What started for me as a small side hustle turned into a 6-figure work-at-home business. I refer to myself as the accidental affiliate. Affiliate marketing, for me, was less about the money and more about what the money provided: freedom, choices, and opportunity for my family. Today, I want to share why I think today is the perfect time to start an affiliate marketing business.
I assume you already know what affiliate marketing is if you found this blog. But the quick and dirt of it are this. I drive traffic to products that I didn’t make, and I get a commission. But I’m not a “scammy” kind of marketer. I promote software, most of which I use and pay for. I teach people how to use it (mostly for blogging), and when they subscribe, I get a small monthly subscription fee.
That’s it.
In this guide, I’ll share with you why today is one of the best times to get started with affiliate marketing, from my experience as a 6-figure full-time, work-at-home marketer.
1) Low Barrier to Entry
Starting an affiliate marketing business is relatively easy and requires no specific qualifications or technical skills. You need access to a computer, preferably high-speed internet, and will likely need a website.
Some affiliate marketers use Youtube or Podcasting and don’t spend any money on websites or hosting, although that’s not the norm.
I already used webinars and Youtube to make tutorial videos when I started. I don’t remember investing beyond that. I didn’t buy ads or email lists. I already had an audience.
If I were starting over and didn’t have an audience, I would start on Youtube and build a website and social media channels alongside that.
2) Cost-effective to Maintain
Unlike traditional business models that require significant capital investment, affiliate marketing is cost-effective. You don’t need to spend money on inventory, production, or shipping. All you have to do is promote the products and services of your affiliate partners.
Software is my biggest expense as an affiliate marketer. When I started affiliate marketing ten years ago, I did so with whatever tools I had. Over the years, I have added AI tools like Jasper AI as a writing assistant, Surfer SEO for on-page search engine optimization, SEMrush for keyword research, Grammarly for spellcheck, and Canva for images. These tools came into play because blogging became my main focus outside of video. I also invested in Tubebuddy for Youtube optimization.
Today, I bring in around $20,000 per month, and my software expenses are around $500.
3) Passive Income
When you make money while you are not working, it’s an amazing feeling.
Passive income is a type of income that requires minimal effort to generate, usually coming from an established asset. This could include investments such as stocks and bonds, rental properties, dividend-paying stocks or mutual funds, start-up businesses, royalties from intellectual property rights, and even activities such as blogging.
Unlike active income sources, which require your direct involvement, passive income allows you to earn money even when you are not physically present.
As an affiliate marketer, I get paid for the work I do upfront and continue to make money each time someone clicks on my links or takes action on the products or services I’m promoting. This is a great way to generate a consistent income stream without always being “on.”
That said, in order to gain that passive income, you’ll need to take massive action on the front end. If I quit blogging and making videos today, I’d still make money for years. The evergreen content will continue to thrive for a while and bring in affiliate sales, but eventually, without building new content, it would taper off.
My model would continue to make me money for years, regardless of content, because I specialize in software. Most software affiliate programs offer recurring income, meaning you get a cut of each subscription payment. For me, that’s around $15,000 per month in software affiliate commissions, and I know people that make a lot more than that.
I’m not saying that it’s easy to make money with affiliate marketing. Still, if you put in the effort and create great content, generating passive income and building a strong foundation for your business is possible.
4) Flexibility
Affiliate marketing offers a great deal of flexibility. You can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. You can also set your own hours and work at your own pace. I love the flexibility of being able to work from anywhere.
I worked 9-5 in the office when I started my affiliate marketing journey. Running my real estate team in Las Vegas required me to be physically present to lead my team. I always wished I could work at home and not spend my day in recruiting and management.
As a full-time affiliate marketer, I can work whenever I want. That doesn’t mean that it’s easy or that there isn’t hard work involved, but it does mean that I can work in my pajamas in my favorite massage chair with a cup of coffee next to me and a cat in my lap.
I also enjoy traveling.
