As I said previously on the About Page, I’m an introvert, although I can be quite extroverted in certain situations in real life with people that I know personally.

So, maybe I would be considered a “hybrid” of sorts…😀

But I mostly keep to myself.

I’m not a slick-talking online business “guru” with my name and face all over the internet.

Instead, I’m just an ordinary person who makes money online as an affiliate marketer.

My online business journey didn’t start out the way I had hoped and there have been lots of challenges along the way.

Is it Real or All Hype?

You might be wondering if having your own online business is actually a real thing or all hype.

I don’t blame you because of all the creeps out there scamming people.

You’ve probably seen them all over the internet claiming that you can make some insane amount of money in 30 days doing nothing.

They tend to also flash pictures of stacks of cash, cars, mansions, and of course all of the vacations they take all over the world.

I kind of cringe when I see them flaunt this stuff, sort of like the celebrities who live non-stop jet-set lives and constantly post about it online.

They are so out of touch with most people who are really struggling to pay for life, due to the high costs of literally everything.

Sometimes though, things are not always what they seem…

Years ago, I was warned by a couple of REAL online business entrepreneurs that sometimes those pictures are actually of temporarily rented cars and houses to give the illusion that they are making all this money.

They are deep fakes just trying to get as much money out of your wallet as possible for their latest and greatest “push-button” system that will make your computer spit out cash like an ATM machine…🙄

Yes, some of the pics that you see out there are legit and they are just trying to show you what is possible or they are just bragging.

Mostly, they are just trying to play on people’s emotions and desperation so that they can get them to join their latest greatest hot deal.

The bad news is that this type of nonsense has really tainted the idea of having an online business for a lot of people.

The good news is that there are people on the other spectrum who are legitimately successful and are not hyping or scamming to make it happen.

There are even 6 and 7-figure earners who don’t share many or ANY pics at all and just make quiet fortunes online.

Maybe they are introverts or maybe they are just very private people and don’t need to let everyone know their business.

This makes more sense to me being a private person myself.

The point is, that having your own online business does NOT need to involve flash, illusion, hype, and scams.

Not at all.

There are actually more people who are quietly making a decent income online, enough to pay their bills and have some left over to take care of other wants or needs.

They are just average, everyday people who are simply making money online either full-time or as a supplement to their regular jobs or careers.

You just don’t hear about them because they stay under the radar.

In fact, they are out there running online businesses in many different niches so it’s not obvious.

There are all kinds of people on the internet making money, especially as affiliate marketers, which does not involve networking or team building.

I myself am just an ordinary person who had to figure out a way to make an income online when I lost my job, due to physical health issues.

Forced Out of The Workplace

In the offline world, I gained several years of experience in Customer Service, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable, and various other clerical-type positions.

I worked in many different industries for small family businesses, medium-sized companies, and very large corporations.

There were jobs that I really enjoyed and others not as much, but with each job I gained a lot of valuable skills and experience.

I always wanted to excel and be the best at every job that I ever had.

This is just part of my personality being a very detail-oriented person and wanting to really master anything that I tackled.

Some employers really appreciated this and recognized the work that I did for them and other employers treated me more like a number.

The unfortunate reality is that most employers have no loyalty to their employees.

That’s just the way it is out in the world.

Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad and just be grateful to have a job in the meantime until you’re able to make a plan and get a better job.

At least that’s how I looked at it, but believe me, it was not easy to stay anywhere that I was unhappy, but a job is a job and the bills don’t pay themselves.

Even in places where I was happy and I thought everything was great, things turned on a dime and I was laid off.

So, I knew in the long run that employers were not the answer for my life.

As a free spirit, I always had a deep desire to work for myself in some capacity and find a way to earn income outside of traditional employment.

My dad worked for himself for much of his life as an independent sales rep making straight commissions so I think I got the entrepreneurial bug from him.

He had worked for employers but preferred working for himself and not having a cap on his income potential.

I prayed to have that same freedom someday and that prayer was eventually answered, but in a totally unexpected way.

Severe neck issues that created dizziness forced me out of the workplace.

This happened before I was actually ready financially, which really sucked a lot and was pretty scary.

This was devastating because I actually had a really great job at that particular time, but they had strict attendance policies.

My health came first and I couldn’t even drive safely, let alone do the job properly in that condition because of the concentration and details the job required.

The third-party company, located out of state that handled their short-term disability benefits, would only approve me for 2 weeks.

However, I wasn’t going to be all better in 2 weeks and so after appealing and yet again being denied the STD benefits, I was let go from that job.

Due to the attendance policy, short-term disability would have been the only thing to excuse my absences beyond 2 weeks and so they fired me.

