I hope you read the previous story as it took a lot for me to share it. That was one of the lowest points of my life and I think the #1 reason why I am where I am today. Had the rental business not failed, I would have become an absentee business owner Dad and a slave to my customer’s whims. Instead, I am a present father and in control of my schedule.
It’s Not All Sunshine And Roses
I wish I could tell you that I just closed the rental business and started making some money online right away, but that’s absolutely not the case!
Immediate Actions
I sold some cars to scale back the rental business to 5 cars again. This provided a trickle of income while putting some money back in the bank because I owned those cars outright. This also gave me some more free time now as my phone wasn’t constantly ringing with problems. After all, fewer cars on the road meant fewer cars to get hit and/or break down.
Lost In The Wind Still
However, I was really at a loss for what to do next. I needed a way to create income that would allow me to be a stay-at-home Dad, see Juli at reasonable hours, and not expose me to all kinds of shenanigans like the rental business. I also wanted something that could grow big enough that Juli could become a stay-at-home too at some point.
More Limitations
Juli and I refused to put Elizabeth in daycare and I really enjoyed being a stay at home dad. We wanted to actually see each other, so me working evenings or nights was out also. There were no opportunities for advancement at Juli’s job and I wasn’t qualified for anything that paid enough for Juli to stay home.
My Only Choice
Building an online business was the only thing to do. . .
Affiliate Marketing is the only way to accomplish these goals. It works by creating content for other people’s products and when customers buy, you get paid. There are no clients to interact with, no customer service to deal with, and no phone calls to take. I could create content during naptime and have it run all day in the background while I be a dad.
Lessons I Learned In The Rental Business
In the rental business, I had created a core group of people (they accounted for about half of my business) who rented from me on a regular basis. As we got to know each other, they wouldn’t rent from anyone else but me. It even got to the point where I could just hide the keys outside the shop and they could pick up or drop off the cars whenever they wanted. All they had to do was text me beforehand and I never had any issues.
Applying Them Online
This is what Affiliate Marketing can re-create online. You’ll develop a core group of people who get to know you (and you get to know them) by building a relationship. That way, you can make buying recommendations to the same people over and over again instead of always relying on new business. If done correctly, they won’t buy from anyone else and you’ll come across as a friend making a recommendation and not a salesperson or marketer.
That’s what I want to teach.
In the next episode, I’ll talk about what I gained from this painful journey.
