Gold As a Newbie, What Stops You From Getting Started

[T J Tutor]

Hi all, instead of talking just about obstacles, I would like to share my little experience, what I have learned so far.

Previously my obstacles were, not just lack of information, but LOTS of misinformation. I have been into online business stuff fora few years now, mainly eCommerce.. knew about CPA but didn't dare to jump into it because
1) Don't know where to start

2) Even if I found some (Very Popular) forums and blogs, their info sometimes contradict each other or are incomplete. Some of them sell ebooks or even give it to you free, but really those info are either outdated or something somewhere, some information is purposely left out. In short, USELESS.

3) Everybody seems to be talking about the big money involved, big risk big reward.Some guru comes along tell you how you can earn $3k, 10k a month, or even in a day. Takes you 8-9months to master it. If you are good, even 3months or even 1 month! Then they charge you $500, $1k, even $4k for coaching. But they didn't tell you the terms and condition applied. AND by the way, those coaching only provides similar information that you can get from this forum.

4) Then when you read all the ebooks, articles, forums in the world.. you realize you have a problem. You don't know where to start. The information overloads overwhelms you.

This is so well thought out. Everyone should take note of these realizations that Aurore has compiled. Aurore, I congratulate you for being sensible and recognizing where the weaknesses are that seem to stand in the way of many who quit before they succeed. Everyone goes through this to some degree. Not everyone takes the time to think it through and reassemble themselves based on the information. Most people quit, you are pushing on. You can push on because you realize now how to identify the crap out there, the misinformation, and bad advice. They are less of an obstacle for you now because you have begun to learn how to verify what information is good and which information is not. This is a skill you must continue to develop as it allows you to identify possible avenues of progress with your business at every level.

I went through all these phrase, and almost felt depress. Then the turning point came when I saw a video of one of the 'guru'. He mentioned something about you must get started somewhere, you don't have to know everything to start. When you take action, you will start to learn.
TAKE MASSIVE ACTION FOR MASSIVE RESULTS.
Even though I don't think he will teach any 'secret' to success (my suspicion was confirmed by an attendee), that video makes so much sense to me. That's where I made a decision to commit.

This is a turning point for every successful business person on the planet, recognizing that action brings you both failure and success. When you do this you can identify what works and what doesn't. Then you simply continue with what does. All because you are taking action. You are moving forward and not stopping because of any failures, but rather pushing forward because there are successes that you can expand on!

"Fortune Favors the Brave"
This phrase makes so much sense to me now. Somehow, The moment I decide to just jump into this, I quickly start to find useful resources. I found this forum, the Wiki info is sooo useful, previously all the information I know is in bits and pieces. Now I have a much clearer understanding.

Our Wiki is where every Newbie should start. understanding and defining your environment is necessary for success. Information emboldens you and gives you the strength to be a great business person.

Then I found TJ, he is amazingly helpful. The person whom I bought an ebook from don't even reply my message. TJ, he has nothing to profit from me, yet he is so patient to answer my answers out of his busy schedule. Most importantly, he corrected my thinking, focus on doing it right, enjoying the process than how much you will make. When you do it right, $$ will follow.

You are kind and thank you for your words. Everyone that is taking action deserves the attention of our members. You learned that when you take the time to enjoy the moment of whatever you are doing, then the pressure no longer exists. You are simply enjoying every step of learning and putting you knowledge to work. This seems to be elusive for many, I am so very happy you learned this lesson so well. Continue this way and you will have a very bright future in business. You know what they say? "Love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life"!

Then through TJ, I knew another newbie who is as committed, we clicked so well that we start doing analysis and case study together. We plan and share useful information with each other. To be honest, I've learn so much over the past 2weeks than last 2years about CPA. For the first time, I actually believe I will succeed, I will be the 0.5%.
I'm not there yet. But I will be soon.

You have begun to collaborate, work with others, formed a relationship. All of this is very important to your success. Your relationships in this business are going to bring you great successes. The more you get involved with others, and the more you get involved in this forum. the greater your successes become.

So what I've learn in my journey so far:
1) Find a good forum with genuine information and stick to it. Read everything and get what you can. (This is a great forum for newbies really.)

