Understanding the struggles of a Beginner

Because I am one, and that’s ok

So…it’s been some time since I posted last and it’s more or less going back and forth on what the direction of this blog is going to be. At first, this was suppose to be a Journey blog of me just learning and sharing what it was that I learned, but per regular fashion I lost sight as to what it is that I was doing in the first place. Honest to god I would rather just play my video games or watch YouTube videos instead of actually doing the work to change my life. Or even more so, I felt like I needed to be able to teach you guys something when in essence I haven’t been in the trenches enough to really teach anything.

That’s what they tell you, to educate, motivate, and maybe make more sales down the line. Even some of my favorite influencers and entrepreneurs barely talk about this aspect because they are winning so they are able to pull from a place of experience. I guess if I was in their shoes, why would I talk about the mental side of it? Im winning and life is good lol.

However, I’m not there and Im no longer being ashamed to say that. I do like to write, I have that itch to do it in more times than Im able to remember. Where am I going with all this? Im just going to write regardless and not judge every piece of content I put out. Will it change the focus of what the site is? Not really because it’s meant for me to document the very beginning and just again, share what I learned. If I’m going to do this road of Digital Marketing (starting with Affiliate marketing), then I have to do it being the most authentic and not fake it until I make it. That saying has ALWAYS rubbed me the wrong way even though the intention at most times is pure.

This journey will not be easy nor will it be perfect. But as long as you make a conscious effort to try

Consistency: Learn from my mistakes.

We back for annnotheeerrr blog post.

I know, you don’t have to say it, it has been a long ass while since I posted.

Part of it is life, some shiny object syndrome, and the last part being I get distracted very easy.

Lets continue what I was talking about and break them down into parts.

LIFE

So a contributing factor is that thing that we call Life.

At the time of writing, I still have my 9-5 (as well as some personal shit that Im dealing with)

There’s not much more going on apart from going through a pandemic (and at this point, I can’t really use that as an excuse since it’s been about a year since COVID has been a thing)

Shiny Object Syndrome

Listen, Listen, Listen…it’s been rough out here. Now, this not to say I get caught with the affiliate programs that literally just dropped that have little to no credibility…oh no.

Im talking more so about the programs that have been around for a while and then not giving the proper time to allocate to all of them.

To give you some a backdrop, I’ve been working becoming a trader, affiliate marketer, blogger, fix credit, real estate, etc etc.

I say all that to say that I found some reputable people that have alot of creditably and well.. because of my consistency issues… you can see how well they are all coming.

It will be something I will talk about later, but the premise is that I want to do too many things at once instead of just focusing on one and build the skill from there.

Distractions

So on top of being enchanted by the shiny object syndrome, then comes the normal everyday life of me being distracted.

I know that Im not the only one that struggles with this, but I want to at least make it known for the sake of the example.

So…peep. I be in the middle of trying to focus on being a better person and building skills and what not, then.. out of sheer no where, youtube.

With me being a gamer it’s much worst, since I’m subbed to people who have updates to specific games I play or any gaming news that I may come across.

(Shameless plug time) I have a gaming podcast that I do with my brother (One of the few things I’ve been somewhat consistent on) on the 2 Nickels Podcast.

I know that’s odd how Im promoting a gaming podcast on a digital marketing journey blog but, it will make sense soon I promise 🙂

So as you can see, the whole consistency deal is rough for me as well and trying to change habits is a bit of a uphill battle.

However, I found that there are some things I’ve learned along the way that May help out (bare in mind, I’m no expert. It’s just me sharing wat I learn…you can honestly do whatever you want with this information)

One of the things I learned about gaining consistency is that to make the shit stupidly easy to do.

Like for me, one of my fitness goals (because we all have them) is to do 5 squats and like a set of 10-12 wall push ups everyday.

I’ve been at it for almost a week and have been holding pretty strong doing it…because it doesn’t require much of me.

This next one may be controversial but…allow yourself to have an off or bad day quote unquote.

Now why On earth would I say this when the whole post is supposed to be about consistency? No worries, allow me to explain.

We are all HUMAN, which means unless you are that magical top 1% that everyone talks about that just work work works until they achieve their goal…then this should be something you relate to .

The trick to it however, is to make sure your next 2-3 days are good ones, meaning whatever it is you set out to do…make it your priority to get those done.

Basically you need to have more productive days (which is what I term as good), opposed to bad ones…because they are going to happen regardless.

The last thing I’ve figured out about staying consistent is to merely join a group or get an Accountability partner.

I tried this last month with fitness (more like I got dragged to do it, but hey…semantics lol) and I definitely have seen alot of results since I started.

I’ve move more with a sense of urgency, clean up my eating habits (still an uphill battle but better than it was), and have alot more energy.

So that’s all I have to share to at least level the playing field a little bit.

Not this isn’t a complete blueprint, but I’ve had some success with this.

Marketing: “Well didja try that?” type of Mindset

It’s been a bit of a minute since I’ve written something.

Part of it is figuring out “What should I write?”, in which took me quite some time.

The other half is me not trying to regurgitate the 300 million things that others have written.

Sure, it brings in traffic (and even wonderful SEO blessings from google), but what’s the point?

I’ve always been an advocate of writing something resonates with my audience, as well as help them out in any way…even if the SEO portion of it isn’t great.

It can possibly be my inexperience in that field, but it’s ok..at least I started.

Anyways, the thought that Swirled in my head is the whole Marketing world.

More and more flood in everyday since corona, looking for answers on “how to make money online”

The reality, is there are a BUNCH of ways to make it…but it takes time to get there.

That TIME deal, is what gets at people…because normally within the 3 month mark is when people tend to quit and go on to the next thing.