Over the summer, I took my daughter to Maui. I enjoy early mornings, and she enjoys sleeping in, so I would go down to the cafe by the water each morning to write my daily blog. I can’t think of a better office.
I’ve published articles many times on an airplane, on the balcony of a boat, or even from the passenger seat of a car. As long as I can write, I can work.
Affiliate marketing allows me to pursue my passions and make money simultaneously.
5) High-Income Potential
I know affiliate marketers that are millionaires. I’m not one of them, yet anyway. However, I make a very comfortable living and can do many special things for people thanks to my affiliate marketing income.
The potential for passive income is real and attainable. It’s scalable without more expenses necessarily. For example, let’s say I have a travel blog. I have a top-ranking blog post covering the best San Diego helicopter tours. Each month I make a few hundred dollars in commissions from the tours.
I could scale that by applying SEO strategies to move that blog to a higher position on Google. I could create a topic cluster around that content, each covering a different kind of tour: food, scooter, hiking, etc. If I make commissions from each tour company, I could increase my commissions to thousands of dollars per month by scaling that topic.
It’s also easy to diversify your income streams by promoting different products and services with one piece of content. For instance, I could recommend a hotel in San Diego for travelers looking for the best helicopter tour experience. I could link to the hotel from my blog post, creating an additional income stream.
As I mentioned, software affiliate programs offer recurring commissions, meaning you get a cut of each subscription payment. If done correctly, those can add up quickly and create a largely passive income stream.
For example, I have one relationship where I earn around $40 per subscriber. At 230 subscribers on average (gain some, lose some) every month, I make around $9,000 per month—all passive income once the action was taken to gain the subscriber.
It took me around six years to reach that income level for that relationship. In the past 18 months, I added two new platforms that I subscribe to and therefore began talking about (on blogs, webinars, and Youtube), and they are now earning around $5000 per month for the two combined. This means I’ll get to the $9000 mark on those much faster than when I did the first one.
Once you learn the processes, it’s much easier to move faster.
6) Low Risk
Affiliate marketing is a low-risk business model. You don’t have to worry about product development, inventory management, or order fulfillment. You’re simply promoting other people’s products, meaning no financial risk is involved.
That doesn’t mean there is no risk. Your reputation and marketing efforts are at stake, so I recommend creating quality content and using ethical practices.
Another risk is that affiliate programs can be suddenly canceled without notice. That means you could be relying on a specific program for income and suddenly lose it. But, if you diversify your revenue streams and create multiple income sources, you can mitigate this risk.
I think having multiple brands, programs, and affiliate networks you work with is best. The suggestion that you should never have all your eggs in one basket is especially true in affiliate marketing.
7) Diverse Affiliate Programs
When you are an affiliate marketer, you have choices. In fact, you have so many choices when it comes to affiliate programs, provided you are in the right niche. For example, I was a keto for weight loss coach for a while. I had a blog, an audience, and a lot of companies that wanted me to promote their products.
I could choose from different recipes, books, supplements, and more. I was able to find something for my audience regardless of their specific needs and interests. The options were vast, and the possibilities were endless. This made it easy for me to create content around different topics and products, reach new audiences, and build a profitable business.
While that income wasn’t recurring, it was a nice supplemental income to my coaching business.
Affiliate networks like Share-A-Sale and AWIN make finding, researching, and selecting the right affiliate program even easier.
Today, most popular brands offer an affiliate program, and those that don’t are considering it. Brands understand that influencers and affiliate marketers are the future of online commerce and recognize that value.
So as we move further into this decade, there will be more choices and more potential for affiliate marketers to make money.
8) No Customer Service
In my 20’s and 30’s, I owned the top catering and entertainment company in Las Vegas. My entire business was based on excellent client relationships and providing the best possible customer service.
After I sold that company, I started a real estate business. Once again, customer service was paramount. My reputation was only as good as the last transaction, and I felt I spent a lot of time servicing and managing customer expectations.
