I Lost $9,000 in Affiliate Commissions. Here's What It Taught Me.

Nine thousand dollars. Think about that. I lost nine thousand dollars in affiliate commissions for from one program and it taught me something that wis I'd understood years earlier. Finding an opportunity really just taught me that I'd wished I had to understand years earlier. But finding opportunity isn't the same as building a business, and sometimes We even when we believe that we're doing the right thing, you can discover the rules, the rules of business you're building, and they're they become very different from what you understood. So today I'm gonna tell you what happened, what I learned, why I created above and beyond affiliate marketing, and why I believe every entrepreneur deserve something more than another promise of making money online.

Because the just the truth is The lessons that cost us the most become the very lessons that change the direction of our lives. My friends, welcome to Above and Beyond Affiliate Marketing. I, as you know, am your host Jason Ryland, and today we are gonna do something a little different. We're actually we're going to review some of our latest stuff that we've been using, but we're not reviewing latest artificial intelligence tool. I'm not profo promoting anything or another affiliate offer. I'm certainly not promise you that you're gonna become wealthy overnight by clicking a few buttons.

But today I want to take you behind the microphone a bit. So I kinda wanna share some of my journey as well. we're gonna go over some successes. We're gonna go over some of my failures. We're gonna go over some of the I would say disappointments and then we can discuss some of the lessons that we've learned throughout that. And I'm trying to be gonna be i it should be ex exciting along the way, but I've been doing this more than fifteen years, you guys, and I've been doing online businesses and I've been in the online business world for such a long time and I d decided to create this podcast and do things differently.

Because there's something that I believe this with all of my heart, the greatest business opportunity isn't always the one that promises you the most money. Sometimes it's the experiences that teach you how to make better decisions for the rest of your life. And if you've ever been overwhelmed, discouraged, confused, or disappointed while you're trying to build an online business, my friend, you're not alone and this episode is for you. The dream that starts it all Okay now let's let's begin with a simple question, okay? why do people some people get interested in affiliate marketing business in the first place? Think about that for a second.

Just a second, right? Don't I I really just I don't believe most people just wake up in the morning thinking, Hey, you know you know it wouldn't make life great? Affiliate marketing. What would make my life wonderful? Managing affiliate links, right? No, none of us, right?

We're but we are looking for something more. I mean regardless. Maybe you're looking for side hustle, maybe some financial breathing room. Maybe you're just tired of the mu money that you're making at your job or worrying about an an another unexpected bill and you need a little bit more cash. Maybe you're a mother or a father who wants more time with your kids. Maybe you're approaching retirement and wondering what am I gonna do after this?

And I didn't save enough money in my life and I wanna I need something. Or some some it maybe it's just simply someone with a dream, right? A dream of building something that you can call your own, something meaningful, right? We talk about that in our podcast. Something that gives you a sense of accomplishment. Perhaps something that you can leave behind for the people that you love.

I totally understand those dreams 'cause I I've had those dreams too. I'm I still have More than fifteen years I've worked in and explored the different areas of online business. And the wonderful part of it all is that I've I've had e many e commerce businesses. I I've done drop shipping. I have done the affiliate marketing, one thing that we're gonna be talking about today. And within all these other things of building websites, you know, WordPress sites, all these things.

Now they got AI trying to do it all, researching products. and the hype and the trending and developing marketing campaigns, all these things, you start learning these different platforms and you start learning there's all these different softwares out there. And you discover how technology and artificial intelligence can help us become more productive, creative and efficient. I've experienced success. I've a also experienced a a ton of failure and I've made decisions I'm extremely proud of. And I've also made some decisions that weren't so you know, weren't so great.

But I've invested my own time, I've invested my own money, I've invested my own energy into these opportunities. That didn't turn out the way I expected. Okay? I've also had these moments of extreme excitement. I've had these moments of supreme confidence, if you know what I mean. I mean I just like you're just like, Mm, I'm gonna get it.

And I've also had those moments that I sat there wondering What am I missing? What am I doing? Why isn't it working? Why is this thing that I believe in so much? Feels like I'm doing something wrong. you know, you you sort of go, I don't get it.

And per perhaps the hardest question of all should I even be keeping on trying and and doing this? Why am I still doing this? I wonder how many of you listening right now have asked those same questions yourselves. And those very same questions. You've also invested your time and your money and your energy and your hopes and sometimes even your confidence into something and it didn't work and then you're just sitting there going, but I followed this guy online and he said it was gonna go the way I if I just followed the plan, right? And then it can hurt.

You're just like, I was hoping on this stuff and Then sometimes the most expensive part of business, disappointment, really isn't the money that you lose. I mean, honestly, it's the time you can't recover, right? We can't ever get that back. You know, we can always make another dollar or two, but we can't get time back. And the confidence the confidence takes a big hit, then it's the fear that maybe you weren't s meant to succeed, right? Maybe here's something that you want.

Other people don't understand that you want it, but you understand what you want, and then it's like this disappointing result happens, but it really doesn't mean your journey has to be over either. Okay? Sometimes it just needs to stop, right? We knew need to examine what's going on and beginning to ask better questions. And That brings me to one of the biggest lessons of my entrepreneurial journey. finding an opportunity and b building a businesses are two very different things.

