bad right? :p
Not sure what I am doing wrong, I follow the lessons, do the work, using keywords, write the content, share on social media, send emails, interact with many people, helping who I can and when I can (everyday at least 1 person), I have no problems being motivated or grinding when needed and every single day I take ACTION! Like Kyle said we should be doing.
Hope this doesn't sound like complaining, perhaps a little because I feel quite frustrated but still very determined to make this work...
Like I told Veronica here on WA "I will CRACK this SUCKER" eventually! :D
This is my url in case anyone would like to look over my site and could tell me what I'm doing wrong or what I could do right.
https://affiliateincomemarketing.com/
I know I need a opt-in widget or something but have not learned this lesson yet so getting there soon I hope.
So after all this, if you still reading haha, I'm still here contending! ^^,
Best regards and God bless,
Kamil
Recent Comments
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Keep at it . We have a saying here you might be interested in what goes around comes around your time is close when you have said online what is wrong. start over do it another way perhaps. might be worth it looking at it from a buyer point of view . would you buy it , if not why not. no experience at it either . no skills
Thank you Heather, totally get what you saying :)
I only promote what I have tried and tested or enjoy doing on my website so hopefully it comes across as genuine and trustworthy.
Regards,
Kamil
Hi There! I wanted to reach out to you and say first of all, Thank you for sharing your experience. It helped me and I am just starting in this whole thing. I can only think that the reasons you choose WA is similar to my own, hold on to that, stay encouraged, hang in there, you will punch through. I can't wait to hear about your future success.
Hi Marcel
Thank you, I'm glad this helped in some way and you have the right attitude already!
Just remember it is going to become more challenging as you go BUT it seems as we go through these stages, they help us grow tremendously.
Welcome to the WA family Marcel and I wish you the very best on your journey to online success ;)
Regards,
Kamil
You're just scratching the surface with your site. You need to publish at least 3-4 times a week, especially for a bootcamp site. You're competing with other bootcamp sites that are publishing everyday.
Your site has been set up very nicely and professional. It really looks great, you just need to keep cranking out the posts more. Try to get to 15-20 posts per month.
Give yourself a good year to a year and a half for a bootcamp site. I have seen too many times that it works... it will work for you too if you can stick with it long term and continue to put in the hard work.
Make sure your posts are at least 1000 words, 1500 is better.
Best of luck to you! I'm right there with you feeling frustrated but this is how blogging and affiliate marketing works. Some niches do better earlier and some take a bit longer.. either way, you can make money with any niche. Just keep pushing forward.
Read these too for motivation: New To WA, Want To Quit or Have Doubts? Success Stories Will Show You The Money! Grace
Hi Grace
Thank you so much for the encouragement! ^^
I struggle to post 3 times a week due to a full time job and extra hours running my online ventures. On average I take about 6-8 hours with a 2000 word post or about 4 hours for a 1000 word post.
I understand I need to be consistent so hanging in there till I improve with writing skills, speed etc.
Thank you for the link, will read it asap.
I only know one direction... forward :)
Kind regards,
Kamil
The most important is that you are moving forward. With your full time job, that is hard. With your other online ventures, you may want to think about letting some of it go so you can spend on your focus on one project. So many successful members have said to only concentrate your efforts on one site. Especially in the beginning when you are still learning.
You will get better at writing as you do it more. It takes me much faster today than when I first started 8 months ago to write a thousand words.
Just keep being consistent, if you can do one post a week, keep to your schedule. Don't be sporadic in your publishing schedule, this will play a role in your rankings and getting indexed quickly.
Wish you much success!
Grace
Thank you Grace.
For now I need to do those ventures because they bring in extra money to live and provide.
If I throw away something that is making money to do something I'm hoping will make money (and working hard towards it) would that not be going backwards? :p
But get what you saying Grace, not to overwhelm.
Im learning that this isn't an over night making money venture. But actually never though it was. We really have to treat it like a business. Im also told by a coworker that the internet audience are the most hard to please. There is lots of competition. So it will take time. Keep doing what you are doing and it will work out.
Great point Thomas, seems obvious in hindsight but I never considered that the internet audience is harder to please.
Thanks Thomas ;)
Oh yeah, definitely a tough crowd to please, most are looking for quick and easy get rich fast methods. After working online for over 8 years I am yet to find a program like this, that's not a scam of course lol :p
All the best Sir and I hope to see you around.
Regards,
Kamil
Kamil, I appreciate you placing your feelings out on your sleeve. It's frustrating when you do everything right, and you still don't see results but you are not alone.
And when you have tasted past success, it can be particularly furstrating - you feel like you are going backwards.
Read my latest blog post and you will know what I mean:
my.wealthyaffiliate.com/jetrbby80316/blog/seo-evolution-my-ever-changing-views-on-seo
But that doesn't mean I am giving up, I am reassessing, seeing what works and what doesn't work, and trying different methods.We must do MANY things properly simultaneously to see results - we can't just do 2 or 3 things. And we constantly need to reassess and "tweak" what we are doing until we find the right combination.
Hang in there.
Hi Kaju
Really appreciate your kind and encouraging words ;)
Will go read your SEO posts asap, thank you.
