SuitcaseLifestyle.com

Is there a difference? I think so. This is a bit of a rant and I’ll share an experience of mine.

So I have been doing affiliate marketing for the last year. One thing that has started to really bother me, is that an affiliate marketing via paid traffic is a business totally reliant on external forces. Offers going down(sometimes with no notice), Google slaps/bans, Facebook changing guidelines, DirectTrack going down , everchanging compliancy regulations, need I go on? It is not what you would call a solid foundation. What point am I trying to make? Lets start with a little story:

In 2007 I was on a night flight from Miami to Buenos Aires, in Business class. I was sitting there staring at the movie credits when another guy was stretching his legs and walking up and down the cabin, he stopped by my seat and introduced himself, so we started chatting a bit. In the end we exchanged emails and decided to catch up in Buenos Aires for a meal or a drink. Fast forward a bit, and we became friends, we exchange emails every so often to say hi and so on. I always assumed he had a bit of money, because he was flying Business class, and also because of the way he carried himself. Last year I decided to visit him in his country(not the USA), it was definitely an eye opener for me.

When I arrived, he sent someone to the airport to pick me up, who then took me to a spare apartment in a high-rise overlooking the city. I stayed there for over a month, he sent a maid over every day to make cook me lunch and clean the place. Turns out his friends with the president and has political connections(everywhere). Needless to say, he is a baller of a different magnitude.

So one day I followed him to his factory, where he employs over 600 people. His business exports to every major continent, and turns over hundreds of millions every year.

Naturally I found my all this very interesting, so I was curious how he had built up his business from nothing to the massive conglomerate that it is, with him still being under 40. Turns out it was quite simple:

Focus and innovation combined with a long-term goal.

He studied business so naturally went into business. He studied in North Carolina, which is was a furniture manufacturing area. So to him, it seemed like a good idea to get into that business. He stuck with it, building quality products and now his business is MASSIVE.

It’s amazing how small traits like focus and persistence, can have MASSIVE results when you apply innovation, hard work and dedication.

So I reflected on all this, and where does that leave me? Grinding away to find competitive edges and quickly bank on them before the competition catch on? Or raping a new traffic source before they ban re-bills? I know there are plenty of other legitimate offers around, but my point is that at any time, a bunch of things can happen at any moment  and kill your profits, and it’s quite common to see affiliates go from $xx,xxx a day to 0.

My friend has inspired me to create something of value, because it isn’t all about how much you can make in one day. It’s about REAL wealth.

He inspired me to create a REAL business again, not a business where my traffic sources, keywords and offers are secrets. I want REAL customers who are happy with my product or service that then become salespeople for my product or service(think Apple fanatics).

I sold my e-commerce business a few years ago. I was retailing CCTV products, which was unheard of at the time. My business succeeded because I was an innovator. I took an existing product and found a new retail channel for it. The new owners are still doing really well, and I’m still proud of my creation. I can’t say the same for any money that was made from re-bill offers that I promoted. Now, I want to create another business…

On top of all that, I’m lazy, I don’t want to continually be on the grind every day like other affiliate marketers. I don’t care about making $xx,xxx if it’s going to cost me my freedom to move around while I’m still in my 20′s. I want to set the foundations for a business that will grow on it’s own, I want to do some REAL marketing, and create some passive income that will last for DECADES.

So the moral of this story: Focus on the long term, build a solid business with satisfied customers and you can build a business for life.