It's Hard to Admit You're a Hypocrite
Been Here Two and a Bit Months Now
I joined WA in December, a bit over two months ago.
It was in response to someone who was marketing it as a quick means of getting some residual income. I'd never heard of Wealthy Affiliate but had experience of affiliate marketing, as well as selling my own software.
But the idea was you paid for a couple of hundred solo ads linking to WA, 20% of them would click through and 12% of them would upgrade to premium, giving you a residual income from 5 (12% of 20% of 200) new customers.
Did it work? Of course not.
Of the 20% who clicked through, only a handful bothered to complete their profile and NONE of them upgraded to Premium (despite my persuasive follow-ups).
Learn from Failure
But that's OK. You learn from every failure.
But what it did do for me was introduce me to the WA platform. I was hooked and went Premium pretty much straight away.
Now to the hypocrisy part.
I saw so many members blogging about their "success". They'd achieved the 1 year badge. They were now a certified commenter. Or they'd completed Level 5 of the training. Or whatever... but they weren't making any money. Not yet. Nonetheless, they regarded all of these things as goals that they had achieved.
Goals and Milestones
So I wrote my first blog post, telling them they were confusing goals with milestones. The only goal was to make money with their websites. Nothing else mattered.
When I went Premium, I think my rank was, I dunno, around 286,000.
But as I became more engaged with the community, I found myself able to help others, particularly with technical issues, after 48 years in IT.
Getting Promoted
And I started to move up in the ranks.
But did I care? Of course not. After all, it had nothing at all to do with my goal, making money with my sites (which are doing just that, by the way).
Now I'm at rank 105.
Knocking on the door of Top 100.
Do I want it? Yes I do. Badly.
Just a Hypocrite
Which makes me a hypocrite, yes?
[I wonder if blog posts help your ranking. I sure hope so].
Recent Comments
84
LOL Phil, what other entertainment ya got?? BTW, as MurphysMom stated, we've all been one, and I'm sure on more than one occasion.
I myself had to step back from the ranks. I was getting way to caught up in it, and neglecting my training and websites. NOT good. I tend to be very competitive, and that's not what I'm here for. At least not right now, lol =) Laura
Lol, honest. Learn from mistake. Is to to try, but control budget. Truely saying, rank will help but not that matters much to us. We help and care for others at our free will. At the same time we need more time to build our site so that we can show others what WA taught with our success stories.
Bog posts do help you rank Phil but I feel it is important also to build your business rather than worry about ranking
I learned the hard when I 1st joined WA and spent hours helping out and giving so much to everyone within the platform
I became an ambassador in around 2 1/2 months and forgot about me- Stupid woman and now I am working so hard to make up for "lost time" even though I miss the interactions and helping out.
I came to WA to make a long-lasting full-time income and I am not there yet
Hope you are also focused on the main reason for joining WA
Go well and be awesome
Vicki
Wise words, Vicki. Like you, I'm a retired grandparent (eldest grandson is 20, youngest daughter is 27) so do have the time to do both.
But yes, it's a balancing act and you have to be disciplined.
Hi Phil, sure an honest and real post. I know you contribute a lot and I have gained some great insights. I really do not think that failure can be used in these circumstances. It is the reality of what it is. I thank you for your posts and your willingness to share your knowledge. Sure blog posts contribute greatly to your ranking. All the best Phil you are an asset to the WA community.
know the feeling - just had a message i have a shield after my name - not wanted or asked for.
no blog posts to my name but loads of help answering questions.
but as you say - this doesn't make you money.
it does help make sure you really know the system to make money and can tweak it a bit.
good luck breaking the double digit area.
phil
Thanks, Phil. I think WA is a lot about balancing work on your business, getting and giving knowledge and an almost social engagement.
See more comments
Every activity at Wealthy Affiliate boosts your WA rank but takes time away from your own business.
After being an ambassador for over 4 years I'm slowly sliding down the ranks. I have my own business to take care of and not so much time to spend here writing blogs and creating training videos. I'm still answering questions as much as I can and responding to comments.
Good luck in reaching all your goals.
I'm with you there. I used to care about being in the top 200 and even top 100 and made it there for awhile, but like you said, it takes time away from your business. I'm now more focused on my business as I really want to start earning money with it. My rank has been sliding down too, but again, I'm more focused on my business and I want that to be successful more than anything.
Thanks, Marion.
Yes, it's a balancing act, but I always hear such good things about you.
Someone said to me just the other day "I always go to Marion's training first when I need to know something."
So sliding down the ranks or not, you've developed a great rep.