Farewell Dear WA Friends!
Dear All
I have joined WA way back in 2019 and one thing I can say that is really great about WA is definitely the positivity from the members here and the willingness to offer support. There are some great articles written by several members here too.
I myself have spent a lot of time here and created a lot of content and as a result it is not easy to leave all of that behind.
Being with WA several years I realised the strategy here is pretty much to blog and blog and blog and I fully understand that the more quality content you create the higher you will eventually rank in Google and the more money you will make and yes I know this strategy worked for many, but I guess this is just not the kind of strategy that really worked for me as well as I have hoped for. Yes I had success with this strategy, but not the kind of life changing success I was hoping for and was difficult to juggle a full time job and to blog on a very consistent basis like I was supposed to.
So I don't doubt that the strategy works, but I was thinking that surely there must be other strategies that yields quicker results, as the blogging aspect takes a long long time to start seeing life changing results from it.
Well my opportunity came and I have managed to start a successful e-commerce company that I predict will generate 6 figures in the next financial year. I have now also started other businesses which involves generating money from property as well as a business that delivers AI services to other businesses. My aim is to focus on the AI business service model and hoping to scale that to half of what the e-commerce business generates in the next financial year and will then gradually start working more actively on the property business too, also with personal investments in property in mind.
I was very much considering to stay at WA as I thought I could still benefit from it, but to be honest I have not used WA much over the last couple of years and I just don't think there is that much benefit for me personally to renew my membership year after year if I am not going to utilise it.
As mentioned, WA is great with great people here that I will miss very much. But at the same time I believe in different courses for different horses, which means that perhaps the same strategy is not always for everyone and each of us needs to discover and figure out their own journey that leads to success.
I believe I finally found mine after a lot of trial and error and I believe I have discovered the perfect business models that works for me personally and I am done with trial and error now. Now it is simply to knuckle down, to be focussed and to put in the hard work required to build even greater success.
One important thing to remember is that everything we do is part of the greater picture and the experience we need to give us the skillset we need in order to go places.
I will certainly miss this wonderful community and I will always have fond memories of WA, as it truly is a wonderful community with wonderful stand up individuals and I will credit my journey here as part of my journey towards success - a smaller part of the bigger picture.
Lots of love and best wishes to you all and I wish you the very best of success and that you will also discover your success journey, if you have not done so yet, and of course if blogging your way to success is part of what works for you, then that is awesome too.
Your WA companion
Schalk
Recent Comments
58
Dear Schalk,
With a heavy heart, I read your heartfelt farewell, and I must say your journey is nothing short of inspiring. While it’s always bittersweet to see someone move on, your story is a true testament to perseverance, adaptability, and the courage to follow your own path.
I completely resonate with your perspective—what works for one may not always work for another, and success often comes through trial, error, and eventually finding the right fit. Your ability to pivot from blogging to e-commerce, property investments, and AI services shows just how versatile and determined you are. That kind of drive is bound to lead to even greater achievements in the future.
I firmly believe that small wins today can lead to bigger victories tomorrow. It may not always happen overnight, but with patience, focus, and consistency, the results will follow. Your experience highlights that it’s not about giving up—it’s about evolving, learning, and building on what we’ve already accomplished.
Writing, for me too, has always been both a creative outlet and a stress reliever, so I completely understand the joy it brings. Even if the returns aren’t immediate, the journey itself often teaches us valuable lessons that shape our futures.
I have no doubt that you’re destined for greatness, and I can already see the light you’ve mentioned shining brightly ahead of you. Your farewell doesn’t feel like an ending—it feels more like the start of something even bigger to come. And I’m sure we’ll see you again because, as you said, this space and journey can be addicting in all the best ways.
That said, I do have one question—why step away now, at the beginning of a brand-new year, rather than closing this chapter in 2024? Why not give it one more year and try pivoting to something outside the box? You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Wishing you nothing but success, happiness, and fulfillment in all your future endeavors. Keep pushing boundaries and chasing your dreams—you’re proof that it’s all possible.