I truly believed that I would be afforded the benefits offered by the company to be able to heal, still get a percentage of my paycheck, and then resume my job when ready, but that didn’t happen.

It was pretty shocking and unfair, but that’s what happened and I couldn’t do a thing about it.

I couldn’t exactly run out and get another job in my condition and even if another company had hired me, I would have ended up in the same predicament.

My physical health issues made it impossible to adhere to an employer’s attendance policies.

Proceed with Caution!

So, if you are wondering why the sad story about a lost job…

It’s because it serves as a cautionary tale about not having more than one source of income in place, just in case.

My ultimate goal was to be an online entrepreneur anyway because I had already been dabbling with that on the side as a hobby.

Unfortunately at that particular time, I was not able to concentrate on anything other than getting my physical health stable enough that I could do anything, like regular daily activities, let alone build another income.

I certainly didn’t anticipate losing my job and I never would have left on my own without a backup source of income in place.

See, unlike some of the rhetoric I see online, I’m NOT one of those people who would EVER tell someone to just up and quit their job suddenly to pursue making money online.

No way!

I would never tell anyone to quit their job without having another job or another source of income available.

That’s probably not what you expected to hear from someone who makes money online as an affiliate marketer, is it?

Well, I’m not going to feed you some fantasy tale about how you can start an online business today and fire your boss tomorrow.

It just doesn’t work like that, despite some of the claims out there from unscrupulous people who will tell you what you want to hear just to make a buck off of you.

No, that is not me.

Instead, I’m going to advocate for you to make a smart, logical decision when it comes to your income and to always stay realistic.

Proceed with caution!

I’ve seen people make rash decisions over the years because some online “guru” made them believe they could join whatever “program” and make 10k in 30 days or whatever income claims they are making.

Yes, there is good money to be made having an online business, but it takes time and effort.

It requires patience and a solid work ethic as well.

I’m not going to feed you some pie in the sky and tell you what I think you want to hear.

All that will do is cause you to get frustrated and disillusioned and eventually give up on creating your own online business.

There are already enough unrealistic expectations being sold out there in the shark-infested waters of the internet.

I will also say this for anyone who needs to hear it…

You cannot just join something and think that from the mere act of joining…that money suddenly will start coming out of your computer like a slot machine.

But, believe it or not, some people (actually a lot of people) DO have that mentality and will spend money to join whatever it is and never even log in or do the training or do the work.

Then they quit a month later declaring it didn’t work, when they actually did no work at all.

It’s a really strange phenomenon.

I know that probably sounds nuts or like an exaggeration, but I see this all the time.

A friend of mine who has been an affiliate marketer for over 20 years has actually seen people spend 5k for some “guru’s” private coaching program and then never even schedule their coaching and then complain that it didn’t work and they made no money online and that they were ripped off.

Well, maybe that coaching was good or maybe it was bad, but these people never even bothered to get what they paid for to even find out if it was good or bad.

Personally, I never have and never would pay for expensive coaching, but if I did…I would be on it and doing what I could to get my money’s worth.

I belong to an excellent online business community that is very inexpensive and over-delivers so much training and value, so I have never felt the need for any outside coaching anyway.

Always Stay Realistic

Again, I really want to stress the fact that the best thing you can do for yourself is to always stay realistic.

It’s better to base your decision to pursue an online business on logic, not just on the emotions of wanting to be free from your job.

Yes, you CAN start an online business today, but you will NOT be able to earn money that fast in order to fire your boss the next day.

Starting, building, and maintaining an online business is a long game, not a lottery ticket.

It takes TIME to build an online business, despite the “get rich quick” liars out there that will tell you otherwise.

You will be doing a lot of work upfront without getting paid.

It is possible to earn affiliate commissions early on, but you will be doing a lot of work upfront without getting paid.

You are building an online business and your consistent, long-term efforts will start to snowball.

Before you know it, the work that you did weeks, months, and years ago will pay you and continue to pay you for years to come.

But again, this is a long game.

I won’t lie to you and pretend that you can make money right out of the gate or that it will cost you zero.

You have to be able and willing to invest both time and money to start an online business.

It’s really inexpensive to start an online business compared to a brick-and-mortar business offline.

At least with an online business, you will see returns far faster than an offline business, where it may take years to break even, but making money online is no overnight thing.

So, my advice is that you KEEP your job if you can, and build an online business on the side.

Then, once you know that you can replace your current income and better yet, exceed your current income because remember…

You have to pay all the taxes on what you earn because there is no employer to put in the other half…

Then and only then, should you even consider quitting your job, and ONLY if you really want to.

Like if you absolutely hate your job or need complete time freedom from an employer’s attendance policies.

