25 replies
Hello fellow warriors,

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Ari and I'm currently 20 years old, born and raised in Montreal, Canada. I've recently dropped out of college, reason being that I found the educational system completely outdated and redundant. I was in a program that I had no particular interest in, I just fell into it because I didn't take the high school days seriously and it became my only option. I've always felt like school was not for me. I love learning more than else but school didn't enrich my knowledge, it was more like forced memorization for exams and essays only to pass classes and then forget about all of it.

Since March of this year I have been exploring my career possibilities and have opened my eyes to the world of making a living online. I've been a member on WarriorForum since June of this year and have been reading threads here and there but always end up getting overwhelmed by the amount of topics and threads... In simpler terms, I just don't know where to start. I have a basic understanding of affiliate marketing but there's so much information out there that I don't know how to properly direct and guide myself. I've fallen for the affiliate programs that teach you how to become an affiliate marketer (Screw95), when I could have learned everything that I was taught from it without having to spend a single dollar. Nevertheless, it opened me up to the world of online marketing and can now spot a money grab when I see one.

I'm asking warriors for some guidance, maybe for a list of resources that can enable me to make productive progress and enrich myself in this vast field of opportunity. I'm not looking to make a ton of money overnight, I just feel like I've been running in circles with no sense of direction over the last few months and it's frustrating to feel like you're constantly wasting your time. I'm eager to get actively involved in the forum and I look forward to getting to know you all. For now I'd like to to know how some of you started out online and any other information/input that you think might be of value.

Have a great day guys,
Ari
#beginner #guidance #noob #noobie #productivity #tips
  • Profile picture of the author sogeshirts
    I would consider getting a war room membership here. The amount if knowledge shared there is pretty amazing. I think it's 97 per year but it's more than worth it.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by sogeshirts View Post

      I would consider getting a war room membership here. The amount if knowledge shared there is pretty amazing. I think it's 97 per year but it's more than worth it.
      Honestly, the price is a bit much. Yes, of course there is some worthwhile material but there is still a lot of crap in there with people just wanting you to join their List.

      I would suggest joining some quality newsletters like Content Marketing Solutions from Copyblogger and really learn the nuances of communicating effectively with your IM endeavors


      - Robert Andrew
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  • Personally if I were you, because affiliate marketing is done primarily online, adding some website skills to your toolbox would probably be a good idea.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    You have the distinct honor of possessing the same name as my favourite character on Entourage. Which is completely irrelevant, unless of course you're a fan of Entourage, used to be called George, and have recently changed your name to Ari out of - what could only be called - slight fandom. In which case it is relevant, since - being a fan myself - we'd have something to talk about.

    In respect to your questions - my best advice would be to put together a solid affiliate business, based on solid information (as opposed to the various "ATM Cash Systems often in this vicinity).

    10 things off the top of my head that you might want to learn:

    1. Squeeze Pages.
    2. Affiliate Link Redirection.
    3. Photoshop.
    4. Wordpress Installation & Design.
    5. Copywriting.
    6. Viral marketing.
    7. Social growth and marketing.
    8. Domain & Market Selection.
    9. Reverse competition engineering.
    10. Effective monetization.

    A lot of which you can find for free on this forum and elsewhere.

    Cheers!

    - Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author kk075
    Since you delivered a well-thought post, I'm going to try to approach this with kid gloves.

    The answer on "where to start" is right there in your own story- you paid for something that you could have received for free online. So start learning about that "stuff"...how to build a website, how to write a squeeze page, how to optimize for the search engines and how to drive traffic. It doesn't matter what order you learn this stuff in and you don't have to become an expert overnight....but you have to take the first steps.

    So where do you start? Start where everyone who becomes successful starts- educate yourself. Read forums. Get certified by Hubspot. Subscribe to blogs. Attend conferences. Or just perform good old Google searches to get the knowledge you need. You always start with knowledge.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vincent Denali
    Ari, welcome to the forum. He's my take. Information overload/overwhelm is not caused by too much information. It's really the symptom of inaction. So to stay out of this trap, you just need to get started. Take action. If you want to get into affiliate marketing, find a product to promote, and just start promoting it. Make some review videos to post on youtube with your affiliate link (cloaked) in the description box. It's a free method so your only investing your time. Once you make that first sale and get that first commission, it will take some of the pressure off yourself. good luck.

