Should I Quit AM? Need some solid advice.... (17)
Hey Stackers,
I have finally come to a crossroad where I need to decide if I'll should quit AM
completely or stay in the "game".
Briefly about me:
I've been working with affiliate marketing for about 1,5 years now, full time.
Like many others I've had great success with Facebook and INTL dating.
Unfortunately my first $1k day become my last after the adv. decide to drop the payout by 50%.
After that my "bad luck" in AM have followed me everywhere.
The last 12 months have been really shitty, I've probably made about $3k-$5k in profit....
With that said, I know affiliate marketing isn't for everyone, but I've got experience and
help many others with AM. I did actually help (tips and advice) a guy go from promoting snuggies
(yes, really) to banking $1k-$2k / day in profit.
Anyways, it's getting late in Europe and I'm totally lost on what I should do.
I really like AM, it's not that. But making 2-3k isn't good and really kills the motivation.
The reason for not getting a job earlier or changing things is because of my nice brother
which I'm living with. Therefore my rent & expenses are really low.
I've got a capital to start something "new" with or continue with AM, it's not the problem.
What do you think? Got any question(s)?
Thanks in advance
/Call5
I watch this when I get to feeling beat down.
Are you still running the same offer?
My 2 cents: if you were able to figure out how to make $1k a day on Intl dating... even if it was only for 1 day. You should realize that you have the skills necessary to do AM. 99% of people that try AM never make $1, much less a grand in a day.
My advice would be to take a short break. Take a week and not do any AM related stuff. Then come back and try something new with a fresh head.
There are hundreds of types of campaigns and plenty of traffic sources outside of FB that you can play with. Talk to Smaxor here on the forums. He can point you in a direction, give you advice on what to do and he has tons of offers to choose from.
Don't quit yet. You might be right on the verge of making some serious cash.
Next Step: Read this http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...5648#post65648
Profitable nailed that one so hard that I barely have anything else to say haha
It's foolish to think 1 campaign, or even 1 source of traffic will be around forever in this game. 1k a day is an accomplishment, done it once you can do it again. I suggest taking a fortnight break away from the PC completely, go chill out for a while do what ya love and regain your control and come back with a relentless work ethic and gather the momentum you had in the beginning.
And learn from this, its a vital lesson, campaigns come and go, always be on your feet and milk whatever you have till the last drop
Another thing that you should take note is that...
You mentioned that the advertiser has dropped your payout by 50%, that means your lead quality is not backing out for them. Try to recap on what was your targeted demo, and were you using a landing page, or you just like many others, direct linking?
Bear in mind that in order to succeed in this game, you have to put yourself in the advertiser's shoes. Think, why they want affiliate to run traffic with them... things like that. If you just like the average affiliates who focus on the short term (eg. direct linking, making false claims on ads), then you are not likely to sustain in this game in the long run.
I'm not saying that you are one of them, but it is always good to recap on what you've done. There must be a reason that the advertiser shaved your payout.
And I'm agreed with profitable that if you were able to make $1k/day, then you definitely possess the necessary skills to make money in this game. and like nissangtr asked...
"Are you still with the same advertiser/same offer?"
If yes, then you should jump to another offer, or perhaps another vertical.
Lastly, I strongly believe that your mindset is not strong enough to win in this game. Affiliate marketing isn't for everyone, yes, however, if someone who has the determination, never give up, he/she will not fail --> because we are not borned and know how to walk and run.
Watch this, and tell us if you decide to quit or not.
This is a forum that is meant for helping people to succeed in this game. If you happen to be here, and posted on this thread, it actually indicates that you "will find the strength to get back up".
Peace
I actually was in the same place the 2nd year of starting, I hit it pretty successful in the acai craze when I first started and thought it would last forever so took time off, bought a new car and went on holiday about 4/5 times in the year and pretty much blew all my cash.
When it stopped I was back to square one and wasn't sure what I was doing, my main downfall was I would jump around on the latest "big" thing trying to catch the success again. Do what a few people mentioned, take a week or 2 away, collect your thoughts and pick 1 traffic source and nail it. It makes life so much easier when you know how to work the traffic source in terms of bidding and what you can get away with.
I was quit AM for couple months,because this career feels so lonely, im not want to be a IT nerd.
but last month,i came back, my mind cant quit AM.
i always keep eyes on affdaily, AM blog,forum etc.
