My First $3.75K Month, 2.5 Years Later! (Patience Pays Off)

Hey WA fam, long time no post!

This post is 1500 words long but I hope you'll still enjoy reading it till the end! And I hope it inspires you :)

(I was reluctant to write this post but I want to give back to WA, I remember how myself I got inspired reading WA success stories.)

Also, in this post you'll learn how I used my own post-surgery 2-year 'lockdown' to do the work and how now I'm collecting the rewards during the actual crisis and lockdown we see worldwide.

(All thanks to Wealthy Affiliate's training and support. If you're new, you should start from the very first lesson here.)

So...

Today I'd like to share an update on my site(s) but first:

Why I Wasn't Active on WA

Some of you asked me where'd I disappear and there are a few reasons why I wasn't as active on WA as I used to:

• 1) I focused on building my website(s).

Focusing on WA ranking isn't gonna make me moolah. If you're new to the platform, don't focus on it, focus on your website instead. (First tip right there.)

• 2) Corona situation threw me off big time and I needed to get off the Internet for a few weeks.

I had to cancel my 2.5-month trip to Rio de Janeiro and even started having panic attacks from all the pressure and negative information from EVERYWHERE.

I generally don't watch news but even here at WA, I started seeing posts that only contributed to that fear. So I had to temporarily stop my online presence and focus on my health instead.

• 3) If I'm completely honest, I got a bit annoyed seeing too many unrelated posts on WA about random daily life stuff.

Before I used to check WA daily for success stories and 'gold nugget' business-related posts but it really started to look like Facebook lately.

I think someone posted about it recently and they got attacked for it (but truth is, they wrote what many people thought).

I understand when it's newbies who don't know WA ranking is not a big deal or focus on random blogging, but when long-time members...

As one fellow WA'er said, it's as if there's some sort of 'popularity contest' here.

FYI:

Kyle is a great example of how you can talk about certain things/events, yet tie it to business/growth and really turn that into a valuable piece of content.

With that said, please, let's focus on blogging interesting, USEFUL content that helps/inspires other WA members!

You really don't want to drive people away from the platform, do you?

#RantOver

Now...

A bit of background before getting to the most interesting part of today's post.

My Online Journey: A Bit of Background

So...

There's a separate post where I talk about my journey and struggles in business and life but I'll share a bit here too.

You might notice that I joined WA back in the autumn 2015.

Back then, while I did some work online, I wasn't consistent and wasn't making much.

The first few sites were too broad, weren't something I was too interested in, and I had no concrete strategy.

Not to mention that I kept getting distracted instead of following through the training and doing the work.

(Hell, it's very hard to be patient and persistent. You really have to learn how to treat your website as a business.)

Then there was an an orthopedic surgery (after the accident), and because it was a serious foot reconstruction, I couldn't walk for a looong time.

I was literally stuck in 4 walls in another country, and thought I'd go insane of pain (physical and emotional because I went through a heartbreak too).

Attaching a pic below but don't let that smile fool you!

It was probably the only time I smiled in so many months, only because I was supposed to be back home in Canada the following week.

Anyway...

Despite not making thousands in the beginning, I was still a Premium member at WA.

Deep down, I knew that this business model works, I was just lazy, inconsistent and impatient. And reading success stories always inspired me.

(That's why I want to give back to the community by sharing mine today.)

And then one day, 2 months after the surgery, I read Dylan's @dylanrieger post on his "best of" strategy. Forever thankful, by the way.

I thought that I need to use my brain so I stay sane.

I also thought that I need to think long-term. That even though I'm on my "quarantine", eventually I would walk again and I would want to travel again.

I thought:

"If I seriously put the work in now, as much as I can, whenever I can, then when I'm back on my feet I'd be able to travel around again."

(The irony though... In August 2019, I did book a 2.5-month trip/language school/accommodation to Rio de Janeiro for March 18, 2020... Only to cancel it all on March 16th, because of the stupid coronavirus. LOL.😂😭)

So...

I knew that if I want to do that I need to start making money online.

Luckily, I knew making money online is possible and had the foundation and I knew that it works. I just needed to make it work. Stay patient and persistent.

So:

I started my brand new Amazon niche website in Oct 29, 2017.

