I want to be clear that I love affiliate marketing. Love it. Do it. Teach it.
Was Clickbank platinum for four years running, so I'm very happy that affiliate marketing exists.
But my truth was this … I didn’t start doing well until I was a product owner.
Product owners, even if it's a low-cost product, are just seen differently by other people online.
Fellow product owners will want to do a joint venture with you where they very rarely will reach out to an affiliate to do a true joint venture.
If you're trying to build your audience it’s important to know that publishers, podcasters, and joint venture partners take product owners more seriously than they do affiliates, even super affiliates.
So why am I going on and on about owning your own product, especially a low-cost product?
Here are five reasons why.
First, you own the customer.
When you send traffic to someone else's offer, they collect the email and the money. You're renting attention, not building an asset.
Sell your own $17 or $27 product, and that buyer becomes yours. You can talk to them again next month and next year.
That's a paying customer list, and it's the most powerful list you can own.
Second, you control the money.
Affiliate commissions are set by someone else. They can change the rate or shut the program down while you sleep.
That actually happened to me. There was no way for me to pull back on the promotions I had already done, so that money just went straight into their pocket.
Not what I'd call a happy surprise.
When you own the product, you set the price. When the economy shifts, you adapt.
You can run a special offer this week and test a new price next month.
Nobody can nerf your income overnight.
Third, it's the same work.
Driving traffic to an affiliate offer and driving traffic to your own offer is the same process. Same ads. Same emails. Same work.
Except now you keep 100% of the profit. You control the ad copy and sales page. You decide what the offer looks like.
Fourth, a low front end builds a real business.
A $27 product is the doorway, not the destination. Once someone buys from you, they're far more likely to buy again. You build an ascension path that compounds over time.
Plus, you get respect in the marketplace. You can recruit your own affiliates and do joint ventures where you call the shots. Every sale builds brand equity that affiliate links never give you.
Fifth, AI removed the hard part.
Creating a product used to mean months of work. Not anymore. AI handles ideation, creation, and sales copy.
The product you avoided because it seemed too big? AI breaks it into steps and gets it done in hours, literally.
Affiliate marketing can be a fine income stream. But if you want a business you actually own, the choice is simple.
Sell your own product. Keep the customer. Control the money. Build the asset.
Want me to teach about this?
If enough people say yes I will set up a special training at no cost to you.
Thanks,
Charlie