My Mistake Cost Me Money Then and Now

This is the next post in my cross blog conversation with Nicole Dean.

She asked me:

“What’s your #1 mistake you’ve made over the years in your business that has held you back both financially and professionally?”

Hey Nicole :)

Well you said I can’t use ‘lack of focus’ as my answer so this has to technically be #2 ;)
The big mistake was made in NOT realizing the awesome potential of affiliate marketing sooner.

I’ve shared this in interviews before. When I was a young marketer I discovered affiliate programs and I looked for every chance to plaster an affiliate banner or link on my website and in my emails to the few moms (less than 100) who has joined one of my mailing lists.  I waited anxiously for the riches to appear – which of course didn’t happen.
I worked my behind off for about a month to reach a $25 minimum payout on one program, then looked back and realized that I had worked about ten hours for that $25… $2.50 an hour I thought?  Argh! Not this mom.

I dropped affiliate marketing like a hot potato and re-focused my attentions on what I could DO for money.

This was fine, I did make money.  Not a lot – but at least I was getting a decent hourly rate for my time most days.

Meanwhile, other moms around me were talking about making a lot of money with affiliate programs.  I decided that only the moms with huge mailing lists were making money that way and still refused to give it another look.

More than a year passed.  I was growing my lists, I was growing my websites and all that.  My income was increasing but you know I was working hard for every penny.

It was a conversation on Lynn Terry’s forum that caught my attention finally.  I hadn’t joined Google’s Adsense program because I lumped it all together with other affiliate programs.  I expressed my opinion that the little I might make would not be worth the trouble and Lynn said something close to this:  “Well, how much is enough for doing nothing but placing ad code on your website?”

Well, when you put it that way (sheepish) – I guess even a tiny amount is better than nothing.

So I went and signed up.

That was the beginning of my ‘second try’ with affiliate programs.

I stopped looking at how ‘little’ I would make from an individual sale and started focusing on how all those littles can add up over time.

And sure enough, they did.

A year later I was making a few hundred a month just from affiliate programs. Two years later about 25% of my income was affiliate income.  Today I bring in over $1000 in affiliate payments each month – and about half of that is strictly residual.  (Meaning I haven’t worked for that money in years!)

As exciting as it is to see the cash come in, I can’t help but think about how I could be making that much more if I’d started sooner.

The scary thing is that I could have easily made the mistake longer if I hadn’t stopped to listen to someone with more experience.  This reminds me about how important it is to rub elbows with others who are doing what you want to do.

Did you happen to see Lynn Terry’s blog post today?  My question for you this week has to do with it.  I posted a reply.  It’s a topic I find really interesting.

So my question:  Have you ever suffered from ‘Guru Envy’?

Next time girlfriend :)

Watch Nicole’s blog for her reply.