Okay. An opportunity might open the door, right? Where there's many opportunity we see it all the time, but like YouTube is like full of it. But an opportunity does not build a foundation underneath your feet. Okay, and without that foundation, even the most promising idea that they have out there can become a costly disappointment. What really happened, I'm I'm gonna tell you about I I had to think like this was like many years ago, maybe ten years ago or so, early Facebook years, I was promoting ABC Mouse dot com and this is really personal, but s some of you I actually follow me on the podcast series, on the Troll series.

remember me talking about my experience with the ABC Mouse affiliate program. But that experience really in involved approximately nine thousand dollars in commissions that I never received. Nine thousand dollars. Think about that right now. That's what you could do with that right now in your pocket. But here's part of the story that I really want you to understand.

At the time, I wasn't promoting something that I didn't know about. I knew about it. I was actually using that program, ABC Mouse, with my son Nicholas. It was a great program. Still is, still is a really good program. But I knew the product from my own experience.

I thought, man, this is great. And I started checking it out. They had an affiliate program. I understand why parents might be interested in it. And when People on Facebook had questions about it 'cause I built this Facebook page around it. I answered some of the questions.

Not not because I was trying to represent ABC Mouse, obviously, but because I was I was trying to because I had the experience already with the product, I generally wanted to be helpful and people would send me comments and DM me and stuff like that. But then Someone who needed official assistance, I gave them the support email for ABC Mouse and it seemed like well obviously that's the responsible thing to do. I mean th I'm not on that side of it, but I was just trying to share my experience and pointing to people and toward other proper support and things and different channels. But here's the thing that really became complicated, okay? There had been a change that was involving in Facebook at the time and Facebook policies and I understood the situation about the ABC Mouse affiliate program, but it interpreted some of my interactions with the customers that I had on Facebook, though I that I was kind of representing myself as ABC Mouse dot com and that was obviously never my intention. I just believed I was just being helpful.

And the program viewed those interactions differently. And I ultimately did not receive approximately $9,000 in commission. Think about that. They shut down the page. Everything was gone. Everything that I built, put my heart in, the time, the money, the ad spend, the the work.

The effort that went into promoting this product I actually believed in. And the disappointment of discovering that something I thought was helpful had interpreted as a problem. Now, I wanna be very clear, okay? I wanna make sure that I'm not telling you this story to attack ABC Most dot com. It's still a really great program for the kids to learn and grow. It absolutely is.

I haven't been part of my son's now, you know, sixteen and driving, so but I'm not asking you to take sides, okay? I'm sharing my understanding of what happened to me and more importantly, what the experience taught me because there's something extreme really important. Extremely important that that every affiliate marketer really needs to understand. My intentions and a company's interpretation of its affiliate rules are not necessarily the same thing. Okay. Let's say that again, class.

Okay. Good intentions do not automatically mean you're complying. within affiliate programs requirements. Okay. Learned that the hard way. Okay.

You can generally believe you're helping somebody. I do. I d I do it with you guys all the time. I'm generally I'm I'm wanting to help you guys. But you can have a personal experience with something or even with a product or even something that I'm showing you guys. But you can even direct customers to a company's official support channels.

But there may be restrictions governing how the affiliate communicates with customers or uses the brand's identity or interacts on social media. And if that affiliate program believes your conduct violates its policies, the consequences are substantial. Now looking back, there are things I would approach differently. obviously, I would make it unmistakenly clear that I was not trying to be the company, that I was an independent affiliate and I'm not an employee or representative of the company. You know, we have those now today called disclaimers. I would avoid answering questions that belong to the company's official customer service department.

I would refer any questions directly to the company's approved support channels and I would carefully review the rules governing social media interactions, their branding and customer communications. I would also keep records of the affiliate agreement. I'm not even kidding. They are so important because updates happen all the time. YouTube even just had one recently and it might affect any promotional activities that you're having or may be having. Okay?

And here's something that I want every entrepreneur listening to remember. You don't just need to understand the product that you're promoting. You need to understand the agreement that gives you permission to promote it. And those changes, well, they can also change, right? Social media platforms can change their policies. Facebook just did it, now Meta One.

Now if you have a business thing, And you have to have two link policies unless you buy into their Meta One program. Okay? Affiliate programs can update their requirements and what worked yesterday might need to be reconsidered tomorrow, right? How do I work around this? And here's another important lesson here. When you see a number on an affiliate dashboard, that number is not necessarily the same thing as money deposited into your bank account.

Okay. Commissions may still be subjected to approval. Okay. There may be payment conditions. There may be reversal there reversals. Check that out.

Or adjustments. They never tell you. People don't even talk about that. We are. And there may be a compliance requirement that you have to look at that may affect whether that commission even becomes payable. Okay, that's why we need to understand those terms before investing in those resources.

I can't go back and change what happened. I can't recover every hour I've ever invested, and I can't undo any disappointments or things that have had happen, right? But I can decide what to do with what I've learned. Okay? I can share that experience with you guys. We and we can do it together.

