From low-risk to passive income, affiliate marketing is a business for many different people including those looking to achieve financial freedom and early (or late) retirement! You want to stop working in your 30’s or 40’s? Affiliate marketing. You want to work from anywhere in the world? Affiliate marketing. You want to start a business with very little investment that can turn around and generate thousands of dollars per month? Affiliate marketing can be the path that you can take to make those dreams come true. No one is going to say it is a guarantee that you are going to make six figures a year, but what if you add an additional thousand dollars to your family budget? Would that help?
What is Affiliate Marketing?
So what is Affiliate Marketing? According to the Google online dictionary affiliate marketing is,”A marketing arrangement by which an online retailer pays commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals.” Essentially, when you start an affiliate marketing business you are going to generate commissions from a variety of companies when you refer customers to their products and or services.
Why is affiliate marketing an awesome business to start? I’ve already mentioned a few above, but let’s go through the list.
For those of you that are looking to retire early or to add to your current retirement income, pay attention!
The dream of passive income!
Affiliate marketing, once built, can generate multiple commissions from multiple sources creating a steady flow of passive income. Once you build the “infrastructure” of your affiliate business, maintaining that business is relatively simple. Create your links, promote them using social media, video platforms like YouTube or Rumble, and earn commissions every time one of the customers you refer buy a digital product or a product from Amazon or Walmart.
Low Start-up Costs
The fact that there is a very low start up cost compared to almost any other business model out there is a big positive when it comes to those of us that are ready to retire or wanting to add to the income that we are already receiving.
A typical brick and mortar business can cost six figures…or even more!
Starting an online affiliate business, will typically run a couple of hundred bucks at the most. You are looking at tools mainly, a lead generation system and an email service with an auto-responder. You could go 1st class with Clickfunnels and AWeber and possibly a purchase of a domain name. If you did that, you are looking at starting your business for less than $200 bucks! As far as ad spend, you can promote your affiliate links for free if you promote on social media. You can learn to promote your products through Facebook ads or you can use solo ad services if you want. Ultimately, start where you are at, keep the costs down until you start generating more of an income and re-invest into your business as you grow!
No Customer Service Required
A fabulous benefit of starting an affiliate marketing business is the fact that you do not have to deal with customer service nor do you have to worry about fulfilling any products yourself. You simply send a buying customer to the business with your link and when they buy, you earn a commission! It’s a win-win, the company sells their products to a new customer, you earn commissions based on your efforts.
Flexibility in Schedule and Location
Work where you want when you want! Can you imagine traveling or staying on perpetual vacation and having to “work” an hour a day and generate more money than you did when you traded your time for money? Affiliate marketing is one of the few ways where you can literally work anywhere on the planet…you just need a laptop and an internet connection. No longer are you required to smash the electronic rooster either, you can work your business on YOUR time when YOU choose. That’s freedom!
Obviously, I am sold, but it’s sort of easy for me. Back in 2011 and 2012 I got my first taste of affiliate marketing and those commissions! I was able to experience success within a few months and it was like nothing I had ever done before. The crazy thing? You can do it too, anyone that is willing to turn off the TV for an hour a night can literally start a business and in their spare time generate enough income to leave their 9 to 5 job and start living life on their own terms.