Normalize Asking For An Affiliate Code

Have you ever seen something created by another business that you love? You think, dang, why didn't I think of that?

You love the idea so much that you think I can make this same exact thing and make money off of it. You spend hours zooming in on the product, analyzing the makeup of it, or may even buy it for yourself to see it up close so that you can recreate it for yourself. That sounds exhausting beyond being unethical to directly knock off a product without any credit to the original ideator. But you don't want to leave money on the table. What if you could profit from someone else's work without doing any other than hitting reshare? You can do this through Affiliate Marketing.

Affiliate marketing allows you to earn a commission based on sales made through your product link or discount code. The more you share results, the higher likelihood of increased sales. Affiliate marketing is a desired program for two main reasons: passive income & respecting the creator.


Passive Income

On your journey to Turn Down The Hustle, it will only sometimes be possible for you to be in the office pressing shirts. Maybe you go on vacation, or you have a baby. If you aren't producing, money isn't flowing into the bank.

What if you could make money without flipping on the heat press switch?

Affiliate marketing allows you to make money without directly engaging with those who bring you in a referral sale. They may find an old post that you shared relevant to their needs. They may run across your blog on your website, which includes your affiliate link about the product that solves their problem. With affiliate marketing, you can often work once and reap the rewards repeatedly.
Imagine waking up to notifications you made $1-2, and nothing else is required of you.

That is passive income.


In seasons where making products isn't feasible or if you have a slow month, shift your focus on boosting up your affiliate marketing to replace some income or bring in extra income if you are saving for a trip or trying to pay off debt.

If you see a product you think is genius, before you zoom in to see how you could recreate it, visit that creator's website to seek out their affiliate program. The best affiliates are those who love the product they are sharing. You may make the best affiliate for that brand.

You can be part of the culture shift in the creative small business world.


Support the creator


As a creative entrepreneur, you pour your heart and soul into creating. There is a good chance your small business is always on your mind. You are dedicated to educating yourself on new software and learning, along with hours that span into months to create something new. You are proud of your work and are on cloud-nine until you see a few weeks later, someone has taken it and reproduced it to pass it off as their own.

It is not a good feeling and feels like a gut punch. No matter how many people say, don't worry about it. It still doesn't change the fact that you feel hurt. As creators, we are not emotionally detached from our products; we feel every high and every low.

Recreating products or sharing digital products is not a victimless crime. While the violation of terms of use may not be immediately known to the creator, it is stealing no matter what. For example, if someone broke into your house and stole a pair of shoes you didn't realize were missing, it is still stealing.


So What


I encourage you to normalize asking for an affiliate code before you think about all the ways you could knock off a product, both digital products and physical products.

Think about all the time you could save not trying to recreate someone else's work by referring others to the original creator, make money off your referrals and move on to the next project that aligns with your business vision.

*cha-ching* for minimal effort doesn't sound so bad to me.

To close, for those who support over recreate, you are seen and so appreciated!

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