    *note on YouTube, under "Info and Settings" after uploading a video click to the Advance Setting and scroll below to the bottom right where it say Content Declaration
    This video contains a paid product placement or endorsement and click that little box will help save you if you want to put some paid product link on the video or the description box.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicolasmd2112
    1. Invest in knowledge (It is the literal key to your opportunities)

    2. Be persistent/determined/motivated (& accomplish something everyday)

    3. & Don't buy garbage over the internet (don't fall victim to shiny object syndrome)

    4. You should always be building something (a blog, a list, ad campaigns, affiliate networks, jv partners, etc.)

    5. Stick with whatever you set out to do. (As always, quitters never win & No body has ever made $1,000,000 over night from scratch)


    Those are just some of my tips to you and the other newbies out there.

    As for where to start, i think this depends on which medium you wish to make your income from. There are several popular ones: Email Lists, Niche Blogs, Your Own Products, PPC Ads, Banner Ads, MLM Downlines, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
      Originally Posted by nicolasmd2112 View Post

      1. Invest in knowledge (It is the literal key to your opportunities)

      2. Be persistent/determined/motivated (& accomplish something everyday)

      3. & Don't buy garbage over the internet (don't fall victim to shiny object syndrome)

      4. You should always be building something (a blog, a list, ad campaigns, affiliate networks, jv partners, etc.)

      5. Stick with whatever you set out to do. (As always, quitters never win & No body has ever made $1,000,000 over night from scratch)


      Those are just some of my tips to you and the other newbies out there.

      As for where to start, i think this depends on which medium you wish to make your income from. There are several popular ones: Email Lists, Niche Blogs, Your Own Products, PPC Ads, Banner Ads, MLM Downlines, etc.
      Well, For #1, #2 & #5 the OP has already proven that he CANNOT do!

      For #3 - He would need to stay away from the Forum and, thus, your advice will go unseen.

      For #4 - He will undoubtedly do that because he doesn't stick to anything significant and he doesn't want to learn redundant things like 99% of Internet Marketing.

      To the OP: Welcome, however, to the wonderful field of Internet Marketing!
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  • Profile picture of the author Rooso
    In your post you said you were looking at IM as a career choice. I think that is a mistake for you. You don't have the skill set and experience in the field for it to be a career option for you.

    It would be like me deciding that I want to start making a living as a welder and hitting up a couple forums asking which gigs pay the best and how do I get started. The first thing I have to do is learn how to weld. Then I need to keep at it at nights and on weekends so I can get some practice time in and apply what I am learning.

    Until then the welding could only be a hobby. I could make a few bucks here and there as I learned but it couldn't be my career right off the bat.

    I think you should find a full-time paying job doing anything and learn the ins-and-outs of the IM world when you are off work. That way your bills can get paid and any extra you have left over can be invested into the IM.
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    • Profile picture of the author Riki Stein
      Originally Posted by Rooso View Post

      In your post you said you were looking at IM as a career choice. I think that is a mistake for you. You don't have the skill set and experience in the field for it to be a career option for you.
      .
      I don't really know of anyone who was born knowing how to do anything. He wants to do what everyone else did: learn.
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      • Profile picture of the author Rooso
        Originally Posted by Riki Stein View Post

        I don't really know of anyone who was born knowing how to do anything. He wants to do what everyone else did: learn.
        Riki Stein, I made that statement since OP was looking to make a current career but lacks enough skill to make it feasible to live on. I went on to say he could learn about IM when he is not working.

        He isn't gonna buy a course or read something online that will suddenly begin to pay him enough for it to be a career.
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        • Profile picture of the author Riki Stein
          Originally Posted by Rooso View Post

          Riki Stein, I made that statement since OP was looking to make a current career but lacks enough skill to make it feasible to live on. I went on to say he could learn about IM when he is not working.