I can encourage other people and ask better questions and together we can maybe develop something more and maybe someone listening today will avoid a costly misunderstanding because they decided to investigate an opportunity before jumping in. Okay. Good intentions are not substitute for understanding the rules of the business that you're building. Okay? And that lesson reaches way far beyond nine thousand dollars. Okay.

The truth about online business, a lot of it is so much hype and I I get tired of hearing it a lot. And I w let me let me ask you guys something and please comment below if you can. How many times have you seen an advertisement promising to build an online business for you automatically? Hmm. So many, right? Maybe maybe it's an AI system with a ton of those right now.

Maybe it's a website builder. Click a button. It's up and running. Okay, maybe maybe it's the source that you need to be doing. Or maybe it's a course that you need to be taking. Maybe it's an affiliate marketing platform.

Maybe it's some incredible new opportunity that promises to do everything for you. You just sit back and just watch the money come in. Okay. Those advertisements can they just look amazing. Okay? The videos are so polished, they look so good, and they have people talking about it and the testimonials that they have.

This they sound so inviting and exciting and you're just like, I want that and sometimes that message makes that success seem almost effortless. But here's where I want us to be very careful, okay? A tool is not a business. Okay? Let me say that again. A tool is not a business.

I keep hit my microphone. I'm so excited about this subject. A website isn't automatically a business simply because it exists online. An affiliate link isn't automatically an income stream because someone gave it to you. Okay? We need to talk about these things.

And an AI generated advertisement isn't automatically a successful marketing strategy just because it looks professional. I've done I do it with my Ryland Beauty products line sometimes. Now don't misunderstand me. Okay? They're great products. I love technology.

I I've been corporated AI from the get go. I I mean before it was even big on hype right now. I use artificial intelligence in my work daily. I love it with my calendars, I love it with my stuff. I believe AI can be incredible to do research and planning and content creation and productivity. But technology doesn't replace judgment.

Okay? It doesn't replace integrity. It doesn't replace your responsibility to understand what you're doing. Okay, it it's certainly doesn't guarantee that customers will buy what you're selling, okay? Or what even what you're offering. Okay?

The I don't care if it's an AI stick man. It's a real business needs more. Guys, we're trying to build something here. It needs an audience, a credible one at that. It needs people with genuine problems that you are hopefully want to solve, right? It needs a product or service that provides value.

Right? It needs a way To reach those people. We need a financial plan. Okay? People cringe at that. They're like, I don't know money and stuff like that.

But you need to understand those things and you need trust. Right? That's s amazingly important. People people believe that all the time. And it needs someone who understands the risk. Now okay.

Let me give you guys an example, okay. Suppose you discover an an affiliate product that pays you a hundred dollars per sale. Okay, hypothetically. That sounds exciting, doesn't it? I'm just like I do it in a hot minute, I'd figure it out, I'll try to do whatever I can. But now now you have to spend three hundred dollars advertising it, but then all of a sudden nobody buys anything.

Now what if the audience you're targeting isn't even interested, right? What if the product actually doesn't solve the problem you thought it solved? Or if the affiliate terms don't permit the marketing method you're using. Ever think about that one? A lot of people don't. Suddenly that $100 commission tells only a small part of the story.

You have to understand the entire picture here. You have to understand your complete audience. You you really have to understand the product that you're going through and what it's going to cost you. And you kinda ha you definitely go through the terms. I you'll hear me say that in many other episodes too. 'Cause we also have to understand what we're looking at and w what the conversions are, right?

We and the long term value of what you're building. 'Cause you cannot evaluate a business opportunity using the commission amount alone. You just you just can't. And I believe that's where so much online business education needs to improve. I really do because there's so much stuff out there we just we need to stop asking only how much something could make and start asking. What would it actually take for me to make this work?

Okay. Why that's exactly why you even created above and beyond affiliate marketing podcast 'cause we need to go just above and beyond affiliate market. Why so so why so why do I create this? Okay? 'Cause there came a point when I started thinking about the education I wish I'd received. when I was getting started.

You know, I non not another promise. I went through many programs. I'm a graduate of so many I and I just and not another but what we're we're doing is not n other another promise. We're just we're not gonna give you another shortcut. Not another person showing me impressive income screenshots without explaining the work, expenses, the risk behind those numbers. I wanted something different.

I wanted someone to sit down and explain the process. I wanted someone to show me how to investigate an opportunity. Help me understand my audience. Okay, I w I need somebody to teach me what to look out for and to look at those affiliate terms. Explain how these campaigns are measured, right? And tell me the truth when something wasn't working.

Right? And then I began to ask myself Hmm. Why can I help create that kind of learning experience myself? And why couldn't I share what I know? Investigate what I don't know. Right?

