About Bootstrap Affiliate

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Bootstrap Affiliate Is About Giving Value

Without the ‘usual’ crap, especially what you can experience in the ‘make money online’ niche.

What do I mean by that? Here’s what I promise TO YOU. If you like, this is my

MANIFESTO

  1. I try my best to give you all the informationyou need to earn an online income.
    Honestly, the best answers I can, the way I experienced it with my websites. No BS. I have read enough sales-y BS review site to know, that I do not want to be the next in the line.
  2. I always prefer FREE tools to paid tools.
    I have not paid for anything else than training, hosting and domain names so far. This may change in the future, if I can see a return on the investment, but for now I am perfectly happy with the DIY.
  3. I only recommend products or services that I have tried myself and that actually helped me in achieving what I have achieved so far.
    I won’t ever recommend bluehost just because it pays out $80 in commissions for every new referral. Also, see No. 1 above.
  4. I honestly believe that if I can earn money online, so can you. And I am happy to help, if you are willing to do your part of the job.
  5. I am here by your side. This is a lonely business, so being able to speak with someone who understands what you talk aboutis crucial in keeping you in business

Why Bootstrap?

The last decade has been full of small successes and failures in my attempt to establish an online business that can provide an income for me and my family. But it was only recently I realised that I had never been fully committed to make it work. I also began to wonder why that was.

Was it fear of the unknown? Lack of competence? Lack of skills? Lack of finding something I am so passionate about that I cannot NOT do it?

Naturally it was all of the above, and something else. I have been in education for the better part of my life, and it was always obvious the school – normal education – is almost useless when you’d like to be ‘successful’ in life on your own merit. Those skills are not taught in school. Everyone knows that. You learn the skills you need for ANY job when you are IN the job.

I never put 1 and 1 together, that this is the same when one tries to become an entrepreneur.

It wasn’t until my 30s when I began to realise that I have to change my mindset. From being a listener, from being a follower I must become the person who owns his life. Someone who makes decisions, makes life choices and who works on developing his skills to make better long-term decisions. And that nobody else can make those choices for me, nobody else can take responsibility, I must not allow nobody else to tell me what decisions I should make.

But this was a path I have never walked before. I always thought that I made choices in career, chose what country I wanted to live in (and moved); but in principle, everything remained the same.

I just changed one cage to another.

So, I started to make changes.

Don’t worry it could be worse. Affiliate marketing can be very overwhelming at the beginning. There is too much information, yet you still have no clue how you are going to make money. Should you quit? No. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.

16 Years of Trying to Become an Entrepreneur

Let’s jump back a bit in time. I have been trying to find a WAY OUT of a that cage I was not even consciously aware that existed, ever since my student years more than a decade ago. I have always had a side-hustle that I hoped to turn into a full-time income, but I have never really succeeded. I burnt myself more than once with MLM, life-insurance and a lot of (in hindsight) shady ventures that sounded to good to be true. And they were…

I had got into affiliate marketing 9 years ago, but as many other affiliate marketers who begin their journey, I quit soon after. There was just information overload, too many possibilities, two many dead-end streets. I could not make any money, and the more I tried newer and newer methods, the more I got fed up with the false promises that I had fallen for.

I was embarrassed of myself. I saw that other people could do it, and I did not understand why I could not.

I did not give up, I was constantly trying to find the online and offline business model that fit me.

I tried dropshipping, but did not get any further than selling some stuff to a few work-buddies.

I tried selling physical products that I stocked, but that was pretty seasonal and required a lot of logistics. Although I made some money on it, it was not something that I could develop into a full-time income.

Ebay and Amazon were still very new.

I sought manufacturers in China directly and ordered in a big stock of guitar parts (I play the guitar). Again, I have made some money on it (at least I have earned back the initial investment), but I still have a huge stock of guitar parts chuck away in one of the storage rooms. I am telling you, it is painful to look at them (3 house-moves later), but they simply did not sell the way I planned.

Small Successes

The first successful venture we had with my wife is her Etsy shop of greeting cards. We only started it 2 years ago. It started slowly, and it is still in the growing phase. It is not a full-time income, but it has grown into a side-income that allowed my wife to stay at home, rather than looking for a part-time job that would never fit around our childcare commitments. There is still a lot of potential in it, but there is a lot of work to do too. Read the full story here: Making Money with Etsy – Case Study $1000 A Month

Unfortunately it is not a passive income, as we have to deal with every order individually. Plus, there is a lot of marketing that we must keep pushing otherwise the traffic would slowly fade away.

Back to Affiliate Marketing, with a Twist

So while my wife was in the middle of starting her Etsy shop, last year I had enough…again…

Having a job with 1 ¾ commuting every day, a 2-year old toddler at home and a new mortgage; I needed to change the prospect that I had in front of me for the next decades. As I said before, it was just another cage and I knew the moment I started that job that in no time I would hate it, I would lose my motivation, I would get depressed and I would look for another job. And the same would happen over and over again.

It was time for a re-boot, albeit the timing could not have been worse. But the timing is never right.


I started searching on Google and Youtube ‘how to make money from home’ and ‘how to make money online’. One thing cropped up again and again: that is affiliate marketing, this time with a little twist.

I realised, that back then, 10 years ago, I did not have the right mindset. I just wanted to make a quick buck.

This time I knew I did not want to promote crap products for 10x the money they are worth, but rather build something that I can be proud of.

