Have you been searching for a way to make money online but you’re afraid of being scammed or taken advantage of in the process?
Trust me, I know exactly how you must feel about now as I was walking in your shoes just 6 years ago and know first hand how frustrating this can be.
Ever since I graduated high school I knew there had to be a much better way to earn a living besides working for the man and helping someone else make their dreams come true.
Little did I know at the time that this would be much harder than I thought and I was in for quite the rude awakening as I embarked on this crazy journey.
Within the following post, I’ll be sharing the in depth and personal experience that I’ve had, the many scams that I threw my hard earned money away on, & how I was able to find a solid program that actually works.
If you wish to get to know me a little better before continuing to read any further, then feel free to check out my about me page where I go into much more detail on specific circumstances of my life.
Without further ado, I’ll be getting right into things and I’ll try and make this as short as possible for you guys so I don’t bore you to tears.
Alight?
Let’s get started, OK?
My Introduction To My First Scam
As I started to do my research on how to make money online I was presented with many different programs that had some pretty bold claims.
However, like most programs that overpromised and underdelivered, I found myself being sucked into my first scam.
While I can’t remember the exact name of the program, I do remember it was something commonly referred to as a link posting scam.
Many of you guys may know what I’m talking about as you may have fallen for this same scam yourself when you started your search to make money online.
Does any of this sound familiar?
How This Scam Worked
You are told that you’ll be applying to post links online and that you can earn up to 75 cents per link for each one that you post onto social media networks and popular online forums.
They then go on to show you the earning potential thats available and claim that you can earn up to $500 per day for working only an hour or two a day.
Sounds like your typical scam, doesn’t it?
Due to the fact that I was laid off at the time, I was searching for a way to earn some fast cash so I could pay my bills and put food on the table.
I was also pretty desperate and at the time I felt like I had nothing to lose so I spend the $49 to join as my curiosity got the best of me.
I was thinking that this would be where I would finally learn how to make some fash cash working a few hours posting links online.
However, I was in for quite a rude awakening as I made my way to the member’s area.
What did I find?
I’ll be disclosing this in the next section so make sure you stick around and continue reading as I’ll be showing you what I had really joined.
What I Had Really Joined
Once I entered my payment details and completed my order I was redirected to the member’s area where I would supposedly be provided with a library of links that would need to be posted.
However, to my surprise, it was nothing at all like this and to be quite honest, it was the complete opposite.
The member’s area consisted of about 5 to 10 PDF’s on a variety of generic and might I add pretty boring topics to say the least.
I would then need to advertise these digital PDF files on popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and hope I wouldn’t be labeled as a spammer.
I actually did list several of these PDF’s on eBay as a digital download and sold a few of them.
However, this wasn’t anywhere nearly recouping my initial $49 investment back.
If you would also factor in the eBay seller fees I had to pay along with other fees you could say that I was in the hole.
Needless to say, I closed my account shortly afterward and requested a refund!!
I never did hear back from them to this day and you would think this would discourage me but it actually motivated me to move on and continue my search.
My Second Encounter In My Online Journey
My second attempt at learning how to make money online wasn’t much better as I paid nearly the same amount that I did with the previous link posting scam that I just quit.
As I continued doing my research on different ways to make money online I saw an ad that was quite captivating so I clicked on it for more details.
What had I gotten myself into this time?
This was one of those Clickbank products that claim you can earn up to $300 to $500 per day to take surveys and get paid for your opinions.
I had never taken surveys online before so I had no prior knowledge about the earning potential with this so I was definitely intrigued and once again had my wallet out ready to hand over my credit card details.
Instead of paying $49 like I did before this system was being marketed for $39.
While this wasn’t as bad as the previous scam that I just got out of it was almost as expensive so I was hoping for the best.
What Was Awaiting Me In The Member’s Area This Time?
I do have to admit that I was quite skeptical as I made my way to the member’s area due to losing so much money with the last system I had joined a few months back.
However, I was pretty optimistic about this new program and was hoping it would be much better than before.
Once I finally got past all the upsells and other BS that they throw in your face after your order goes through, I made my way to the member’s area to see what I was about to get myself into.
Contrary to what I was told several times throughout the sales video, I was once again highly disappointed and felt like I was taken advantage of yet again.
Why?
They talked about some type of secret strategy that the owner of this CB product will be sharing with you that you have your inbox overflowing with survey invitations and notifications that you have just got paid.
To me, this sounded like there would be some type of training that would walk you through this and show you how to implement what you just learned and take action.
What about you guys?
What does this sound like to you?
Anyways, to my surprise, the member’s area looked like a ghost town as there were hardly any recent posts within the past 6 months.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, about the only thing else that was awaiting me was a directory of the supposedly highest paying survey panels out there in the online world.