W an and invite people, you, you right there, invite you guys in and to learn alongside with me 'cause when the mission behind the above and beyond the field marketing started beginning to take shape, right? I didn't wanna just create a podcast where I pretend to have every answer because I definitely don't. I I am still learning and I'm learning as things are always they're always continuing to gonna change, so you always gotta keep on top of things. But I'm still building, I'm still out there, I'm still experiencing. I'm a graduate of Tony Robbins, I'm a graduate of of John Cristani, I am a graduate of Russell Brunson, Dean Graziosi, Robert Kiyosaki. I'm believe it or not, I'm a graduate of all those programs.

Yep. And I've I'm making I'm and I just I I I guess that's kind of my passion for learning too. I I love learning. I I always I'm always trying to follow and learn and try and but I'm I also do it in my deep faith as well, you know, 'cause that's why we're also doing the Thomas Troard series. we're actually just three episodes away from finalizing that complete series, but I wanted to have this video to tell you a little bit about what I still encounter. And I still encounter situations where I have to stop research and rethink my approach.

'Cause I believe there's real value in that process. There's value in saying, Here's what I investigated. Here's what I discovered. Here's here's what I still need to verify. Okay. There's and what about this question?

Here's what I would do differently next time. Right? We we say that a lot as affiliate marketers, and dropship e commerce what almost every business guy out there. That's why what we're gonna definitely do different next time. Because that's how we learn. That's how we grow.

I I didn't wanna create another podcast that simply pointed people toward products. I wanted to help people become knowledgeable, confident business owners who could make decisions for themselves. Not just followers of another guru. I am so tired of that. I see it we well, you know what I'm talking about. We don't need to get there.

Because I don't want I don't want people dependent on somebody else's next big launch. I just don't. I want real entrepreneurs, people building businesses, people that are that are what we call business builders, right? Real people trying to make money online. You. You right there trying to make money online.

Real people that understand what they're doing. Okay? And most importantly, and I can't I can't say this enough. Why are you doing it to begin with? Okay. You have to understand that with that why.

And you can go I I I created something that combined practical business education with mindset, personal development, responsibility, and faith. Cause I've come to believe that the person you're becoming is just as as important as the business you're building. Okay? There's There's one sentence that really describes the direction that I want this podcast to take, and this video series to take. I I don't wanna sell you a shortcut. Ever.

You'll never I'll never have a shortcut. I wanna show you how to build the road. Right? We're gonna we're gonna go from one end to the next end. And more importantly I want you to understand that road well enough to begin to make your own decisions because my goal isn't to make you dependent on me or my show or this video or another podcast. They're they're always gonna be there for you to be helpful when you need it or need look back on it from now on again, right?

But my goal is to help you become more knowledgeable. Okay? I want you guys to be more confident. and more capable of building something more meaningful for yourself. That's why all this is existing right now. And where we're going, man, I I I can't explain, you know, we're actually our show right now, I wanna let you know, is been involved in the iHeart Radio Top host and we actually made the top twenty in the top host.

You can look it up. Jason Maryland, R E I L E N D, it's right there. you can look us up and above and beyond Field Marketing is actually the top twenty on iHeartRadio's top host competition and if you want to vote for free you can. But I'm gonna show you, my friends, something. And I'm gonna share something that just really genuinely excites me besides what I just told you about. We're taking above and beyond affiliate marketing to another level.

We're moving beyond simply taking and opportunities and just talking about We're going to investigate them. You and me. Okay? We're gonna we're we're gonna open up websites. We're gonna boom. They're gonna be right here.

We're gonna experience the offers, right? We're gonna examine them. We're gonna research the products. We're I'm gonna w we're gonna walk through it. Okay? And then we're gonna go down and then we're gonna review a term and we're gonna explore what it actually takes to build that affiliate marketing campaign.

Alright? I'm talking about real world breakdowns. Okay. The the kind where I can Sit down at my computer, share what I'm investigating, and explain every important step so you can follow along. Okay? And for those listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or iHeartRadio, I'm gonna make sure you understand what we're looking at, even when you can't see you know this video screen that I'm making right now.

Because I'm not gonna assume that Everyone watching or listening already understands affiliate marketing, business building, e commerce, drop shipping, etc. We're gonna start with some fundamentals, okay? We're going to break it down, we're gonna gonna go and then we're gonna build it from there. Okay? We're gonna we're gonna look at who created the product, right? Why?

Who's its intended customer? And and there's many other s problems to discuss about that. And what does the product claim to solve? Difference. Okay? What evidence supports those claims?

Okay? What's the price? What's the affiliate terms? Okay. We talked about that previously in my experience. Can we examine this product, you and I ourselves?

Can we get that product ourselves and examine it? And would we feel comfortable recommending it to someone we generally care about? Right? If you're not gonna use it, why would I sell it to somebody else? And then if the opportunity deserves further consideration We're gonna explore how to develop a real campaign. We're gonna build it for real.

And and we'll research the audience that we're getting from that. We'll identify the problems they're they're trying to solve, right? We'll examine la the landing pages. Okay. We'll we're gonna explore content creation. We're gonna discuss email marketing.

Okay, we're we're gonna continue and we might even talk about using AI responsibly, all right? And we'll look at the cost and tracking and results. And we're gonna do this absolutely as free as we organically possibly can. But what I really want you to understand we're not just gonna show you a polished final product. Okay? We're gonna show you a business process.

