Three Years Here - My Journey So Far

Today marks my third anniversary at Wealthy Affiliate. And as on previous occasions, I'm going to try to relate how my journey has been so far.

So how have things been?

If I'm to summarize my Wealthy Affiliate experience over the past three years, I'd use just one word: AWESOME!

Prior to joining WA, I had no idea what affiliate marketing was about. But thankfully, I didn't have the problem of selecting a niche as I was resolved to offer a certain kind of service online.

WA training however changed my entire perspective of how money is made online: "Help people, and get 'paid'." Period! - which I'm very grateful for. I apply this online truth in my business every day, and I see the tremendous impact it's having.

Three years is actually a long time. Many members begin to experience success much earlier than that. Mine seemed to have dragged on because of the route I took. It would have been different had I joined WA with the intention of doing affiliate marketing as that's the area of concentration here.

Instead, I joined having a passion to offer a specific kind of service, believing it would just start to sell off the bat, But it doesn't work that way!

After realizing that, I fell back on the training hoping to apply affiliate marketing to my service-based niche. But there was a problem: only one affiliate program existed for the niche concerned. It meant sending my potential customers off to another site for a service I was even capable of offering better.

I was caught in a dilemma: sign up to the affiliate program or continue in my pursuit to offer the service myself. I eventually settled for the latter after consulting a number of experienced WA members - which was the right choice, as the affiliate program concerned survived for only a few months. And to date, no other is in existence.

Hopelessness Set In

In an effort to make things work for my service-based niche, I began a YouTube channel, a Facebook page and even started email marketing, in addition to the niche website. Little did I know that the niche is actually one that needed to be approached differently. At a certain point, it all seemed hopeless.

Imagine building an 'affiliate marketing' website in a niche that doesn't have an existing affiliate program. Applying the training here seemed irrelevant. It was this feeling of hopelessness that led me to start the Bootcamp training and consequently a Boothcamp site.

Spreading Myself Too Thin

I ended up creating content for two websites, two Facebook pages, a Youtube channel, while learning and trying to practice email marketing. Too much for a newbie online! Isn't it?

If there's one piece of advice I would give new members, it would be to not spread themselves too thin online. It diminishes one's capacity.

In spite of the confusion surrounding my niche and the lack of real progress, I continued publishing articles to my service-related niche site as I had started to become a kind of authority given my knowledge of the niche.

That was a source of motivation in itself. I continued helping folks solve problems they had and kept on answering their questions. I could not afford to shy away from what I had accepted as my responsibility.

The Benefits

Inasmuch as the situation seemed hopeless, it actually didn't end up that way:

1. My service-based niche website receives record crowds at certain times of the year which has made me to start receiving affiliate commissions from Google AdSense;

2. A visitor to the site had a problem which served as an eye-opener to what online clients are actually in need of and has led me to begin creating a number of 'products' for sale on the site;

3. Prospects for some kind of consulting.

This proves that WA training opens up all kinds of possibilities online in addition to affiliate marketing.

Latest Move

Having carried out a satisfactory level of work on my service-related niche website, and having learnt a lot from various sources in the process, I recently decided to devote some time to the MMO component of my business.

Based on assistance gotten from a number of caring members, I'm presently applying a strategy that has already started to pay off in terms of referrals.

Potential Income Streams

On my third anniversary, I'm glad that I have the following as (potential) income streams:
1. Google AdSense commissions (already paying)

2. WA Commissions (expected soonest - more in upcoming blog post)

3. Commissions from Other Referral Programs (also expected soon)

4. Commissions from Affiliate Marketing on Another Platform (in the not-too-distant future)

5. Sale of Personal (service-related) Products (expected during my upcoming peak season)

6. "Consulting" Services (could materialize anytime)

These are the areas expected to earn me income online as I kick off my fourth year. With these income streams, the year 2021 will be the first year during which ALL EXPENSES incurred by my business are expected to be paid for by income from the business itself. (This is already in progress).

The Greatest Achievement

The greatest act I seem to have achieved in the past year is to 'withdraw' from business offline and focus online. I had had this plan for some time now, and I was finally able to execute it within my third year at WA.

For many years, I had run an offline business which actually reduced my focus on things online. Now that is done away with. I succeeded in leaving the business in charge of an assistant, and moved to a new location where my primary activity is my online business. A daunting decision, I guess! But one that I'm confident will pay off exponentially.

Harvest on the Horizon

It's like things get better every year.
I referred to my first year here as one of Exploration / Introduction (to online business).

The second was one of Implementation.

The third has been one of Experimentation.

And with the prospects on the horizon, I see the one coming as My Year of Harvest!

Cheers as I begin Year 4 in this awesome community!