Some Days are Diamonds....

That is the real truth in the affiliate marketing business.

Some days are diamonds, some days are stone, sometimes the hard times wont leave me alone.

I started my ad campaigns 8 days ago and realised that I have to work a little more on my delivery and also be more transparent with expectations and costs once you watch the free masterclass. That seems to be the smoke and mirrors of selling the Affiliate Marketing dream.

My Leads have grown and dwindled during that time, because it is ok to sign up for a free masterclass but that does not mean you are going to stay subscribed when it comes to the emails enticing people to continue the journey.

Being absolutely honest, I have signed up for multiple free e-books and courses this week because I wanted to see what other people are doing in their affiliate journeys.

The weird thing is, being honest is not getting you sales, but your honesty is a little disguised. I am about to embark on a change in my campaign style and be extremely upfront just to see how that approach is received. I am finding that I was drawn to affiliate marketing by the people who were posting about large windfalls and money coming in seemingly overnight, that is not what I have found on this journey, if anything I have found many opportunities to make money, however none of them have come easily. It takes time, dedication and pure determination.

As I progress through the stages of setting up my affiliate space, I am finding that being inundated with other peoples feeds, campaigns and sales styles can actually lead you to being disheartened and the negative talk starts to enter your mind. Again today I caught myself questioning my decision. This is something that I find is a regular battle within.

My niche has become on ongoing issue, but as I move forward day by day I am finding areas of interest that resonate more with me and I am about to take on a new affiliation with a suite of great digital products. This is something fun, easy and right up my creative alley.

Stay tuned, I'll be back to let you know all the details...

If you can't wait...check out my Linktree site

The Leads roll in...

So the weeks move by, my family are all under the same roof and Easter has passed. Easter every year is a special and in some ways sullen time for us.

Having lost our son and brother on Good Friday in 2007, it is a reminder every year of loss and grief, the what ifs and whys come out, even this far down the track. You see when you lose a child it never goes away, the wondering, the questions, the dreams unrealised.

As I said, it never goes away, but we march on and we live our lives in the shadow of those unrealised dreams, we hope to live a life fully for the one that cannot.

This Blog is for the life lived.

My affiliate marketing dreams are growing and success is all around me, in every day that I learn something new about marketing, the new insights that help me to maximise my reach on social media and websites. The education and course information from the Freedom Formula has led me into a world of infinite potential, signing up to the Launch program has been the best decision I have made for my own future making a passive income and no longer working in my 9-5 retail position. there are so many companies that are looking for quality endorsements and there are so many people wanting to change their lives.

This week I have seen my leads grow with my Campaigns running on Facebook and Instagram, the reach has changed my confidence and has inspired me to grow and change my strategies.

I am now about to fully integrate Flodesk as my email platform because they have beautiful templates and the integration with apps is simple to set up. I am slowly fine tuning my delivery of content and my understanding of the marketing needed to let people know what it is I am endorsing.

Linktree is the platform I use on my social media pages, it costs $14 a month whereas I was using Stan Store at $29 which is still very good and has an affiliate link for users but I liked Linktrees design and analytic setup. From my phone app I can monitor engagement and use the information to tweak my campaigns and social media posts. As I was starting literally from zero I also felt that less outlay initially was a better idea until I had a better grasp on what I needed for my own business moving forward. Thats the beauty of this online world, you can make changes and find your own way to thrive.

For my Blog I am contemplating moving to the Wordpress platform, this is still in thought stage as I am still working out if my website is being utilised for my business or if a Blog would be a better use of my skillset. I did have a Wordpress site years ago and closed it down after 9 months, I now wish I had kept it but starting fresh is, in itself exciting.

The Low ticket affiliation I have with Surveys has seen my balance grow to $103.27 over the 4 sites I use. The best of which is Pure Profile at $44.05, Attapol at $17.87, Surveyz at $13.65 and Octopus at $27.70. These balances are with 2 to 3 nights a week for around an hour. I have not received anything in referral kickbacks which seems to be how the majority of successful affiliate marketers make money from survey sites. Looking at the Pure Profile referral incentive, you receive up to $2 for each friend you invite as long as they complete 2 paid surveys you will be paid $1 per survey completed up to a total of $20. Octopus surveys are the same. Surveyz will pay you $10 per referral and the new member will get a $5.00 credit on completion of their welcome survey. Attapol will pay you $1 per referral and the new member will get $1.00 when they complete the welcome survey, you then get ongoing payments of 10% of surveys completed by your referrals. Attapol are low paying surveys and some are very time consuming. You will feel like you get disqualified alot, but that is the benefit of the welcome survey which sets you up for further paid surveys. Honestly, if you arent doing anything else you can make money in your spare time, there are alot of marketers pulling out $200 plus a week per site and it is achievable.