My hunt for a decent method started, and the more crappy and dodgy training courses I came across, the more I found that the ‘super-affiliates’ on YouTube actually don’t do anything else than promote another overpriced ‘training’ program that would not benefit anyone, my determination to do something honest just grew.

Glad that there are still a few gems out there that actually give value.

The first real gem that I found was Andre Chaperon’s ‘tiny little businesses’ website (www.tinylittlebusinesses.com), his approach really resonated with me. Andre talks about how you must serve your audience, not matter what, and give as much value upfront as possible. Paraphrasing him, it is the best way to engage with your audience, and earning money ‘on the back of it’ is inevitable.

I loved that his approach was kind of…upside down…rather than going into affiliate marketing with the purpose of selling something, whatever, he said that you better find your audience first, find out how you can best serve them and then, and only then, promote some products that would further benefit them.

So I knew how I wanted to approach affiliate marketing, but I still did not know how to even start. 

I knew nothing about building a website, SEO, driving traffic, email marketing etc. Do I need a website? How will Google find me? How will I have enough visitors? What if nobody will ever click on my affiliate links?

Then I saw this TedX talk on Youtube on how to build a business when you don’t know shit about building a business.

You must BOOTSTRAP. Knowing nothing is your advantage.

Use whatever resource you can. Never give up. If you come across an obstacle find a way around it. Figure it out. Bootstrap. Stop Procrastinating. Doing it yesterday is too late. If I don’t do it, someone else will. If I don’t do it, I will regret it. I have nothing to lose. Really.

Value-based, ethical affiliate marketing, the concept of creating value through writing content was something that aligned to what kind of business I wanted to run.

Gladly I found a good course to get me started, but it was only the start of the journey.

Find Your Passion

To be honest, finding my passion has been the biggest obstacle. And probably the reason I did not see any major breakthrough during the past decade in any of my business ventures. Because I did not know what I was passionate about.

They often say that you must find a niche that you are passionate about, but it is so broad. Even if you pick any two people who share the same passion, and you ask them why they are passionate about what they do, you may get two completely different answers.

So, I figured, true passion lies beneath the surface.

And very few people actually aware, what is that inner motive that fuels their passion on the surface.

Passions come and go anyway, and the reason I struggled to put my finger on any one thing I can build a business upon was because I knew, that whatever passion I may have today, it will probably go away and I will find something else soon. So I tried to find out what was common in all the thing I had been passionate about, I was eager about.

And that is – no matter how selfish and narcissist it sounds – was gratitude towards me for making a difference. This is what kept me going in my day jobs, and this is (or the lack thereof) made me quit my jobs in the past. Yet, it took me quite a while to realise and say it out loud, that what I am passionate about is ‘making difference in people’s life’.

  • The ‘A-HA’ moment, that little lightbulb the lights up in someone’s eyes when I explained something that they had not understand before.
  • Those little shocks of ‘How I did not notice this before, it is so obvious, so easy?’
  • Those moments of regret of ‘why I did not realise this before?’
  • And gratitude towards me that I helped them taking that one step towards their goals. That one little step that makes their life a little bit easier.
  • TO INSPIRE people to achieve more than they think they are capable of

And that’s why value-based, ethical affiliate marketing resonated with me so much, cause deep down that’s how you make difference: going the extra mile and being selfless, listen and understand HOW you can help, how you can make a difference. Not the other way around.

I hear you asking the question: no, I am not rich. Not yet, anyways. But I am patient, because building an online business takes time, and there are still a lot of hurdles in front of me to overcome.

Running websites – and I have 2 right now – plus running a successful shop (with my wife) and 1 that’s not that successful takes time.

It gives me great comfort that I cannot fail if I stay consistent. The only way I can fail is if I quit.

I can see it clearly now, that this is a paying forward business. I must pay first, I must give value to You. I must make a difference even if it is a small one.

It is all about who I can help and how I can best help them…

When I though about how could I best be of service, I figured, what I have struggled with the most in the past was actually figuring out how to start an online business, mainly affiliate marketing.

I knew through my years of trial and error figuring this out that there was no free “how to make money online” training that was teaching the truth about building a successful yet ethical business online. I knew this because I’ve spent years looking and ended up being lied to, outright scammed, confused and disappointed.

So I decided to focus on being of service to people who have a desire to succeed in affiliate marketing (or any online business) but have no clear path to follow.

Just like where I was, not so long ago.

My goal is to understand the specific goals, dreams, hopes, problems, and challenges that every new affiliate marketer face. That Ihad, some of them at least, but we’re all different.  Then assist in solving your problems and achieving your goals. I strongly believe, that is the true path to success online. Will see it in thenext few years…

Bootstrap Affiliate Is About Giving Value

So again, without the ‘usual’ BS, especially what you can experience in the ‘make money online’ niche.

  • If you are looking for a way out of the 9 to 5 rat race.
  • Even if you are just looking for a side-hustle.
  • If you are building an online business and you are stuck.
  • If you need some honest advice without the sales pitch
  • If you have a genuine question about affiliate marketing that probably EVERY beginner had at some point, but you cannot find the b…dy answer to it.
  • If you struggle to change the direction of your life and do not have a dime invest in the next shiny object that promises you to solve all your problems overnight?

I ASPIRE TO BE THE BEST RESOURCE FOR YOU

It is very much work in progress though, and as you can see I like writing longer posts, so bear with me :0

If you have questions that you don’t find the answer for on this website, just drop me an email…

Anyhow…

It’s nice to have you here…

Greg

Greg
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