Right? We're gonna show you a foundation. We're gonna be talking about the planning that build you building it around, right? We're gonna be talking about the research. What we're gonna be going through, the decisions. y you may think it's painstakingly.

You're d if you want a shortcut, you're in the wrong spot, buddy. Because we're gonna make mistakes. And the biggest mistake you can make is a shortcut. and you need to have a course correction right there. 'Cause the lesson we're gonna learn some lessons along the way, you and I. without a doubt.

And and if something doesn't work, we're we're not going to invest our time, money and energy to go through it and talk about it. We're gonna dump it. We're gonna be like, We're we're gonna We can even vote on it too if you want to, but we're not gonna pretend it worked. Okay? We're not gonna pretend to manufacture results. We're gonna make sure we're gonna tell you the every affiliate out there it whether it's worth offering or promoting, we'll discover opportunities that deserve maybe further investigation.

sometimes will build carefully planned campaigns and sometimes well We're gonna dump the whole thing. We're gonna say, Alright, we gone this far. Not look good, we gotta go, we gotta switch gears. We can do it on the fly though, guys. I'm telling you, we can do it on the fly because learning when not to promote something can be absolutely just as valuable as learning how to promote it. Okay?

Our approach is simple. I just made it maybe sound complicated, but it's really our the approach will be simple. we'll show it, we'll explain it, we'll do it together, I will write out the mindsets and stuff. You can go to above and be the above and beyond podcast dot com where we have some things you can work with now. But I want you to finish in episode thinking Now what to look for? Okay.

Now I understand why that matters. And now that I have that, I have something useful I can do as well. And that kind of education, I want this podcast to provide, right? Five questions I'm telling you. Five questions every affiliate marketer should ask. Now, before we go any further, I want you to give you something that might be practical that you can use today.

Okay, so The next time you find an affiliate marketing program or opportunity that really looks exciting because you see it all the time on YouTube, I want you to ask yourself five questions. And if you're driving, obviously, don't write these down until you pull over. Just go back and listen. But you can always come back and redo it again and just say, What were those again? Okay. Question number one.

Okay, we gotta get through this. Who is this product actually for? You may think you know, but you do your research. Because it's not gonna be for everybody. Not for everybody. A specific person with a specific problem or need, you're going to need to find that out.

Because if you don't understand who the customer is, it's gonna be super difficult to explain why that customer should care about the product in the first place. Okay. Question number two. Right? What evidence do I have that this product actually does what it's claiming to do? Okay?

We see a ton of that right now. Don't rely on something that just because it's a very exciting sales video. Some of are very entertaining and funny. But don't rely and don't even rely on those testimonials because Even the fine print can say paid testimonial. If you look at the bottom, like the bottom part, paid testimonial. Look for information you can evaluate.

Really ask good questions here. And whenever possible, examine the product yourself if you can. I'll show ya how I'll show ya how that works later. We'll talk about that later. But question number three. We'll get through this.

Do I understand this affiliate agreement? Okay, 'cause you need you're gonna wanna know h first of all, how the commissions are earned, right? How are they even tracked, right? When are they approved? You're gonna need to know that, and and when are they paid, right? Here's an important one.

What promotional methods are permitted? Okay? Am I allowed to answer customer questions? I put that in in everything now, I think. but what are the rules about using the company's name, logo, identity? What circumstances could affect a payment?

Right? Cause remember my nine thousand dollar experience the d these details extremely matter okay and question number four I'm gonna tell you you you're gonna need to know what it actually costs to promote an opportunity. You know, maybe it's advertising, maybe it's software, maybe well let me think. Well, obviously website, you know, landing page, something that you're gonna be need to be able to promote this product or producing a video for this product or other content. And maybe it's simply the time, right, that you're gonna be investing into this. doing this.

Because whatever those costs may be, understanding them before committing is super important. And number five, what I feel comfortable recommending this product is somebody I genuinely care about. if I if I say no, when we don't need to go any further, okay? You have to think about that for a moment. Because why would you rec lend something to a close friend or family member when you won't use it yourself? Could you so could you explain why that might be useful?

Right? Could you explain its limitations just as clearly as its benefits? extremely boy people don't tell you these things. Would you feel comfortable standing behind your recommendation? And I I'm telling you, if the answer is no, maybe you need to do more research. Okay?

Or maybe you just need to say, I that fifth one, no, I gotta walk away from this one because these five questions aren't going to guarantee success. Okay? Nobody can honestly guarantee that. Nobody can no matter how ridiculous the what they say, they just can't guarantee it. Because it's you that has to actually do the work. But I can help you make decisions with greater understanding and responsibility.

And if you remember nothing else from this section, remember this. Don't let the excitement make the decision. Let that be your research that you should be doing and making to make that decision because faith, integrity, and responsibility should be like on top of your list. Because there's another part of my journey that means a tremendous amount to me and that's my faith. You see, for me, business has never been only about dollars and cents. It's also been the kind of person I am and who I'm always becoming, right?