Again I say this is the benefit of the course I undertook in Affiliate Marketing, a guide that has helped me see that I can achieve anything, I can sell, write or inspire from this platform and I have the Freedom Formula to thank.

Learning to Pivot

It has become increasingly apparent that I am going to need to learn the subtle movements of a ballerina in the online Marketing world, as the hours tick by we are faced with constant changes and obstacles and as Brendan Kane says in his book 'One Million Followers' we have to learn to Pivot.

The online world is moving so much faster every single minute. With the latest introduction of functioning Ai sites, it has now become increasingly obvious that originality and authenticity are going to become harder and harder to find. When you have a system that can literally write you a book that you can then sell on Amazon, or write all your social media campaigns it is going to be hard to compete and in turn capture an authentic audience. When it can point out the top trending items to sell on etsy or predict the next breakthrough technology, it certainly makes me wonder what the use of we humans will be.

Just so that you know....I do not agree with the implemented world of Ai, I think we are about to sell our soles to the artificial devil and in doing so we will not have a relevant voice or a personal appeal in the cyber world. This being said the flip side to the coin is the fact that it is now the time to capitilise in a financial way before the market is fully saturated.

Again, I dont like the way its going but I'll probably have to get onboard the train. Lets face it, I dont want to be left behind in terms of technology.

Back to the Pivot. Talk this week of ceasing Tiktok threw alot of affiliate marketers and influencers into a spin....BUT..never fear, behind every great story of pending doom is another APP ready to take over...Introducing two CLAPPER and LEMON8 the second is not yet available in Australia, mores the pity.

Clapper works on an organic principle, where there is no bias as to algorithym or hastags, if you like certain areas and you specify such you will see that content. They do not allow reposting with watermarked clips from other socials, do not actually have a photo upload for your page, its all video content.

Lemon8 is a new version of TikTok, made by the developers of TikTok. In the world of the tall poppy where everyone wants to take you down if your a success , there will always be a back up to the much loved platforms, because if you have succeeded once as an app developer you are going to be honing your skills to succeed again. Hopefully Lemon8 will be available to Australia soon and we too can be on the new platform sprooking our wears to all.

So pivot I will and with as much grace as an elephant falling over. All to gain more Followers and help like minded people join me in this online gig.

Have a good one....

It would appear I have yet again made a mistake!

Lets face it, in todays online world, there are sooo many shiny opportunities being thrown our way, everyone has a pitch, a gimmic, a tried and true formula for success. This is the case for so many ventures online, the reality is they all have the potential to make money, but unless you have the drive, grit and persistance to see the hustle through, you will fast become the person leaving the online review stating it is all a scam.

Why I hear you ask? Wait for it.... Because we wanted the quick escape, the quick money, the easy path, the no work for optimum pay deal and that just isnt the world we live in.

So how did I trip up this time? Well I bought into the glam, the pointing to the shiny and unrealistic and I started to become someone I'm not.

I wanted to draw people in so that I could then point in the direction I wanted them to go. But guess what ? That isnt authentic, that isnt true to me and that isnt likely to be a ticket to longevity or success in any longterm business strategy.

You see the Freedom Formula that started me on this path was so comprehensive, simple and spaced out that for the first time in a long time I truly believe in MYSELF. I truly believe that I can do this, I have something to say, I am being honest about it and I am proof that it works.

What is the Freedom Formula....Its 'high value, free information'.

Sure there are people out there that have made a fortune by finding an opportunity and maximising in that moment, a bit like buying shares and selling when they are at the best price.

I want to be the person that zeros in on what is important. I want to be the person that doesnt point to the gimmics, but points you to truly honest courses and products that work, and I'll do this because it works for me.

I am someone that wants to speak out, have a say and be truly me as I do it.

So I have to flick past the bright and shiny and find my tribe, I know they are around the world because I have seen them in action, I see the honest people on social media that just want to pay their bills. The ones that want to provide for their family. The ones that are in the later stages of adult life and are feeling at a loss as to their future. I want to be in that crowd and the only way to do that is to be ME.