Then through pain and tears...

Slowly as a turtle...

... veeeeeery slowly I started adding content.

Believe me it was hard as f**k because all I could think of was pain for a VERY long time.

No painkillers worked on me.

Looking back, I honestly have NO idea how I kept going with the website.

Somehow, I pushed through.

And I've achieved many milestones along the way.

The Milestones Achieved

I'll just add old posts here, so I don't repeat myself.

• 1-Week Old Website: 19 Clicks, 3 Ordered Items. Go Amazon!
• Broke My First $100 In A Single Day (June Update)
• September 2018 Marks My First $500+ Month (Amazon Niche Site Update)
• It's Getting Better: $500+ in 2 Days (Amazon Niche Site Progress)
  
• 4 Figures in 1 Year. Finally! (Quick Update)
• My Amazon Site Paid for My Trip to Washington DC! (And I Met Nomadic Matt)
• 4 Years at WA, Main Website's 2nd Birthday, and A Gift for Myself!
  

What a crazy journey!

In the last WA post I shared that I haven't broken my $2K/mo mark yet.

Well...

I did massively break my own record in April 2020, just when my website turned 2.5 years old!

What did I do?

I added more content and DIVERSIFIED.

Even though my Amazon sales were actually the LOWEST in a long time, because I was partnered with other affiliate networks (who also offered stay at home discounts) and used YouTube to increase my exposure, I managed to bring my income to $3.75K that month!

Below are the screenshots:

• AMAZON April 2020:

$330

• AFFILIATE PARTNER #1:

$2,090

• AFFILIATE PARTNER #2:

$1,258

Plus other small affiliate commissions, including WA, which brings it to about $3750 for April 2020.

(By the way, at the curent rate, this much money is about $5K in Canadian dollars, so in a way I achieved 2 of my last money goals! Haha.)

Guys, this feeling is ecstatic.

When you keep working and working and working, you finally achieve your goal and even BEYOND your goal.

I've been trying to break my $2K record for a long time and all I had to do is diversify and think outside the box.

SCALING:

And now, I'm reinvesting some of these funds back into my business by hiring a full-time writer this month.

MASSIVE shoutout to Jerry! He's da man. If it wasn't for his training, I don't know how soon would I start scaling my business. Damn.

And another shoutout to Grace aka LittleMama for helping me make the right decision about what website should I focus on with my future writer.

This community is full of awesome people, I'm blessed to be here and connect with you all brilliant minds!

Lessons Learned

There are 3 main lessons I learned recently.

Lesson 1: Set Higher, Yet Achievable, Goals

I've had my $2K money goal written for a long time and couldn't break it for a while (weirdly enough).

Then I heard someone saying that you need to set your goals higher because your actions will reflect the set goal. Basically, if you set a higher (yet realistic) goal, then you'll put more action into achieving it.

Perhaps I got too comfortable when I had the $2K goal for so long but when I wrote $5K month, guess what? A couple months later this happened that I'm sharing today.

Don't think it's a coincidence.

Lesson 2: Diversify

Especially with Amazon slashing the commissions and the whole pandemic going on, I realized more than ever how important it was to diversify.

I have a MMO site as well (though I don't work on it as much as I work on my Amazon site) and I started a YouTube channel in January (though I should get back to producing video content).

Amazon, digital products, website ads, YouTube ads, investing...

DIVERSIFY!

Because I diversified a few months before the quarantine/pandemic went official, I managed to survive. If I were to rely on Amazon only, I'd be in a very bad shape now.🙈

Lesson 3: Think Outside the Box

It kinda relates to lesson 2. After some time, living and breathing the niche, your brain becomes wired to find ways. Let yourself think ourside the box!

Edit: I remembered Eddy with a y having a post on this here.

You'll be surprised what you can come up with to achieve your goals.

Wrapping Up + Advice for Newbies

OK.

I hope I didn't bore you with such a lengthy post haha.

I will finish with a word of advice for newbies and a motivation image that I add at the end of my WA posts.

• Follow the training.
• Connect with people, ask questions.
• Do the work and be PATIENT. It's a business and it takes some time to take off.

Dig your way to success!

- Zarina