When I first started doing affiliate marketing online, I was big-headed.
I thought I knew exactly what I was doing.
After all, I had years of marketing experience and had been successful with two network marketing companies. So naturally, I figured I was ready to conquer the Internet marketing world.
Boy, was I wrong.
What I didn’t understand at the time was that experience in one type of marketing doesn’t automatically make you an expert in another. Online affiliate marketing had its own learning curve, and instead of admitting that I had things to learn, I decided I would figure it all out myself.
That hard-headedness cost me a lot of time — and, even worse, a lot of money.
When experienced marketers offered to coach me, mentor me, or simply give me suggestions, I usually ignored them. Sometimes I outright rejected their advice.
Looking back, it was almost as if I enjoyed throwing money away!
I would find some new lead source that looked like the greatest thing since sliced bread. Experienced marketers already knew it probably wasn’t going to work, but to this affiliate marketing newbie, it looked like the golden goose.
So I’d spend my money.
And discover that the golden goose had laid another rotten egg. 😂
Then I’d move on to the next great idea.
Eventually, after spinning my wheels, wasting time, and spending far more money than I needed to, I finally did something I should have done much earlier:
I found a mentor — and I listened.
What a difference that made.
Instead of trying to learn everything through trial and error, I could benefit from someone else’s experience. I could learn what worked, what didn’t, and which mistakes I didn’t need to make for myself.
I could have kicked myself for waiting so long.
Having a knowledgeable mentor made all the difference in the world. It helped me stop spinning my wheels, start making real progress, and eventually reach the point where I could do this full-time.
Learn From My Hard Head
If you’re new to affiliate or online marketing — or you’ve been at it for a while and still aren’t getting the results you want — don’t make the mistake I made.
You don’t have to figure everything out by yourself.
There’s nothing wrong with being independent. There’s nothing wrong with experimenting and developing your own style. But there’s a big difference between thinking for yourself and refusing to learn from people who have already traveled the road you’re on.
That lesson is actually one of the reasons I created One Wise Link (OWL).
I wanted new and struggling marketers to have access to the kind of mentoring, training, tools, and resources that could help them shorten the learning curve and avoid some of the expensive mistakes I made.
And interestingly enough, even experienced marketers are finding things inside OWL that help them improve what they’re already doing.
So take it from a former hard-headed marketer:
You can learn from your own mistakes. But it’s usually faster — and a whole lot cheaper — to learn from someone else’s.
And if your head ever gets as big as mine was…
Well, at least now you know where to find help. 😂