The way I treat people with love and compassion, the promises that I make, the I take that as a huge responsibility and I take responsibility for every decision that I make, good or bad, the values I choose to live by When things become difficult. Now in Matthew chapter seven, Jesus tells the story of two builders. I said this story before. But one builds his house upon the rock, you might know this story. The other builds upon the sand. And when the storm came, both houses were tested.

The difference wasn't whether they experienced the storms. The difference was the foundation that they built upon. Am I getting through to anybody out there? My friends, I I think about that passage often because the businesses has storms. Okay? Affiliate marketers have storms.

Digital e commerce, whatever you're gonna have storms too. alg algorithms, my goodness, they change. I Facebook with that meta one thing, you know, YouTube just did a thing. Products disappear. Markets shift all the time. I mean I'm on I'm I'm like this watch dog out there.

I see see the market, right? Campaigns I had one recently fail. and sometimes you work incredibly hard Without seeing the results that you expected. If your entire identity is tied into whether you made a sale today, every disappointment can feel like a crisis. I don't want you there, right? I want to build a foundation that includes knowledge, discipline, integrity, responsibility, and the willingness to keep learning.

Stick with me here, guys. You have something to return to. You can examine what happened. We'll look at it together. We'll d we're we're gonna talk about these things. So you can adjust.

So you can rebuild. We can do this even on the fly. You can keep moving forward without saying, now I'm stuck. I I never want you guys to be stuck. And for me personally, my faith in God is central to that foundation. Let me right now, I'm a Christian, talk about God a lot.

If that offends anybody out there, I am I don't I'm not even gonna say I'm sorry because my faith is my faith. And for me personally, that's the one reason our hidden power series means so much to me. We explore timeless principles and have we ask how they apply to our lives, our mindset and the businesses that we're building. Cause I don't just want to help someone earn a commission. I want to help people develop the knowledge, the judgment, and the character to build something meaningful and sustainable. Now I understand not everyone listens here, shares my faith.

That's okay. You don't I don't you don't have to be there, but you're welcome here. Alright? My faith is just part of my story. But I I'll speak about it openly. Just so we're clear.

But my commitment to treating people with dignity, telling the truth, and helping others, I want you to learn. And it isn't just reserved for people who believe in exactly what I believe either. Okay? If you're willing to learn, if you're willing to ask questions, and you're willing to build with integrity, Here you are. Here's the place that you've come. You're welcome to be part of this community.

And my promise to you is I want to speak directly to you. Someone out there is listening out there right now or watching this video right now. Maybe you're just beginning this journey 'cause people have told you about what's going on out there and you need you want to start some entrepreneurial journey. Maybe you've already invested money in something. Maybe you're already in a course. I don't know.

Maybe you have some tools or other opportunities that really just didn't deliver what you expected. And maybe we can research those too. Maybe you've experienced a business failure and we can talk about that and the pitfalls. Maybe right now you're looking at me and going, I'm super discouraged right now and you're wondering whether you've made too many mistakes to even do it again. Right? But I want you to hear something.

A disappointing result doesn't automatically mean you have nothing left to learn. Okay. A mistake doesn't have to end your story, right? But you can examine what happened. We can figure it out. You can if you can accept responsibility for the decisions that you've made, you can learn from those experiences.

You can make a more inform decision next time. Okay? Because I still do it today. We're still learning. Even the that's why why do you think even the the Tony Robbins of they are coming out with something next and something next and something 'cause they learned something new and they're learning something to do. And I'm not standing behind this microphone as someone who's mastered every part of online business either.

I'm here as someone who understands that experience means very little unless you're willing and your your willingness to be there, to be in it, to learn from it, right? And my promise to you is that I'll keep sharing that process. I'll investigate the opportunities, I'll ask the difficult questions, I'll separate evidence from speculation. Okay? And I'll tell you when something is a hypothesis rather than a proven result. As I'll explain the risks alongside the opportunities and we'll get there together even when I make a mistake.

Cause I'll do my best to be honest about them. Cause I would rather help one person out there make a thoughtful decision than convince a thousand people to chase something that they don't. Okay? If don't understand it, I it doesn't help you. Okay? I'd rather build a smaller community founded on trust than a huge audience built on promises that I can't keep.

Okay? That is the above and beyond affiliate marketing promise. Okay? Not perfect. This isn't perfection. This is what Definitely not overnight success, definitely not a push button deal.

There's no guarantees in anything that we're gonna jump into coming up here. but we do have a commitment to keep learning, right? To keep investigating in these things. Okay, to keep improving, right? Something everything's always changing, especially technology. Man, sometimes hard to keep up with.

I'm telling you. I'm telling you the truth. I'm trying to get I got I got I got all the AIs running all the time sometimes. I'm thinking I'm just in I'm inventing something else and marketing and building bots and everything else. But I'm trying to build something real, just like you guys are, right? So here's my inventation.