I don’t have to worry about customer service as an affiliate marketer. All I need to do is promote the products and services of other businesses. I can focus on building my affiliate business instead of managing client relationships and fielding questions.
Choosing brands that care about their customers is essential, but you don’t have to be the one fielding customer questions and managing expectations. It’s a nice change of pace.
That’s why many people decide to become affiliate marketers. Making money without dealing with customers makes it attractive for those wanting more business autonomy, like me.
9) Access to a Global Market
Geographical boundaries do not limit affiliate marketing so you can tap into a global market. As long as you have an internet connection, you can promote products to people all over the world. This opens up a wealth of opportunities and potential revenue streams.
The global reach of affiliate marketing takes us one step closer to true financial freedom. We don’t have to be limited to our local area or country. We can reach people from all around the globe and share our favorite product reviews with them.
Plus, you don’t have to worry about shipping, taxes, or tariffs selling products overseas. You get paid a commission for referring customers. It’s one of the many reasons why affiliate marketing is so attractive.
While my blogs and videos are in English, almost everything is accessible via an instant translation tool. This means a much wider audience and potential customers, no matter where you are.
10) Get Paid to Play
If you choose a niche that is already part of your lifestyle, a hobby, or a skill, then you get to live your life and make money simultaneously. It’s like getting paid to play!
For example, my Keto niche was an easy launch because it was how I lived my life. I had lost 50 pounds on the keto diet in 6-months, so sharing the lifestyle was natural, fun, and fulfilling.
By living the lifestyle and sharing what worked for me, people saw my expertise and trusted it more than just another content creator or influencer. People know when you are genuine.
I’m passionate about SEO, blogging, and affiliate marketing. And I understand software, hardware, and how to piece it together.
Using my natural teaching skills, and my experience in blogging, sharing the best software applications, plugins, and digital products is something I enjoy doing.
Being an affiliate marketer allows me to share my knowledge while getting paid. It’s a great way to make money while having fun doing it! I can’t tell you how often I have caught myself smiling or clapping.
These are just some reasons I decided to become an affiliate marketer, and I think it’s an amazing form of passive income. It has allowed me the freedom and flexibility to pursue my passions – writing, blogging, teaching, and travel – while making a comfortable living from it.
11) Pandemic Proof-ish
While not true for every niche, many affiliate niches survived the pandemic and thrived. As people suddenly found more time, some turned to online shopping for learning materials, resources, and entertainment.
This provided a great opportunity for affiliate marketers who could focus their efforts on the pandemic-proof products that people were turning to in droves. This meant more sales and more commissions for those in the right market.
For example, home decor and beauty niches were very profitable during the pandemic. People had plenty of time to experiment with new trends and try out standout products they might not have tried before.
Plus, people are now much savvier online shoppers who look for value when they buy. They seek quality products supported by honest reviews, which is why affiliates and influencers have become important.
The pandemic was an unforeseen challenge that many of us faced over the past few years, but it also provided us with new opportunities. Affiliate marketing was one of those opportunities that allowed many to make the most of this difficult time and continue making money despite the pandemic.
12) No Payroll
In my small business days, payroll was a heavy burden. There was more than one time when my employees got paid and I didn’t. But the pain of having employees didn’t stop at payroll.
There were legal and taxation issues and health insurance options to consider. It was a lot of work! With affiliate marketing, you don’t have to worry about this because you are the only employee if that’s how you choose it to be.
Some publishers scale their businesses by hiring writers, SEO experts, and other positions. But when you are just getting started, there is no payroll required. And if you are like me, you might get smart about strategic partnerships with other businesses and not have any employees.
You don’t have to worry about employee absenteeism, medical leave, or sick days. As an affiliate marketer with a small team of one, you can take the day off whenever you like without worrying about someone else’s payroll.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money without the hassle of employing other people and with minimal overhead costs. From my experience, it’s amazing to find financial success without worrying about payroll!