2) Don't be afraid to contact the 'seniors' and ask questions. If you found someone who are genuine to help you, teach you. Don't waste the opportunity. Treasure it.
Talk to your AM, he/she can a major help for you. Recently I've found a great AM, he goes out the way out to help me find resources that helps me, he also advice me on what offers to try. He even help me out after office hours! I'm grateful to have him as AM. If your AM don't cares about you, even though you try to make contact with him/her many times. Ask for a change of AM. If he/she can't assist you now, he/she can't help you in the future too, even if you were success then (you don't need him/her around then anyway).

3) Find good(genuine) blogs on these topics. There's not many around. 95% are crap, if you found a good one, really dig it.
You will know when you find a good one.

4) Network, form small mastermind group. 1+1 > 2
Don't be afraid to share good information. It's only going to help yourself eventually. What goes around, comes around.
Of course, don't share your landing pages and Ads. I'm talking about offers, strategies, even angles. But don't let people copy your work.

5) Put in LOTS of effort on your Landing Pages and Ads.
I believe other than the planning, tracking, strategies etc. This is one of the most important thing that many have neglected. Research what images works, headlines, colors etc.
I'm working on this too.

6) Always Plan Your Campaign.
I made this mistake for my first campaign, I just chose an offer with high CR and relatively good payout. And didn't research the offer, BAD decision.
Of course, the campaign didn't turn out well. It would have been a curse if it did turn out profitable. Imagine how much learning i will miss out?

So this is my experience thus far...

WOW AURORE, WOW WOW WOW!

All of you Newbies must pay close attention to this. Aurore has thought it through. This outline is part of planning, the most important parts of your business are continued education and planning. Read through this post often. Aurore has outlined everything that causes people to succeed.

Study, plan, implement, build relationships, collaborate, love what you do and the money will follow. All of these genuine steps of success in one post. Aurore, you have what it takes, have continued faith in what you do, continue building relationships, and always look for the joy in all of it!

 

[winarrow]

Biggest obstacles? Difficulty to focus on one thing at a time. The desire to learn a lot in a short time, to catch up too quickly, to prove yourself you can do it faster and better, the fear to ask questions that might sound too simple or stupid to others, the load of information and not knowing exactly what should you chose... Just like any other beginning... I guess it all stands in how strong your desire to succeed is!

 

[armour248]

I read every post in this thread and can relate to almost all of them. I'll share my progress up to this point. I spent the past week or two doing research on affiliate marketing. I spent most of my effort so far looking at CPA as I don't have a blog or SEO skills to try and generate free traffic. I have taken notes while reading blog articles and watching youtube videos. I applied to some networks that I saw on the blogs. I was approved at A4D but denied at a few other networks due to my lack of experience. I have no clue how good or bad A4D is. Right now they're my only option. My current "roadblock" is just my unfamiliarity with launching a campaign. I'm not so concerned about incurring losses in the beginning. I'm concerned I'll incur losses while I simply don't have things set up properly...wasting money and not getting the most out of the learning process.

So far I have set up prosper202 and browsed offers on A4D for a few days. I have no idea what to look for in an offer. I found a dating offer that has a relatively low payout and can be placed on social, search, display, etc. I figured running that offer on facebook would be a good learning experience. I applied to run that offer and it was approved an hour or two later. Now I'm sort of stuck. If I decide to go with that offer, what is my checklist before I start paying for traffic? Obviously I need to make sure my tracking is set up properly. How would I test that before I pay for traffic? I really don't understand the whole pixel/subid thing. Honestly I just reached out to my affiliate manager because i don't even know what my affiliate link is. Then there's the question of whether I should direct link or should I make my own landing pages? I'm not even sure how to direct link haha.

That's my experience so far. I guess I'm making progress...for me it's just a matter of making sure I have everything set up properly before I launch anything. I'm getting closer to jumping in...just need the confidence to do it.

Also, I've read a bunch of blogs but am going to check out the wiki from here as well. Seems like a good overview.

 

[EymardSiojo]

I vote this to be sticky!

