How to Make Your First $1 as an Affiliate Marketer, with Ileane Smith

Would you like to earn your first $1 as an affiliate marketer?

Thanks to Riverside.fm for sponsoring this episode. This is my "go-to" tool for recording and editing video and audio podcast interviews. Try it out with a 15% discount using the code MyTogBlog.  Check it out here.  (Note: This is an affiliate link, which means I would earn a commission if you purchase using this link.)

In this episode, I talk with Ileane Smith, who has worked with major brands, gained acceptance into the Amazon Influencer Program, increased her YouTube channel to over 12K subscribers, and accumulated over 15K followers on the X App - and did it all while being a part-time content creator.

We discuss the differences between the Amazon Influencer program and the Amazon Associate program, the comparative benefits of the influencer and associates programs, and the various tools and platforms that content creators can use to monetize their channels.

We also unveil a new marketing strategy that can help small channels create their first affiliate revenue stream.

Other topics include balancing a full-time job with an influencer career, the pros and cons of affiliate marketing versus creating digital products, and some of our favorite social media platforms and features.

Realistically, affiliate marketing probably won't result in "retirement money" unless you can consistently scale your lead generation out to the 50-100K+ views territory. However, even with a small channel or social media profile, you can start generating income via Amazon and other affiliate channels. This can help offset the costs of your content creation hobby, side hustle, or business. And if you can then add some sponsorships to that, you can also get free stuff from brands and increase revenue a bit more.  With some consistent effort, that, I think, is within reach. 

Episode Links
Please note that some of the links shared here are affiliate links. That means if you purchase through these links, I or my guest will receive a commission.

If you'd like to learn more about Ileane's content and offers, see her
YouTube Channel and Amazon storefront.

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We can also keep in touch via my Newsletter, where I share insider information and offers (e.g., how to sign up for Benable with my invite link).

Thanks for listening! Do you have a comment or question about a topic or episode? I'd love to hear that. Feel free to contact me via the X App or the Contact Us page. We can also stay connected via my Newsletter, where I share insider information and offers. Also, check out the store link on my website for resources and merch for content creators.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:07 Differences Between Amazon Influencer and Associate Programs
• 14:06 The Benable Affiliate Marketing Platform
• 17:36 Other Channels of Compliant Affiliate Marketing
• 24:37 Affiliate Sales Versus Creating Your Own Digital Products
• 32:07 Building the YouTube Channel via Social Media
• 37:33 Favourite Social Media Platforms
• 43:49 Work-Life Balance with a Full-Time Job
• 48:58 The Value of the YouTube Community Tab
• 50:52 How to Connect With Ileane Smith
• 52:53 Conclusion and Call to Action

Transcript

[00:00:00] Tim: Hey everyone, my name's Tim, we're back for season three in a big way, and this episode is brought to you by our sponsor, Riverside FM. 

[00:00:06] Have you ever considered adding live streaming to your content mix? If not, I think it's something worth looking into, because I've tried it a few times myself, and I've been happy with the results. 

[00:00:15] Because it offers a great way to create authentic content using different formats with no editing required and connect with your audience in real time. 

[00:00:23] And the cool thing is Riverside has made streaming even easier to do and leverage more effectively with some of the tools they've added. For example, you can stream right from your browser with no need for downloads or installations of any kind and stream to multiple social media feeds simultaneously all within the Riverside Studio. Not only that, it also lets you manage the chats from every platform in one integrated interface. 

[00:00:46] And then after the live is completed, you'll have your own copy of the full stream you can edit and distribute as short form video clips. Check out the link in my description and use the code mytogblog for a 15 percent discount.

[00:00:58] And now, on to the show.

[00:00:59] 

[00:01:04] Tim: Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to get started when it comes to monetizing your audience as a content creator. If you're already creating content for an audience, then all you need to do is make some references to the products in the video, add some links to the description. And if people click on and make purchases through those links, you get paid.

[00:01:24] Sounds good, right? Especially when you consider that some creators have scaled this to a major source of income. But just because it's easy to get started with affiliate marketing doesn't mean that it's easy to do well. I mean, if you don't have the right marketing strategy and affiliate partnerships, it's going to be next to impossible to hit any kind of meaningful sales numbers.

[00:01:45] That's why in today's episode, I was so glad to have the opportunity to speak with Ileane Smith. Ileane is part of the official Amazon Influencer Program, in addition to working with many other major brands in an affiliate marketing capacity. She's built a YouTube channel with more than 12, 000 subscribers, and she's got more than 15, 000 followers on the X app. And she's done this all while being a part time content creator with a full time job outside of her content creation career. 

