Super Affiliate Failing Forward
Failing Forward Quotes
I read a brilliant book a good few years ago. It was by John C. Maxwell and was called
Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success.
I have dotted this post with quotes from his book because this month has been an EPIC FAIL for me. BUT I am fine about it because I know I'm FAILING FORWARD.
Oh my goodness, am so glad no-one is grading my Super Affiliate Homework.
Because this month I failed. You can tell by the Missed Goals in red below. Hmm, so maybe we are we are being graded...
Want to know the funny thing about it me missing my Goals?
One of the posts I published for the Super Affiliate Challenge was called:
How to Achieve Goal after Goal
Bwahahaha
I laugh because well, March is over so what's done is done.
"When achievers fail, they see it as a momentary event, not a lifelong epidemic."
John C Maxwell - Failing Forward
And also because the post on Goal Achievement was written in a moment of PANIC when I was still stressing about getting 10 posts written in 2 days. (Clearly that never happened).
It's interesting to note what you do when you're in a tight squeeze.
No no... I should be writing this in the first person.
It was interesting to notice how I behaved once the pressure was on.
One week to go... 10 Posts to Go
For a few days, I did everything BUT my tasks for the Super Affiliate Challenge.
Procrastination is too high a price to pay for fear of failure. To conquer fear, you have to feel the fear and take action anyway. Forget motivation. Just do it.
John C Maxwell - Failing Forward
Early morning on the last 2 days I was still completing something else (unrelated to the Challenge) and an email popped into my inbox offering me a PLR book for only 10 Bucks.
For those who don't know the term PLR it stands for Private Label Rights which very simply means you can claim copyright on the item.
- You can use anything you like and change anything you like.
- You can sell the book as is or give it away free.
- You can change it's name, add yourself as the author and edit at will.
- You can use the content for blog posts or email newsletters.
- etc etc...
So in my crazy panic I thought GREAT!
A solution has presented itself.
I can use this content for my remaining 10 posts. This is going to be a breeze!
I quickly copied and pasted a couple of chapters into an online plagiarism tool to see whether anyone's published the content on the net or not.
They hadn't. Copy was certified 100% unique. Good news!
So I figured it was first mover advantage, I'll just get the content published chop-chop, adding keywords, making a few tweaks here and there. And voila! Job done. Mission accomplished.
I then pasted each chapter as a new post in Site Content and started looking for new Keywords in Jaaxy.
And that's when my great idea started to look like a bad idea.
Everything in life brings risk. It's true that you risk failure if you try something bold because you might miss it. But you also risk failure if you stand still and don't try anything new.
John C Maxwell - Failing Forward
Try as I might I could not turn the headlines for each chapter into keywords.
Plus, in trying to understand the headlines and search for better keywords, I actually had to read the content. A few times.
I discovered that the content in the book was convoluted and academic, not personal and interesting at all. Not blogworthy.
I realised it was just not going to work for my audience.
Choosing Quality over Quantity
In the end I found just one chapter that I could kinda tweak into shape and one fabulous low hanging fruit keyword and I set to work.
Which turned out to be an almost complete REWRITE, very loosely based on the original content.
I nearly pulled an all-nighter getting this "quick" post published.
"The essence of man is imperfection. Know that you're going to make mistakes. The fellow who never makes a mistake takes his orders from one who does."
John C Maxwell - Failing Forward
And I discovered a few valuable lessons in this process.
There are no shortcuts to success
Yes, I know there are plenty of people making big bucks on the net using PLR content.
And I'm sure there's a way you can use EXCELLENT PLR content in your blogs but I'm sure you have to sift through a lot of junk content to strike gold.
And you don't know what you're getting until you unpack it and work with it. (Thank Goodness I didn't buy the upsell package for 100 Bucks).
Successful bloggers did not become successful with junk content aimed at no audience in particular. Taking shortcuts like this one will kill my blog.
"Wake up and realize this: Failure is simply a price we pay to achieve success."
John C Maxwell - Failing Forward
Success is a process
In rewriting the blog post, I discovered a renewed interest in the process of writing itself.
I realised I like the way I write. I like blogging. I like choosing wording that makes a subject come alive. I like connecting with my audience.
So buying PLR content was a stupid idea but all was not lost. I gained a few ideas, a structure for my post. It didn't speed up my process (AT ALL). If anything it slowed me down but it did get me writing.
