My Journey Into Online Marketing
Hello Fellow Online Marketers
My journey began about 20 years ago when I lost my job as a Tool and Die Maker. It was a totally unexpected and devastating blow. I swore I would never hold another traditional job, that Corporate America was not going to be in charge of my fate. That is where my search began.
I come from a large family and one of my brothers challenged me to find something we could all do as a family and get out of the corporate rat race.
My first stop on this long journey was a MLM company called Pre-Paid Legal Services.
PPL is a great company with a great product and I still have and use my membership to this day, although I did not succeed as an affiliate.
I tried several other MLM companies including the Grand Daddy of them all, Amway. One thing I want to make clear is that, in my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with MLM! Most of them have great products and compensation plans. My failure was my own, I just don't have the personality for this type of business. It really does take a special person to succeed in this type of business model.
That is when I started looking for something I could do online.
I was seeing all these ads where you could make money for free! So, at the beginning I was totally against spending any money. I was convinced I could make money without spending any. Plus, I didn't have much to spend in the first place.
Probably about 15 years ago I discovered Traffic Exchanges! When I first saw one I thought "This is really cool! Every time I click the button I see a new website. What a great way to find an online opportunity."
I had heard once from a marketing guru that if you want to make money don't be the gold miner sell the shovels. So I began my quest into the online advertising business. I attempted and failed at several websites. Some I just quit and others went out of business.
Somewhere along the line I found and joined Click Track Profit and began to learn more about online marketing.
I also found an advertising site called "My Profit Links". These advertising sites are commonly referred to as Ad Boards. I really liked it. It had so many different ways to advertise. So I started to search for one I could start and manage.
I found a company that hosted and either leased or sold ready made sites that you could plug into and start using right away. I ended up with 3 of these sites and things seemed to be moving along quite well. I was building my member list and making a little bit of money.
Then one morning I went to check on my sites and they were gone! The company had gone out of business with out any warning! I check several other sites that I was a member of and had relations with the owners and they were gone too. That was a hard blow.
I owned the domain names so I kept one of them and used it to start my traffic exchange, Tornado Traffic, which will be 4 years old in a few months and currently has 1500 members. I also am a member of some great affiliate sites.
I am no longer opposed to spending money in order to make money and probably went too far the other way. I am retired but I have a part time job to support my online efforts until I get to the point that it will sustain itself and bring me some profit.
Posted from my blog with Exxp : https://contactlistbuilder.com/ackerman/my-journey-into-online-marketing/
That's a great story, Steven! Thanks for sharing it and Congratulations on your Anniversary with Tornado Traffic. I hear you about MLM. I think it is a very good business model for people who have the personality for it. I don't either.
Thank you for you support. It really angers me when people blame MLM for their failure. Like I said my failure was my own, not the company.
You're welcome, Steven! I get that and people need to do their own research and due diligence. We are responsible for ourselves and our successes or failures. That is really liberating when you think about it.
Have a great Sunday! 😀
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ENGAGEtokens.Fantastic story man, thanks for sharing.
Ahhh the MLM history...I think it's a fantastic business model, but finding the right products...So hard.
That is so true. When I was with Amway I thought they had great products, but I couldn't wrap my head around the prices. They are expensive! Because of that I was not able to sell them. It was my belief that people wouldn't pay these high prices, not the products.
Enjoyed reading your post today explaining how you got where you are today. I met you a few years ago when you was associated with Worldprofit. Looking forward to more of your story man.
That was a good experience. I met a lot of good people when I was there. I just couldn't get along with Jeffery Land. I have often thought about going back now that he is gone. Although I don't think I would do the monitor thing.
I agree with you.
It takes a certain type of personality to make it in MLM.
I have tried a number of them including Amway back in the 90's
I stay away from for now. I like affiliate marketing better.
I have lost a nice sum of money trying to get many different programs profitable. MLM even though a lot of people have made money, the front end is not set up to be profitable, as the markup is not high enough to support the whole of a business without recruiting.
This is why I enjoy reselling with an average ROI of 6 to 1. Every $1 spent I make $6. This is outstanding but labor intensive. Which is why I am trying to break into affiliate marketing the idea of building my list and earning passive monthly commissions is very attractive :-)
Yes Yes .
Me too.
That is the best thing about this community learning that we are absolutely not alone, not in our mistakes, not in our successes, and not on our journey 😀
This is a grate story. I love reading stories like this it gives some of us hope and for that i think you.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my story. I am glad you enjoyed it.