living

One of the most widespread myths about writing, especially if you create a blog to build your online platform, is that you need a big following to be successful.

It seems every day there is a new “guru” telling you that you need to build your email list and increase your social media reach. And until you do, you just need to give away your hard work for free, in the form of free eBook’s, free courses, free podcasts and you name it – as long as it’s free.

But wait a minute, if you give everything away for free how do you earn anything to keep doing what you love?

The hard part of writing isn’t necessarily the writing, it’s being able to afford to do it without worrying about the bills day in and day out. It’s the truth most of us don’t talk about, but maybe we should.

The hard part of writing isn't necessarily the writing, it's being able to afford to do it without worrying about the bills day in and day out. Click To Tweet

Through ignorance (or self-motivated desires) the gurus tell you that you can’t possibly monetize your online writing platform until you have (insert random number here) people on your email list, or enough people who like and share your pages.

NOTHING could be further from the truth.

You CAN monetize your writing platform even if you don’t have a huge email list or massive twitter following.

Your writing platform is your online blog, Facebook Page, Twitter handle, and all of your other social media pages which focus on what you create via your craft.

Monetizing your online presence is a critical factor for writers today in order to earn income while creating work that matters to them. The sad part is most writers don’t know how, or worse, they’ve given in to the belief that it’s impossible. I mean, how many of us have put an ad or two on our blogs and watch the money never roll in?

I’ll be honest with you, I’ve tried basic ads and they don’t really work, and I have a pretty large following.

I’ve also tried sponsored posts, but most of those seeking to sponsor a post on websites don’t want you to advertise that it’s sponsored. And, guess what? That’s illegal, so, uhm, no thanks!

It was a conundrum, if ads don’t work (pennies aren’t worth making your site look like a night in downtown lit-up Tokyo) and sponsored posts don’t work all that well either, what, pray tell is a writer to do?

I’m glad you asked.

I was writing blog posts like a demon and working on my book projects at the same time, all the while holding down a day job in order to afford to work on the craft I love, but I kept getting upset with myself. After all, if you’re going to work so hard on your craft, but it’s not – in some way – paying for itself, how long can you keep at it?

It’s not just physically exhausting to try so much and so hard, for so long, it’s also mentally exhausting. Because, let’s face it, as writers, you know how much work is involved and there should be some kind of payoff.

BREAKTHROUGH!

And then, a few years ago, just when I was thinking about giving up on at least part of what I was doing, my friend, Jeff Goins introduced me to someone who would change everything! Jeff was promoting his popular course Tribe Writers and the person running his promotion was the affiliate mastermind Matt McWilliams.

When someone like Jeff Goins recommends someone, you listen. Unless you’re a complete and total idiot, and that my dear readers, thankfully, I was not!

Meeting Matt was the breakthrough I was looking for but I didn’t know I was looking for!  He has directed affiliate marketing programs for people like Jeff Goins, Chandler Bolt, and many of the top writing experts online. Best of all he teaches Affiliate Marketing and this is where he made the difference for me.

Wait, back up, Affiliate Marketing? WTF is that? It sounds shady, not the slim-shady, just shady! At least, that’s what I thought at first. But truth is, as I found it, it’s one of the best legit ways to make a living online and gives you the time to do what you love, focusing on working your craft.

Affiliate marketing lets you earn extra income, passively, while serving and helping people in your communities.

If you’re a writer and you’re doing anything online, such as blogging, posting on Facebook, or sending out tweets and you are not using Affiliate Marketing, you are missing out!

The classes this post linked to as resources are over, sorry.

Have you been struggling to make an income via your online presence, like I was? What ways have you tried? Are you ready to learn about Affiliate Marketing and see if it’s something for you?