 

[female_9999]

What really stops me - a fear to loose money...Ok i can invest 200-400 dollars for campaigns..but if I will not get it back I would be very stressful...that really stops me

 

[K]

I vote this to be sticky!

Good idea - done!

 

[T J Tutor]

Hey all, just needed to chime in real quick and apologize for not being here for the past week. I've been down with the flu and it hit me hard. Today is the first day I can really get some work done and I am playing catch up.

I will get responses in tonight and tomorrow for the recent posts. Thank you to all that took the time, and take the time, to post in this thread. I know first hand of four of you that are taking action and getting your businesses up and running. I want you to recognize that all of us in the forum are proud of you for moving forward, taking action, and beginning your business careers.

NEVER GIVEUP, ALWAYS MOVE FORWARD!

T J

 

[azgold]

Hey all, just needed to chime in real quick and apologize for not being here for the past week. I've been down with the flu and it hit me hard. Today is the first day I can really get some work done and I am playing catch up.

I will get responses in tonight and tomorrow for the recent posts. Thank you to all that took the time, and take the time, to post in this thread. I know first hand of four of you that are taking action and getting your businesses up and running. I want you to recognize that all of us in the forum are proud of you for moving forward, taking action, and beginning your business careers.

NEVER GIVEUP, ALWAYS MOVE FORWARD!

T J

Aww, TJ - sorry to hear you've been sick. Hope you're feeling a lot better now!

 

[T J Tutor]

Biggest obstacles?

Difficulty to focus on one thing at a time.

This is actually a trait found in many entrepreneurs and you should recognize the most common perspectives of this. You have correctly identified that selecting one thing is difficult, but let's take a look at this from the view of a multi-tasker. I am one, and having just one thing to do is difficult for me. This industry actually allows for doing more than one "thing" at a time. You need to adjust your perspective about one "thing". For example, as a beginner you should choose (IMO) one vertical to start with, one network, one tracking system, one graphics program, one ftp software, etc. As a beginner following this procedure, you are selecting one of everything that makes up the whole enchilada. In reality, you actually have a built in means to address your multitasking needs. Some call it ADD, others call it a need to multi-task. In the end, if you adopt the perspective that you are selecting multiple "things" for a common goal, your selection process will come together much easier.

The desire to learn a lot in a short time, to catch up too quickly, to prove yourself you can do it faster and better,

Everyone learns at their own pace and if you try to adopt the pace of another that is more experienced before you have none, then you are doomed before you start. It isn't your job to monitor the progress and the rate of progress of others. Being responsible and diligent means monitoring your own progress and never comparing your results to anyones results but your own until you have a level of success that warrants such comparisons.

Focus on your success, focus on your learning, focus on what your mentors tell you is next for you. What others are doing in a specific period of time has no relevance in your personal success.

Remember, learning is nothing more than sustained repetition and the number of reps is an individual number specific to you.

the fear to ask questions that might sound too simple or stupid to others,

There are "NO STUPID QUESTIONS" in learning. Not ever! If you have this fear, then you have been in the company of people that have attempted shamed you for asking questions and wanting to learn. Don't keep company with people like that. People like that are simply trying to make themselves feel more powerful by degrading another person. They are weak.

We are all here in this forum to help one another, please know in your heart that you cannot have that fear in this forum, you should never have that fear in this forum.

the load of information and not knowing exactly what should you chose

What appeals to people is different with everyone. First, decide that this is a business. Then decide what you can invest, then decide who impresses you and whether or not they are in a business space you would enjoy, then create a pan, a set of checklists, build a schedule, and take action. Don't toil over where to start, all you need is this very simple strategy. If you are concerned you may want to change it all at some point, let me put that to rest right now. YOU WILL CHANGE IT! We all do. I started out in this biz doing affiliates sales for hosting and domain registrars. While I still get income from this, it isn't nearly what it used to be because I changed directions and entered a different market place, and then I changed again a year or so later. No matter where you start, you end up learning much of the same things. No matter where you start, you end up somewhere else, always. The key to this is simple, just get started!

... Just like any other beginning... I guess it all stands in how strong your desire to succeed is!

Remember that when you take action, your desires to succeed will become overshadowed by your success. You successes will then fuel your desires for greater successes. It never stops as long as you keep moving forward.

