Throughout the ups and downs of the disease, the internet has been my salvation – allowing me to get support from other sufferers and eventually allowing me to extend a helping hand too.
The beautiful silver lining of this horrible disease is the wonderful friendships that are forged through the shared experience of Lyme. Some people are still able to work with their disease, but I have been forced by circumstance to find ways to earn money on the internet.
The best method for people who either can’t work full time or don’t want to is through affiliate sales. Simply put, companies pay affiliate commissions on their products.
For me, I never recommend a product that I have not tried or been given very high recommendations, and I try to find the best values to pass on which makes it a win/win situation.
Cultivate Focus
Before I share my recommendations on affiliate programs, I want to tell you about a system I have used to get organized, focused and inspired to accomplish more than I did when I was healthy! It is based on Napoleon Hill’s “Think & Grow Rich and is called:
The Law of Success by Gary Varnum
Set Realistic Goals
First, be realistic about your expectations. You are sick, and it takes a lot of hard work to make money even when you are in the best of health.
If you focus on quality and honesty, you will succeed eventually. For me, the most important thing is quality information, but for some it might be a genuine passion for a particular product or hobby.
Believe in Yourself
What skills do you have?
Just because you are sick doesn’t mean you can’t work from home albeit more carefully and slower. But the benefits are enormous! Some positive activity in your life at a time when you feel SO SICK!.
There are many opportunities to manage projects from home at your own speed. There is a website called ELANCE that allows you to bid on projects – both price and time – giving you flexibility to earn money without the usual pressures.
Some of the categories are:
* design and multi-media
* web and programming
* writing and translation
* sales and marketing
* finance and mgt.
* legal
* engineering
…just to name a few. If you are honest about your condition and requirements you may be surprised at just how many people are willing to hire you!
Also, you can make money taking surveys online. The highest ranking program according to Clickbank is Surveys Paid.
A choice that is less stress and lower paying but well within the ability of most Lymies is Amazon Mechanical Turk, where you are paid to visit sites and review, digg or stumble upon the hiring website. Visit Amazon Mechanical Turk here, and click on “Make Money” to sign up.
Now if you are really ambitious, perhaps you would be interested in building an internet business using affiliate sales. The following three training systems are excellent crash courses to learning how to use affiliate programs to make money from home.
Don’t even check them out unless you are willing to take the time to do the work. Making money doesn’t happen magically. But it doesn’t have to be hard – you just need to work smart!
To begin with, check out the following:
Blog Mastermind – If you are interested in blog format;
Commission Domination – If you are interested in a traditional website internet marketing, or
Google Sniper – If you are really ambitious.
When you have your blog or website complete, and you are ready to start driving traffic, Web 2.0 is the best way to generate traffic. The place to go for a complete and simple software program:
Don’t waste money like I did on stacks of books and training on google adwords and adsense. Instead use the free tools that Google offers (if you have the budget to buy traffic.) But be careful! Many waste thousands of dollars in a matter of weeks.
Take the time to learn all about it at Google BEFORE you start any ad campaigns. They are the best resource, FREE, and always up to date.
If you can’t afford to buy traffic, then just focus on building organic traffic by writing high quality blog posts, articles and/or comments in forums and elsewhere about your topic.
And have fun!
