Be sceptical, but not blind, deaf and dumb

I recently witnessed a post by a friend of mine (Kyle) who asked people what their impression was and what they knew about affiliate marketing.

He got around 190 replies (as of yesterday). Most of them were negative, or detrimentally rude.

Quite a few of them brought up the fact that ‘affiliate marketing‘, as perceived, is full of scammers.

Well, every business advertised on the internet is like that. Even physical products advertised may not be real. We hear of people sending money for wonderful gadgets, only to find they don’t exist. Their money is gone.

Accusations made without evidence

There were also accusations. Some of the accusations were quite specific. They were made without any evidence of course. The accusations were mostly made in fear.

People had ‘heard’ stuff. People had ‘seen’ things, and others just formed an opinion without actually ‘talking’ to anyone. One guy, the most vocal, was trying to sell his own book on his Facebook profile. It was up at Amazon. My friend pointed out that he could actually promote the book as an Amazon affiliate and make money on it.

This is the main problem. Everyone should be sceptical. That’s ok. Due diligence is very important, but it’s also important to realise that not everything is a Scam.

Not everything is a Scam

There are some very legitimate affiliate marketers out there, including my friend Kyle. He has been teaching marketing online for 18 years. But he was dismissed by people on his thread as a Scammer.

That is a really sad state of affairs. If the people making the accusations had bothered to check, they’d have discovered the guy was really successful and has a great reputation.

He doesn’t run MLM, a Ponzi Scheme or anything else he was accused of, but he didn’t get upset because he knows himself that he is successful because he grasped the nettle and learned something which made him rich.

The guy is one of the most selfless people I know. He has taught others the correct way to market their own businesses, and is always approachable (I could email him today and ask him anything).

Don’t throw baby out with the bathwater

What i’m saying here is, sure, be sceptical. Do the due diligence, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater just because you fear what you don’t yet know. 😏

Your own ego will prevent your success if you let it.

Stop trying to be Billy Big Bollox and learn something new. Go to a site like Wealthy Affiliate. It could help you more than you will ever know. Alternatively, you can just stay ignorant and bitter.

I know which i’d rather be. 😎

–
David Kevin O’Hara

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