 

[T J Tutor]

I read every post in this thread and can relate to almost all of them.

I'll share my progress up to this point.

Okay, well, the title of this thread is "As a Newbie, What Stops You From Getting Started" and not "As a Newbie, What Is Your Progress". But, in the spirit of good forumship, let's take a look at your post. (I may trim it a little here and there)

I will say this, constructively, your post is kind of a "mish mosh" of statements and has a fair amount of ambiguity to it. In reading this post I see a lack of organizational structure to the post which also reflects in what you call progress. I'll tell you now that this thread, as most of the forum threads, are about our the affiliate business and how we can help one another make progress. In order to do this, it's important for you to learn to organize your thoughts well before, or as, you commit them to paper (as it were). In order for others to help you, you need to communicate in an effective manner, learn to put the oranges with the oranges and the apples with the apples. What I see in your post is, first, it's off topic in the fashion it is presented. Second, the material in the post jumps around as though you're just writing down random thoughts in the moment.

I'm not attempting to make you uncomfortable in any way, but i can see why you haven't truly made any progress. It's because you are indulging a somewhat lackadaisical posture in your mindset, at least that's the way it comes across in the post. I'll elaborate more as I address some of the excerpts below, but this post of your demonstrates two very critical issues I see with many marketers, a disorganized thought structure and a lack of enthusiasm for your new business. This is usually a result of lack of confidence and a fear of failure (which you are fairly obvious about).

Don't despair, rather, you should rejoice if you are willing to take measures to put your Stinkin' Thinkin' behind you and adopt the posture and commitment of a WINNER!

I spent the past week or two doing research on affiliate marketing.

This is no measure of how much time you spent or where you spent it, what you absorbed, etc. A vague statement to kick off your post.

I spent most of my effort so far looking at CPA as I don't have a blog or SEO skills to try and generate free traffic.

What does "most of your effort looking at CPA" have to do with your not having a blog or SEO skills, or free traffic for that matter?

My current "roadblock" is just my unfamiliarity with launching a campaign.

You're self diagnosis is WRONG! Your "roadblock" is unfamiliarity with the business in general. This proves that your "1 or 2 weeks" of researching the affiliate business wasn't very in-depth or successful. Your "roadblock" is lack of knowledge and lack of organization.

I'm not so concerned about incurring losses in the beginning. I'm concerned I'll incur losses while I simply don't have things set up properly...wasting money and not getting the most out of the learning process.

I won't go into too much detail here with this because I don't want to turn this into a psychological review of your approach to business. As through the rest of the post, you are mixing messages and being confusing. The first sentence says "I'm not concerned about incurring losses", but then the next sentence you say "I'm concerned I'll incur losses". See what I mean.

I have no idea what to look for in an offer.

That's because you have not read enough material, picked a vertical, researched that vertical, based your offer selection on your research, etc.

I found a dating offer that has a relatively low payout and can be placed on social, search, display, etc. I figured running that offer on facebook would be a good learning experience.

You can't do dating on Facebook.

I applied to run that offer and it was approved an hour or two later. Now I'm sort of stuck. If I decide to go with that offer, what is my checklist before I start paying for traffic?

This is a lack of learning and a lack of organization and structure.

Obviously I need to make sure my tracking is set up properly. How would I test that before I pay for traffic? I really don't understand the whole pixel/subid thing. Honestly I just reached out to my affiliate manager because i don't even know what my affiliate link is. Then there's the question of whether I should direct link or should I make my own landing pages? I'm not even sure how to direct link haha.

You know, each of these could be a thread all their own.

That's my experience so far. I guess I'm making progress...for me it's just a matter of making sure I have everything set up properly before I launch anything. I'm getting closer to jumping in...just need the confidence to do it.

Well, again I say, lack of confidence is everywhere in this post.

