You see people posting $10k, $30k, $50k months in this space. You assume they’re just really good at promoting other people’s courses. Or lucky. Maybe both.
I started paying closer attention. Not just to their screenshots, because those are easy to fake, but to what they were actually selling. What they started with. How long they’ve been doing this. And who they’re really talking to. That’s where the pattern shows.
The pattern
Do this with me for a second.
Look at the people who seem to have real receipts. Actual proof. The ones who look like the real deal.
Check:
- Are they promoting ONLY affiliate offers?
- Do they also have their own product?
- When did they start posting?
Some are pure affiliates, and they’re doing well promoting one or two courses.
But most of them? They started maybe twelve, eighteen months ago.
Back when the space wasn’t as crowded. Back when people hadn’t seen the same “financial freedom” pitch 1479 times.
Timing mattered then. It still matters now.
The space looked different in 2023-2024:
- Fewer affiliates
- Less skepticism
- Beginner courses felt fresh
- People actually clicked on links without side-eyeing you first
Today? Saturated as hell. Everyone’s seen the pitch. People scroll past you before you even finish your hook.
You need a sharper edge just to get noticed.
I’m not saying you can’t win as an affiliate right now. Heck, I wouldn’t be one if I believed that. But the game changed, yet most people are still playing by old rules.
Bad move.
The two paths
Path 1: Stay affiliate-focused
You promote other people’s courses. Build an audience. Make commissions.
Some people crush it here, for sure. I’ve seen it happen.
But here’s the reality check.
Your income is tied to other people’s launch schedules.
You’re competing with hundreds of others promoting the same thing.
One course dies and your income takes a hit.
Zero control.
But if you’re good at messaging and pick the right offers, you can make loads of money.
It’s just… a grind.
And there’s a ceiling.
Path 2: Affiliate → Your own thing
Start as an affiliate. Learn the ropes. Make some money. Build authority.
Then validate and create your own product.
You can still promote affiliate offers as additional resources or upsells, but now you control the front door.
Building authority doesn’t have to lock you into one niche forever.
I promote a messaging course. Does that mean I’ll teach copy forever?
No. I’m not even a trained copywriter. (And yes, I can almost hear the professionals who do this for a living day in and day out rightfully rolling their eyes. That’s fine with me.)
Because it’s teaching me things that go beyond one course.
- What people actually struggle with (not what I think they struggle with)
- How to build an audience that trusts you
- How to refine real marketing skills (not just “post 3x a day” bullshit)
Where that leads? I don’t know yet. Maybe still messaging. Maybe something else entirely.
You’re not committing to a niche for life. You’re learning skills and building an audience.
That’s the point.
Selling to other affiliates (why it’s not as stupid as it sounds)
Okay, I know.
So many people say “don’t sell to other marketers” or “stop fishing in the same pond.”
Yeah, it’s crowded. A red ocean. And most people sound… exactly the same.
If I see one more “game changer” caption, I might throw my phone.
Buuuut, there’s a big fat but:
The space keeps growing. New people discover this business model every single day.
Some quit after a week or two. Some stick around.
And the ones who stay and are determined to make it work?
They hit walls at times.
Three months in, still zero sales.
DMs go nowhere. Followers won’t convert. Reels get views but nobody buys.
When they hit those walls, they need help.
Not another “how to start” course, they already bought that. They need something that fixes the specific problem they’re stuck on.
This is where selling to peers works.
You can’t sell them beginner courses. Everyone already has those.
But a course on messaging, on selling through stories, on finally getting people to buy instead of just nodding along? That sells.
Because it solves a problem they’re feeling right now.
The catch is that you have to sound different.
If your content is just “Stop leaving money on the table!” or “This strategy changed everything!”, you’re white noise.
Nobody’s listening.
You need to talk about the specific, annoying, 2am-can’t-sleep problems people actually deal with.
Like this:
You know when someone asks for your link, you send it, and then they just… vanish?
Not even a “no thanks.” Just silence.
And you sit there wondering if you said something wrong or if they’re just ghosting you like everyone else this week.
That gets attention.
Because it’s specific. It’s real. And they’ve lived it.
Generic doesn’t cut it anymore. If it ever did.
Selling to beginners (the dream that’s harder than it looks)
Selling to people outside the space sounds perfect, right?
Moms. 9-to-5ers. Students. People who aren’t jaded yet.
Bigger market, less competition. And they’re genuinely excited about the idea of making money online.
A dream, right?
Well…
It’s way harder when you’re new.
I saw someone in a community say this:
“It’s harder to generate trust with non-digital marketers when you’re a new account with no credibility, no transformation, no proof.”
They’re right.
When you’re three weeks in, you don’t have a before-and-after story or income proofs.
So when a beginner lands on your page, they see someone who looks… exactly like them.
And beginners rarely buy from other beginners.
They usually want someone who figured it out. Someone who can show them it actually works.
That’s how so many people end up with mixed audiences.
They want to attract moms and 9-to-5ers (bigger market, less saturated), but they keep attracting other affiliates instead.
And they try to talk to both.
Financial freedom one day. Hook frameworks the next.
Now they’re speaking to no one clearly.