AM makes me feel happy,maybe thats what i want, and im still not going to be some IT nerd.
its not means nerd for me any more, only genius can makes money from AM
What can I say...my situation is a bit like rich...I have had 2 great years. >10K euro each month with a couple of SEO sites. Did exactly the same as you...I quit my dayjob, bought a nice car...visited a lot of countries...and got very lazy (understatement)
I survived Panda, but was hit by Penguin...it happened about 6 weeks ago. In one day from >10K to maybe 500-700 euro...I didn't spend all my money, so I have about 20K to invest in paid traffic and next to that money I have "living" money for about 4 months.
All day I am thinking what to do...quit IM, try to find another dayjob and keep my savings. Or totally go for it, with the risk of ending with nothing.
Don't want to steal your thread, just want to let you know, that I know how you must feel. And I hope to get some motivation/inspiration from the other guys here.
Don't quit man, I'm still struggling and I'm still in the rat race, but one thing is certain: IM is an industry where you can hit success fast, with less risk than any kind of industry.
You can't imagine how I would like to be in your seat... Hitting $1k is awesome. I can kill to be able to do that too 
And you did that on maybe the worst traffic source ever, one of the less affiliate friendly on the Internet.
Can you imagine? The best is about to come for you... When you'll get your feet wet on other traffic sources, you'll be unstoppable.
You just have to do what you did so well on FB : learning, testing, improving, testing and improving again...
And now you won't do the same mistake: only running on one traffic source.
If you were able to do that only on one offer, and on one traffic source, I'm pretty sure you can do this again.
Of course you'll have to learn how to create great landing pages, great banners etc.
But you certainly have an idea of what works and what doesn't now with your experience.
But you'll have to work on your mindset, you did the right thing by posting here.
You don't have to be shy, it's ok you share your fears. Now everybody will motivate you again and you'll be ready to kick some leads ass
you can always take what you know and go local. I'm thinking about generating new leads/clients for my gym. I'm 100% sure I can kill all the competition, and if I can persuade them to let me take recurring commissions, I'm all set 
kokofai: thank you for the video.
This guy is a boss!
I'm new to what is known as affiliate marketing. Oddly enough I do have some advice. I was a programmer for a very long time full time. I quit because over a few day span I made quite a bit of money. (over 1k a day). It was a short stint with someone but it showed me what was possible. Since then I have been working on solid e-commerce offers with great success. As some say, either you got it or you don't With that being said, try to get better offers. I don't see how people think selling paid dating sites on pof is such a great idea. Personally I like to offer things that interest me, something solid, try to stay away from shady offers as those to many seem like an addiction. Once you get in the "mode" of doing shady offers you never quit, in the end they always bite you. It's a lifestyle I've seen, some go from selling gold right now down to shady loans, right back up to crazy rebill offers.
Stay straight, stay up, get money!
cheers
@nissangtr: Of course not! I’ve been running insurance, other dating offers, grants, downloads, tax help etc all with various results.
@profitable: Thanks for that awesome post! I’m going to take a week off and doing something completely else.
@maynize: Sure, adapt or ”die” fits very good in AM. I’ve been advertising on many other traffic sources before and after my $1k day with FB.
@kokofai: Well, the advertiser dropped the payout for all affiliates, not just me. Don’t think an aff. could make it profitable after that. Amazing video, thanks for sharing.
@rich: ” I would jump around on the latest "big" thing trying to catch the success again.” That has been me for that past 12 months + been a lazy fu*k retard.
I KNOW that everyone is saying stick with 1 niche and 1 traffic source. But I’ve always felt that diff. offers requires diff. traffic sources etc. This end’s today!
@ytcpanetwork: I hear ya. I’m pretty much addicted to affiliate marketing after these 1,5 years.
If I didn’t love working as an affiliate, I would have quit 11 months ago.
@patje72: Ouch, that suck’s man.
@julien: Great post, very motivating
But like many other I moved away from Facebook 7-9 months ago and been advertising on other traffic sources like Lead Impact, Bing, POF etc.
@flowmotion: I’ve actually got 2-3 clients but it’s not lead gen, only PPC maintenance.
Continue to aim for lead gen, that’s where the $$$ are.
My conclusion: Take a short break from AM. Pick one traffic source and 1 niche . ?????. Profit? lol 
Sound conclusion Whatever you do, don't go back to cubicle-land (*shudders*)
Originally Posted by call5
Dude you have ran this long way not to stop trying. The top most marketers are still in the struggling zone. may be with their own target. but They are also struggling. So you should try your best. if other people's can do this then why not you???? think about it.
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