Oaky armour248, You have way too many off topic statements in here, so i am not going to address them in my closing. You should be asking questions in the appropriate areas of the forum to learn enough to get things done. For example, all you have really done here is complain about your lack of knowledge, your lack of confidence, and your fear of loss. This to me is like listening to someone complain about results they get from attempting something they've made no attempt to learn. If you need to understand your tracking solution, then study it, post about your experience, ask loads of questions, get involved with people in the forum that know about tracking solutions. That is what they are partly here to do. All of us want to learn from this forum and we all want to contribute to this forum. Build relationships with people that have strengths you need to develop for yourself.

I am sure you are being sincere in your post, but I don't think you are being sincere with yourself. You are not approaching this field in a business like fashion, you are approaching it as an after thought. I'm not saying that is good or bad, but if you are going to operate from a position of loss and fear, well, you may as well give up now and spare yourself further agony (unless that's what you're going for). In my opinion, this thread, and this forum, are not a place to "whine" about what you can't do, especially before you make any attempt to "get a set of brains" about it and before you take action.

I can promise you the following, if you:

• Select a feild of aff marketing to start with
• select a specific vertical
• Select a network to work with
• Select a tracking solution
• Select a traffic source

Then spend the 15 hours a week for the next month discussing all of these with forum members in the appropriate areas of the forum, you will have the confidence and a base knowledge to move forward with real progress. You will take action without the posture of fear of loss. Everyone spends money learning the ropes. You are not "losing money". You are buying knowledge and information. Always look at your expenses in this fashion. Always!

You obviously have an interest, I suggest you dive into your education here, develop relationships here, and post your results here in this forum and you will find that you will be growing into a confident and successful business person in the affiliate marketing space.

Get a set of brains, build relationships, build a plan, create checklists, take action!

 

[T J Tutor]

What really stops me - a fear to loose money...Ok i can invest 200-400 dollars for campaigns..but if I will not get it back I would be very stressful...that really stops me

Fear of loss is no way to start any business, read through the 1st post that I keep updated with those of you that post here. You will see patterns emerging that demonstrate clearly that "fear of loss" gets in the way of many. You cannot successfully launch, or maintain, a business with this mindset. Establish a business checking account and put money in it until you get at least $1000. Expect to spend it, consider it an investment in your education, use it to start taking action and collect all the data you can. This data is what you are truly spending the money on. Every marketer in this, or any other, forum will tell you that we all had to go through this to learn how to earn. This is how it is done, always. Make the commitment to yourself, be true to your commitment, be true to the business and make your investment. When you do this, your learning curve will turn into an earning curve.

I promise you this is how it is done!

 

[ibaj69]

I would like to agree with that! I have been cruising around reading and I must say, TJ Tutor, You are one of the most articulate descriptive speakers I have ever read in a forum! I have learned more in a day reading your posts, then in a month ANYWHERE else!! I will thank you for myself as well as any newbie that is fortunate enough to absorb your obvious experience , it leaps out of your words.


Thank you, AJ

 

[ljads_jerrold]

Always plan to lose money in new campaigns when starting out... This is why you start small (as much as you're able to afford to lose) then once you start seeing positive return form your tests take that and start ramping up, and compound your returns. Starting out you can't expect to spend $200 on your first campaign and return back $2000, it's not impossible, it's just very unlikely, and very very few people are able to accomplish this. Even the Big time guys test small hundreds of different ads and tweaks and once they find a winning solution they exploit the crap out of it until it's time to move on. Always keep an eye on your expenses and ROI.

 

[T J Tutor]

I would like to agree with that! I have been cruising around reading and I must say, TJ Tutor, You are one of the most articulate descriptive speakers I have ever read in a forum! I have learned more in a day reading your posts, then in a month ANYWHERE else!! I will thank you for myself as well as any newbie that is fortunate enough to absorb your obvious experience , it leaps out of your words.


Thank you, AJ

WOW AJ, Thank You!
I am speechless. I am also very pleased that I have been able to contribute to you and our members. We are all here to to be helpful to one another.

 

[rpwells]

I have been wanting to jump into affiliate marketing for awhile but working as an advertiser, I can see how brutal the whole environment can be. Basically, just like in anything, the strong only survive. I am one of those weird hybrids of persons where I understand the terms/lingo of Online Marketing but can't even make a proper banner in Photoshop...so technical challenges prevent me. It would be awesome to find a partner that just needs cash infusion and business acumen...

