I got started online in July 2008.
However I was not new to internet.
In fact I already got started surfing online in 2000 to look for jobs after getting fired from my last job.
I only came to know that you can make money online 8 years later besides just connecting and interacting with people online.
To be honest, I never wanted to be an internet marketer let alone entrepreneur. My real ambition was and is still to be an author.
After my science-fiction and fantasy novels got rejected by local book publishers in July 2008, I went online to look for ideas and that was how I stumbled upon the possibility of making money online by accident.
The very first program I joined was Email Processing.
It was by a lady called Debbie Teague.
According to that program, you got paid $25USD for every email you processed.
But it turns out to be the same as most MLM or Multi-Level Marketing programs I joined because according to that program, my job is to send out the same email I received to a safelist of people signing up to be interested in Work From Home and Home-Based Business programs.
If any of the people I sent that email pays $25 to join the program the same way I did, I got paid $15 and the Debbie got over-riding $10.
So in essence, there is nothing substantial of value but just recommending that program to get paid.
The second and third programs I joined are Work-From-Data-Entry. While the second is a scam that requires me to do the same as the first, the third one is what really makes me money.
This program is called My-Data-Team which teaches me about promoting other people’s products and services besides just promoting their program.
It is from that program I got to learn online marketplaces and affiliate networks like Amazon, Clickbank and Paydotcom.
Most importantly how I actually made money by placing ads both free and paid ones like classified advertising and Google Adwords.
I do make money.
NOT just my first dollar but my first $100 promoting 2 Clickbank programs called ATM Money Makers and 3 Hour Profits as well as the data-entry program I joined and registered through Paydotcom.
You can watch my Youtube video of how I made my first $100 here.
Eventually I scaled up to my first $1600 upon my attempts in Google Adwords.
Back then, I did not know or even hear of list building and email marketing. I did not even know what affiliate marketing is all about.
However two things happened which forced me to either give up my internet business and look for a real job or refined the way I approached and run my online business.
One is because of my dad’s deteriorating conditions physically and mentally.
He was into depression after losing money during Global Financial Crisis and was given 6 months to live upon being diagnosed with liver cancer late stage. Something which I do not like to talk much about since this is my family affair.
Two is because my Google Adwords account got slapped due to placing affiliate links.
When I first made my money online, I only KNEW how to place ads but I don’t know how to build a website.
And the ONLY way for me to survive let alone continue in this business is to learn how to build a website.
Last but not least, I needed a good coaching program to show me what it takes to build a real legitimate business online.
Not just sell for the sake of making money but to provide what people need and want and in the process improving their lives, getting them to like, trust and buy from me as well as recommending to their families and friends as well.
Long story short, even though I think I knew, the truth is I knew absolutely NOTHING about setting up my online business the right way.
However things changed when I met my compatriot and super affiliate Ewen Chia at the Internet Marketing seminar preview.
Although I got started marketing online in 2008, he is the one who showed me the way to internet marketing a year later.