First. And more firsts

225 followers

Updated 4 years ago

First things first: the person on the photo is not me. I hate catfishing too.

Impressions and intentions

Today marks my first month at Wealthy Affiliate as a Premium member! I would like to celebrate it, as I've learned from WA veterans, and also appreciate my own journey as a newbie in online entrepreneurship. Still learning. I am glad to be part of this community. The people are so nice and friendly, and it feels like home to me (I am from your friendly 'neighborhood' called the Philippines!)

I joined WA around the end of May. Before I signed up, I knew from the get-go that I will go Premium, so Kyle's loving nudge to go Premium ("so you'll get more") was irrelevant to me. I stumbled upon WA through a blog, and I can still remember who that Ambassador is (I didn't click your link, sorry). I am grateful for the bloggers who were sincere about their WA promotion--and that brought me here.

That moment I saw that one honest "honest review," was the moment I knew WA is a real deal. Could be counter-intuitive for most successful super affiliates, but there is this one tone I hear from Youtubers, influencers, and internet marketers that just don't appeal to me. I haven't completed all the training here and I could be labeled as super naive right now, but if that energetic you-haven't-heard-this-before-your'e-missing-half-of-your-life-if-you-don't-click-this-right-now tone here, then maybe I will quit.... not!

Maybe I will consider trying it, but... no, I wouldn't. We all have our own metrics of success, and what I liked about WA so far is that newbies like me are taught not to think about money-making at first. I am sure that that tone is not the only way to earn money. Quick, perhaps, but I don't care about the quick part.

I had the intention to build my own site, so I clearly resonate with the lessons in module 1 about money comes after, knowing your niche, being the authority, etc. I did not find it difficult to talk about my niche, because prior to joining, I knew exactly what to "market", I just don't know how.

Introducing myself

In 2005, I was in college and I had a personal blog. I was also one of those kids with a corny email address because I wanted to try Gmail out, as if one Yahoo email address with a "cutie" in it would not suffice (but I'm glad I am sticking with Gmail, and yes, no more "cutie"). I wanted to jump in to everything new, like blurting a thought out in Twitter as if it was the most brilliant idea around.

And so communication technologies have evolved, and it was overwhelming to me, just when a fellow blogger told me, "You should learn Dreamweaver," and "you should attend the first blogging conference" to be a successful blogger. The introverted kiddo in me was so appalled I shut down from the blogging world. And so Friendster, Myspace, Multiply, and Facebook happened--I need not worry about CSS-ing or HTML-ing my written thoughts away.

I always shy away from the public sphere and ever since, I was a lurker. Still am. Most of the time, I express myself through works, not words--I am a photographer. I am visual, and our family is into design. But designers are not paid well in my country, so I took a technical course in college. By profession, I am an audiovisual archivist. But my heart is always into the arts. I pursued a master's degree in Communication, and from there I made films on the side. I like having too much on my plate (haha) especially if it has something to do with learning (one of my Clifton Strengths is Learner!). I taught film too as a side hustle and I went to Wiesbaden, Singapore, Bulgaria to compete in film festivals. I wrote all my screenplays. One of my films went to Cannes too (I didn't attend, because I'd rather stay inside my shell than hobnob). See where my point is heading--I am much more comfortable with taking photos, plain writing, talking to myself, basking in my thoughts about life. I am not comfortable selling my works or myself. And I don't complain about it.

I always have an affinity to writing and visual communication (although I wouldn't consider myself as an artist), so when I have finished reading all of WA promotional blogs prior to signing up, I had 3 takeaways that resonated so much to me: loves learning, loves to write, loves to add value to others (I love to teach). I am all those 3, so I think I am in the right mindset to align myself with what WA has to offer.

All of my friends tell me I'm good at explaining ridiculous stuff (not the engineering, physics or medical type) to people, and that I am such a good adviser. I get compliments about being a cool librarian (I am not going to blog about that), an active listener, and an effective storyteller (sometimes I just I invent useless stuff). So during this pandemic, I feel like it's gonna be a burden to my quarantined friends to hear my stupid stories and my this-will-change-the-world reflections and epiphanies, so in a random but usual self-talk moment, I realized: I should go back to blogging! And that started this new journey.

My friends could vividly imagine me saying all the time to advisees, “I will come over, and tell you what’s wrong with you.” And just like that constant Sheldon moment, they also constantly convince me to make money out of that... I don't know, personality?

I had issues with money--I like sharing my talents for free. And quite frankly, I don't care about money. Honestly, I cringed about those money goals to be written right off the bat, because I don't have money goals! I am happy with how I earn. Not that I don't believe it's important, because I do believe it is. I just don't feel like aiming for such a quantity that would qualify success for me. And yes, when I visited profiles without any amount in their money goals, I wanted to edit what I have written on my profile!

Don't get me wrong, I like passive income! I just don't believe in easy money. Hence my trust with WA's thrust (wow, rhyming): do not build a website with the mindset that you will earn overnight. So, going back with my "money issues," it fits well with building my online business: I like sharing for free, but the best part is (through WA) I will share with a fee!

Okay, now that sounds good.