[00:02:13] And in this episode, we're going to talk about what the Amazon Influencer Program is, and how you can scale towards becoming part of that, as well as to make money through other types of affiliate programs.

[00:02:24] And there's one here that was new to me, which I think you're going to like, because it seems like a solid opportunity. And it's accessible right now to people who are in the know. We're also going to talk about other ways to grow and monetize your audience and how to manage it all, whether you're doing this full-time or part-time.

[00:02:38] So, without further ado, then let's get into it.

[00:02:43] Hello, Ileane. Welcome to the show. 

[00:02:45] Ileane: Hey, thank you so much for having me. I am really looking forward to our conversation. 

[00:02:51] Tim: Yeah. It's great to have you. I've been following you on the X app for a while and then found out about your YouTube channel and that you're into the Amazon influencer program. So I thought it'd be really interesting to talk with you.

[00:03:04] Ileane: Yeah. Great, let's get started. 

[00:03:07] Tim: Okay, well, maybe we can start just by helping us understand what is the Amazon Influencer Program and how it differs from the Amazon Associate Program. 

[00:03:17] Ileane: Yeah. And so we are in such an incredible time as content creators, where, you know, the influencers and influencer marketing -- and I know people don't like that word influencer, it doesn't matter -- the bottom line is that they are willing to give you, even though it's a small piece, a piece of that pie. 

[00:03:39] So when I first, let me just give you a little history of when I first got into the program and I started off as an associate. In fact, when I started. And I wrote it down in 2012. 

[00:03:54] Tim: Okay. 

[00:03:55] Ileane: They only had the associates program. So the associates program is a program where you can generate links and it's kind of like any kind of affiliate program. Generate links and you're able to post those links on your socials or, you know, wherever you have the following. That's the associates program. 

[00:04:14] The influencer program, which brings back to your actual question, which I joined in 2021, I saw a video, one of my online mentors, Darryl Eaves, he did a video and said, they opened up the influencer program.

[00:04:32] And what's really exciting about the influencer program is that you get to have your own storefront. So you get a unique URL for people to go to to shop and that's where you can put all of your recommendations and you're able to create. What they call shopable videos as well as shoppable photos. And a lot of people just use photos, they don't even use videos. You're able to live stream and you're also able to create ideas lists. So that's way where you can put together a collection of here's all my kitchen stuff. Here's all my fashion stuff, you know, all the books that I read and things like that. And so. The influencer program is an extension.

[00:05:23] Now, with all that said, there are some people that have kind of like skipped over the Associates program, right? To influencer, right. But let, let me just say that here's the difference: with the Associates program the idea, from Amazon, is for you to bring people over to their site, and they refer to that as offsite. You make more money.

[00:05:49] The other, the influencer, you have that storefront and you can bring people to your storefront. But also, when you make these shoppable videos, you can show up on the product pages. So that way, there's a shopper who's looking for a product and they'll see your video, and your video may answer a question they have about the product or it may just be something about that video that convinces them.

[00:06:14] Okay. I want it. I want that item. And so you make us a lower commission, but you have more opportunities because you're not just promoting to your audience, you have access to all the shoppers that come on to the platform. 

[00:06:33] Tim: That's amazing. Yeah, I could see how that would be a lot more powerful than the Associates programs in some ways -- although, like you say, you are getting a different commission structure. 

[00:06:43] And, is it included, like, if the person just watches your video, or do they have to make the purchase through your video. 

[00:06:50] Ileane: After they watch your video, they check out and there's a cookie. I think it's 24 hours or something like that. But sometimes, and a lot of people, which I, this was something that I never did as an Amazon shopper. Some people just leave stuff sitting in their cart. 

[00:07:06] Tim: Right. 

[00:07:07] Ileane: I'm not buying anything. I'm just going to leave it in my cart. And so that cookie lasts a little longer. If they watched your video, they left it in the book, or especially if you sent the offsite traffic. You sent the offsite traffic and it's in their cart, whatever they check out. And amazon kind of has like an umbrella that says everything that's in that cart, you earn commission from. 

[00:07:34] Tim: Very nice. 

[00:07:35] Ileane: Not just that item that you sent them for, 

[00:07:38] Tim: Right, because you brought the traffic to the page to begin with.

[00:07:43] Ileane: Yeah, and I also wanted to mention that for associates, which is where most people start off, there's a tool that Amazon gives all of us that's called site stripe. And the site stripe, it's just like a little toolbar that appears at the top of the page when you log in as as an affiliate, or as an influencer and that's how you generate your links.

[00:08:10] Tim: Right. 

