I'M GOING BROKE, IT'S ALL A SCAM (Need Advice) (14)
Hey guys, did the title get you to click? I got into IM with roughly a budget of $15,000. I took a "break" from university and have been eating, breathing, and grinding in this industry everyday, specifically Native Ads. I was promoting an offer on Software Projects and was down $5,000 just in ad spend before I was able to finally start doing $xxx profit days, but I was unlucky and in the wrong place at the wrong time and they ended up shutting down the offer that has been up for years.
I'm sitting here now with roughly $9K. I'm prepared to use it all and make data driven decisions, but reality is that if I have no money to spend on campaigns, I'm temporarily out of the game, and I would like to avoid that. Calculating the cost of testing offers, tools, etc if I'm not careful my budget can deplete very fast.
So my questions are: Is there any jobs that could use the skills I learned: researching, optimizing, tracking, managing, etc ? If so, what would I be searching for?
For anyone that went through this, how did you deal with family not understanding what you are doing? I know what this industry has to offer and I really enjoy the work, but the constant down talking from close family is just draining.
I will continue to test offers and if worst comes to worst, I will get a full-time job and save up every penny! I am not interested going back to university. I won't let affiliate marketing beat me! 
Appreciate any input
I am pretty sure a similar offer will be available somewhere so you can continue your journey with profits? If there isn't a similar offer at the networks you work with, try reach out to other networks OR contact companies direct and explain how you made good money for their competitor.
Would be harsh to throw it all away!
What stickupkid said sounds like the best action in terms of campaigns.
I will touch on something else you asked..
Especially when it comes to parents, in my case they had a tough time in not treating me like a kid who has no idea what he is doing. Even nowadays, if I visit and stay too long, they end up going back to their old habits. Cut off from that dependence now!
I think every person who started affiliate marketing have been at least 1 time in your position, with a limited bank roll and a decision to make on what is the best way to spent your left money, so so far nothing to get worried or out of normal.
Now, I'm a poker fan (also tried to do it professionally for few months 
), and in poker there is something called "bank roll management", a few rules of thumb that helps you manage your money so you do not spent money you cant afford. Without going into details the rule is that if you decide to play in a game with certain buy-in (lets $100) you should have a least 50x in your bank for playing poker ($5000) otherwise you won't feel comfortable at that game and you will not be able to make good decisions based on statistics (because you are too afraid to lose money you can't afford).
So what professionals suggest in these cases is to look for smaller games, buy-in $10 for example, and build your bank-roll from here. In this game it will be much more easier for you to focus on your skills, play your best poker, and have an edge over the other players without having to struggle because you lost a few pots due to bad luck. Because at the end you know that good statistical decisions may take some time but at the end they will reward you.
I think same strategy is applicable in affiliate marketing. If your bank-roll is limited, than change your game and start building it from lower levels.
So instead of quitting I would suggest to:
- move to other traffic types instead of natives (pops, redirects, DSPs), and try to have $50 profitable days
- but if you want to stick with natives, look for cheaper native sources and geos (mgid, engageya, chameleon, etc) and try to run small payout offers ( $1-$10 leadgens like games, casinos, etc)
Honestly in these cases I also think that a side job (like part time) wont hurt at all, will make you feel better and you can also deal with your family then 
.
I would start to diversify your niches in native. Take a look at what else is running and try to find two or three other verticals you can run. It only takes an hour max to rip and run something.
A 6k loss on one campaign is quite significant, so i would definitely scale back your spend and be much more risk adverse. You hear people talking about buying data etc, but don't see that as a justification to spend wildly
Find winning campaigns in tier one geos, find a similar offer in tier two that you don't see being run and try it elsewhere
You should absolutely get a full time job and treat this as a side hobby until you have made back the cash and more.
If you want to do this full time, I would 100% get on a flight tomorrow and move to chiang mai in Thailand and work out of punspace coworking (nimmanhaimen) . Your living costs will be tiny and you'll surrounded by like minded people. Google Johnny FD and watch some of his videos
All being said... you should go back to university
^^ Sound advice by Nick P!
Why are you so set on not going back to school?
OP - you've already gotten the best advice from other members above. I've been in your position, and my advice would be to get a job first so you'll have some disposable income.
Don't wait until you see your 9K dwindle past the point of worry before looking for a job. Trust me, when it rains it'll pour. Often, the more desperately you need something, the more it won't come.
In this game where you can spend thousands (or worse) without seeing any promise of returns, you absolutely NEED to only spend what you can afford to lose. Worry and panic are your worst enemies - they will drive you to make erroneous campaign decisions - for example keep you from waiting for statistically-significant results.
And when you have a finite amount of resources, you're effectively backing yourself into a corner. "I only have x amount so I'll HAVE to make it before that money runs out!"
Don't do this to yourself!
Having a finite sum of money to spend will also put you into a limiting mindset. You'll always be thinking "how can I spend as little money as possible?" instead of "how can I spend this week/month's budget as EFFICIENTLY as possible?" There's a HUGE difference between the 2 mindsets.
When you're wanting to spend as little money as possible, you'll feel almost reluctant to test broadly. You'll launch very few campaigns one at a time, and hold your breath for each to end up profitable - and when one doesn't, you'll feel defeated and stressed out.
On the other hand - if you have some disposable income coming in each month, instead of aiming to spend as little as possible, you'll be able to set aside a certain weekly or monthly budget, that you can aim to exhaust by the end of every week/month. You'll still be spending that money as efficiently as possible, but once you change your goal from CONSERVING to SPENDING, you'll see magic happen:
1)The stress will be gone (or at least reduced significantly), because you'll be focusing on reaching a certain spend to collect data and not holding your breath on seeing immediate profits - although if you do things right they will come.