- No training
- No help & support
- No fast cash for easy surveys
I actually did contact a few of these survey panels and heard back from them fairly quickly which at first I thought was a good sign.
However, I found it to be pretty challenging to qualify for a few of these higher paying surveys.
This is due to the fact that I failed to meet the criteria that they were looking for in a survey panelist.
I did qualify for a few of them but overall, I didn’t earn back even 1/4 of the $39.99 fee that I paid to gain access to this list.
Which I’m sure could have been accessed for free if I had done enough research and did a fair amount of digging and searching Google for answers.
On To The Next One
As you can probably imagine I was pretty fed up about this time and was starting to get discouraged that this whole make money online thing was just a fantasy that I’d made up in my head.
I had now been involved with 2 make money online systems and it felt like I was starting to dig my hole a little deeper each time I researched my next product or service within the online marketing industry.
A few months went by and I thought I would step back and give my wallet a break so that I had a chance to recoup my money and see what I could get into next.
What I found next is what I thought was my answer to finally making money from home as I got to talk to live people and there was a live support team there as well.
This was a breath of fresh air compared to the other systems I had invested my hard earned money into and this sounded like a winner.
To protect the company name, I won’t be revealing it within this post but I will go on to tell you what they specialize in and leave up to you to figure out from there.
This is an MLM company that specializes in selling discounted health plans that include dental, vision, hospital stays, and doctors visits.
I’m not exactly sure how I found this company, but it was shortly after I resumed my search for learning how to make money online.
What Was My Experience Like With This New Company?
This wasn’t first run in with an MLM company as I had joined Herbalife & SMC back in the early ’90s before the internet was even around.
However, back then they weren’t nearly as advanced as the MLM’s you see today.
At first, when I joined this company things actually seemed pretty promising and I had high hopes about this new company.
I would actively attend the live weekly training calls and practice my phone scripts so that I could start recruiting people into this company.
To be honest with you guys, I’m not really a fan of calling up strangers and reading off a script.
I’m even worst at trying to sell them a service that I know little to nothing about over the phone and this made me really uncomfortable.
I did manage to call 10 or 15 people but half of them didn’t answer so I left a voicemail for them to call me back (which none of them did)
The few that did answer, yelled and screamed at me and eventually hung up on me lol.
The remaining few that I did get through to told me Thanks, but No Thanks.
At this point, I had been with the company for a little over a month now and was getting a little irritated with them.
I decided that it’s about time I do some research on them to see if they’re legit and see what other peoples experience was like when they joined this company.
What I found after researching this company will blow your mind and I’ll be revealing the shocking details that I uncovered in the next section so I encourage you guys to continue reading.
What Did I Uncover About This New Company?
After doing a great deal of research on this company I uncovered some pretty shady details that the company doesn’t want you to know about.
I won’t go into much detail but let’s just say that there were some pretty shady dealing going on and my gut told me it was time to abandon this program before I regretted it.
As I continued to do more in-depth research I ran across someone who was also a previous member of this company.
After hearing his story about his experience with this company we both had something in common, we both didn’t care for calling strangers up and trying to sell them a service we knew little about.
He then recommended a company called Wealthy Affiliate as an alternative to this company.
He said if I was looking to end my search for learning how to earn a living online then this was it.
To be quite honest with you guys, I was quite intrigued by what he had to say but I, of course, had my reservations and was really skeptical due to my previous experience with other companies.
One of the things that stood out to me the most is the fact that he didn’t tell me I would earn my first thousand dollars overnight or that I would wake up a millionaire the next day.
What he did tell me tho is that if I was willing to put in the hard work and give this some time and a good amount of effort I could make as much money as I wanted too.
Sounds fair, doesn’t it?
This sounded 1000 times better than the other gurus that would tell me how easy it was and how I could be making money in my sleep.
It took me a whole month before I joined due to the fact that I was skeptical and had been burned so many times before.
How I Finally Started To Make Money Online
As you can probably imagine, I was pretty excited about joining WA especially since it wasn’t hyped up like the other programs I had joined in the past.
I started going through the training to see what this was all about and if it was something I could see myself doing or not.
While I’ve got to admit, I found this to be one of the hardest things that I’ve ever attempted in my whole life as this required me to learn a new skill.
Not only that, but it also required a great deal of time as well as a lot of hard work and effort.
I was always taught that anything in life that is worthwhile will come at a price.
My dad raised me up the right way from an early age he told me to never be afraid of hard work.
He then went on to say that this is the only way you’ll get ahead in life Scotty.
After about 4 months of putting in consistent work and spending anywhere from 10 to 12 hours daily working on this, I finally made my first sale.
It wasn’t much but hey this is all the proof that I needed that this system works, unlike the other systems that put me more in the hole than I was when I started.
