If you look for affiliate marketing courses, you’ll find plenty of bros flashing fat stacks and supercars, always standing in front of beautiful sunsets, gazing off into the distance, perhaps pondering their next million. But here’s the ugly truth: the life they’re living is probably financed by course sales, not actually doing affiliate marketing. And don’t get me wrong, affiliate marketing’s awesome. I’m not against you trying it. Just wanna give you a few things to consider, that’s all.
First and foremost, because it is so awesome (and the barrier to entry’s so low), it’s arguably one of the most competitive ways to try and make money online. So, odds are, you won’t be living like the bros and broettes you see on IG leaving #AffiliateMarketing under their luxurious selfies. Instead, you’ll be holed up in the extra bedroom you use as an office, wearing your give-up-on-life sweats, hunched over your filthy laptop for 10+ hours a day, trying desperately to get something going.
Second, it’ll be that way for years because that’s how long it’s gonna take to get good enough to join the top 1% of affiliates who make all the money. And that’s if you’re committed and spend most of those 10+ hours each day actually doing real work. Blogging or making YouTube videos or running Facebook ads or growing your TikTok following, or however you’re getting traffic, right? But most people aren’t willing to do that. After grinding for a week or a month or six months, they’ll quit.
So, third, if you can develop the mindset and habits and routines and perseverance to keep at it for as long as it takes? Yes, the good news is, you can make a ton of money with affiliate marketing. And since there’s no customers or clients to look after, you really are free to come and go as you please. You just gotta make sure you keep that traffic coming in. Which, over time, you’ll get smarter and find ways to maintain (or even scale) your traffic without working so much. Software, tools, virtual assistants, retargeting ads, email drips, et cetera.
Okay, so now that I’ve given you a reality check, assuming you’re up for the challenge, let’s talk about affiliate marketing courses. Do you even need one? If so, how do you choose which one you should buy? Here’s my general stance on courses. If they’re created by credible, caring people who’re qualified to teach on that subject, and they market their course honestly, and screen for the right people with the right expectations and work ethic? I’m all for ’em. But that’s not usually how it goes down, does it?
Instead, you got some douche on TikTok showing you his matte black Rari, telling you affiliate marketing’s how he did it, but never actually giving you any practical advice you can do anything with, till you sign up for his $5,000 coaching program, right? And that attracts the wrong people who max out their credit cards to enroll, find out homeboy can’t really help them, then run to Reddit and cry about how they got scammed. Which, they kinda did, but they should probably also look in the mirror.
So here’s what I’d say. Find someone whose pitch is about mastering the skill of affiliate marketing, not the lifestyle it may or may not bring you someday. It should be clear that they actually still do this, today, to earn money. They should have examples and case studies and be able to talk, at length, about traffic and leads and copywriting and conversions and maximizing commissions. When you find that expert and you like them and you’re in a good place yourself, sure, buy their course and execute and don’t look back.