Okay. If you've ever dreamed about starting an online business but didn't know where to begin, and I almost hate that line 'cause I've heard it before, but not in a superficial way, but but if you've ever really just been overwhelmed by just all the software, all the courses, all the advertisements, all the promises, you're just exhausted. And if you experience the disappointment like I have while trying to make money online, maybe you've already started building a business and simply want to become better at what you do, I really want you to be here. I want you to join us, be part of this community, subscribe, like, do all those wonderful things, comment, 'cause we're gonna be building things on the site as well, on the Above and Beyond Affiliate Marketing website. Please listen to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, wherever else you get your podcast from. We're i actually in eight countries, if you didn't know that.

We're actually global. We're pretty real worldwide. And if you enjoy watching real world business demonstrations, just join us. Come come to our video episodes on YouTube, and explore the tools, build the strategies. We'll have we'll have all for you. I mean we'll all the stuff we're gonna examine, all the results, you can print out, take out, download put Google Docs, whatever you need to do.

Not n because not every idea is gonna succeed, but we might need to go back to our notes and go, Okay, where did we go wrong? What happened? 'Cause every honest investigation gives us another opportunity to learn, right? And I'm gonna hear from you guys. I really do. So what's what's one lesson you've learned from an online business opportunity?

I'm curious to know that. Cause that one question you wished somebody had answered that question for you before you ever even started Wouldn't you like to know that or are part of an affiliate marketing deal you would like to investigate right now? Let me know. Let's do it together. We'll we'll all get online and we'll do it. 'Cause if you're watching this on YouTube, you need to tell me in the comments, you know, what you want to investigate and stuff like that, 'cause we'll line up.

We'll put out. We'll even show who's up next and and if you're listening to this on your on the podcast and things, connect with us through the official website at the above and beyond podcast dot com. And again, that's The the above and beyond podcast dot com. We had to put the above before that because of a issue. But you know, links or branding goes. But 'cause I don't want this podcast just to be a microphone broadcasting information, okay?

I want I want us to be together. I do want a community, but I want a community where there's people willing to learn. and think independently where they and then support one another because you won't need me. Maybe you guys can connect and say, hey, let's talk about this. Da da da da da and when we're asking questions, we get encouraged. We can encourage each other.

It's like we're building that mastermind, right? And you don't have to pay more for it. It's we're gonna make this a free environment. Because we're not gonna be afraid to acknowledge that there's still more to learn. Okay, 'cause your story is still being written. If you don't know that, you will know.

And you know, when I look back, over fifteen years of exploring online businesses, the excitement, the experiences, all the successes, all all the failures I always have to laugh at that 'cause you're just like, my goodness. The and And the opportunities I pursued and the lessons I never expected to learn. Okay, I I realize something. I can't go back and change every decision I've made. I can't recover every hour I invested. I can't even guarantee that Tomorrow what this will bring.

Okay? But I can close on what I do and what I've learned. Right? We can always do that. I always choose to keep learning. And I always choose to serve.

Right? I can choose to share lessons that might help somebody else. And I can choose to build something that stands for more than a next commission. Okay. When I think about That nine thousand thousand dollar experience. I say that a lot.

It was one of my highest but but not the highest. We'll talk about that. But it 'cause I've gained more since then, but I don't want hit that again. I don't want the only thing that comes from it to be disappointment. I want it to be become like a reminder, right? A reminder to read the agreements.

Gonna review some things, we're gonna ask better questions. we're gonna understand these risks. I I I wanna stay informed with you guys with policies and changes and to respect the boundaries of an affiliate relationship between you and them and and your potential person you're trying to help solve their solution. And remember that building a real business requires More than just your enthusiasm too. Every it requires a foundation. You need to build something.

if you're listening today because you've experienced the a disappointment of your own or something like that. Maybe it wasn't nine thousand dollars, but maybe it was a business idea that never worked out for you. Right? Maybe just maybe it's a campaign that failed that you had your hopes on. Maybe it is a time that you wished god I wish I wish I got that back. Spent so much time working on that.

Whatever it was. Whatever whatever it was that you were going through, I hope you'll remember this. Your journey doesn't necessarily have to end where your disappointment began. Okay, there may be another lesson to learn. Just maybe. And there might be another question to ask you.

Right? Another approach worth considering that we need to talk about. Maybe another opportunity to build from that more carefully. Okay? Things happen. I've I've built things out of other things because of other opportunities that have popped up.

But we don't have to know everything today, okay? But you can take the next responsible step, okay? And perhaps the experience you thought was holding you back. can become part of the wisdom that helps you move forward. And that's that's why I built the show. That's what above and beyond field marketing means to me.

And it's more than a podcast. But we gotta have the website, the pac podcast and stuff like that to get this out there for you guys 'cause we made a commitment. I made a commitment to myself. That's why we're in my office right now and I'm doing this video. 'Cause I I have a commitment to education that t for you guys 'cause I wanna do this with the utmost integrity, with my faith, right? And I'm wanna be responsible to action and to helping people develop the foundation they need to pursue their own dreams.

my gosh, I want. I d I want all you guys to be so successful. I can just feel it in my heart. I got my eyes closed right now. I'm just trying to connect with you. 'cause I w I want your dreams to be just be pursue successful and okay.

