Are affiliate marketing and drop-shipping bad as a start and/or in general?

[Hlelo]

I understand that money is not necessarily a prerequisite to starting a business in some cases, but let’s say in a situation we’re money is needed, Is it better to get a job, or to start a “side hustle” with drop shipping and affiliate marketing, because from what I have heard is basically in a nutshell: affiliate marketing and drop shipping is bad. And that’s basically my understanding of it, I’m not sure if I am misunderstanding. But what I do think I understand is that solely depending on drop shipping and affiliate marketing as a “main thing” is generally a bad idea since it does not follow the commandment of Control.

And so basically my question simplified: is affiliate marketing and/or drop shipping a bad idea as a whole, or is it a good idea as a start to get cash flow in order to also fund your idea and actual main business that your doing? Or is it better to just get a job and fund your idea from it until (I’m presuming) your business makes more money then your job? Or none of it is needed at all and you just find a way to sell something.

I’m not necessarily sure.. or maybe there’s a better way in which I’m not aware of.

 

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[realbillperry]

I understand that money is not necessarily a prerequisite to starting a business in some cases, but let’s say in a situation we’re money is needed, Is it better to get a job, or to start a “side hustle” with drop shipping and affiliate marketing, because from what I have heard is basically in a nutshell: affiliate marketing and drop shipping is bad. And that’s basically my understanding of it, I’m not sure if I am misunderstanding. But what I do think I understand is that solely depending on drop shipping and affiliate marketing as a “main thing” is generally a bad idea since it does not follow the commandment of Control.

And so basically my question simplified: is affiliate marketing and/or drop shipping a bad idea as a whole, or is it a good idea as a start to get cash flow in order to also fund your idea and actual main business that your doing? Or is it better to just get a job and fund your idea from it until (I’m presuming) your business makes more money then your job? Or none of it is needed at all and you just find a way to sell something.

I’m not necessarily sure.. or maybe there’s a better way in which I’m not aware of.

I guess the way I see it (which I'm sure may change over time) is affiliate marketing is marginally better than having a job. Not that have a job is bad as long as it's more than just a paycheck.

Affiliate marketing is deriving your income from someone else's coffers. Like a day job, the ability isn't there you to control it enough.

If it's a "just for now" thing to bring in some easy money until you've got enough to start building your own empire, then I'm all for it. I'm definitely not in my day job because I like hearing people complain how unfair my company's policies are

So yeah, I'd say as long as you aren't looking to have affiliate marketing as your only/primary source, use it until you don't need it anymore.

 

[Hlelo]

I guess the way I see it (which I'm sure may change over time) is affiliate marketing is marginally better than having a job. Not that have a job is bad as long as it's more than just a paycheck.

Affiliate marketing is deriving your income from someone else's coffers. Like a day job, the ability isn't there you to control it enough.

If it's a "just for now" thing to bring in some easy money until you've got enough to start building your own empire, then I'm all for it. I'm definitely not in my day job because I like hearing people complain how unfair my company's policies are

So yeah, I'd say as long as you aren't looking to have affiliate marketing as your only/primary source, use it until you don't need it anymore.

Okay, in that Case, Would it be a bad idea to join an affiliate program of a competitor of my main business? let’s say I found a need/problem in the market and in that problem, I know what the solution is (a product). And so let’s say I would need to join an affiliate program as a side hustle and not as a main thing to basically get some cash to also fund my idea, rather then getting a job. And so since I have already found a need/problem in the market, would it be a bad idea to still sell that solution BUT Through an affiliate program of one of my competitors? Or is that a bad idea?

 

[realbillperry]

Okay, in that Case, Would it be a bad idea to join an affiliate program of a competitor of my main business? let’s say I found a need/problem in the market and in that problem, I know what the solution is (a product). And so let’s say I would need to join an affiliate program as a side hustle and not as a main thing to basically get some cash to also fund my idea, rather then getting a job. And so since I have already found a need/problem in the market, would it be a bad idea to still sell that solution BUT Through an affiliate program of one of my competitors? Or is that a bad idea?

You definitely could build out an asset to promote that product to start. Once you have your own product ready to go, you could just switch out those parts of your funnel to promote your own stuff instead of theirs.

Or branch it and split test. Tweak your offering until it gets where it's surpassing the income you make from the first one.

 

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[Devilery]

I'll just be real if you don't have any sales or marketing background, you won't get affiliate marketing or dropshipping to work. They're not bad, they are just business models, but sure there are factors.

Selling aliexpress shit on a free Shopify theme - bad.

Negotiating a custom arrangement with a solar panel manufacturer and getting them customers - not exactly dropshipping but - very good.

Affiliate marketing has the same challenge, you just don't have the skills and they take a while to develop. If you want to get paid next month - get a job. If you're fine with not getting paid for 6 months, and you'll maybe start getting paid a few hundred which could double every month (or not), go for it.

I'd say - get a job that leaves you free time and energy and try to start either of those in your free time. You'll be able to pay the bills while also learning the skills needed to succeed in entrepreneurship.

 

[Hlelo]

thanks for the replies, I also just needed to ask another thing. I have been running ads on google ads to basically validate a product idea that I have as a solution to a problem in the market. I’m not sure if I’m going about it the right way and I also just want to here how you guys validate your ideas in the market to see if what your doing is really needed in the market and to know you are investing your time and money into something that is actually wanted. So let me explain what I have been doing:

My solution to the problem I have identified is an electronic widget, (basically like an adapter) and so I created a website using mock-ups of the idea before it actually exists and also created CPC ads using google ads as I’ve mentioned. The objective was to collect clicks and emails in which the conversion action is basically page loading a thank you page after a user submits an email subscription form to a newsletter I have created in which they are redirected to. (That’s how I would know a conversion happened). I put a max budget per day of $10 for my ad and each click costed around $1-2.

I ran this ad for about 10 days and these are the results I have gotten:

・Conversions - 0 (the conversions happens when a user page loads a thank you page after sending an email form sign up)
・Clicks - 43
・Impressions - 653
・CTR - 6.58%
・Cost - $63.91

This data is from the CPC ad I was running in google ads, and it is the “all time” data time frame.. what do you think? If anyone can give me advice in anyway.. that would be awesome

 

[Kevin88660]

I understand that money is not necessarily a prerequisite to starting a business in some cases, but let’s say in a situation we’re money is needed, Is it better to get a job, or to start a “side hustle” with drop shipping and affiliate marketing, because from what I have heard is basically in a nutshell: affiliate marketing and drop shipping is bad. And that’s basically my understanding of it, I’m not sure if I am misunderstanding. But what I do think I understand is that solely depending on drop shipping and affiliate marketing as a “main thing” is generally a bad idea since it does not follow the commandment of Control.

And so basically my question simplified: is affiliate marketing and/or drop shipping a bad idea as a whole, or is it a good idea as a start to get cash flow in order to also fund your idea and actual main business that your doing? Or is it better to just get a job and fund your idea from it until (I’m presuming) your business makes more money then your job? Or none of it is needed at all and you just find a way to sell something.

I’m not necessarily sure.. or maybe there’s a better way in which I’m not aware of.

Research for an industry you find promising.

Find a job in the sector.

Quit and start your own business when you are ready (financially and skill wise).

 

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