If I could make 1 sale, what’s stopping me from making 10, 50, or even 100 sales?
That’s exactly the mindset I had and sure enough a few days later I got several more sales and pretty soon these sales started to snowball.
6 months later, I was earning $1,000 a month and I was finally able to grow this income to the point where I was earning a full time living online.
What Exactly Will You Learn At Wealthy Affiliate?
There are a variety of things that you can learn at WA but the business model they mainly teach is affiliate marketing.
However, there are hundreds of hours of training on just about anything under the sun thats related to internet marketing.
If I had to sum this up and put it into a few words it would be an all in one online training center that provides you with the training, tools, & help & support needed to build a business online.
What exactly will you be doing?
You’ll be learning how to build a website based on a hobby or interest of yours and learning how to turn this hobby into a REAL business in the online world.
The training walks you through this step by step and will take you from a newbie to becoming an authority within any given niche.
What I like about this the most is the fact that you don’t need any prior knowledge to do this as the training was actually designed for newbies.
When I discovered this program 6 years ago, I knew how to check my email, post on FB, and occasionally send an email to a few of my buddies.
Thats about it!!
The training is actually designed for newbies so no matter what your skill level is you can succeed with WA if you’re willing to put in the time and hard work.
On top of the amazing training and tools that you’ll receive once you become a member, you’ll also have complete access to the WA community where you can get instant help.
Not to mention the fact that you’ll also be able to contact the owners themselves (Kyle & Carson) and get one on one help directly from them.
When I first started out here 6 years ago, Kyle was one of the main people that helped me the most and got me headed in the right direction when I first started out in the online world.
The Proper Tools & Training You Need To Succeed
Like I said earlier, the training is step by step and broken down in a way that even a kindergartener could understand it.
No joke!!
If a dummy like me can figure this out and earn a living from it then I know you can as well.
All it takes is changing your mindset and thinking outside the box.
If you put your mind to it and work hard at this anything is possible and the sky is the limit.
As you can see the training here is broken down into 5 levels.
Each level contains 10 lessons which will walk you through everything from setting up your first website on the internet to becoming an online business owner.
What type of website do you want to build?
You’ll be able to decide what type of website you would like to build as there are 2 different types of training you can go through
This includes
- Niche certification training (OEC) pictured above
- Bootcamp super affiliate challenge(SAC) training
The 2 main differences here are that the training you see pictured above will show you how to build a niche website that utilizes a hobby or yours while the other shows you how to create an authority site.
Not to mention the fact that there is also training on SEO, PPC, YouTube marketing, as well as a plethora of other training modules waiting for you inside the member’s area.
How Much Will This Cost You To Get Started?
When I first joined back in 2012- 2013, I had to pay $47 up front and this was the main reason why I hesitated and was skeptical about joining as I had been burned many other times.
However, they now have a free starter membership which includes everything you need to get started and gives you the ability to kick the tires and test this out before investing your hard earned money into it.
The starter membership comes with everything you need to get started and this includes the following
- 2 Websites
- 10 starter lessons
- Premium help & support for the first 7 days
- Access to your own personal blog at WA
- 30 keyword searches with Jaaxy
To be quite honest with you guys today, the free starter membership offers more value than most of the paid programs I have signed up for in the past.
Where else can you get 2 websites, 10 free lessons, premium help and support as well as 30 keyword searches and access to your very own personal blog for FREE?
There is, of course, a premium membership that you can upgrade to once you go through the training and kick the tires to see if this would be something you could see yourself doing.
First, I would like you guys to at least try out the free membership for yourself before even thinking about pulling out your credit card.
Do we have a deal?
Need Some Personal Help & Support From Me To Get Started?
Ever since I found WA and started to make money with them I feel like I’m obligated to help other people do the same thing and share my knowledge with them.
Over the years, I have helped thousands of people find success online and there is nothing more I would love to do than help you do the same thing.
However, there are a few conditions you’ll have to meet before I agree to help you out
They are as follows
- You must be willing to think long term (WA Isn’t a get rich quick scheme)
- You need to be willing to work hard and put in a decent amount of time
- You need to promise me you won’t give up or quit after the first month
- You need to be teachable and be willing to learn a new skill
- You need to trust me and listen to what I tell you to do
- You need to take action on what you learn
Think you can manage these few things?
If so, then we have a deal and I really can’t wait to work with you guys and share my infinite knowledge with affiliate marketing and so much more once we link up at WA.
Anyways, I really hope that this post has inspired you guys and that you were able to relate to many of the things I experienced in my journey to make money online.
Got a question or is there something you don’t quite understand?
Let your voice be heard by leaving me your comments, questions, or any feedback you have for me in the comments section below.
Until next time
~Your Friend, Scott~