Confused messaging. Confused audience. Zero sales.
If you want to sell to beginners, you need a longer runway.
More trust-building and more education. They don’t always know what “digital info-products” even are, let alone hooks, CTAs, or funnels. So your content has to educate gently.
Form? Free trainings. Email sequences. Beginner-friendly copy that clears confusion instead of adding more.
Relying only on reel captions or stories that just paint the pretty picture of the big dream isn’t going to cut it.
Why’d you say that, Anna, when so many preach against educational content?
Yes, yes, over-educating can kill conversions; but most beginners are in survival mode.
They’re not thinking about “financial freedom” or “moving to Bali”. They’re thinking about whether they can afford organic blueberries or an Uber tomorrow, and how to get some extra cash to cover rising living costs.
Your messaging has to meet them there.
Small wins. Relief. Not huge transformations.
And you need to address their fears before they even voice them:
- “Is this a scam?”
- “Will my husband think I’m stupid?”
- “What if I fail again?”
If your messaging doesn’t create safety, they won’t buy.
No matter how good your funnel looks.
Or you focus on peers instead.
They already get the business model, and they move faster. They just need help with specific problems.
Both paths work; they’re just different games with different timelines.
Pick one. Don’t try to do both at once when you’re starting out.
The elephant in the room
Okay, let’s talk about what everyone avoids like the plague.
Some people think affiliate marketing is a scam. Or at least… scammy.
And from the outside? I get it.
What *real marketers* see when they look at this space:
Everyone promoting the same courses to each other.
“Financial freedom” promises plastered everywhere.
Income screenshots that may or may not be real.
Kitchen-sink link-in-bios with 19 different courses.
The same copy-paste captions over and over.
People who bought a course last week now “teaching” others.
It looks like a scam scheme wearing a #girlboss aesthetic while smelling fishy AF.
And yeah, some of it is, I’m not going to sugar-coat this.
I’ve been inside the communities. I’ve seen the posts:
“I spent $2,670 on a ‘mentor’ who promised to help me, then disappeared.”
“Every time I ask for help, three people DM me trying to sell me their course.”
“I’m drowning. I’ve bought five courses in three months. I’m more broke now than when I started.”
That’s the dark side most people don’t talk about.
Because it mostly happens inside the communities, behind the scenes, where people speak up more freely.
From the outside, everything looks shiny. Everyone’s winning. $7k+ months.
Inside?
Some people are genuinely struggling. Desperate.
And getting picked off by others who see them as easy marks.
It’s heartbreaking to see, because most of them just wanted a chance to make it work. And that’s the part people outside the space rarely understand — the majority aren’t out to scam anyone, but when cash-grabbing meets zero ethics, lines start to blur.
Here’s where things go south, when people start:
DMing people who are clearly struggling just to pitch them your thing. Promoting courses they’ve never taken (or worse, ones they think are garbage but want to recoup their loss).
Making unrealistic promises (“Quit your job in 60 days!”). Using fake urgency (“Last chance!” when it’s clearly not). Lying about your results and posting fake screenshots.
What’s normal and not scammy at all:
Having a few offers in your store (people need options, just not 15 of them).
Promoting courses you actually believe in and took yourself.
Building a business while you’re still figuring it out.
The difference is intent.
Are you trying to make feel-good money while helping people, or are you just cash-grabbing by any means?
You know which one you are.
I know which one I am too.
What actually moves the needle
I read something recently:
To make your vision a reality, you need to master three things:
- Marketing skills (attracting people)
- Sales approach (converting them)
- Identity (who you are in this space)
Messaging touches all three.
It’s not everything, for sure. You still need to understand your audience, refine your strategy, systems, and funnels.
But messaging is what makes everything else work.
Why?
You can have the best course, a gorgeous feed with daily posts, and a sparkling freebie.
But if your words don’t land, none of it matters.
Messaging is how you show up differently.
It’s how you make someone stop mid-scroll and think, “wait, she actually gets it.”
It’s how you address objections before they even voice them.
It’s how you build trust when you don’t have 10k followers or a six-figure screenshot.
Whether you’re building your own product or staying affiliate-only, selling to beginners or peers, three weeks or two years in — your words are the thing you can fully control.
Everything else? Variables you can’t really predict.
Your messaging? That’s on you.
So what do you do?
Look around. Pay attention to who’s actually winning, not just who’s posting questionable income screenshots.
Most of them have their own products. Not all, but most.
Pick your path.
Stay affiliate-focused? Fine. Just know the ceiling and the grind.
Build towards your own thing? Start positioning yourself now.
Choose your audience strategically.
Beginners?
Way bigger market. Longer trust-building process. Your messaging has to create massive safety.
Peers?
Smaller pond. Harder to stand out. But if you solve specific problems and don’t sound like everyone else, it works wonders.
Master your messaging either way.
It’s the only non-negotiable.
Not because “messaging is everything” (it’s not).
But because it’s the thing that makes people stop and pay attention to you instead of the 147 other people saying the same thing.
And in a space this noisy?
That’s everything.
Take the quiz below to find out if your messaging is making you invisible or if you’re actually standing out.
Quiz: Is Your Content Training Your Audience to Ignore You?