Overview
I am sure that if you are reading this you fall into one of three categories. Don’t get me wrong I am sure there are more categories and variations on the ones I have focused, but I have chosen the following three because they seem to be the largest groupings:
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- You are looking to supplement your current income.
- You are retired and would like to enjoy your time doing things that interest you, and
- You are tired of making someone else gets rich and want to start your own business.
I fall into categories one and two. While researching something that I could do when and where I chose I came across something called Affiliate Marketing.
Actually, I fell into it by accident. After being scammed, not once but twice I got smart and did what I normally do when purchasing major products I started researching. I googled the next scheme/company that appeared too good to be true, and according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) that company had a lot of complaints.
What I notice, however, was that all of these schemes/companies were selling approaches to Affiliate Marketing. So I started to do further research for legitimate companies that provided the stages of creating an online business specifically focused on affiliate marketing. That is when I came across Wealthy Affiliates (WA). Don’t get me wrong I was still skeptical after the previous two burns, but on doing my due diligence, I could not find any real negatives about WA. I did, however, start off very conservatively, waiting for the hammer or foot to come down asking me for my life savings or my first Grandchild. I have been with WA almost two years and that has not happened.
If you are looking for a place online where you can learn to create your own business, make a supplementary income or where you can fulfill your dreams I am going to provide you with my take on Wealthy Affiliates, what they have to offer and is it a good place to start the next phase of the rest of your life. Yes, there really is a company in Cyberspace that is showing us how to start an online business and it is not a scam.
Synopsis
Wealthy Affiliate (WA) is a company owned by two Canadians, Kyle and Carson. Prior to starting Wealthy Affiliate, they had been in the online business for several years honing their skills. In 2005, after gaining experience the hard way, they decided to create a company that would help others become successful at creating their own online business, but with less stress and not as complicated learning coding and other technical aspects of creating a website.
At first blush, it appears to be just an Affiliate Marketing company, but as you delve further into it you realize it is so much more. It not only provides you with state-of-the-art training, but it provides an infrastructure behind the scenes that would require knowledge in Information Technology (IT) and coding that most of us do not have. It provides an opportunity to chat with people from around the world, and ask questions of the Community if you get stuck or are having problems. WA permits you to develop your own passions or interests into an online business that can earn you passive money to live your dreams.
I can go on with what WA has to offer, but the incredible thing is you can join WA for free. I could go on about the benefits of joining WA, but after four days of trying the trial package, I became a premium member. My decision was based on two things. The first is realizing that the owners had integrity they were not asking for my life saving or my first-born grandchild. What they were offering was a major opportunity to create my very own internet business from scratch with the assistance of over 1,000,000 members around the world including them. The second realization was that Wealthy Affiliate was not just a place to create my online business but a training community comprised of individuals that are authorities in various aspects of website development, management and marketing.
Benefits
So what are the benefits of Wealthy Affiliate (WA)? I did mention some benefits above, but let me elaborate a little further. From the moment you join WA, you have access to the training that is provided through tutorials and videos.
You can build a free website that is hosted on WA’s platform, this is part of the training for beginners. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced internet entrepreneur you will find the training here one of the best, if not the best on the internet. When you become a premium member you will have additional access to additional training offered by WA and seasoned members, a tool that allows researching keywords, that are popular with Search Engines (e.g. Google, Bing, Yahoo), you can use in your posts on your website. Premium membership is discounted for the first month to $19. After that, you pay a monthly fee of $49, unless you decide to take advantage of the “Black Friday,” special yearly rate. This happens every year at the end of November. With all of this at my disposal, it was hard for me to not jump on board and start the journey that is changing my life.
Pros
What are the overall positives other than those mentioned above that convinced me that Wealthy Affiliate was the real deal? The following are some:
- There is no pressure to make a decision or request for a large monetary commitment
- Membership is free to decide if this is what you want
- You work at your own pace and from wherever there is internet access
- It is extremely beginner friendly
- It provides various types and levels of training on how to become an online entrepreneur
- The training is broken down step-by-step with tasks to reinforce each course
- State-of-the-art site support 24/7, 365 days of the year
- Access to over 1,000,000 members who have the same desire to succeed and are willing to help you succeed that includes me
- Does not promise to make you a millionaire in a short period
- Not a scam, but it does provide you with legitimate way of earning either an income or supplementing your income
Cons
I am sure everything you have read so far sounds too good to be true. So what are the negatives? To be honest with you there are not many cons as you might imagine and I have looked for them given my previous experience. The following are my Cons:
- The information can be overpowering in the first two months if you are starting from zero knowledge or writing experience
- You can become an addict to Wealthy Affiliate once you start to build out your website and start attracting traffic
- You have to dedicate time and hard work to live your dream
- The membership prices are in United States dollars and that can be difficult in some countries if access is difficult
- It does not have a good translation plugin for members from countries where English is not the first language. This makes it difficult for other members to respond to comments made in the language of the other member.
Conclusion
When asked by a company to complete their surveys, I rarely give a full ten out of ten, but in Wealthy Affiliate, I would give it a full ten. Yes WA has some weaknesses in terms of benefits, but one thing I admire about the team is that they are always working to improve all areas of the platform. Based on all that I have experienced at WA I would strongly recommend WA to anyone that is seeking to Supplement their income, is retired and looking for some crazy money to enjoy life or someone who simply wants to work for themselves.
If you are like me you have done research on what is available through the Internet and when I was doing my research I did find two companies WA being one. What drew my interest, however, was that Kyle and Carson were willing to put their trustworthiness upfront by offering the membership for free. That says a lot about the organization and I am proud to be a member of WA.
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Harvey Brown
Hello, I am Harvey the creator of My Living The Dream. I was born on the beautiful island of Jamaica but grew up in the United Kingdom. With my family I immigrated to Canada and settled in Ottawa, Ontario. The capital of Canada. I am retired and I want to travel and enjoy my retirement. Get out of the cold and take vacations somewhere warm and low key. That is why I started this website. I figured if I can earn sufficient “crazy money,” that would allow me to travel five months of the year my dream can come true. I want to show you how you can turn your dreams into reality.
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