My IM Journey

After 4 months of doing IM, I'm going to share you my story. This is not a guide. I am merely sharing that it's possible, even if things may initially go wrong.

I graduated from UCSD in June 2010. I worked for nearly a year, but after constant arguments and disagreements with my boss (at the time), I quit. Seriously, she had to be the most incompetent business owner in the world. I liked a lot of the workers there so I wanted them to succeed, but after I left, that business just went downhill.

Anyway, that's not the point.

That's when I found WarriorForum and learned about internet marketing. It was around the end of August. The stories that people shared is what got me interested in the business. It opened up my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities that I had never considered before. Everything made logical sense, and I figured if other people can do it, I could too.

My first post/thread was asking for some help or guidance. A lot of people were generous. I was even offered personal help, which helped greatly. All I did for an entire month was just read as much as I can and learn as much as I could. While I was exchanging emails with someone who was personally teaching me some techniques, my email got hacked. Lol.

I've also met my fair share of scams. This is another issue. A lot of backlinking services either don't work or fail to deliver. I don't mean to badmouth other people, but you really need to do it yourself, train someone to do it, or find a service that actually works. I tried a lot of services, and most do not work. Most links don't even stick. If I had to recommend a service, I found that Matt LaClear's backlinking services worked. He was one of the rare services that actually delivered. I can't guarantee if he can get you in the top 10 for keywords like "weight loss" or "car insurance" since I've never tried targeting such difficult keywords. However, his services definitely do work for small niches. My sites are comfortably sitting #1 for various niches.

Paying for bad backlinking services wasn't the best way to start things, but I kept working at it. Currently, I'm making about $1000 per month off 5 websites. It's not a lot, but it's constantly improving. Most of my income comes from affiliate marketing, but I do make some extra cash off Adsense as well. Aside from my brand new sites, each one has at least 10 reviews. Some reviews are 2500 words long. Others are only 800 words long. I wrote all these myself after extensive research. It's not just some Amazon ripoff. I also include other informative articles on my sites. It's not solely reviews.

Anyway, that's when I decided to launch my own backlinking service. Like I said, I've met my share of scams so I wanted to give WF something that would actually work. Then a few days later, I got into an accident. I know. I don't have a lot of luck. Hacked, scammed, and now injured. I had a concussion, 2 broken ribs, and a strained neck. My left arm also felt incredibly weak. Luckily, there were no "serious" injuries...

Off topic: Did you guys know that they can't do anything to "fix" your broken ribs? They don't do anything for you. You just need to let it heal naturally. It wasn't terrible, but I was moving soooooooo slowly. It was really frustrating, and eating sucked. Every time I swallowed, it burned inside.

I had to refund everyone that paid, which made me lose money. Haha. I didn't think that it would be fair for my customers to pay me if I couldn't guarantee high quality work so rather than trying to string them along, I told them right away. I also felt that I needed to take some time off everything until I fully healed.

Now, I'm back and sharing my story with WarriorForum. This is just a story to share that newbies can definitely make money. I have been making more and more money every month. In just 4 months, I am now making $1000/month. By June, I plan on expanding that to $3000/month.

If I had to give a few tips, it's to do a lot of research. WarriorForum is good, but other forums can definitely expand your knowledge and open up new perspectives. Google can also be your friend. For example, I looked at A LOT of other affiliate sites to get ideas for my own affiliate sites. I took with me what I thought would work and what didn't. I tested various methods. Now, I see some of my competitors copying me. Haha

Anyway, just know that it's possible. You can get hacked, scammed, and injured, but in the end, it's 100% possible. Just be patient.

Edit: Whoa. That ended up being a lot longer than I expected. ><