Warm regards,
Shawn
Dear Shawn
I am really moved by your heart warming message and the time you took to post this message certainly making it harder to leave for sure as such a wonderful community here :)
But here is the thing ...... For the last two years I basically did that with WA where I did not really use it as a resource and renewed anyways as was too focussed on building the e-commerce business that there was not much time for anything else, as that business model has its own learning curve and aspects to master - so affiliate marketing is not really currently the focus.
I have also invested in offering AI services to businesses and there is a heck of a lot to learn here, so learning everything I need in terms of AI services and mastering it will pretty much take at least a year.
On top of that I still need to grow the e-commerce business and on top of that I am also working through a property course and on top of that I also invested in yet another video creation course and on top of that I listen to several audio books to do with marketing, growing your audience etc.
So I am constantly continuing to learn and develop myself, but as affiliate marketing is not really the focus right now I can see myself just paying for another year at WA without using the service at all.
I am of course still involved in affiliate marketing anyways as I am onboarding affiliates to sell my products etc. and once the money is really rolling in, in a big way then I will probably outsource blog article creation for my current blog that is in limbo at the moment and tell the content creator exactly what affiliate offers I would like him/her to focus on and will then probably generate income from this too without me being much involved.
The thing is of course there is always more to learn but there comes a phase as well where it is time to implement, implement, implement. I have learned a heck of a lot over the years - now I think it is time for me to knuckle down and to be super focussed. So as much as I love WA to me currently with my goals in mind for 2025 it will at this stage just be a distraction as I am already biting off a lot more than I can probably chew.
I will not delete my account here at WA and I may be back? At this stage I just don't think it is worth paying for a service I will not be using in 2025.
As mentioned, WA may really be worth it just for the connections - so I may be back but for now I think it is important to be super focussed.
What I will do for now however is to private message you my personal email address and you are of course welcome to stay in touch that way for now.
Once again, very much appreciated and wishing you the very best of success for 2025!
Best wishes!
Schalk
Schalk,
Thank you so much for your heartfelt message. I completely understand where you’re coming from, especially with all the different projects and goals you’re juggling. It sounds like you’ve got a lot on your plate, and I respect the dedication you’re putting into each one. Focus really is key, and I think you’re right—there comes a time when it’s all about implementation rather than just learning.
That said, I just wanted to share why I personally still love Wealthy Affiliate, even as things evolve for me. One of the biggest reasons I’m sticking with WA is the hosting—it’s out of this world! The platform allows me to build exactly what I want, without any limitations. As you probably know, running an online business, especially from Canada, can be expensive, and the cost of maintaining three websites isn’t something I take lightly. But the value I get from the hosting alone makes it all worthwhile.
I spend an average of 40 hours a week on this business, and while I’ve made money, I’m not yet at the point where it fully covers the cost of my sites. But I’m getting there, and I know it’s just a matter of time before things start to really pay off. What I really appreciate about WA is that it gives me the tools I need to keep building and scaling, without the stress of worrying about hosting or technical issues.
Another huge benefit for me has been the writing aspect at WA. Whenever I sit down to write about my favorite topics, it’s like a release for my stress. It’s not just about sharing information; it’s about helping others who feel the same way I do. I’ve found that writing has a therapeutic effect on me—it allows me to take my mind off the daily pressures and focus on something I enjoy. The feedback and interaction from people who appreciate what I’m sharing just adds to the sense of fulfillment. For me, it’s truly a win-win.
I also have to say, I’ve heard people call me “nuts” for spending money on my WA membership. But when I think about it, there are so many people out there who spend money on things that give them nothing in return, and they don’t even have anything to show for it. I feel great knowing that my investment here is leading me somewhere. Even though I’m not there yet, I know it’s a journey, and I’m making progress.
I totally get the need for focus, though, and I understand that your current goals require you to narrow your focus. It’s always good to step back and evaluate where your energy should go. I’m sure you’ll crush your goals for 2025, and I hope that when the time is right, WA will be there waiting for you if you ever decide to come back.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts. I wish you all the best with everything you’re working on, and I’d love to stay in touch through email. I’ll keep an eye out for your message!
Best of luck and success in 2025!
