Why Are We Here At Wealthy Affiliate?

A few days ago, I wrote a post called “Can You Build An Online Business In Five Weeks?” It came about after someone reached out to me who was disappointed that they weren't making the money they had hoped for after being here for around five weeks. I've been trying to encourage them, as it's good to encourage other members, especially when they are starting out. I'm not going to make out it's easy, but we do have to persevere.

https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/roybretton/blog/can-you-build-an-online-business-in-five-weeks

Why Are We Here At Wealthy Affiliate?

The post received quite a few comments, and it got me thinking about something else. Why are we actually here at Wealthy Affiliate, and are we sometimes guilty of overlooking what we already have available to us?

Of course, most of us are here because we want to build an online business and make money. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. A business needs to make money to survive. However, building a genuine business takes time, effort and, most importantly, plenty of action.

Starting A Business Isn't Normally Cheap

Back in 2016, I started my last stump grinding business. I wasn't starting completely from scratch, as I already had some of the tools and equipment that I needed. Despite that, it still cost me around £35,000 to get the business properly set up. That's quite a commitment before you've even earned a penny!

There was machinery to purchase, a suitable vehicle, (which I already had) tools, insurance and all the other expenses that come with running a genuine offline business. And, of course, spending £35,000 didn't guarantee that customers would suddenly start appearing.

I Still Had To Go And Find The Work

I had to advertise, build websites, answer enquiries, quote for jobs, maintain the machinery and actually turn up and do the work. If something didn't work, I couldn't sit there and complain that business didn't work. I had to find another way. In most cases, it was to get the machinery working again. Having a machine that doesn't function will not earn you money!

Compare That With Building An Online Business

When I compare that £35,000 investment with what I pay for Wealthy Affiliate, the difference is enormous. My annual Wealthy Affiliate membership works out at literally around £1 per day. Just think about that for a moment.

For roughly the price of a quarter of a cup of tea or coffee, I have access to the platform every day. That includes website hosting, training, keyword and market research, business tools, AI tools, expert classes, a community of people building online businesses and technical support when something goes wrong.

If I had to purchase everything separately, I would potentially be paying for several different services.

I know this from experience because I have websites hosted elsewhere. I pay around $100 per month for a dedicated server for some of my other websites. That's for the server alone.

It certainly puts £1 per day into perspective.

Good Support Is Worth A Lot

Something happened recently that reminded me of the value we have here. I had a problem with one of my websites hosted at Wealthy Affiliate, so I contacted SiteSupport. Within approximately two or three minutes, I had received a response.

Even with my dedicated server, I don't get a response that quickly, so the response time is pretty impressive.

When something goes wrong with a business website, I don't want to spend half the day trying to find someone who can help. I certainly don't want to be passed from department to department explaining the same problem repeatedly. I want to get the problem sorted so that I can get back to running my business.

Having technical support available when you need it is something that's very easy to take for granted until something goes wrong.

We Have A Lot Under One Roof

One of the things I have always appreciated about Wealthy Affiliate is the fact that so much is available in one place. We have the training to show us how to build an online business. We have managed WordPress hosting, website tools, keyword and market research, AI content and image tools, live expert classes, community help and technical SiteSupport.

There are also things happening behind the scenes that we probably don't think about very often. Website backups, SSL certificates, security, speed optimisation and other technical features are being taken care of.

None of these things are particularly exciting when everything is working properly! However, try running websites without reliable hosting, backups or technical support and you soon realise how important they are.

But There Is Something Wealthy Affiliate Can't Do

With all these tools available, there is one very important thing Wealthy Affiliate can't provide or any other platform come to that. We have to take action. If we don't, nothing will happen! We have to take responsibility for this and be accountable.

You can have the best tools, training and support in the world, but if you don't use them, they won't build your business for you.

I have met many successful businesspeople over the years, both online and offline, and one thing they generally have in common is that they take massive action. That doesn't mean everything they do works.

Successful businesspeople make mistakes. They have ideas that don't work. They waste money sometimes. They make wrong decisions and occasionally go down completely the wrong road. I know that I have made many mistakes along the way and may have felt like giving up, but we have to carry on. The difference is that they don't normally stop there. They learn from it, change direction if necessary and take more action.

Mistakes Are Part Of Business

I think sometimes people starting an online business are frightened of making mistakes. The good news is that we can learn from our mistakes, we don't have to become all disappointed. We just have to remember that that didn't work and probably the next thing will work!

When I started my offline businesses, I certainly didn't get everything right. I don't get everything right with my online business either, and I have been working online for many years. I'm still learning new things almost daily. Sometimes it feels like we know a lot, but actually there's still a lot more to learn, and we have to keep up to date and keep learning.

Things are continually changing in the online world, so it's important that we keep up to date and try and keep learning, as if we don't, we get left behind. This is why I value the training so much on the platform. It helps to keep us up to date and helps us learn new processes which speed up the job and make it easier. Once again, it's great to learn new things, but we have to take action after we have learnt it!

The Membership Gives Us The Infrastructure

I think it's important to make a distinction between paying for a business platform and actually building a business. Paying my Wealthy Affiliate membership doesn't mean that I can sit back and expect an income to magically appear. What the membership gives me is access to much of the infrastructure, tools and knowledge that I need to build the business.

Going back to my stump grinding business, spending around £35,000 gave me the equipment and infrastructure that enabled me to provide the service. The stump grinder didn't go out and find customers for me, the vehicle didn't advertise my services and my insurance didn't make the telephone ring. I still had to make all of that happen.

The same principle applies to an online business. Wealthy Affiliate can provide us with the training, websites, hosting, research tools, support and community, but ultimately we have to put those things to work. That's the part of the equation that no platform, course or piece of software can do for us.

Are We Making The Most Of What We Have?

Perhaps this is the question we should occasionally ask ourselves. Rather than only asking why we aren't making money yet, perhaps we should also ask whether we are making full use of what we already have available.

Have we gone through the training properly and actually implemented what we've learned? Are we consistently creating content and developing our websites? Are we carrying out research, attending or watching classes and asking questions when we get stuck? Most importantly, are we taking enough action consistently rather than working enthusiastically for a few weeks and then becoming disappointed when the results haven't arrived?

For me, paying around £1 per day for Wealthy Affiliate gives me access to hosting, tools, training, support and a community that can help me move my business forward. I believe that represents excellent value, but there is still one important ingredient that has to come from me.

I have to take action, keep learning, keep working and give the business enough time to grow. Ultimately, the tools and support can help us enormously, but it's what we do with them that makes the difference.

Thank you for reading, and please leave your thoughts below and get involved with the conversation.

Roy