 

[T J Tutor]

I have been wanting to jump into affiliate marketing for awhile but working as an advertiser, I can see how brutal the whole environment can be. Basically, just like in anything, the strong only survive. I am one of those weird hybrids of persons where I understand the terms/lingo of Online Marketing but can't even make a proper banner in Photoshop...so technical challenges prevent me. It would be awesome to find a partner that just needs cash infusion and business acumen...

Believe it or not rpwells, this is not as uncommon as you might think. I actually run into this frequently. Your situation is all over this industry, Many of the individuals you see in these forums that are succeeding are actually the front man for a small group of 2 to 5 people as the core of a start up. These days, trying to do it all without the additional people will cause a very slow beginning growth for most. Not rue for some of the power players from other industries as they have a budget, learn fast, and know how to outsource everything.

Partnering is a double edge sword. You will need to know that partnering with someone that complements your skills and investment is the first concern. The other side of the blade is that when you do get someone compatible, the two should work together for a while to allow the bonding and business venture to mature before adding another to the mix. Given your background, you likely understand the nature of this.

I've always stood by the old adage that an entrepreneur knows their strengths and knows their weaknesses, thereby enabling them to identify the individuals needed to replace their weaknesses with partners, associates, outsources, etc. You business skills are desperately needed in this business and they are skills that most marketers lack. The ones that rise to the top always have someone like you in the mix of their business as a partner or associate. Some of us have a level of your skills as well as the experience of the industry and are simply under funded. These people may be the better pool of talent to draw from.

I notice that you didn't identify any particular area of our industry that may interest you. Perhaps you can fill in that blank for us.

 

[minzet]

Hi, can somebody help me to answer this question. This question was being ask when i try to sign up with one CPA Network. What mobile tracking tools do you use for optimization?

 

[parikshit]

having loss of money and not getting as much traffic and and no traffic so no money only getting 100 views a day which makes me fell that earning money is good but spending that much time then only getting 100 views seems like nightmare

 

[T J Tutor]

Hi, can somebody help me to answer this question. This question was being ask when i try to sign up with one CPA Network. What mobile tracking tools do you use for optimization?

Hi minzet, that really has nothing to do with this thread. This thread is about telling us what stops you from getting started as a Newbie.

Now, as for your question. You are asking us to answer a Network Reps question to you. How can we do that? We have no idea what tracking tools you use. Only you know that. It sounds to me that you may not have prepared yourself with the knowledge you require to answer such a question.

We have a wonderful Newbie section in this forum. I suggest you begin there. Read everything you can about the field you wish to begin with in this industry. If it is mobile marketing, then read everything in this forum about that. Then go to the Mobile Marketing area of this forum, then the Tracking area, then Traffic Sources areas, etc. You see, from what I can gather from your post, you aren't prepared to start marketing if you cannot answer a Network Managers question about tracking.

Don't despair, rejoice instead. Everything you need to know to get going is here in the AffiliateFix. You just need to get involved in your learning curve, and you need to ask lots of questions (and ask them in the correct threads). You must learn before you earn! You must get involved with others here in the forum and they will help when they see you are making every effort to become a marketer.

 

[T J Tutor]

Hi parikshit

having loss of money

Every newbie marketer spends money to learn. All of us, no exceptions, not ever! You are in the learning stage and everyone must invest in their education. You are not losing money. You are buying knowledge. Some only spend a few hundred dollars before beginning to earn. This is exceptionally rare, like maybe 1 in 1000. Most will spend a $1k to $3k before really earning on a regular basis. A few may spend a great deal more, but this is also rare. You cannot start any business without some type of investment.

not getting as much traffic and and no traffic

This simply tells me that you have not mastered traffic yet, maybe targeting, copy, and maybe tracking as well as a few other elements. 10 years ago a marketer could start with selling a simple ebook to their respective audience with a ppc campaign generally targeting their audience and make a bunch of money. Today, a marketer must develop skills well beyond the skill sets of 2003. The industry has advance and therefore the marketer must advance. Pick one area of this industry, one traffic source, one tracking system, and one type of product to promote and stick with them until you master them. Then you can begin with mastering another set.

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