So who am I talking to ? Well that would be You....I know that you align with me, I know that you have questions and I know that I have been where you are and now with the benefit of doing the time in this business I can point you to what really does work.

It just takes that one moment of belief, that one 'What if..' that 'Day One' mentality that I had when I began only a month ago.

If you want to know more. Press the Start here link at the top of the page.

How can you find a Blessing in

the Emergency Department ?

I guess that seems like a bit of a weird question. Because the Emergency Department is a blessing to all those that are in need of urgent care. I can tell you I have spent many hours in emergency with my partner and children over the years and the time spent there was fraught with fear, tension and anxiety. My trip this week was a little easier given that I knew my daughter was dehydrated from Gastro and needed a drip. The opportunity I gained was conversing with some lovely nurses and staff members, the chance to laugh and share and lament the world we live in . All whilst sitting beside my daughter and silently praying that I 'pretty please' don’t catch this gastric bug .

The interesting part of the whole experience for me was the opportunity to reach out to other women and discuss what these medical staff are experiencing in the shadow of what was the COVID Pandemic.

You see the media can tell a dramatic tale of whoa and their sole agenda is fear and direction (as in, you must follow the directives given) when in reality, the population was divided in the last few years and still harbour a residual of unease floating around waiting to be dislodged. So the opportunity to get a glimpse into the 'front line' staffs point of view is priceless for me.

The nurse that looked after my daughter initially told of working in Melbourne, the 'epicentre' of the COVID Pandemic crisis. She said that she watched countless die. Most were healthy prior and 3 in particular were doctors in her own hospital. I could tell during our conversation that this woman had found herself defending the COVID narrative and the retelling of the death and trauma she had experienced gave her a somewhat hardened veneer. Her conversation was enlightening for me though, I was not one to watch the News and now rarely if ever waist my time on a headline, but to be able to have a first hand conversation and get an actual glimpse into what our nurses went through was truly humbling.

So when I started out by saying the trip was a blessing, it really was. Not only did my daughter get top care, I was also able to glean a look into the world of our health workers and get a better understanding of how they are doing post Pandemic. This insight gave me much empathy for our Doctors and Nurses, an honest look at what they have endured and the strength with which they have carried on and kept turning up for their patients. 'Blessing' is truly the best description for these frontline staff members.

Well Goodness me. What even is a Pixel

You see I have spent the best part of 4 hours today trying to set up my Meta Business Suite and do you think I can get the Pixel to work. Seems like a simple cut and paste but NOOOOOO!!

Let me tell you nothing is simple and when you do not understand what the troubleshoot directions mean, you are truly in a land of foreign languages with no access to technology for interpretation.

So I quit this morning, threw my hands in the air and walked away. Drove to the local shopping centre and tried to forget that I was a technology dummy. After a much needed lap around the walkway, coffee at Brooklyn Donuts (No donut) and trolley full of groceries at Woolworths, I grabbed my dry cleaning that I'd left for a little longer than the ticket stated and headed back home....

I'm not sure if anyone else does this, but as I was driving I was thinking, do I need anything else? Do I need to go to a bakery? Do I need to drop into Bunnings - are there going to be plants on the reduced stand that I'm missing out on. Could I possibly in need of another solar light for the walkway, or some potting mix for the millionth pot of unknown plants. I think So.....and I pulled into Bunnings. True to form there were reduced plants that needed a saviour, and that saviour was me. The poor struggling limbs of a neglected species just crying out for me to save it... Luckily I was in true rescue form and adopted a few of them, chuck in some potting mix and not 1 but 3 heavily reduced solar lights and I was good to checkout.

Unfortunately I did need to return home again to the inevitable laptop and its dreaded Business Suite.

I have to say even amid the temper tantrums I do feel like I achieved something today with the steps I have taken to set up the business account, I would not have even entertained the idea a mere 3 weeks ago, but having mentors that can walk you through processes step by step (even when they dont work) is a soft landing in a world of technical jargon.

Gone are the days of walking down to the local Newspaper shop to insert an Ad for your business for the coming weeks print run. The world has advanced to a space where the shops no longer exist and the online interfaces have taken over the whole shebang.!!

Honestly I sought of miss the days of old as I see the changes in face to face interactions and the art of conversation changing. I know we have to advance and evolve, but do we really need to morph into mere shells.

Anyway this chitter chatter is not helping me solve the Pixel link (if anyone could help me send a flare up! )

13/03/2023

The Struggle is Real

You see the issue with me is that I truly struggle with negative self talk.

