Authentic affiliates, how to build "less obviously", and mortgage-free goals?
š Knowledge UPā 0ļøā£0ļøā£7ļøā£
We need to talk.
Everyone wants to make a buck.
Back in the day, you could go door-to-door and sell cookies or magazine subscriptions.
In 2021, the door has changed to a social media profileāand the cookies are all virtual.
Iām talking about affiliate sales and marketing.
DISCLAIMER: I want to talk super quick about my approach to affiliates and make you a few promises before you run screaming for the hills while frantically smashing the unsubscribe button. Jump down to the weekly Growth Currency links if youāre indifferent.
Whatās an affiliate?
An affiliate is someone who receives a commission for selling someone elseās product.
Say you signed up for an online course or paid for a SaaS product and found it useful. The creator of the course/product may provide you with a custom referral link you can share with your network.
Every click on your link that leads to a sale earns you a commission.
You can see why this is a popular side hustle: low investment to big rewardsāif your audience is big enough AND engaged.
The Pros & Cons of Affiliates
The pros of being an affiliate are obvious: you can earn income without having to do the creating.
The cons: they can feel like MLM schemes. Usually. Nobody likes being sold something they donāt want or needāespecially from somebody they donāt know who, likely didnāt use the product.
Personally, I canāt sell anything I donāt believe in. I think thatās called integrity.
So hereās my promiseā¦
And so my promise to you is simple: I will only promote an affiliate link for a product or service that Iāve used myself AND have believe thereās significant value in.
My motivation behind starting Knowledge UPā was two fold:
1 ā to genuinely & authentically help others
2 ā to hone my writing skills by creating consistently
I did not start this newsletter to make affiliate sales. And I have zero interest in making a quick buck with snake oil. I firmly believe in sharing tools that can truly provide value to YOU.
I want to be an authentic affiliate or nothing at all1.
And pleaseācall me out if you feel Iām compromising on my promise. I want to know.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
(This tweet kind of blew up. Iāve never had more than 50 likes on a tweet before. Lots of interesting responses along with some pretty clever ones.)
GROWTH CURRENCY THIS WEEKš§ š”
š Marketing
āHow To Build An AudienceāDifferentlyā with Bilal Zaidi
This thread is full of insights. Bilal shares 12 āless obviousā ways to build an audience in this digital age. A great thread for any creator looking to grow.
A few of my faves š
ā One platform at a time.
ā Audience ā Distribution
ā Do things that don't scale
||Ā Follow Bilal Zaidi on Twitter
š° Side Hustle
Become a Coding Freelancer w/ The Odin Project [FREE COURSE]
Expand your freelancing toolbelt with this FREE web development course from The Odin Project. This free course coversā¦
ā The Foundations (Front end, Back end, Java)
ā Full Stack Ruby On Rails
ā Full Stack Javascript
Path to this side hustle cash flow: 1) learn 2) build 3) earn ā no more excuses!
Shoutout to my man Brandon of Rinkydoo Finance. He introduced me to The Odin Project a while back and heās a great follow on Twitter.
||Ā Follow The Odin Project on Twitter
š³ Personal Finance
āShould I pay off my mortgage early?ā via Plant Money Seeds
Even if you donāt have a mortgageāgive this a read. I used to think that putting every piece of spare change into paying your mortgage down was the best strategy. Of course it depends on your goals, but it might not be š especially given the low interest rates weāre seeing (at least in North America). #OpportunityCost
||Ā Follow Plant Money Seeds on Twitter
š§Podcast
āThe route to quality is through quantity.ā ā David Perell on Compound Writing Podcast
A must-listen for any aspiring writers. David shares with Stew Fortier:
ā his system for picking winning ideas
ā how he writes things that resonate
ā some key lessons he teaches during Write of Passage
ā What David would do if he was starting over today
||Ā Follow Compound Writing on TwitterĀ ||Ā Follow David Perell on Twitter
āWrite
Scribe Book School: Learn how to WRITE & PUBLISH your bookāfor FREE.
Paid cohort writing courses are popping up all over the internet. For those not wanting to pay to play, check out Scribe Book School. Founded by author Tucker Maxāitās a FREE course teaching you how to write, publish and launch their non-fiction book or memoir. No financial commitment AND self-paced? Sign me up.
Check out the course options here.
||Ā Follow Tucker Max on Twitter
Thank you SO much for reading to the end. I hope I provided some value to your day and inbox.
Lots of new subscribers this weekāthank you all who have joined the path to earning growth currency. (Is that lame? Kind of feel like Iām forcing itā¦)
Hit reply or send a DM on Twitter either way:Ā @growthcurrency
One last question from me: what kinds of growth tools or tips are you looking for? Iād love to help by featuring them.
PS - Iām also curious how you got here? Twitter? Medium? Send me a note and let me know! I reply to every email.
Fact: there are zero affiliate links in todayās newsletter :)