[00:08:10] Ileane: So you just click on it and you can either do the long one or the Amazon shortened link. And I'll just tell you that that there are so many people who are really making a full time income, not me, but, but a lot of people are making a full time income.

[00:08:32] And, you know, I do have a little advice for anyone. And I will say that, especially if you're already an affiliate or you're thinking about doing affiliate marketing, the Amazon program is complete, completely different. Like, just reset your brain of everything you've ever learned about affiliate marketing.

[00:08:53] They have a new unique set of rules and tools. And you must read and understand their operating agreement. 

[00:09:03] Tim: Okay, that's that's some good advice, because I have also heard of people being kicked out of the program for different reasons. So, yeah, definitely good to know. 

[00:09:13] Ileane: I'll give you a quick example because, in fact, I saw this question today. And this won't get you kicked out, but let's just say, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm, I'm an Amazon associate. I'm an Amazon influencer. And so you say, mom or daughter, go and buy all your stuff. Oh, 

[00:09:34] Tim: right. 

[00:09:35] Ileane: No. No, no. That's not going to get you kicked out of the program, I hope, but you're not going to earn commission because Amazon knows and you cannot earn commission from friends and family. 

[00:09:47] Tim: And you can't buy the items yourself and count that towards your affiliate.

[00:09:53] Ileane: You know, you could be logged and not realizing that you're clicking on your affiliate link. 

[00:09:58] Tim: Right. 

[00:09:58] Ileane: But Amazon knows. Oh, you know, you, yeah, you put that item. Mm hmm. 

[00:10:02] Tim: You're not making 

[00:10:03] Ileane: commission off of it. And you might get it on sale, but 

[00:10:07] Tim: Yeah.

[00:10:07] Ileane: And so, that's kind of counterintuitive. I know, for myself, as I've been doing affiliate marketing. Like, I started with blogging and all that back in 2009. 

[00:10:18] Tim: Oh, wow. 

[00:10:18] Ileane: And the majority of the money that I've made online, has been from affiliate marketing. And usually, especially if it's a software product or something like that, you want your friends to use your link and, you know, that's encouraged. But, you know, and it's just, once you realize that about Amazon, you just, don't make that mistake. Because their thing is for you to find people that are not normally on Amazon.

[00:10:49] Bring them.

[00:10:54] Tim: Exactly. Yes, it's to drive the traffic to, to their site. So, how were you able to get into the influencer program and how long did it take you to to do that? 

[00:11:05] Ileane: Yeah, as I mentioned, I started it back in 2021 for the influencer program. So it was a lot different and in the sense of it was a lot smaller back then.

[00:11:19] And, at that time, you only could use your YouTube channel. That was how they would determine whether, they thought you were a good fit. 

[00:11:31] Tim: Right. 

[00:11:31] Ileane: But now let's, let's talk about now. Cause nobody really cares about 2021. 2024, they're going to look and they'll ask you, which account do you have that following on. 

[00:11:50] Tim: Right. 

[00:11:50] Ileane: And the choices would be YouTube, still, 

[00:11:52] Instagram. they're big on Instagram. TikTok, which is one of their competitors right now. Facebook. And that's the four. YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. 

[00:12:08] Tim: So, yeah, pretty much anywhere where people could build up a large following, in terms of video platforms anyways.

[00:12:16] Ileane: Exactly. And we don't know the numbers. 

[00:12:18] Tim: Right. 

[00:12:19] Ileane: You know, because I know that's usually the question is, well, how many do you need? We don't really know. Yeah. But you do need to have an active and engaged account. 

[00:12:28] Tim: Right. 

[00:12:28] Ileane: Like, if you signed up for TikTok and you haven't posted a video in three weeks, don't use that to try to get approved for Amazon.

[00:12:34] Yeah, 

[00:12:34] Tim: yeah. 

[00:12:35] Ileane: Okay. 

[00:12:35] Tim: Yeah, I guess it's an application based process, right? And they determine if you're fit or not. 

[00:12:43] Ileane: Exactly. They will look at your numbers, but more importantly, they're looking at engagement. Yeah. 

[00:12:49] Tim: Yeah, I think the process I went through was I got an invitation to apply for the influencer program.

[00:12:55] And then they said, well, we think you're more appropriate for the associate program to start out with. And so then you can sign up for that and then start trying to make those sales. 

[00:13:03] Ileane: And so that is definitely some advice for anyone who is just like getting started or just thinking about, and they realize that my following is small. Start building, start building your following on those platforms that I mentioned. Of course, my favorite is YouTube, but you know, even Instagram, it may even be easier for you to, so it depends upon your content and, you know, your demographic and all that. But just keep, because you can you can apply countless times.