Going Premium

I find it really weird to be greeted about going Premium. To be honest, I was like, "Uhm, no biggie. Is it supposed to be?" But hey, celebrate the small stuff (question mark)

I went Premium before my free trial expired, and the reminders of "going Premium is better" has nothing to do with my decision. I immediately saw the value of the trainings and I thank WA founders and members for that.

Even during Lesson 1, I spent my days researching about the right keywords (the low hanging fruit). I randomly checked out the profiles of ambassadors, and I followed those with creations or words I resonate with (not that others aren't, maybe I haven't stumbled upon their profile yet).

Before I went Premium I created my own database with my own kanban (I know a little about project management, and I run archives for work) of what I would write about, and what my site would look like--essentially my brand. I scoured the Wordpress gallery for the theme that would fit my envisioned brand. Even font colors, size, and type--I highly value that. That's why my website feedback always has something to do with the look.

I would be honest that my initial intention was not to be an affiliate marketer, but to build my own website. That's why I'm all up for the "don't think about the money in the beginning" and "build your traffic first" pieces of advice for newbies. I got that covered. Yessir.

But since I'm a learner by nature, of course I will do affiliate marketing. I even read a blog that talked about "WA is for affiliate marketers" blah blah blah ouch. My thought bubble was: easy, dude. Gotcha. I also got the "follow Kyle step by step" memo, k.

My niche and current disposition

I thought film was my passion until a major life experience happened, and I went back to yoga and discovered meditation. I became a Reiki practitioner and honed it up to Okuden Level 2. I felt so connected with it, and it transformed my life. So, New Age is my niche. I write about Reiki, meditation, tarot, and oracle.

Actually, just as I write about blogs in my site and as I go along the training, I started to think about ways to expand. I am from the Philippines and we have a rich body of knowledge about mythology and herbal medicine, but the visuals I use and the elixirs I plan to sell in my future shop are all Western. We have interesting dieties and I would love to incorporate that in my readings, cards, and merch in the future. Side story: my film that won in Germany was about a traditional burial in the Philippines: Vikings style, by the river, and on a bamboo raft. I won the international competition because of the visuals--it was new to them. So, my point is, my idea about expansion may not be too far-fetched. I like how the WA community is supportive about ambitions. I quit Facebook and did a regular browse in IG (I don't follow friends there, just artists). Now I have temporarily quit any social media devouring, and redirected my energy to WA browsing. Proper time management, I would like to believe.

Right now I am ready for a new transformation, and WA has something to do with it. Hence, my gratitude.

I am not comfortable leaving too much digital footprint (not that I am a criminal), but seriously, I know I have to unlearn this if I want to promote myself as a brand. Part of my process is learning how to create the right mix between what I feel like and actually need to put out there. And I carry this hope as I continue to learn through this platform.

As I write this, I took that that step of "do something that scares you every day". I am sharing and putting myself out there, which is a great leap of faith (for someone often described as mysterious), and I thank WA (especially Kyle) for this task.

Personal milestones

I launched a fully functional (at least from my perspective as a newbie--no inactive links, filled with content) website within a month since I joined
122 articles published within a week's launch (easy, these are just brief oracle and tarot readings) and all are with a low-hanging fruit keyword
I am never behind my own schedule (3 non-tarot/oracle articles per week)
good website comments so far (I will give valuable feedback more so I can receive more)
confronted 2 articles I tagged as "hard to write" and published it within a week
followed Kyle step by step (I am the type who would love to finish anything first, before speaking about it--I'm a good film viewer in that regard). So, while I have all the time to finish all modules, I did not move past Lesson 2 until I finish the "write your own blog within WA" task, and tada, here I am!
Connected with some WA members, and will continue doing so (this used to be a hard task for me also; baby steps!)
Made my life easy with personalized blog and image templates
Was able to continue Premium membership at WA today
I don't care about rankings but it is fun to see it rise/go down in number, so I think I can count that as a milestone too
I am soon to be in the Make Money module (it gets more fun as I move along, because working on my website is already exciting for me)
I know this might be funny (because it's non-WA related) but I was able to squeeze in an online course about Covid-19 contact tracing as I write content for my site! Hello, multitasking! (Hey, you know, I was really stuck at "write your own blog here in WA" task, so I distracted myself a bit)

Goals for the next month

An optimized writing routine. I create 13 posts daily (12 Zodiac signs + daily 3-card spread). Sometimes I get sidetracked, and I can't complete it within an hour, as initially planned. Multitasking is both my strength and weakness.
Complete Lesson 3 (I was just writing, designing, finding the right images for my blog, and researching everyday for a month!)
Choose an affiliate network to join (I was listing relevant ones so far)
Manage my sleeping habit (when I write, I can do it all day without being mindful about time, and sometimes it sucks, I know)

I don't like final words and long headings but have to do it and sleep now

Okay, I guess I would have to leave it at that! See, I'm not even mindful of my word count! Haha! Throwing my online business out to the universe and trusting.... giving all of you a /highfive! even if you haven't gotten to this part!

I don't know if I'm allowed to do this (please let me know if this is not allowed in WA blogs), but here's my website: https://highfiveshighvibes.com/ Would love feedback *big smile*

Enjoy!

Anj (please call me A)

P.S. Oh, tags are required. I was curious about that "Success Post?" button. Adding it, coz why not. Small successes are success posts. Yeah? Yeah!