If you really love your job or your career, my advice is to KEEP IT and use your online business income to build up your savings or pay off debts.

And if your job situation suddenly changes and you are laid off or something happens, then just double down on your online business.

I don’t buy into the notion that having a job or career is a negative thing IF it’s something you really enjoy and you don’t work in a negative, toxic environment.

And that is a BIG IF because most stories I read online are from people who hate their jobs.

It seems to be the consensus out there, but there are still people who really do like their job and that’s great.

My experience with different jobs ran the gambit from super toxic horrible environments to the typical garden variety drama, to pretty decent.

Actually, my last two jobs were my best jobs, even though they had their own issues.

They were a lot better than most places I had ever worked for though and I was sad to lose both of those jobs.

So, I can totally relate to both sides of the fence.

I experienced the feelings of loving my job and wanting to stay as long as possible.

I also experienced the soul-sucking feelings of absolutely hating my job to the point I was physically sick every Sunday night from the mere thought of having to go back.

I had more than one of those over the years and I never want to experience that ever again.

No More Office Drama

This is when I really started praying for freedom from employers and that prayer was eventually answered so now that Sunday night anxiety is a thing of the past.

Working for myself from home is really such a wonderful change from all the corporate shenanigans like office politics, drama, gossip, horrible bosses, indifferent or incompetent management, and annoying co-workers.

Even though my last and final job was not as bad as all of that and was actually a pretty decent place to work…it still had its own issues.

I had already worked for several places that had that whole laundry list of issues and I never wanted to go back to that ever again.

And I don’t mean just offices either.

Retail jobs have many of the same issues, if not worse.

Those were horrible experiences when I was just starting out in adult life working.

So, I don’t want to go back to any toxic environment.

The freedom to not have to ever deal with that again is something I can hardly express in words and thank my Heavenly Father for that, even though it didn’t happen the way I wanted it to,

The bottom line is that my physical health issues are not compatible with an employer’s attendance policies.

Besides being able to manage my health while not having to adhere to strict attendance policies is such a freeing thing because I never have to ask anyone permission to be a human and have a life.

Some companies that I worked for didn’t want you to leave your desk (outside of your break) to use the restroom.

Well, nature calls when it calls and you can’t really control that, but some places expect you to be a robot with zero human needs.

There are so many benefits to writing your own paycheck and being in charge of your own schedule.

With that said, not everyone wants to work from home online for various reasons.

And that’s okay too.

Actually…you really don’t HAVE to work from home specifically.

You can work from any location in the world that you want, as long as you have a laptop and an internet connection.

Some people enjoy going to a coffee shop or even a park or the library with their laptops.

So, there IS freedom of movement when it comes to working for yourself online.

This is not a one size fits all type of thing and there is so much flexibility to do whatever you want.

No matter what your individual circumstances are, I just feel it’s really important to have multiple streams of income or you are limited to the whims of the world and things outside of your control.

This is the case even with having an online business.

For instance, I’m an affiliate for several products and services online.

I don’t promote just one thing because having all of your eggs in one basket is risky.

Ideally, you want to be an affiliate for multiple things, just in case an income stream dries up or disappears.

Again, the same goes for offline, which is why you might want to keep that job or career that you love and build an online business on the side.

Then, if something unexpectedly happens to that job or career, you will still have a stable income and savings to fall back on.

You will be ready for it!

This is exactly what I wish I would have done and if I had a time machine to go back, I would do exactly that.

Wasted Too Much Time

So, why didn’t I do this?

It’s simple…I wasted too much time and did not take it seriously enough.

Looking back, I don’t know why because almost every single company that I ever worked for is now gone.

I had plenty of warnings and red flags over the years to know full well that there is no such thing as job security.

These companies were mostly sold or closed down due to the business failing.

When a company sells, more times than not, the new company will keep the old employees and facilities around for a while, then later close it all down and absorb it into their own employees and locations.

This usually happens within 1-2 years after being sold.

Sometimes, it happens much quicker than that and this is usually without much warning at all.

It can happen to anybody.

As I said, there’s no such thing as job security because you never really know what is really going on behind the scenes.

The people who own them will just secretly make the deals while everyone else works like they have a secure job.

Then one day there’s suddenly an announcement that they are sold or going out of business altogether.

I have experienced this numerous times and each time it was completely unexpected.

So again, whether you love your job or hate your job, take action now to grow another income stream for yourself.

Unfortunately, I did not do this and wasted too much time (years!) and did not have another income to fall back on when I really needed it.

I had dabbled in affiliate marketing, which is the online business model that I chose to pursue, on the side, for a long time.