          He isn't gonna buy a course or read something online that will suddenly begin to pay him enough for it to be a career.
          Right. Of course not.

          I just got the impression from his post that he's not living on his own necessarily, no family to support, he probably would live in his parents' house....so he has all the time in the world to learn and implement. Read lots of books, try different methods until he finds something that works.

          Of course, I may be wrong about my impression too.
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          • Profile picture of the author aristotleg
            You are correct Riki, I do still live in my parents' house and I am very fortunate that they are accepting of the fact that I've chosen to educate myself as opposed to following the traditional system (school). I don't have to worry about paying rent, groceries, etc.. Only my personal bills which I do manage to pay with my 15 hour/week part-time restaurant job. I think it's wiser to invest more of my time in learning online rather than to work a full time job and come home completely drained and demotivated to learn something of real substance. Money is not my primary concern right now; learning and developing skills in the business is the top priority.
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          • Profile picture of the author aristotleg
            Thank you to all who have contributed to my first post, I'm grateful and overwhelmed by all the detailed responses you have provided me and have definitely encouraged me to take action with a greater attitude.
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  • Profile picture of the author Improbable
    Wow...after making an attempted wisecrack in another thread, I hit upon an idea that would be perfect for you. In fact, I spent some "walking time" chewing it over for myself. (I'm a newbie here too.) I decided to shelve it because I don't have the money or the time to follow through on it for the next couple of months, but it's good enough for me to implement it myself once I have both.


    It's an "apprentice" idea. The fact is, anyone seriously implementing it would make a pittance. The hourly rate would make iWriter look like a high-paying job. But it's the perfect "internship" because it will teach these crucially important foundational skills for making a living online:


    - Supplying quality content to a RAVENOUS market;
    - Preparing to do so in a thorough way;
    - Supplying said content in a TIMELY manner;
    - Leaning, via the good 'ol real-time pressure cooker, the most important base skill for on-page SEO: SUPPLY GREAT CONTENT!


    As you might have guessed, this "Apprentice Opportunity" is blogging, with AdSense as the monetization. That's why I started with the pittance disclosure. But given its limits, it's a helluvan opportunity to start off. Since this niche already has a lot of competition, you'll learn a lot about the good ol' competitor-and-collaborator muse of blogging. Mastering this muse will be absolutely essential for implementing time-proven quality-backlink techniques like guest blogging.


    Allow me to present it as a convo with myself:


    "Improbable, why don't you start and run an "All About [Donald] Trump" blog? There's a HUGE and RAVENOUS market for someone who's put in the leg work reading all of The Donald's books and has the skill to relate excerpts from them - plus excerpts from biographies on him, including those old and out-of-print bios - to what he does and the issues of the day?


    "All you'd need to do to get started is buy every book he wrote, the biographies too, and spend a month diligently reading them: make notes along the way. Once you've done your month-long readin'-and-notetakin' prep work, just curate what you've learned when you get a Donald Trump Google Alert or see a burning new issue in the national political news. It'll take a lot of prep work, and would require some limber-up at first, and the entire thing would require a ton of pittance-renumeration work, but it's a self-directed internship that'll teach you every skill you need except monetizing! In real time, too!


    "As an idea, it's stupidly simple! All it takes is the determination and hard work to follow through. You already know you can work hard.


    "So what's stopping you?"


    As I indicated, what's stopping me is that two-month "not enough money, not enough time" window. So I'm throwing the idea to your thread, and to you if you like it.


    If you do, enjoy and make the most of the two-month lead time.
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    • Profile picture of the author Riki Stein
      Originally Posted by Improbable View Post

      Wow...after making an attempted wisecrack in another thread, I hit upon an idea that would be perfect for you. In fact, I spent some "walking time" chewing it over for myself. (I'm a newbie here too.) I decided to shelve it because I don't have the money or the time to follow through on it for the next couple of months, but it's good enough for me to implement it myself once I have both.