Success is in the journey, the continual process. And no matter how hard you work, you will not create the perfect plan or execute it without error. You will never get to the point that you no longer make mistakes, that you no longer fail.
John C Maxwell - Failing Forward
Acceptance. Surrender. Action.
And I gave up on striving for 10 posts in 2 days.
I accepted my limitations.
I surrendered.
I evaluated what I could accomplish comfortably in a day - which is ONE post a day.
I stopped doing anything towards my Ambassadorship. I stopped helping others.
And instead I focused my last 2 days on writing two final posts.
Which left me short of my original goal BUT NOT UNHAPPY.
"Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward.”
John C Maxwell - Failing Forward
Over to You
Have you ever tried using PLR Content?
How did this month's Super Affiliate Challenge go for you?
Did you make any mistakes?
Ready for month 3?
To YOUR Success
P.S. Oh... and I tried the Speech-to-Text tool in Google Drive. I discovered it works pretty well IF I speak loudly and clearly... so that timesaver will have to be reserved for days (nights) when I'm not trying to keep my voice down for fear of waking up the family. ;)
PPS. If you're still looking for the Super Affiliate Challenge you can find it here:
Super Affiliate Challenge - 12 Month Intensive Training
Recent Comments
55
Loved this post, Lauren. I had never heard of PLR content but after reading your experience I'm not even tempted to try it, LOL.
I've fallen on my face yet again on trying to get 12 posts on my Super Affiliate blog for the month, but at least I did two more posts than I did last month. That's some progress, anyway.
Something I keep running into is, when doing research on affiliate marketing topics I just keep pulling up other affiliate marketing websites on Google. A lot of them from WA!
And I can tell right away when they are affiliate marketing sites as I'm sure others can. They just have a certain look to them. In any case, it's hard to find really good info for my blog posts without rehashing the same stuff over and over again. It's kind of energy draining and time consuming without much productivity at the end of it all.
Hi Susan, love your new profile pic! Just read your updated profile and am so happy to hear you're here to stay.
Well done on your progress in the Super Affiliate Challenge. Awesome!
Aah, interesting problem. Have you tried looking elsewhere for information? i.e. Other than Google? For example, I find very different posts on affiliate marketing in Pinterest and Quora. Pinterest is a great go-to if you're looking for something different, something fresh and the visual imagery is so inspiring.
Hi Lauren,
What a great post. You have explained what writing quality content is truly about, putting your personal heart and soul into the writing.
I don't like the idea of using other authors to post content on my website, it seems shallow and dishonest. Articles that will benefit others will always win over quantity.
Your writing style is enjoyable and precise.
Thanks for the link to Super Affiliate Training, how did I miss this?
To your success,
Steve
Hi Steve
Thanks so much for the compliments. Absolute pleasure for the link to the Super Affiliate Challenge.
Ooh, hope you don't think me shallow. I actually publish a lot of other author's content on my sites, in the form of paid guest posts. It's been the source of most of my income so far.
I am pretty picky though. I have writing guidelines guest posters need to adhere to and stress how important it is to me that they write content targeted to my audience. I also choose a keyword for each post and add my own foreword and closing.paragraph and I indicate to my readers that this is a guest post or contributed post.
Most people don't really understand to role of failure. It seems that some people expect that they'll be successful in every single thing they try to do, the first time they try it.
But the key is to understand that failing at something does not mean that you are a failure. All it really means is that you did not do that thing well enough the first time, for whatever reason, and that's the knowledge that makes all the difference to the people who keep going...
You have such a lovely writing style - it would have been such a disappointment for your readers to get a convoluted PLR article...never mind 10!!! They wouldn't have known what has happened.
Anyway, if they have been following you for a while, they most likely wouldn't have time to read 10 articles in a day - just as you haven't got time to write 10... So stick to your pace and let readers enjoy what you have to say - better one great article than 10 inferior ones.
Onwards and Upwards. You are doing great failing forwards.
(I love the quotes...)
~ Isabella
Aw, Isabella, you say the sweetest things! Thank you for your belief in me and your lovely compliments.
Ooh, great point - my poor readers swamped with posts. I don't think I considered THAT aspect in my panic to get it all done. Wasn't thinking clearly at all at that stage. Lesson learnt.
Appreciate your observation, Thanks.
I have to admit I have never tried a PLR and not sure after what you reported that I ever would because my writing style is so different.
I still lack 2 posts but I may be able to get one out today but then again we have extra kids visiting and I want to spend time with them. Family comes first in my book.