The thing is…I treated it as a hobby, instead of a business…basically wasting time.

Even though I had this desire deep inside to start an online business, I did not put in enough time and effort to make it happen.

I just didn’t manage my time well enough outside of my job and would come home and just zone out sometimes.

Granted, I had a very challenging job and was too tired when I got home from work, but if I had just spent one hour per day, this would have made all the difference.

I did make some affiliate commissions and advertising revenue with the effort I had put in, but it was nothing to write home about because I had not built it up to a solid level of job-replacing income.

However, those commissions did prove to me that affiliate marketing was a real, viable business model.

In fact, most businesses of all sizes usually have affiliate programs online.

Amazon, Walmart, and Target are bigger names, but there are thousands upon thousands of companies with affiliate programs, in every niche market imaginable.

👉 You Can Learn More About Affiliate Marketing Here 👈

My very first affiliate commission was for a guitar-playing lesson program that I recommended on my very first website.

I’ll never forget how excited I was to get that commission notification and later when I got the actual payment. 😀

I ultimately moved on from that website though because I didn’t have enough passion or interest in that particular niche to continue long-term.

My point is that I already knew that affiliate marketing worked.

If I had taken it much more seriously and not wasted so much time, I would’ve had more than enough time to build that online business into a full-time income before eventually losing my employment.

Consistently working on it an extra hour per day over the years would have made all the difference.

But, again I wasted both the time and opportunity to build and grow an online business.

So, after I lost my job, I was in a real bind.

I needed to get serious and start working full-time to make money online, but again it takes time to build an online business that brings in consistent income.

The problem was, I was both out of time AND now had physical health issues to deal with, which became the main priority.

My household suddenly went from two incomes to one income and I needed to get moving, but I really couldn’t at that time.

My severe neck issues and the accompanying dizziness from nerve damage in my C1 Vertebrae were extremely debilitating at that time.

This is what cost me my job.

So, this meant that I couldn’t exactly work like I needed to because being on a computer full-time or doing much of anything was out of the question.

Working at home on a computer or working at a job on a computer was really no different.

I had to take care of my physical health so that I did not end up completely disabled or bedridden.

This meant that working my butt off was not really an option.

I just couldn’t work at the same level that I used to before all the physical issues.

Instead, I had to focus on healing and resting and having multiple neck therapy appointments per week to get things under control.

It was a very long road and the worst of it got better, but even today I still have to keep up with my neck treatments every few weeks and limit how long I work.

Even now, I still have flare-ups and days where working is not even possible.

So again, if I had taken it all more seriously while my physical health was good AND while I was still employed, then I wouldn’t have ended up with so many financial worries when I lost my job.

I would’ve had something more substantial to fall back on during times that were difficult both money-wise and health-wise.

The Online Roller Coaster Ride

After allowing time to heal, I slowly was able to start working on my online business.

Then, the online roller coaster ride really began for me because I got very distracted by everything to do with making money online.

This was NOT a fun, exhilarating roller coaster ride either.

Being on a time crunch to try and make money online and basically beating my head against the wall trying to figure it all out on my own caused me to have what’s called shiny object syndrome.

This turned into a very unpleasant roller coaster ride of jumping from one program to another and basically flushing more time and money down the toilet.

Losing my job made me act in desperation because I wanted to make something happen right now, but again I had to wait until I healed enough to really start pursuing it fully.

But going from a two-income household to a one-income household was difficult and so I was in a tailspin of worry and frustration.

So, I ended up doing what a lot of people do, which is looking for a shortcut and something “quick” or “push button”…which is not realistic because it doesn’t really exist.

Then in May 2012, I joined an online business community and training platform that’s been around since 2005.

It has all the tools and resources I need in one place, and it has helped me focus on building an online business the right way.

You Can Do It Too

So, why do I tell you all of this?

I share all of this with you, so you’ll know it’s possible to make money online.

It takes time to build an online business, but it’s worth it to build either a side income to supplement your full-time job or EVENTUALLY replace your job (once you can replace that income) if that’s what you want.

Making money online is something I really enjoy because I can work from home and on my own schedule, while still being able to take care of my health.

If you have found yourself in a similar situation to me or you simply want to get ahead of things and plan for the future, your goal going forward should be to not waste any more time.

As I said, whether you love your job or hate your job, it’s always a good idea to have a Plan B to supplement your income or replace your income.

You never know what can happen with your job or even with your health.

I had both go down the tubes at the same time.

It was totally unexpected and I wasn’t ready for it and I could have been.

So, don’t waste time, as I did.

Take action now.

Just get started and keep going.

And most importantly, believe in yourself.

You can do it!

Thank you for visiting. 🙂

To Your Success,

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