And…I don’t blame them. I’ve done it in some capacity with previous blogs (that were primary Gaming).

The Answer to that was (Shameless plug) my Podcast here where me and my brother talk about things that go on in the gaming world.

I also implemented something similar to my IG but it’s still a work in progress.

Why am I telling you all this? well it’s because its part of the “well didja try that” type of mindset.

This whole thought process is basically trying out tings and giving it ample time to breathe (I say about 6 months to see if it’s something worth pursuing).

My criteria was rather simple:
1. It had to be something I could enjoy doing

2. Not trying to reinvent the wheel here, but adding my own little twists to it

That’s really it in a nutshell.

I may end up being very successful with this and grow gradually (and organically I hope), or I may end up flopping and be back to the drawing board.

Whatever the result is, I want to at least be happy knowing that I’ve tried.

Plus…if it works, I can simply share with you what worked and what didn’t…so it will be great for content.

I can actually add some genuine value and not talk about for the 300 millionth time “What is affiliate marketing” or ” 10 ways to make money online…Breathing being one of them”.

The “didja try that” mindset is something I want to continue forward with.

The concept itself is not new and to many is something they already heard before (Im sure)

But hey, we trying to grow over here lol.

Tired of Canva? Here are 5 Alternatives to Canva

I mean we are all very aware of Canva at this point.

And while it is a great app (50 million downloads via Android. Sorry, I have an Android phone lol), you might be thinking “well I want to mess with something new”

And for that I GOTCHU.

So lets take a look at the 5 Alternatives to Canva:

(Disclaimer: they are in no particular order, so bare that in mind)

(P.S: I’m not affiliated with any of these companies, Just simply linking to their payment plans, if any)

1.Crello

It’s about what you would expect from a Graphic design app. It’s what you use (much like Canva) to create content for social media, ads, etc etc if you lack the design skills. Pretty much all I will list will be just that. The App is free on iOs and Android according to the website (On Android side I can confirm it’s in the Play store).

They have a premium if you want to go ahead and subscribe to that here

2. Piktochart

Like I said, all of them will roughly have the same Description. But this is another one you can check out. I Scanned their site to see if they have a premium at all, and low and behold they do (here). Yes, it is free…but I share out the payment plans JUST IN CASE you was like “well, the free side cool but…what that premium looking like?”

3. Wave.Video

Alright, so this one is round about the same…but with a lean more towards video content. Which is cool if you were trying to promote like a snippet of a video, podcast, and/or whatever it is you are working on. Of course they have a free version, as well as a paid version you can check out here. Now when I checked, there doesn’t seem to be any App for this at all…so this will be more of a quick Desktop editor.

4. Taler.app

Ok, this one confused me just a little bit. I’m going out on a limb and say this is a new-ish app. As a Matter of fact, when I saw “App” in the name, I would of figured there would of been an actual one. When I checked the play store however, I didn’t seem to find it. That’s ok though, they may be in the beginning stages (I saw their templates for FB, IG, and YT, which looked really good). Yes, it’s free (currently no premium). Keep a lookout for this one.

5. placeit.net

Alright so, this one looked new as well (not the website, but rather the App itself). At the time of writing this, it currently has about 500 downloads in the play store (which Im sure will grow in time). I checked out a few of the templates (the gaming ones looked really official), and it would be a good look to use these. Now this one does have a premium, but it didn’t have a dedicated page (Rather a pop-out). Looked a little pricey, so wherever or not it would be worth it well…would be up to you. And to eliminate the question.. yes they have a free side.

And there you have it.

5 Alternatives for Canva if you was either tired, bored, and/or wanted to see something new.

Shoutout to Gaby Ross over at https://www.snackablemarketing.co/ for the inspiration of this post.

The Unsexy Truth About Affiliate Marketing.

You know for my first post I thought this would be a little daunting, but I decided to write about it anyways.

You know for 9 whole years, I’ve been failing at this whole make money online realm.

It would be from buying countless courses that take up my drive space, got bored with it because it seemed like too much work, and/or any number of reasons.

Anyways, during my magical search for the “Holy grail of how to make money online”, I came across this video on youtube.

No, this isn’t me trying to sell anything.

In fact, there’s no affiliate link in here to be found because…being honest…that would be some scummy ass shit for a first post.

Anyways, the video was this guy interviewing a guy who for all intense purposes seemed to know what he was talking about.

All Gurus give you the same BS, but this guy was a bit of a different vibe.

As he kept talking, he was talking about affiliate marketing and the state of it.

Basically he said “these guys use clickbait to get you in and then buy their product. It’s how they make money.”

Now this is not to say I haven’t heard this all before, but it got me to think about it… the unsexy truth to affiliate marketing.

Actually, keeping it a buck…it would apply to all business.

If I walked up to you and was like “I can teach you to make 20,000 in a month in 3-5 years, interested?”

Of course, people would naturally say no, because though the money was a nice amount, it would take WAYYY too long.

But, if I turned around and told you “I can show you how to make 10,000 a month in 30 days or less” the conversation and attention changes.

You would be way more inclined because of the following:
* It’s a Nice amount of money per month
* It’s not going to take long to get there.

…Or so it was Advertised.

It’s sexier to use the clickbait, because we want to get that money right now.

The reality is, we have things going on in our lives right now and most of it can be solved with money.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some industries where (when you put in the work) where money can be about daily…but trust it all takes time.

Also (At the time of writing this) Covid-19 is STILL going on.

That being said, I understand the need to make some money right now.

But the truth is…it takes time.

And more importantly you have to put in the work.

This is what I’m in the process of doing right now, which is why Im telling you this truth now.

My hope is that you find this and take heed to it…and not waste 9 years like I did.