2)You'll be much more willing to launch more campaigns. After all you'll need to hit your weekly/monthly spend goals.
It's no fun to be completely out of money and scrambling to look for a job. No fun at all. Don't ask me how I know.
As for how you can put your skills towards making seed money for your camps - check out freelancing sites to see the various ways other people are making money, make a list of jobs you feel you'd be capable of doing, and go from there. I don't have experience doing freelancing - have only ever hired freelancers. So if you'd like more expert advice, please make a separate post to get tips from more experienced members.
In the meantime, there's absolutely nothing wrong with getting a menial job - flipping burgers for example. Even $50/day will help greatly to alleviate your mental stress. "Working" in front of the computer for hours on end each and every day won't mean you'll actually be productive all the time anyways. May as well work on camps for fewer hours and actually be productive while you ARE working, and spend the rest of your day making a consistent income.
As for "down talk" from the people around you - yup been there as well. I went into IM full-time in 2006. Before that I had a good job, having graduated from one of the best schools in the country. Everyone told me I was crazy. If you think it's bad now, imagine how bad it must have been over a decade ago. You just need to tune them out, talk to them less often if you have to at least until you can start flaunting a consistent income to shut them up. It's your life and you're free to do whatever you want with it as long as you own up to what you do. You can't please everyone, so may as well just give up on that notion from the start and just choose to please yourself - at least that would be doable.
Best of luck - you're not alone. And do let us know how you get on!
Amy
If you don't mind sharing, what course are you taking now and is it a drain on finances? Personally I would suggest either continuing the university course or switching to one that ideally you enjoy and will help you in AM. Is switching an option? Something like a Data Science degree would be VERY useful and would give you an edge. It's something I wish I had and still consider sometimes.
Otherwise, echo what the experts have said in terms of diversifying and starting smaller, to build experience and skills before scaling.
Originally Posted by ervin
), and in poker there is something called "bank roll management", a few rules of thumb that helps you manage your money so you do not spent money you cant afford. Without going into details the rule is that if you decide to play in a game with certain buy-in (lets $100) you should have a least 50x in your bank for playing poker ($5000) otherwise you won't feel comfortable at that game and you will not be able to make good decisions based on statistics (because you are too afraid to lose money you can't afford).So what professionals suggest in these cases is to look for smaller games, buy-in $10 for example, and build your bank-roll from here. In this game it will be much more easier for you to focus on your skills, play your best poker, and have an edge over the other players without having to struggle because you lost a few pots due to bad luck. Because at the end you know that good statistical decisions may take some time but at the end they will reward you.
I think same strategy is applicable in affiliate marketing. If your bank-roll is limited, than change your game and start building it from lower levels.
So instead of quitting I would suggest to:
- move to other traffic types instead of native...
Wow thank you to everyone, I will keep note of everyones great advice, thank you again. I had to take a break and really reflect on everything and be real with myself. I accepted the fact of going backwards 1 step in order for me to move forward 3 steps.
Taking everyones advice into consideration here is what I am going to do:
- Going to get a full-time job again, save, hustle, and work on campaigns after work
- Going to look into free-lancing, all money from this will go to campaigns
- Going to look for similar offers of my profitable campaign and test them - if no promise is shown in data I will run a small payout offer that I see is hot right now in different geos.
- Going to move out asap, already in the works. Will look into Johnny FD and Chiang Mai.
- About school...If I'm being honest I think it's a bad ROI. I will not be getting financial help for school and I'm very serious about making affiliate marketing full-time. I enjoy the grind and process that goes into it. I'd rather work, read and learn on my own, and save. My first year of school was horrible, I was learning business from a professor that never attempted to start or run a business. He was a pilot and would teach straight from the textbook. I was learning what seemed to me to be information that I would probably never act on and if I eventually did I would have forgotten it by then and would have to either learn from experience or simply google it and learn it.
Affiliate marketing is not a one click button, get rich fast scheme. I'm glad that I am able to experience that personally because when I finally get that one campaign I am going to hit it and milk it so hard that I'm going to wish I never found the campaign haha. Big shoutout to the STM community, always keeping it real.
Great to hear! And please keep us in the loop on your journey/progress - and let us know if you need help!
Amy
Sounds like a solid plan! Hit the reset button myself not too long ago when I decided to change career paths as well. Definitely not easy, but change can be exciting, and you'll likely have to remind yourself several times why you did it, but well worth it in my opinion. And regarding school, that's fair, no financial help + shoddy teaching sounds like a total waste of time. SO much material out there for quality self-education, well, especially here with all the mentors 
Best of luck!
Originally Posted by ivossss
And every time I'm offering to pay for a massive grocery bill, they look at me as if I stole it from the cashier I'm standing at...
You need to understand that it's easier to explain to them that you are a philosophy or an art graduate, than an affiliate marketer. At least, the first two can connect with their gray cell imprints.
Keep doing what you're doing and impress them with useful gifts.
E.g., my father-in-law fucked off after I gave him a nice automated drone that is good to overview his property every few days. And my mother in law was happy with a good set of "paper" (facepalm) encyclopedia, that ordinary people can't afford.
So yes, technically I'm still a suspect to make money illegally for them, but considering I haven't been in jail for the past 11 years, they at least consider the fact that I might be smart after all...
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