After working along at a nice pace, I found that I was starting to second guess the direction I was taking in the online world. I was seeing too much on social media that created a saturation point in my brain.

Enter the reality of living in my mind.... 'I can't do this' 'I've just wasted all my money' 'What can I offer anyone?' 'Why would anyone listen to me?'

Its all well and good to recognise these thought patterns, but actually pulling yourself out of the abyss is a difficult task. It took days of wallowing, avoiding the computer at all costs and trying not to think about the unopened email account and the Course units that were sitting incomplete.

I know that the time I took was needed for my mind to reset and realise that overload is a real thing and I needed to bite off small chunks of learning at a time. When I dive into anything I fully immerse in it. I buy everything that I might need to make the experience authentic and real, I make sure that I am equipped and then I start to falter as the tasks maybe get too hard, or the questions aren't easy to answer or the job is difficult to navigate. This is my personality flaw. It is the one element I need to work on so that I can finally succeed at tasks and when I commit to something I fully follow through to the zenith. Easier said..

So 11 days have past since my first blog and that time has seen me start various online projects, get my Instagram running, my accounts linked and my vision for success is starting to take shape, I say this because I really didn't understand 'niche' and I didn't recognise what mine was. Through the past 2 weeks I have looked at so many other fellow online marketers and in some cases caught myself trying to imitate their art so to speak, but now I see clearly that I want to make others feel worthy. I want to direct people to training that will help them ask tough questions and also show them how to build a platform in the online world.

From the perspective of a nearly 50 year old woman, I want others to see that it is possible as we age to keep up with technology, terminology and trends to include ourselves in the future of online living.

06.03.2023

AM I FALLING ??

4 Days into this Freedom Formula and I have found myself like Alice in wonderland, falling down the rabbit hole of side hustles, online surveys and drop shipping. Unfortunately due to the algorithm that puts everything we talk about and tap on into our feeds, I am now well and truly in a state of chaos internally. The desire to be successful in the online space is great. It is something that I want so sincerely that I am filling every moment with business podcasts, self help books on Audible and paperback guides to being rich.

It says in almost all cases that I will need a major mindset shift to achieve all of my successes, and well I am well and truly shifting. I see that overwhelm has always been my issue in the past, and no matter how many times I read 'The Secret' I am not going to magically manifest wealth, but I can visualise how my life will be and I can work towards achieving that. As I have stated in my pages, I have lived a life hoping for the miracle pill, the get rich quick, the do nothing succeed mentality and it obviously has not done me any good.

Its so funny to think that I now see people on social media asking the inevitable question 'How did you do it' as if there is a 5 word answer that will be everyones miracle to success. There is no quick answer, there is education, training, trial and error. Finding mentors and going to conferences, workshops and places where opportunity arises for growth. A big takeaway from listening to podcasts is that it takes serious time and effort, slowly putting elements together to create real results.

Day 4 takeaway is to not rush the process, work on one area a day, do not try and manage all areas of getting a business off the ground. Enjoy learning more about my own goals, my why and how that ultimately motivates me.

2nd March 2023

One Day or Day One?

The journey to becoming confident enough to begin truly started today.

I have always been the type of person who starts things, masters whatever it is in the shortest amount of time, gets bored and moves on.

Unfortunately this isn't really conducive to making money, but definitely a way to spend a lot of it!

You see I love shiny things, I love a craft that I have to master, and the outcome of that craft is something I can be proud of. This has seen me become proficient at crochet, I can do Paint by Numbers in my sleep. I have done paint pouring, resin moulds, made earrings from polymer clay, tried my hand at air drying clay. Put together intricate room kits, built models of music boxes. This along with creative journal designs, subscriptions to stationery groups, online monthly bookclubs and yet all I have to show for it all is cupboards full of paperclips, notebooks, fancy pens, bookshelves piled high with Novels and shelves full of paints. Crocheted blankets that the family don't use, walls adorned with artwork that isn't original and well....a deep longing for more.

That is why I have begun, I have taken the dive into the world of marketing, I have sat on the sidelines and listened, read and watched online success stories, so now I am starting. The journey of one thousand miles begins with just one step, and that step for me was clicking that link for a free class.

I had no idea of the intricacies of the online realm, or where to begin, but this course has opened the doors for me. Thankfully there is nothing to lose with a free course and everything to gain in the long run.

So my hope is for others to see this and think ' Well if she can, I can too' because starting was the hardest part for me.