      It's an "apprentice" idea. The fact is, anyone seriously implementing it would make a pittance. The hourly rate would make iWriter look like a high-paying job. But it's the perfect "internship" because it will teach these crucially important foundational skills for making a living online:


      - Supplying quality content to a RAVENOUS market;
      - Preparing to do so in a thorough way;
      - Supplying said content in a TIMELY manner;
      - Leaning, via the good 'ol real-time pressure cooker, the most important base skill for on-page SEO: SUPPLY GREAT CONTENT!


      As you might have guessed, this "Apprentice Opportunity" is blogging, with AdSense as the monetization. That's why I started with the pittance disclosure. But given its limits, it's a helluvan opportunity to start off. Since this niche already has a lot of competition, you'll learn a lot about the good ol' competitor-and-collaborator muse of blogging. Mastering this muse will be absolutely essential for implementing time-proven quality-backlink techniques like guest blogging.


      Allow me to present it as a convo with myself:


      "Improbable, why don't you start and run an "All About [Donald] Trump" blog? There's a HUGE and RAVENOUS market for someone who's put in the leg work reading all of The Donald's books and has the skill to relate excerpts from them - plus excerpts from biographies on him, including those old and out-of-print bios - to what he does and the issues of the day?


      "All you'd need to do to get started is buy every book he wrote, the biographies too, and spend a month diligently reading them: make notes along the way. Once you've done your month-long readin'-and-notetakin' prep work, just curate what you've learned when you get a Donald Trump Google Alert or see a burning new issue in the national political news. It'll take a lot of prep work, and would require some limber-up at first, and the entire thing would require a ton of pittance-renumeration work, but it's a self-directed internship that'll teach you every skill you need except monetizing! In real time, too!


      "As an idea, it's stupidly simple! All it takes is the determination and hard work to follow through. You already know you can work hard.


      "So what's stopping you?"


      As I indicated, what's stopping me is that two-month "not enough money, not enough time" window. So I'm throwing the idea to your thread, and to you if you like it.


      If you do, enjoy and make the most of the two-month lead time.
      Dunno about the Donald Trump idea, but just wanna comment that you write well and I hope you make money from that skill. (Copywriting for example.)
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  • Profile picture of the author Riki Stein
    Originally Posted by aristotleg View Post


    I have a basic understanding of affiliate marketing but there's so much information out there that I don't know how to properly direct and guide myself. I've fallen for the affiliate programs that teach you how to become an affiliate marketer (Screw95), when I could have learned everything that I was taught from it without having to spend a single dollar. Nevertheless, it opened me up to the world of online marketing and can now spot a money grab when I see one.
    I just want to point out that one can really learn anything (for free) online. It's exactly as you say. However, investing in a training program such as the one you said you did saves you the hassle of information overload and overwhelm from not knowing what to do with all that info, and instead shows you what to do, step by step.

    Unless it was a low-quality training, with vague instructions, in which case I hope you didn't pay too much money for it.

    So here's my question: have you tried implementing what you've learned in the course? That would be a good place to start.
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  • Profile picture of the author SudeshGamage
    Hi Ari,

    To succeed online or offline you must acquire knowledge. I know you already know that because you already invested in a course and also searching for answers.

    I also started as a newbie not long ago. I made my first dollar online by having my own info product. I also use email marketing to connect those buyers.

    So few of the most crucial skills you need are,

    1. Webdesign using wordpress (You can learn this by spending 2 hours in youtube)

    2. How to write sales pages and how to design them.

    3. How to do email marketing (understanding of autoresponders - those are softwares which send emails to your email list once you have acquired subscriber to your list)

    4. How to launch and sell your own product (To succeed in internet marketing you have to sell!!!)

    5. A little bit of photoshop or any other graphic editing software would also help a lot

    Keep learning and gaining knowledge.
    And focus on becoming successful and you'll become a success story soon.

    Cheers!
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  • Profile picture of the author OzDesign
    If I were to start again I would have done things differently....

