How much can we earn ?
Introduction
This article is aimed at total newbies who decided to promote Wealthy Affiliate for starters, but maybe some of us "old hands" can also learn something from it.
I know that we always advise new members to rather concentrate on building their websites and to follow the training one step at a time, and not to focus on the earnings potential of it for now. This is good, sound advice, but let's be brutally honest here :
- Who among us can truthfully say we never really wondered how much we can really earn from all of this ?
- Have you never ever tried to use the earnings calculator just to have a look see ?
Earnings Calculator
I freely admit that the earnings calculator is quite a clever little tool, and a lot of thought must have gone into developing it for our benefit.
However, I do have the following concerns :
- It may possibly create a false hope with new members that it will be easy and quick to recruit referrals and start earning a substantial income from promoting Wealth Affiliate as a first website.
- It is not as straight forward as it seems at first, to fully understand how the earnings calculator really works.
- The earnings potential does not seem to follow a clear, specific mathematical progression.
- It does not make provision for recruiting referrals at a rate of less than one per day.
Discussion
I specifically mentioned the possibility of creating a false hope, because lets be honest here :
- It is not so easy and straight forward to recruit one new referral per day.
- We are basically forced into accepting that one referral per day is an acceptable norm, because the calculator does not make provision for anything less than that.
- What if we are totally honest about matters and think we have a chance to recruit at least say 5 to 10 new members per month ? Would that not maybe be more realistic than to accept one referral per day as being normal ?
Facts and Figures
Now, let's use the earnings calculator to do a few calculations. We will use one referral per day, with an average upgrade to premium of 12%, and a retention period of 4 months as suggested. This is what comes out the wash :
- 1 Per Day = $226 / month (Makes provision for upgrade to yearly by some members)
- 2 Per Day = $703 / month (211% Increase in potential earnings)
- 3 Per Day = $930 / month (32% Increase in potential earnings)
- 4 Per Day = $1156 / month (24% Increase in potential earnings)
- 5 Per Day = $1458 / month (26% Increase in potential earnings)
- 6 Per Day = $1860 / month (27% Increase in potential earnings)
- 7 Per Day = $2086 / month (12% Increase in potential earnings)
- 8 Per Day = $2388 / month (14% Increase in potential earnings)
What I find significant is the tremendous jump from 1 to 2 referrals per day, which may be true, but then why the seemingly fluctuating increase in earnings between all the others further down ?
Conclusion
Maybe I am just too old to fully understand all the intricacies of the earnings calculator, but my concern is that some new members might also interpret things in the wrong way like me, which may lead to confusion and disappointment later on.
I really feel it would be a good thing to make provision for entering numbers less than 1 in the referrals per day column. I personally would like to see it changed to referrals per month, OR for the ability to enter a number like 0,5 or 0,2 or something similar per day.
Final Word
I invite all the mathematicians out there or anyone remotely interested to comment on this. Let's hear your thoughts on the matter please.
Thanks for reading this, and have a great day.
-Theuns
Recent Comments
15
I see the point that WA wants people to set their expectations high. However, you are correct, and 1 referral per day for beginner is an extremely high expectation. Without having to overhaul the calculator, they could easily allow the calculator to accept a decimal number so that beginners coul use numbers such as 0.1 for one every 10 days or .25 for one every 4 days and so on.
Yes, that is exactly my point, and I'm glad you also see it that way.
It is far more realistic to assume that new members would be able to attract say 2 or 3 members per month in the beginning, but the calculator does not make provision for such numbers.
Thanks for stopping by and for your valued inputs.
-Theuns.
Solidbase: You are right. Does that make WA participants wrong? No! There are millions of other niches out there besides WA. However, I am reminded that I became a WA participant after searching a million online opportunities (which I then google to see if they were legit or not). While checking a very non-legit site, I found a review that was very nicely written that told about how great WA was. I bit and I am not sorry. The guy that wrote the review about the bad site was doing what he was taught at WA and he made some money. A lot? I have no idea but he sure caught my eye.
I think this business is about excellence. What do I mean? If you are going to make a single penny with WA's training I think you have to be a lot better than everyone else. That is my desire...to be the very best within the bounds of my niche. We will wait and see if I make even a penny out of it. If I don't, well I enjoyed the experience. Calculate on! DAN
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your comments.
I just want to be clear - I did not mean to criticize WA in any way. I merely questioned the way in which the earnings calculator could possibly be a bit misleading for new people who do not yet know the ropes.
The skills we are taught here are worth every penny, and if I do make a small income, then I will be grateful.
-Theuns
Thank you for your comment back to me. WA is not a "holy grail" for me. It's just that I have learned so much already that I cannot believe it. I didn't think I was criticizing you or that you were criticizing WA. I just wanted to reiterate what WA is doing for me and others. DAN
Top of the morning to you, Theuns,
Jolly good post - I experienced great disappointment that I could not measure up to those starting stats (╯︵╰,)
This is a great explanation
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Right back at you Tony.
That is exactly my point. It is so easy to accept that things will go just fine, and when it does not, the disappointment can be crushing, and make us lose our faith in the system.... And that would be sooo wrong.
Anyway, who am I to say ?
Groete
-Theuns
I thought about having this as another website but I will make sure to not get false hopes up thanks to this post all the best
Hi David,
Thanks for stopping by.
Please be sure it was not my intention to stop people from promoting WA.
I just think it would be wise to go into it with open eyes to avoid possible disappointment.
Best of luck to you.
-Theuns
I think the potential for 1 recruit per day is there - even more. But you will have to build one kick-ass, super high ranked website with tens of thousands of readers monthly and a whale of a mailing list to get to those kinds of numbers.
I agree it is misleading to newbies, thinking 1 per day is a sort of jumping off, starting point to expect in terms of success. When I had my home improvement business, I learned a very important sales rule:
Under sell, and Over-Deliver!
If I told a new client that their kitchen would be remodeled and ready to use in 4 weeks, and it took me 6 weeks, they were very disappointed. But if I knew I could get it done in 4 weeks and told them to expect 6 weeks, when their kitchen was ready in 4 they were ecstatic and would refer my company to others.
Hello you two, and thanks for the response Marvin.
Yeah, I agree that those figures are attainable, BUT with the resources you quoted.
No newbie will ever be able to attain that within a few short months, or that is my own view anyway.
Your philosophy of under sell and over deliver is right on the money.
Thanks again for your contribution.
-Theuns
Hello Ed and Dianna,
Thanks for responding.
Well, I do think it would be possible, and I'm sure there may be a few members who can attain it and even more,
BUT
it would need an effort as described above by Marvin (TheOldSilly).
I do not think it is realistically attainable by most newbies, and that is my concern.
Best wishes to the both of you.
-Theuns
See more comments
I agree! I'm new, but have had a play with the calculator and soon realised the same. I'd also like to see a monthly rather than daily section.
I do commend WA for the tool though, I do like it a lot and see what they are setting out to achieve with it. I am definitely a positive person, but equally a realist, so I held the same concerns and think you have a valid point.