Warm regards,
Shawn
Yes I still have the account until the 16th of January :)
Yes I fully understand the value that WA provides and I will say it is certainly worth it also in terms of the hosting.
However things have changed in terms of hosting for the better in WA over time. Unfortunately for me I had a website hosted here where Paypal payments on a particular website kept failing and WA at the time could not solve the issue and I had no choice to move to a different host to try and solve the issue. It ended up being a caching issue where caching plugin will cache some PayPal scripts that it was not supposed to that made the payment to fail, so the caching plugin needed to be set up in such a way to exclude the caching of that particular PayPal script.
The PHP that websites were running on was also not on par at the time and at some stage Cloudflare was not permitted (think it is now?) and to a degree what you could do in terms of hosting was somewhat restricted. But as mentioned things started to really change for the better and those issues from the past no longer exist as far as I am aware so the hosting benefit and buying of domains here is certainly good.
However the platform where I run my AI software and onboard customers is also where I am able to host all my websites and it integrates with drag and drop building of websites, automation workflows, funnels, reputation management, SMS automation, missed call back, pipelines, email automation, automated replies to social media posts, surveys, document signing etc. etc.
So for me WA in that sense will be a duplication of what I need in terms of hosting etc.
For the community I will definitely consider to rejoin and will see how things develop here in terms of education too. But for now, as we established, I have loads on my plate as it is and I don't think I will have much time to utilise WA in 2025.
So I will certainly keep an eye on developments here and will certainly consider my return in 2026, even if it is just for the awesome community and to establish relationships.
Very glad that you find WA to be such a positive experience. As mentioned it is for sure an awesome community and good value for money.
The very best for you in 2025!
Hey Szeeman, are you from S.A.?
It is great that you found your three businesses; now, you have to double down on what works for you. You can still promote affiliate or even your own products and services the WA way. However, affiliate marketing is not only about blogging but SM organic and PPC reach... and it involves vlogging on YouTube, TikTok, and YouTube's rival (I can't remember its name now). Vlogging with video is the most powerful way of AM right now and will continue to grow for a long time.
Besides, you should have a YouTube channel for your eCommerce, and every other business you have. Essentially you should have three YouTube channels and consistently promote your three businesses each on its respective channel, and you could still promote affiliate products and services via vlogging.
The most powerful strategy is to combine blogging and vlogging, then cross-promote. It is how I got millions of subscribers on YT and where I make most of my profits. I mention it on my profile here.
I was born in South Africa indeed but reside in the UK since 2008.
Very interesting indeed. Yes I also had youtube channels for the blogs, social media accounts etc. but I think I am a bit of a perfectionist and will spend hours on the creation of a video, articles etc. and I am full time teaching mathematics and at times it gets crazy busy at work and I did not find it that easy to blog as consistently as I should or to do video creation as frequently as I should and at times it felt that in affiliate marketing many are competing to e.g promote something like Getresponse and easy to disappear amongst the masses promoting it.
It then feels that a lot of hard work been put in for not much of a result and it started to feel a lot like hit and miss which I know is all part of the game. But it seems like a very time consuming game, but of course I know affiliate marketing can be awesome and no responsibility really as you are just marketing other people’s products.
A big opportunity came my way where I was able to take over distribution in the UK for a big established Biotech and supplement company based in the USA but also selling to the rest of the globe now but only been going for a year with that now so still pretty much in the startup growing phase but already seeing great results with some very unique products.
On top of that I decided to go into the business where I solve problems for businesses providing them with AI automation software that takes care of everything on autopilot from lead generation, to reputation management, to even having AI handle calls and do bookings when the business (eg. a plumber) cannot answer the phone coz they may be busy on a job. AI will even be able to schedule the booking on the calendar and there will be a recording of the full conversation and transcript of the conversation send to the business via email too.
That is just the tip of the ice berg. I will charge businesses a considerable amount monthly so we are talking about growing residual income and I won’t be running this actively for the businesses I am onboarding either - will be on autopilot pretty much.
For me that is a business model I can see scaling a lot quicker than affiliate marketing by solving problems businesses have.
