In this episode, we take a look at listener feedback to episode 067 about Forever Affiliate. I that last episode, I talked a little about the hard truth about affiliate marketing. In this episode, we go through several listener responses and questions that came in after the episode. Specifically, we address stuff like whether or not people can actually make money online, why the failure rate seems to be so high, and what the reasons for that failure might be. Listener feedback always makes the best episodes, and this is no exception.
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Episode 068 Transcript
I hope that you’re having an absolutely fantabulous 2014. That’s a word I made up just for you; fantabulous. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m your host Mark Mason from the Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast, broadcasting from a little studio right here near Dallas, Texas. I hope you had a great holiday and you are off to an amazing start with whatever you have planned for 2014.
I personally am not off to such an amazing start. A lot of you who follow me on Facebook and on Twitter know that I’ve been down with some kind of viral bugamungus. As you know, I have lots of kids. I blame them, they’re basically human petri dishes. They go to school, they collect germs and then bring them home to my house. It has just been rough. Since about January 3rd I started having some symptoms and it started knocking me back, and then I got really sick the last week.
But I am in really great shape now, I’d say I’m back at 87.2% of full running capacity, and that’s good enough to get this show up and off the ground. I have huge plans for 2014. This show is going to be a weekly show. I know I’ve been saying that. I’m still committed to it, I haven’t accomplished it yet. As I’ve told you, one of the things about internet marketing is you just have to keep pushing until you get these things done. That’s very high on my list and we’re going to get there this year in 2014. I hope you’re looking forward to that – I certainly am.
Some of you may know that I have launched a second show, a show that is for several purposes that we’re going to talk about. It’s short format show that lasts between 3 and 5 minutes each week. You can find that over at the blog as well, it’s the Late Night Internet Marketing Minute. So I’ll be running two podcasts here and I’m very excited about that.
Some of you saw the news about the Late Night Internet Marketing Minute and were a little worried that this show was going to go away or somehow be reduced in frequency. That’s not the plan at all. In fact, my plan is to double-down here. I want to get really serious about creating outstanding content for you on this platform; on the blog, on this main show podcast, and evergreen content that’s good for a wide variety of uses over on the Internet Marketing Minute. Something that’s easy to consume that can keep your head in your internet business, keep things top of mind for you, those are the kinds of things we’ll be talking about over at the Internet Marketing Minute. More on that later.
The main thing that I wanted to do for this episode is talk to you about Episode 67, which is where we talked about the Forever Affiliate update and the hard truth about making money online. I was really worried, I shouldn’t have been, I should have given you guys more credit, but I was really worried. Most of the people that I see that are really successful – and I except some of my heroes from this, Pat is not this way, some of these other guys I really like are not this way – most of the guys that I see that are really successful put forward this image that everything in internet business is really easy, or whatever it is that they’re doing.
Usually they don’t say that (well, some of them actual say that), but they give the impression that everything is easy and if you just do what they do or be like them that you can be successful and that if you’re not successful that something is wrong with you or you didn’t do it right, and “oh by the way, here’s a cookie cutter method” where you can follow in their footsteps and a formula where you can be like them. They give this impression that this is very straightforward and easy and it’s no big deal.
One of the things that kind of concerned me about coming clean on Episode 67 – not really coming clean, but making a bigger point than I usually do – is that there is a failure rate. One of the things that worried me about this was are people expecting this thing and will I upset people and will people be turned off by this, will they see it as a Debbie Downer episode, and so forth. Like I said, I didn’t give you guys enough credit. I apologize for that, I should have known better.
Feedback was overwhelmingly positive on the episode. I particularly appreciated feedback from Crystal, she loved the real podcast. David appreciated the honesty. Long time listener Kent says he’s been following me since 2008 and that kind of episode is the kind of thing that explains why I’m the real deal. Thank you, Kent. That means a lot to me because that’s what I’m trying to get to.
Glad you are alive and moving toward well Mark. On the difference of an on-line and off-line business rate of success – I would venture to say that, for those that actually start, it is a fairly similar percentage – both quite low – but the level of risk for an off-line business is tremendously higher.
A dog lover can open up greatdogsupplies dot com, and, with passion and hardwork and considerable time invested – can make a nice income from the web site recommending products. But, imagine the investment needed to compete with Petsmart – that would be tremendous. The best way to minimize the offline risk is to start a blog or online presence about your offline business, and your niche expertise, which would offset price or other components found at the big box stores.
Hi Mark! I was so pleased to see a new podcast! I listened this morning and I heard my shout out!! Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. I got in the car tonight and see I have yet another episode to listen to – made my night!
So glad you’re feeling better. I look forward to a great IM year for 2014!
FYI – twitter handle is Crystal – Fine Art Mom 🙂
MaisiesMommyHeard the shout-out for you as well Crystal, nice! That is always fun! When he mentioned Chris, I got a little nervous, because I didn’t recall saying anything similar to what was mentioned, but that one wasn’t me this time. 😉
I am also glad Mark is feeling better, is back behind the mic and that lots of new episodes were released! Good things ahead for 2014.
Chris S. Hi Chris! Nice to see you here! We’re definitely in the Late Night IM fan club! 😉 Looking forward to lots of great info from Mark this year!
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the kind words about my comments, I don’t often get called insightful so i’ll take it!
Short term view versus long term view is an interesting point, if you are asking whether taking one internet course is going to realise your dreams then the answer is probably no.
If taking a few courses will increase your chance then the answer is probably yes.
My issue then is that course A will never ever say ‘Take this course and some others and you may succeed’ (unless they are also selling course B that is!!).
People though are desperate to find success and this can lead to ‘interesting’ situations. I had a call with a marketer this week who was looking for Beta testers for his new programme, There was an application process followed by an interview. They were after success stories to push their product once live so I was very interested. Well the call went well and I was asked if I would like to become part of the Beta test which obviously I was. ‘Great, so we just need $1,000 now to get you started’.
So they want me to pay them to try an untested course so I can help them charge $2,000 to others ‘should’ I be successful…….I thanked them for their time and finished the call.
But here’s the thing, they filled all their spots within 2 days, people willing to spend $1,000 on an untested programme, I’m sure it will be great and worthwhile but for us regular guys and girls this just isn’t possible. There is a huge disconnect between successful IM guys and girls and the majority of us, $1,000 might only be a ‘small amount to get you on the path to success’ to them but it is a months rent and shopping for my family to me, I can’t justify that.
I have enjoyed your balanced responses to this topic, my thinking is now maybe its time for a two tiered approach to IM, one for those looking to throw a bit of money at it and those who just cannot, maybe an interesting topic for a podcast?
As for having money to make money I think listening to recent episodes has shown that you can do it with little money but it will take a lot longer, meaning the chance of giving up goes up exponentially. Having a bit of cash to throw at it will ‘possibly’ increase your chances of success.
Where am I at? Not made a bean online as of yet, I’m a ‘broke marketer’ so everything goes slowly but I keep on fighting.
Thanks for the shout out, it’s the first time I’ve ever been mentioned anywhere, it was nice to be able to contribute. Here’s hoping for more of the same and you never know, maybe even some return on all my hard work!
Mark,
Back listening to your podcast again. Impressed that you were being honest about forever affiliate. I was very close to purchasing it when you first started promoting it. Very interested in seeing if you can make the program work. I think the hardest part for people when it comes to affiliate sites is to be patient. Been blogging for 2 years and I am still learning and gaining followers. It’s a process.