I gotta end this. We're over an hour, but before I want we leave I want to tell you something exciting. We're actually going to go through munch eye. I don't know if you guys heard about it. But we're gonna talk about everything that was leading up to this into our next chapter. And we're gonna pursue the lessons, the action, what we're gonna be looking for, and we're getting ready to explore this in Munjaye and the world of upcoming affiliate product launches.

Haha. You know, because if you're unfamiliar with Munjaye, it's a website where marketers can discover information about products preparing to launch and opportunities that may be available for affiliate promotion. And I want to understand something. Okay. We're gonna open that website and immediately start telling you which offers to buy or promote. Okay?

We're we're not doing that. Okay, we're not just no. No way. Yeah. We're gonna go and do something way more valuable. You're gonna love it.

You're gonna love it. 'Cause I I know you we're gonna investigate, okay? We're gonna take an opportunity that looks interesting and begin asking the questions every responsible affiliate marketer should be asking, right? You know, we're gonna have to get out on no notebooks, aren't we? We're gonna have to go why? You know, or or maybe have a notation or something going on, but you're gonna have to ask the why, why the product exists, what's going on, why does someone even need it?

Why should we believe these claims, right? And why might this opportunity deserve our attention? They need us. Right? And and you know, we might even want to talk about who. Like who even created this?

Why they why they created it? You know? What was their target market idea? You know, who was the customer they're trying to reach, right? Who really benefits from this? That's cra somebody like will blow your mind right there.

Cause who is responsible for delivering the product and supporting the people who purchase it? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's not just about selling something. Okay? And then we're gonna have to talk about the what?

What are we actually promoting? Like the actual like what does it do? Wha what is what's going on here? Why are we thinking about the cost of these things. Why are we needing we're gonna definitely go over some commission terms. that's evident, but we're this the evidence that more evidence that we can find out of that is gonna be what takes building a responsible marketing came a ki campaign.

around it is successful. And then comes my favorite question of all. Should we even be doing it? Think about that for a second. Just because an affiliate offer looks really good and exists doesn't mean we should promote it. Maybe that blew some minds out there, but just because the commission looks attractive doesn't mean it's the right opportunity.

I'll guarantee it. Cause just because somebody tells you a product is gonna be the next big thing doesn't mean that we should actually believe it. Okay, we're gonna look beyond the excitement. We're gonna build long term success, not short term pocket money. We're building legacies here, we're gonna examine the facts, we're gonna identify for what we know and what we don't know, and what we still need to verify. Okay, 'cause sometimes my friends, the smartest decision we'll make is to say no.

This this one isn't for us. That's a lesson worth learning too, right? Now now here's here's what makes this ex what makes this exciting, okay. I I want you to follow along here. Okay. Whether you're an experienced affiliate marketer or someone who's never promoted a product in your life, I want you to be a part of this process.

We're gonna show you what we're looking at. Okay? We're gonna explain why it matters. We're going to give you practical steps. You can use real life use. while you're researching, right?

And make these opportunities for yourself. Okay. If you're listening to the audio part of the podcast, don't worry. We'll explain the important details so you can understand the investigation without having to stare at a screen. Okay? So we're gonna make sure we balance that.

So my friends, we're not just learning how to find others. We're learning how to decide whether an offer or other offer deserves our time, our money, our reputation. 'Cause your reputation's on the line too. If you don't know that, you should. And we're we're gonna s that's kind of the munch eye head start thing that we're gonna be doing next and that's where we're heading. So make sure you sub subscribe, please, and hit that notification because when we start doing this thing, I need you to be here.

So cause we're we're gonna stop chasing every opportunity that comes along. Okay. We're gonna start learning how to recognize the ones worth investigating and we want you to be here. Okay, so my friends, thank you for spending so much time with me today. It's way over usually my show is about thirty, forty minutes long and we're well over that. But thank you for spending this time with me.

I greatly appreciate it. And being and allowing me to share a personal part of my entrepreneurial journey as well. Thank you for believing that business education can be about something greater than chasing the next big commission. I do appreciate that. I want to I want you to remember one thing. You don't need to know everything to begin.

Okay? But you do need to be willing to learn. Alright? You you need to ask questions. I I w you ask and many of please. Comment, ask, please.

Because we want you to understand your responsibility too. Okay? You need to build a foundation strong enough to support what. the opportunities that you're building and what you're choosing to pursue. Okay? I'm telling you guys, the truth is everything exists on the other side of fear.

You hear me say that on the podcast all the time. And together I we're just we're just gonna keep learning. We're gonna keep growing. We're gonna keep investigating. We're gonna keep on Building and building and building and you guys might have four things fourteen things going on building websites and stuff like that. We're just but we're just gonna keep going.

Because that's above and beyond. It's exactly what we're gonna do. Who says you can't have fourteen offers in one shot? And we can all investigate it. Hey guys, I'm I'm out. I'm Jason Ryland.

Thank you for listening. And God bless you guys for being here. I do appreciate every moment that you have. And always, always remember, don't just chase the opportunity. Build the foundation that can support it. And I'll see you in our next episode.

This is gonna be so much fun.