Yes I will have social media for this of course. I am not ignoring affiliate marketing either - e.g. I use Shopify Collabs to get affiliates onboard with promotion of supplements and I pay sport personalities to promote my products on their social media involving companies that onboards professional athletes to choose from for this very purpose.
I am very interested to learn from you. It is insane that you managed to grow two YouTube channels to over 1 million followers each. I would love to follow your channels to see how you do it.
Can you please direct message me your social media details - YouTube Channels etc. Would love to learn from you and see exactly what you do to grow such an audience. Will be invaluable, especially now that I am starting out with new business models.
Very much looking forward to hearing from you 😊
I know that WA is worth it simply for the contacts/connections on here but atm I feel that there are a lot of costs involved with investment in the new startups and trying to see where I can cut cost atm.
Wishing you the very best of success and thank you so much for taking the time to provide me with such valuable information.
I am desperately trying to leave my teaching job. I want to go back permanently to South Africa to be with my family and I don’t want to or cannot rely on the instability of South Africa when it comes to employment and neither do I want to work for a boss.
I always said when I make loads of money online and the business models are pretty much bullet proof and reliable consistent income generated then I am back in sunny South Africa.
Time is not standing still and I need to spend quality time with my dad as he will not be around forever. So I am certainly not playing games. I am serious to do what I need to do to leave my teaching job asap. My aim is already to see if I can make that happen by the end of 2025.
Best wishes for 2025!
Schalk
Wow, what a mini-novel you wrote here. Well, it all boils down to what niche you choose. As you mentioned in your third paragraph, you should choose a unique niche or something that has very low competition. Even if you are not yet passionate about it, you can gain the necessary skills and become passionate about it. But you should develop the passion before you implement what you have learned.
Can I guess, you work with HL in SaaS where you resell it to businesses? I don't want to disclose my YT channels (yet), for several reasons. However, we should connect and I will assist where I can.
I have several millions of subscribers, not just 1.
Correct, not exclusively but with the main focus on real estate agents, as that will be the way I will build connections with real estate agents to propel my property business forward, which is the next and final piece of the puzzle. Property course just completed and businesses already registered.
So basically I have three business models to develop and if done right I don’t believe I have to pivot to anything else ever, as probably just one of these business models can already be enough if done right.
There are some affiliate marketing strategies involved along the way to compliment the business models but the main focus is not affiliate marketing currently.
Once these business models are well established I may invest in a permanent content writer to continue developing my current affiliate marketing blog for additional affiliate revenue without myself having to be much involved or involved at all.
In terms of connecting - will PM you my email address. Will be great to connect and your support and willingness to connect is much appreciated 😊😊
Ps. Invested in a video course just days ago where they promise to teach you how to create video content that will go viral in any niche. I will test them on this promise 🤣 So this is the next course on the list.
But as you can see, a lot on my plate so once enough solid reliable income generated I will quit my teaching job as I can’t do all of what I mentioned plus my teaching job and then need to of course start outsourcing too.
I just realised I am unable to message you as you have not upgraded yet. Email: schalkzeeman@gmail.com Many thanks for your willingness to connect and support. My account here will expire on the 16th. Will be on the lookout for your email so we can stay in touch. Many thanks!
Hi Schalk,
First, I would like to thank you for helping me in the past when I solicited your help. You helped me.
It’s great to hear you found something on e-commerce that is working well for you and on real estate. Wishing you great success and I am sure you will as you have great focus on what you do!
Have a wonderful and fruitful 2025!
Evelyn
Many thanks, Sophie! You are most welcome and much appreciated 😊😊 Wishing you and your family a wonderful 2025 and the very best of success!!!
Wishing you well in your new endeavours and true, this style of online work may not be for everyone but as you said you did find success and hopeing you hae now found what is best for you.
Take care wishing you greater success going forward and may you achieve what you are looking in 2025
Thank you for being here and the help and support along the way to all
Andre
Thanks you wishing you well too may you find what you are looking for.
Take care and thank you for your part here in WA.
Andre
See more comments
Congratulations on finding your successful path.
Good luck with the rest!
Eric