I have enjoyed the speech to text so when I wake up at night I can talk ideas.
Have been using my time on the bus and waiting for the doctor to read and comment, so I'm still productive there but falling behind.
Oh well like you said, I'm doing the best I can, so my best is all I can do.
Tried and true
Elaine
Awesome Elaine. Thanks for always adding your voice to my posts. And well done on the Challenge. 10 posts published!! Good going! I tried to quickly publish one more post this morning and then realised I hadn't made my own cut-off in Site Content. So decided to hold it back for April's goals and post on WA instead.
Wow Lauren, really great blog. you hit on two words that should be looked at differently. The first is fear. It can take over your mind and control how you react to situations. Confronting your fears, recognise them and move on. Stagnation will cause you to arrive at the next word failure. It is only a stepping stone, as you stated towards success. A great athlete will always go over the game film, to see where they could have done better. Win or lose this is a habit to foster. Thanks for the quotes.
Absolute pleasure, Harvey. So happy to hear you enjoyed my post so much and got so much out of it.
Hi Laura. Great story i like failing forward as well. I have two books by Maxwell and i treasure them both. One us leadership and one is team work. I will have to look up your book.
I have a Q for you, you have 180 post published and 86 indeed in google. I have a similar discrepancy with my Google indexing and my site was crawled 2 days ago. What can we do to speed up getting things indexed faster?
Hi Glenys, happy to hear you are also a Maxwell fan.
Interestingly, it's mostly my most recent posts that are being indexed by Google. Google didn't like my site for a few months, not sure why but am not going to stress about it. Am just glad my posts are being indexed again.
As far as I know, your site will get indexed faster as you build authority online. Consistent posting and sharing and comments plus time equals authority.
The more popular your blog, the faster you are indexed, which is why WA blog posts are indexed almost instantly.
My posts get indexed automatically now but for a while I added them via Fetch as Google (which didn't help) and then switched to Add URL after reading this post by Dominic Wells. Don't Use Fetch As Google - Use AddURL Add URL seemed to get me back in favour with Google.
Ok cool. Thanks for sharing your experience Lauren. I know that Google is totally out of my control.
Don't worry about missing some "goals" this month.... I have a great quote for you from Brian Tracey - "there are no unrealistic goals, only unrealistic deadlines". I know that month 3 will go really well for you.
Cheers.
Thanks for that little tip Lauren. I just gave it a go. I got around x10 urls submitted ( I didn't actually count them), then I got a message saying that I had reached my maximum submissions and to try back in a few days.
Anyway, the process was very simple and straight forward, so fingers crossed that it all goes really well.
Thanks for the tip. I will remember that one for future reference.
Hi Lauren Jean, I am not a super affiliate but, I would think that quality would out-weigh quantity. I admire you guys for taking on such an EPIC task, you are all doing a great job.
Your Mr John C Maxwell is a very wise man.
Good luck with next months challenges
Jenny
Thanks for your kind words and encouragement, Jenny. Glad you enjoyed the John Maxwell quotes.
What an awesome post, Lauren, I think that we all share that angst from time to time like three or four times a week, little lol. I guess that accepting where we are, is the first step to getting to where we want to be.
Looking at your word count in site content that is not too shabby, something to be proud of a real achievement that will continue to grow.
A few more mistakes than the national average this month, next month will be a build some momentum into it, month, it is still a long way to go to get to the finish line which I am suspecting will only just be the starting line.
Really like voice to tex, a cool option.
Aw, Thanks for reminding me I am not alone and recognising my successes amidst my mistakes, Alex.
I love your paragraph about the finish line being the starting line.
You are so right. The learning never ends.
So true the learning never stops nor do the horizons that we get to glance over. Bring on April, let's get charging.
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I wrote several post using Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich." Basically I summarized his chapters. It was an interesting exercise, considering he wrote his book back in 1934. Some of his ideas are pretty cerebral and "out there." Some were a bit out of date, too. I don't know if his book was PLR, but the copyright had expired and was not renewed so it was public domain.
Grant
Aah, Grant, Think and Grow Rich is such an exceptional book. I think I read it 25 years ago (or more) and yet it's still on my bookshelf. I've heard so many people reference it over the years because it's THAT good.
The way I understand it, Public Domain books are slightly different to PLR, in that you retain the name of the author. In PLR books you don't even know the name of the author. I'm starting to realise why. Hehe.
I don’t think I’ve been involved with PLR stuff then.