    I was doing too many things at once and got confused....so my best recommendation to you is to start with one aspect of Internet marketing first. Don't let all the flashy sales letters make you think you'll make millions by the end of the month! (copywriting is a skill you can learn too)

    Start with one project and do it well(and understand it well) before moving on to other things.
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  • Profile picture of the author tcomlpex
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Boris Qs
      Information overload that is a good place to start I think most of us here can relate to that. Now here is my simple formula start now by getting a blog up that is definitely what you will be asked to do anywhere you go for info. which is good. Now on the blog just document every difficulties and successes you undergo as you keep on learning more about making money online.

      After a while you will see that you are already a marketer because what you learn you will be able to try it out on your blog and see for yourself what works and what doesn't plus you are creating content that other newbies will relate to thereby having your own followers while learning remember.Well that is just my 5 cent contribution hope you find some value in it
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      Learning and Growing as an Affiliate Marketer with My Secrete Tube Mechanic Notes
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  • Profile picture of the author tiffanymika
    Let's keep it really simple.

    Establish and brand yourself online.

    Create a blog and put content on your blog about things that you are passionate about and interested in.

    Produce videos about what you are passionate and interested in and embed them on your blog site too.

    Create social media profiles and brand you - not products or affiliate marketing companies or products

    Get your name out into the market place. Look for ways to help people solve problems in niches that you are passionate about. Create a following and build a community of people and add to your subscriber list.

    Then align yourself with a company that you can leverage, learn from and generate an income from whilst positioning yourself as an authority in your chosen area/niche.

    If I started all over again... that's what I would do.

    If you want to chat further or like some help..

    Just send me an message

    Cheers

    Tiff
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    Tiffany Mika

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  • Profile picture of the author tosakp
    Hi Ari,
    Firstly, you need to spend more time for learning. It might be helpful if you know an overview of online business. such as how many ways to make money online? and how to ? eg. make money from affiliate marketing, list building, cpa, youtube, amazon and so on. It will help you to understand the world of make money online. Then you should FOCUS the only way that you choose. Spend time to learn in the detail and trial. If you are a newbie, make money online from an affiliate marketing is so simple and easy for getting start.

    Just investing your time for learning and learning..... and stay FOCUS the way that you choose. I believe this way become your passive income exactly.

    Cheer
    Tosakp.
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  • Profile picture of the author stevefox88
    Use your time to read through WF and gain knowledge first! Slow and steady, dude
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    Give Up? Do it now so that you regret later

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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    You don't necessarily have to start with building your own website and selling something on it. You could sell on ebay or fiverr. Or even half .com.

    At the end of the day, money is money, and nobody's going to ask you did you make the money the easy way or the hard way... as if there's some kind of *honor/glory* from making money the hard way... as if this is a way to test your ingenuity in life.

    I'd take the easy way anyday of the week.
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  • Profile picture of the author cherrytom
    Hi Ari, welcome to the forum! Thank you for posting and sharing your situation. You got some really awesome replies that are a great help to newbies like myself. At 20, the World is your oyster and, as you still live at home, your future, both immediate and long term, is filled with wonderful and glorious possibilities. You seem to be brimming with confidence, so there is nothing --- absolutely NO thing ---that will ever stand in your way of achieving whatever you want to achieve in Life. You've made an excellent start in joining The Warrior Forum, for there is knowledge in abundance to be had here, not just in this thread, but in all threads --- so, read wisely and widely!
    I'd like to tentatively suggest that you find a mentor to coach you, as s/he will enable you to avoid the mistakes and pitfalls that most of us newbies tend to encounter. It took me a long time, and it cost me a lot of money, to realize I wasn't going to get anywhere without a mentor --- someone to tell me what to do, and show me how to do it. There are lots of stories circulating about how mentoring and coaching costs a lot of money and --- shock, horror! --- that some mentors and coaches are fake and, if these stories are true, I'm a very happy little bunny because my mentor, who is excellent, charged me very little. Good luck to you in all your endeavors. I hope you'll enjoy every second of your brilliant future and that you will, always, keep smiling!
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