What does Affiliate Marketing mean to you?
Ian Ebbs recently announced on Affiliates4u that thanks to his Affiliate Marketing success, he is leaving the dreary shores of the UK to travel the world for several months, before deciding where in the world he would like to settle down. I’ve known Ian for a few years now, and despite being a Blackburn Rovers fan, he does know a thing or two about Sports Betting, and Affiliate Marketing in general - He’s not one of those to shout about his success, but rather gets his head down and has been busy building a fantastic Affiliate Business over a number of years now - One that, in his own words “can get by for a few months just working one day a week” - Now in my opinion, that’s the pure definition of Affiliate Marketing success - Building your business up to a level where you can bugger off around the world for a few months (or maybe longer!), and knowing that a great guy like Ian has got to that level is fantastic, and should give inspiration to us all.
I’m building my Affiliate Marketing business towards a similar goal, and hopefully in 2 to 3 years time, my Affiliate Marketing empire will be able to run itself with just 1 hour a day from yours truly - Unlike Ian, I’m not planning to go Globe Trotting for months on end, but I do hope to start a family at some point, and when that happens, I intend being there to watch them grow up, so I’m putting in the hours now, almost as an investment so that I can work as little as possible in a few years time. It’s amazing really how easy it’s been to fall back into doing 100 hour weeks as I was five years ago, but this time I have a definite plan - It’s not going to be work till I drop this time - Everything I’m doing now is building towards the type of business I want to have in 2 years time, so if I’m still putting in 100 hour weeks in 2 years time, somebody shoot me!
Of course, being able to choose whether to work 1 hour or 10 hours a day is the freedom - Just because I only have to work 1 hour a day doesn’t mean that I’ll always do the bare minimum - On those dark, grey January days I’ll be busily building the business, and in the Summer months I’ll be sitting in the sun (hopefully) every day, and off enjoying day trips to the beach etc - I’ll be like a Squirrel who’s forgotten the seasons, gathering my nuts (oo-er missus) in the Winter and saving them up for the Summer!
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that success in Affiliate Marketing cannot be measured in monetary terms alone - It’s the freedom that Affiliate Marketing gives you, whether you want to travel the world like Ian, watch your kids growing up, or emigrate to Canada to become a vicar. Of course to be able to enjoy those freedoms, you have to put the hard work in first to build your business up to the sort of level that can maintained with minimal effort, and have a strong business plan that enables you to succeed in Affiliate Marketing.
What does Affiliate Marketing mean to YOU?
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Great post
I love affiliate marketing for all the reasons you have mentioned.
I hope to build my business to a level that ensures I do what I want when I want.
AM certainly opens news doors and opportunities and gives you freedom.
I know I wouldn’t be able to just work for one hour a day as its just not in my nature.
Though I would hope that one day i could use the spare time to help others and do some voluntary work for charity organisations as well as spending more time with my wife and kids -That would be rewarding
Unfortunately at this time i have too many bill too pay so I’m stuck with my face pushed up to the TFT monitor.
I wish you the best of luck with your quest
Regards
Mike
http://michaeljdscott.wordpress.com/
Interesting article John.
The way I see it, most people go to work in order to earn enough money to allow them to stop working. Flash cars and material possessions are important to some, but I think most people just want to earn enough to retire as early as possible.
So any affiliate who can afford to take a few days off a week, or just work an hour or two a day has made it in my opinion. It’s like semi-retirement.
Other people may earn more, but they are invariably stuck in jobs where they have to work from 7am to 8pm under intense stress - no thanks!
Time is much more valuable than money.
Spot on John, a good balance between making money and time for you and your family is better than money alone. For me, being able to work when and where I like is the selling point, but whilst I own and run a few other successful businesses I’ll continue with the 100 hour weeks
Mike (1) - I agree, I doubt I’ll keep to 1 hour a day, but once I have the business at the point where I *could* run it on 1 hour a day, it’s up to me whether I want to continue working full time, or effectively give myself the month off and just keep things ticking over. Until then, I’ll join you stuck in front of the PC (even cramming 4 or 5 hours in on a Saturday lol)
Mike (2) - Spot on. Everyone’s working so that they don’t have to work anymore, and semi-retirement seems like a fantastic option: Work if you want, and don’t if you don’t…
Ian - Being able to work whenever/whereever is one of the greatest things about this Industry - Ian will be doing that from Bali, or Fiji, or Canada or wheverever he happens to be. And he’s not alone - There are many, many affiliates who have fled these shores and are working from some fantastic locations - it makes you wonder what we’re still doing here!
Hey John… great thoughts here, as per usual..
I read a quote once that said.. when you love what you do, you don’t have to go to work every day.. I think that’s really profound..because as much as I enjoy working less hours than I would in a corporate environment, I never really “feel” like I am working…my passion extends onto the page so to speak and I love every minute I spend being deep in my marketing..
That’s not to say I’m not working towards less hours, I just do feel we have a better situation to look at in the morning than most…. although… working towards a more exotic location for morning power up is a dream situation….lol.. and definitely something I will do in the future, not necessarily the near future… but it is there for me..
Hi John, I just spent ten minutes writing a comment here, only to have it trashed by your spam-checker. You need to state that the answer needs to be written in NUMERALS not as text, even though the question is written in ‘text’ format. (Very frustrating indeed) I wonder how many other commets you’ve lost this way?
Pete.
Jamie - Agreed, Affiliate Marketers certainly have a better working week to look forward to than most - I’m just sat here planning my “to-do” list for the week, and if item No1 on the list wasn’t “Do accounts”, I’d be quite looking forward to the week! “Do what you enjoy, and enjoy what you do” seems to be the mantra of choice for me tonight!
Pete - Huge apologies about the spam-checker. It’s set up to recognise text answers up to ten, but nothing higher - I have now amended this so it should recognise text answers all the way to twenty (which should be the highest possible answer) - Please do let me know if it’s still not working, as I normally break something else whilst I’m playing about in the admin area!
[...] of them was Ian Ebbs, a very successful affiliate who “Didn’t Do Travel”, is now the proud owner of an excellent travel site which [...]
Thanks for the favourable mention John
Agree with what you have to say, especially the “just because I only have to work 1 hour a day doesn’t mean that I’ll always do the bare minimum” bit, I enjoy what I do and the wife often has to drag me away, but having the freedom to take off time when you want to is great.
My aims are pretty much aligned with yours long term, I’ve just had enough of England and want to see a bit more of the world before settling down, wherever that is.
Mike(2) you are so right with “time is much more valuable than money” and I want to enjoy as much of my time as possible.
Hope you reach your goals as soon as possible John, all the best
Ian.