Online Entrepreneurship is a great way to get started earning some extra income, or create your own full time career!  If you’re looking to improve, or even completely change your financial situation and timetable while providing a valuable service to others, then you’re in the right place.

The benefits and drawbacks to working online

Everything in the world has a little give and take.  There are countless benefits to working for yourself online, however, there are also a few small drawbacks that must be kept in mind as well.

When I looked at the pros and cons working online as an affiliate marketer the decision was a no-brainer, but it’s not one to be entered into with the belief that you will have everything for nothing.

In my eyes putting a little extra work in initially is well worth the payout and security of the future.  As with the start up of any business you have to be willing to set aside a little time to work regularly, and have the discipline to commit to it.  Whether you spend one hour every week, or jump right in with several hours everyday, is entirely up to each individual.

The more you learn the less work is required as you’re able to work smarter, not harder.  One great thing about working for yourself in affiliate marketing is that as you become more knowledgable you can choose to work less, or earn more – but you will never be required to put in a 40hour week every week for the same paycheque.

The ability to finish your work early and go enjoy other activities is always there, and if you choose to continue and put in extra work then you will likely see even greater benefits and an increase in your income!

So many people work a 40 hour week, some work very hard all 40 hours, some only get about 20 hours of real work in, but the outcome is the same – they traded x number of hours for x number of dollars and will likely be stuck in that routine forever – UNLESS they choose to take up something new!

PROS:

• you have complete control of your scheduling! work as much or little as you want!
• your income is forever growing!
• a week off doesn’t mean a week unpaid or a week of vacation gone
• your work will always interest you, if your interests change so can your work 🙂
• you will be providing valuable content to individuals around the world!
• you can work from anywhere, anytime
• you have all of the tools to succeed right at your fingertips
• a new network of ambitious, supportive, and positive people
• no more being at the mercy of someone else for 40+ hours per week

CONS:

• you have complete control of your scheduling – this means you must be disciplined enough to ensure that you do spend some time working
• some of your work will require an internet connection – planning and content creation can be done anywhere but posting (or at least scheduling posts) and social networking will require the internet, as will access to training and advice (coffee shops are a great place to enjoy a drink and snack while working if you don’t have access at home)
• vacations are easy to take which means you must be mindful that you make at least a small contribution to your work every couple weeks so that the pervious work is able to continue it’s exponential sales growth
• not everyone understands the boldness of choosing to be your own boss – any successful business owner, entrepreneur, or wealthy  individual can tell you that many people see a 9-5 as the only responsible option

My Avenue for Online Entrepreneurship – Affiliate Marketing

As with any business venture there is a little bit of a learning curve at first.  

After graduating university and a few years of dabbling in Microstock photography as well as various other ways to earn a small amount of income online I decided that I wanted to get serious about creating my own career.  After a lot of research I decided that affiliate marketing was definitely the best avenue to begin with.  There was absolutely no logical reason that it couldn’t produce a real income, and the companies that I would be selling for were very well known, and reputable.

I’m certainly no sales person as I hate pushing product on anyone, but this seemed like the perfect fit as you only sell to people already looking for the exact product you have to offer a referral on.

Think of anytime you went to make a big purchase, or wanted to learn something new.  Chances are you plugged it into a search engine first to get a better grasp of the product or topic – well someone created that page that you ended up reading, and most likely earned a commission off of your eventual purchase.  The content on that page was their work, and any item you purchased through one of their links was their payment.

This works by creating valuable content so that you appear early on search engines.  Having a larger amount of traffic through your website increases the likelihood you are going to make a sale for one of the affiliate programs. If all of your content and reviews are honest, informative, and well written, you will have a large audience of readers.

Building insightful reviews, and thus a large audience is important as not every visitor will make a purchase.  Some will appreciate the information but decide the product is not for them, others will wait on it and think for a little while first, while the final group is who you earn an income off of – aim to grow and please all 3 groups by helping everyone rather than just those in the final group.  Provide value with all of your content and the sales will come down the line.

While i still have other physical business ventures in mind, I look forward to being able to start them up as a hobby first without worrying about how long they may take to build and generate a true income.

Where did I learn – Wealthy Affiliate

Like anything an individual wishes to be successful with learning from those who have previously succeeded is a great place to start.  Wealthy Affiliate is the group I chose to learn from for several reasons.  First of all, I love that they offer a free starter membership that never expires.  More important than that though is the wealth of information they provide and the community of people that are there to help you succeed.  Those are the primary reasons that I chose to sign up with Wealthy Affiliate in early 2017 and have never looked back!

If you’re interested in reading my review of Wealthy Affiliate, and learning more about affiliate marketing feel free to check it out.  If you’re looking to get started on your own venture, please use my affiliate link and feel free to send a message to contact@chooseyourweek.com if you have any further questions.

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