Regards,
Kamil
Hey there buddy,
I so appreciate your honesty! Your previous online success is interesting to read; leaving your job was a bold move, Kamil.
There was one word that came to mind as I read your post: time.
I think it can either be our best friend or our worst enemy. You're achieved great success with your previous online venture, so that prooves that you have what it takes to succeed. Quitting your job after only 4 months of success seems crazy to me! But it felt just right for you. It's all in the timing.
Keep asking the questions, keep seaching for a better way, keep writing, Kamil. I visited your site the other day and was blown away! It really does look incredible!
You will "crack this sucker" indeed!!!
Hey Veronica!
You are to kind my friend, at this rate I might have to send you flowers :D
Yes, I was actually fed up with my boss who treated me like cr** and this motivated me to GET OUT! lol
When you young and impulsive these things tend to happen.
I would do it all over again and have never looked back since or regretted the decision I made. Glad it happened and here I am 8 years later.
Take care Veronica and thank you kindly for all your generous support... GIRL, that smile... IT MAKES MY DAY! ^^,
Please don't change that photo ever, unless its with a BIGGER smile.
Best regards,
Kamil
You're too kind, Kamil. I've never seen flowers from South Africa, I'm sure they are absolutely stunning...I'll take 2 dozen!!!
Hey Kamil,
I totally understand your feelings as I am in the same shoe as well. I am doing everything that I can and I believe that I have pretty good traffic for a beginner and yet no sales up to now. I do not know what the mistake is. I just hope it is still worth the effort. Thanks for sharing
Hi Praveena
I really think we should hang in for now and just keep learning and growing. I thought it would be easy because I really don't mind working hard for something worthwhile and this is one of those things.
We need to realize that we not building a mickey mouse business and there will be struggles and hard times but that's why we have such a wonderful community here at WA to assist and encourage us :)
Kind Regards,
Kamil
You have the right attitude and that's important. I think it's also important to remember, and you know this, that 4 months in is nothing in online business.
I've been in the fire department 15 years. I think about 4 months in and sounds of a baby being born echo in my head.
To give you some reassurance, the guy who got me involved with WA shared with me something that really got me going early on. He went 9 months without a single sale. 9 months. But he knew he was doing things right. He knew he was building quality content.
He's proud that he can now say 3 years in that he has a $4,000 month under his belt. It's all about not quitting, right? He'd have never had that success if he had quit 9 months in.
I'm sure you know what you're doing, and we're all here to support you. It's just a matter of sticking with it.
Since you asked for whatever pointers we can give to help, I'll share with you this tutorial I put together just yesterday. Even though you may already know some of these points, a refresher always helps right? How Can I Get More Traffic I wish you the best of luck and continued determination. Keep it up and keep us informed!
Wow Eric, thank you so much for this reply! Means a lot man ;)
I remember still when you told me once to pack my toys and go home on live chat haha! Do you remember that time?
I came to cry there about something and you gave me good whopping to set me straight! :D
Although WA is not my first gig, I certainly feel like a bit of a noob here, especially when it comes to HTML and the more hardcore technical issues with WordPress. It feels like starting fresh all over again but with less positive results, always something new to learn I guess.
Will definitely have a look at your training, the problem isn't traffic really but conversions, even though my traffic is low it doesn't add up to the estimated figures Kyle presents on "Program Details".
A lot of people have signed up under my referral link, the problem is most of them have not created their profile and only a few completed their profile but have left since and so my conversion ratio is 0.
Lets hope it gets better.
Thanks again for your comment Eric! Much appreciated ;)
All the best,
Kamil
I seem to remember that lol. And I didn't mean it in a harsh way at all. You just had all the answers that night is all. So you obviously didn't need any of us that night.
Think of this process as a math equation. You're getting through to a point, like you said, with referrals signing up, so now all you have to do is tweak here and tweak there and you'll get the full result.
Someone said once "if you can sign up one you can sign up 100". And it's true.
Just a matter of sticking with it is all. What if it took 5 years, and then everything kicked in the way you wanted, wouldn't those 5 years of work be worth it?
So stick with it and don't let up, know what I mean? Just a matter of keeping that drive.
With you all the way Eric! and I really hope this encourages early members that going through the same process... don't run away guys!...
and if you want to hear about how to recover from mega failure just PM me :p
Maybe that should be my next post?
As long as you keep the mood light, lol. You don't want to post about mega failure and scare people. Maybe refer to it as a hiccup, because in the big scheme of things, that's all it is really, right?
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Hi Kamil,
Thanks for your honesty. Don't get disheartened, like any business it takes time. For some people, success comes early but for most it comes later. I've read several success stories from those who have become successful and many of them say the same thing:
"It takes time" and "don't give up!"
I've given myself 2 years to make a descent amount of money before I can do this full time. And I'm pleased with the progress I've made so far - although I could've done better over the past year, if I had more time.
The great thing is, you've proven with your previous online initiative that you can "crack it" and you can do the same here.
Hang in there :-)
Thank you Gaylene for the encouragement.
I really hope it doesn't take 2 years but if that's what it takes then one must have true patience and endurance :)
Regards,
Kamil