On the third and last part of this thread I want to talk about one of the most amazing parts of being a super affiliate or just successful in general, for that matter: What We Become
To understand what we become I need to tell you where I’ve come from. So let me put this context:
The truth is that my road from zero to super affiliate was a long and hard one. A lot of people have seen me burst on to the affiliate marketing seen very quickly and must think I achieved my success almost overnight.
Right!
Since 2001 I was a wide-eyed opportunity seeking grad student. At the time I decided I didn’t want to be lab rat and do research for the rest of my life. I was looking for more, and I didn’t at the time exactly know what that more was.
I ended up getting involved with a network marketing company selling vitamins, water filters, etc, etc. It was one of the toughest things I ever did in my life, and I did it for 3 years.
I was constantly ridiculed and attacked by friends, family, and just about everyone else. They laughed when I said I would be a millionaire.
Selling products and recruiting people into my business was a constant uphill battle, on top of the fact that I didn’t have enough money to even fund my business, since I was barely getting by on my meager grad student income.
Needless to say after 3 years of busting my butt I had little to nothing to show. I realized that there were other opportunities out there, especially on the internet. So I called it quits Jan 2005. Realize at this point I didn’t even know what affiliate marketing even was.
It was actually during these 3 years that I met Jeff Roth, who I talked about in the last post. He was the most committed guy on my business team, and at the time he was actually shocked that I quit! So shocked that he quit too! 
Now, years later, looking back at my past failures, I realize they weren’t failures at all. My 3 year foray into network marketing was one of the best ‘real world’ educational experiences of my life.
In those 3 years of failure and struggle, I learned about the importance of persistence, the importance of having a positive mental attitude. Each time I got knocked over and got up again and grew stronger, and stronger.
In those 3 years I read books like Think and Grow Rich, Magic of Thinking Big, and many other OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
In those 3 years I developed the millionaire mindset.
Before I had done network marketing, I have very little self confidence and a poor self image. I could not even look someone in the eye while talking to them.
Quiting that business was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I had build a team (albeit small), I had people depending on me, and I quit on them.
I don’t regret it. I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do, and I knew the upline team I was a part of was going nowhere. Nevertheless, I was devastated.
After emerging for the ashes of 3 years of blood, sweat, and tears, I said to myself: “Now I ready to be a millionaire!”
At that time I was beginning to really understand the power of the human mind, that we create our circumstances through our mind, though our thoughts and our beliefs. And that I had the power within me to change my circumstances.
I started opening my eyes to other opportunities, I knew the internet was HOT.
Now I just needed a way to make money on the internet. After 6 months of searching I found ppc affiliate marketing, and the rest was history.
So after 4 years of struggle, self doubt, all types of pain, non stop ridicule, rejection…after all of that and more I was a ‘overnight’ success in affiliate marketing!
So why did I share this story?
Because I want to understand that success in affiliate marketing (or any other business for that matter) is not about how good you are at grouping your keywords, or picking an affiliate offer, or doing your keyword research.
No!
I know internet marketers that are way more technically proficient then me, WAY more skilled, and they don’t make a fraction of what I do.
It’s about your mindset, your attitude, and what YOU believe you are capable and worthy of. In that 4 year period every time I got knocked down , I got up again, and I got stronger. Every time I made a decision to keep going I told me self: “I’m doing what 99.9% of people are not willing to do, which why I will live like 99.9% can people only dream of living.”
I was selling myself on the fact that I was going to succeed no matter what the obstacle, that if I could be this persistent, then it had to happen. That if I keep taking persistent action towards my dream it had to happen. That if I keep working on me, getting my mind right, it had to happen.
And it did.
When you go through that much crap and you finally succeed, you finally reach your goal, you become a different person, you see the world differently.
You realize that, YES, you can and do create success out of your mind, and that you can accomplish anything if your dream is strong enough, and you take persistent action towards your dream.
The feeling of self confidence and personal satisfaction of achieving your dreams is more rewarding then even living the dream.
Man, you say just the right things. Very inspiring post. Thank you.
Thanks again for the email address. I will email you shortly.
-AnotherAmit
Ok Ok I will confess. I once worked with Primerica. But only for 6 months, I swear. Actually all kidding aside that outfit was ok in that it did provide a real service to people who needed it. But after 6 months I realize I did not believe in what I was doing. I did not want to make cold calls creating a downline no matter how much money I could make. That was three years ago. Only in the last 7-8 months have I looked into affiliate marketing. There seems to be soo many avenues to go up in this business, everyday is a new day. I’ve yet to be successful, but I am not worried, I will be.
P.S. In the mid 90′s I went to an AmWay Meeting and a USANA Meeting.
I sorry, It meant nothing, I swear.
LOL
Hey Amit, I just want to thank you for your post today. I started two months ago seriously wanting to make it in internet business. I was having doubt about myself today since I am not getting anywhere yet. Your post just reminds me that I need to have that super mindset. I remembered hearing Mike Muldoff’s saying “Today is the poorest I will ever be the rest of my live” That spur me on. Thank you. This is where I am http://www.justintsan.com
Sometimes when you write posts like this, I have trouble seeing you as the kind of dude that can discuss quantum mechanics and subatomic vibrations while being able to wax prolifically about the struggle of one individual to achieve personal freedom.
Hi Amit,
Wow nice success journey, I had some inclination after looking at your affilate summit miami presentation, about the background of network marketing it had the shades of seminars of network marketing.
Well not everybody has the guts to show their faliures. Hat tip for you, you learned from your past and build your future.
Vijay
Great post once again. I think this one was better the last ones. Not saying that the last ones were better..lol. They were equally positive and inspirational.
When people read someone’s success story like yours they think, oh he must be really genius or he way above us and they feel discouraged. However you relate to your audince really well by sharing your past that you too were like us sometime ago. Like you said Amit, success doesn’t choose you, you much chase success. Positive attitude does go a long way.
Hey Amit,
Of all of the ezines that I read, your information is by far more superior, informative and motivational then the others. I always look forward to receiving your posts, I‘m still struggling with adwords but you can never give up.
Eventually I will break on through to the other side,
and meet you in person at one of the IM seminars,
remember my name. Keep up the outstanding work.
Cheers,
Jim Novak
Thank you good sir, this post verifies my gut opinion of how to came to get where you are at. I too did network marketing for a while, but to be honest, it didnt feel “right”, I felt that my talents were not being utilized to their fullest. During that process I too was ridiculed by my friends and family, it was heartbreaking at the time, the people closest to you were the ones that actually believed in my dream the least. I had read enough on the proper mindset to know that that is what usually occurs, your friends and family will be the first to try to shut down the dream, I DIDNT LET THEM STOP ME!
After network marketing, I happened to just stumble upon internet marketing last summer. I started reading up on it and trying to understand, and just as I started to save money to start building a business obstacle after medical obstacle starting just slamming me and my family down, it sucked up all the money that I was going to use to make a strong move. Im sorry to say at the time that I almost totally lost sight of my vision, I got caught up in reacting to crisis after crisis and frankly I was very frustrated that the little extra money I had went to cover the emergencies that had shown up. I also almost started to feel sorry for myself, but somehow I gritted it out and the vision came back strong, and thats where I am now, restarting with my original internet marketing vision. I had a little money set aside and decided to make the move with Jeremy’s training on your advice. I thank God that I did, this is a new beginning, and having never been willing to give up, I know that success is inevitable. All the books on success have been great, but the one line that put it all together was this one:
Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye DESIRE, BELIEVE that ye RECEIVE them and ye shall have them – Jesus Christ
Warm Regards,
The True King Carlos
Future Super Affiliate