My personal success was not guided by the super affiliates of the industry, nor the hype, or the 1001 ‘Get rich Quick’ ebooks promising millions. Instead, success in my eyes was meeting my first goal and then setting a new goal as I progressed.

I think one of the biggest problems is when people look to online marketing as a way to make quick cash.

What they fail to realize or understand is that there is actually no such thing as easy profits online. It all takes hard work and the slow building of one’s own skills and knowledge. I found that during this learning curve it was the setting of these personal goals that kept me excited and motivated and more importantly stoped me from giving up when I hit a brick wall (of which there were many).

So, back to my experience as a noob PPC Affiliate and my ‘$5 profit a day’ goal…

I remember the first day I made a profit, it was a whopping big total of $1.70! I was excited. It was an awesome feeling. So anyway I ran over to my girlfriend (now wife) with the exciting news. “I made $1.70 today while I wasn’t even at my computer!” She looks up, smiles, and says:
”Well today, when I was getting out of the car, I looked down, and there on the ground was a $2 coin (Yes, we have $2 coins in Australia) so I picked it up… So I’ve made more than you today and I did even less work for it!” And off she went back to doing what ever it was she was doing…

Was I annoyed? Hell no! But it put a fire under my belly. The realization that anyone could make an extra $2 a day via luck, chance, or a bit of labor got me thinking. So back to my original goal I went – I had to make $5 profit a day and do it every single day.

The key here is to celebrate your small successes, but never lose site of your final goal.

With in a few days I was easily making $5 a day profit and by the end of that week I was averaging $10 a day. This was a huge deal for me at the time. $10 a day was like $300 a month or ~$3,500 a year. Sweet!

So then my goals changed, next step I was going to pay for my daily coffee and my lunch and another $10 or so to spare, so I set my sights on $25 a day profit.

Bang! It took a little longer this time (on account of the fact that I was doing this part time) but one month later I was averaging $28 a day in profit!

It was at this point that my ambitions got in the way of sensibility and I made a lot of mistakes (learning from them though) and had a few months were a made nothing (made a loss) or made very little.

In hindsight I may well have benefited from joining a member forum or mentoring program like PPC Coach that could help point out mistakes before I made them and get me on track  but a) there weren’t as many options back then, and b) I actually enjoyed the learning process involved in figuring things out myself.

So, anyway, after my few months of dismal failure I sat back, reaffirmed my goals and vision, and got things back on track.

The next month I was back up ~$25 a day profit, and it was time to set my sights a bit higher. So I then decided to stop beating around the bush and aim high! The best goal of all, I decided at that time, would be able to completely pay the rent for my partner and I with the extra money earned from PPC affiliate marketing.

So I worked hard in the small amounts of time I had, and low and behold, I did it!

For two consecutive months I made enough extra money online to pay for coffee, lunches, and rent – I was over the moon!

Fast forward to now and the truth be told I don’t make as much money from Affiliate marketing as I once did – Still more than enough to pay for coffee! – But the reason is that my goals again changed…

It’s probably at this point you are all asking ‘If you can make money online as as PPC Affiliate, why didn’t you keep going?’ Good question. …Probably the key reason here is that while many people are looking to make money online so that they can replace their day job,  PPC Affiliate Marketing for me was,  and still is, an outlet and a training ground for me, a place to refine my skills and have a bit of fun.

Ultimately the lessons learned and the experience gained via PPC affiliate marketing have been invaluable to me and my development as an Online Marketer and will continue to provide value for me in the future.

So right now my focus and goals are relating to my job, my consulting, and my family (wife and new baby), and my aim at present is to grow and improve in each of these areas, and thankfully I’m hitting those milestone too.

PPC Affiliate marketing remains a training ground for me in my spare time as I truly believe that all PPC marketers can learn a thing or two from the competitive and cut-throat  Affiliate industry, but for now I’m just happy I earn enough from it to pay for my coffee!

So, what is the point of this story?… Don’t give up!

Set goals and milestones that are meaningful to you and work hard until you hit them. Listlessly roaming around and trying every technique under the sun without a clear vision or purpose will only doom you to failure. Enjoy yourself, celebrate success, learn from you’re your mistakes and all the while, be sure you are having some fun!