Affiliate Marketing Success At A Snail's Pace

Have you ever felt that you were moving toward your affiliate marketing success at a snail's pace?





I remember when Bob and I started our online marketing career. There was another guy that started at the same time. He reached his affiliate marketing success in what seemed like a matter of seconds. It was like watching a sling shot rail come off the line at the races. Our success was more like watching a VW Bug that was almost out of gas come off the line.


Sometimes we find the delays and, well, sometimes the delays find us.


It turns out that rail guy had actually been doing affiliate marketing for 10 years and had just joined the company that we were in. But, prior to finding this out we went to a whole different stratosphere of anxiety over our failure to make this kind of advancement in our business.


Delays go hand in hand with our anxiety level and our feeling of now being prepared enough to take action.


We are sitting around decrying that it just isn't good enough when really what we want to say is that we just aren't good enough.


Know what your affiliate marketing success looks like before you start

Remember the story of Michelangelo and his carving of David? He said that he saw the form within the marble and then just started chipping away all of the parts that didn't belong there.


That's what we have to do as marketers. We have to know what our affiliate marketing success is going to look like when we achieve it so that we can start chipping away at all of those little things that are getting in the way of getting there.


One of the first chips is this whole idea that it has to be perfect. It doesn't. It never will be. There will always be someone who will find fault with what you did. It's like it's some kind of law of nature.


All you have to do, all that you can do is create something that conveys the very best that you, as a mere human being, can offer. You can tweak it or downright change it later if it's not working.


Skills take time

Oh, look we're back to artists again!


Leonardo DaVinci once had a woman walk up to him on the street and ask him for a quick sketch. Leo did a beautiful drawing for her in about 30 seconds. She proclaims the beauty of the sketch and begins to thank him for it. Leo told her it would cost her $1million to take it with her. She, looking aghast, I'm sure, says to him, but it only took 30 seconds of your time to draw it. His answer, yes, but it took me a lifetime to develop the mastery to do it.


It takes entrepreneurs years to develop the proficiency to do what we do with seeming ease, however, we learn to hide the case of Rolaids long before the success even peeks over the edge of our desk.


Be willing to be bad at what you do

Seth Godin put it this way: If you aren't willing to get your worst ever out there and get it out of the way, how will you ever be able to do better than that?


Our very best sits behind layers of our very worst.


Right now I am in the middle of writing a book. Every time that I go back to a chapter of proofread it, I refine it a little bit more but you know what, it will still probably get published before I think that I covered all of the things that I wanted to cover because the publisher has put me under a deadline.


I think that the real problem lies in the fact that we don't want to be seen as newbies, as beginners. We see all of the talking heads on Facebook showing us the money that they are turning hand over fist in their business and we don't want to admit that we aren't at that level. (Trust it that some of them aren't either.)


However, I think that it would be kinda cool to get started working toward affiliate marketing success with someone that was traveling along the same path as me. That way we could learn from each other and have some good laughs along the way. But, I digress.


Bottom line - Part of the process is putting out crap. Then, you can move on to the next level.


Are we having fun yet?

It's not fun to break down barriers.


If it feels huge - great - anxiety is proportionate to the size of your dream.


If you are struggling - fabulous - you are doing something worthwhile.


Affiliate marketing success is worth the tears and the pain but you have to be prepared to not be "ready". Give it your best and then launch.
Hey, you might really be in over your head and you might just fail. But, not for long.


When will you start moving faster toward your affiliate marketing success? Who knows, just trust that it will happen as long as you hang in there and keep moving forward.



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