[00:13:39] Tim: Right. 

[00:13:40] Ileane: Okay. I think they do want you to wait have a like a little waiting period. And to answer your question: how long did it take? It might have just taken a couple of days. It just depends upon how busy they are at the time when you apply. It's not going to take weeks and weeks. They'll let you know pretty quickly, whether you're in or not. 

[00:13:57] Tim: That's good to know. Cause, you know, there's some online programs out there that are not like that. You can wait weeks and then forget, forget you applied before you hear back. 

[00:14:06] So, yeah, and certainly, like, they're not the only game in town. Like, Amazon Influencer Program and Associate Program is one vehicle you know, content creators can use to create affiliate income. But there's also some other ones. So, do you work with any of the other programs out there and, and which ones do you, do you like if so? 

[00:14:26] Ileane: Yes, I do. One that I want to mention is called Benable BENABLE benable is a site where you create shareable lists of things you recommend. And it could be anything. It could be Amazon products, it could be local restaurants in your area.

[00:14:51] Now you're not going to earn commission off of that, but you're, you're becoming a list curator. It could be fashion. Like I said earlier, skin care, lawnmowers, you know, whatever, any kind of products or places, how to travel in Raleigh, North Carolina. The town that you're in, what's the best pizza place in my area.

[00:15:15] Benable is a really cool site. And what happens is they have 35, 000. Brands that they are partnered with, that they're affiliated with, 

[00:15:28] Tim: Wow 

[00:15:28] Ileane: So you don't have to have the affiliate relationship.

[00:15:31] Tim: Right. 

[00:15:31] Ileane: They have the affiliate relationship. When you go to add something to your list, you'll see an indication whether it's affiliated or not.

[00:15:40] And it's okay if it's not, because you're, you're, like I said, you're building, you're also building that following that I talked about. Right. Right. And when someone makes a purchase, you'll earn cash back. 

[00:15:54] Tim: Interesting. 

[00:15:54] Ileane: If you're struggling at all, with what you're doing with these other Places like Amazon Influencer Program, Benable is a great way to get started and it just builds up so many of your skills. Plus, it's fun. 

[00:16:08] Tim: It sounds fun. Yeah. Like, so with Benable, when you curate the lists, are you in their app? Are you on their site? Or can you take those and import them to like a blog or something like that? 

[00:16:18] Ileane: It's on their site. Okay. It's on their site. 

[00:16:21] Tim: Yeah, it makes sense. They probably want you on, on the app. But, you know, if there's a lot of traffic on the app, it's kind of just like any other influencer platform, right? You just have to build up your following and, like you say, get people who trust you and your, your curation of the list. 

[00:16:37] Ileane: And, even a lot of times it's just about someone coming on Bennable and they're looking to decorate their living room. And they don't care about you. They just they saw they like that picture. Hello. And I'm like, oh, that is such a cute pillow and they click and they buy 

[00:16:52] Tim: Like, same sense of style. And I could see how that would be helpful because, like, you know, you've been on many sites, and, there's so many products. Like, sometimes, Wayfair makes our heads spin with all the choices.

[00:17:04] Ileane: They're one of the, they're one of the brands that are affiliated Wayfair, Home Depot, those. I just want to make sure that any of the fellows that may be listening or watching this realize that it's not just for women. 

[00:17:19] So you can think of it kind of like a Pinterest. But it goes beyond that because they have those affiliate relationships with all those brands. So I highly, highly recommend Benable. I have a YouTube video about it on my channel.

[00:17:36] Tim: Thank you for sharing that. So we talked about this a little bit, but if there's a beginner that's looking to get into this, and like a lot of the people in my audience are photographers or video creators that might also be into YouTube and looking to ways that, you know, how can we, use physical products to help monetize the channel?

[00:17:56] What advice would you give them in getting started with that? 

[00:17:59] Ileane: Yeah. You know, the advice that I would give is to join some of these groups. Now, I reluctantly join groups on Facebook. 

[00:18:12] Tim: Right. 

[00:18:13] Ileane: You know, like Facebook is not really my favorite platform. But that's where all the good groups are. There might be some groups on Discord.

[00:18:22] I'm not a Discord person. So I, you know, I, and I do have Discord, so it's not like I didn't give it a try. But there's some amazing Facebook groups. In fact, Logie, they have a wonderful Facebook group. And so that's what I recommend starting off with. 

[00:18:42] And not just like rushing in there asking a bunch of questions, because believe me, every question that you probably can think of has been asked at least 20 times. Scroll through and see what the conversation is, because the one thing that I love about this group situation is that you have these veterans, you have these people, like I said earlier, that literally, they are making a full time income. They know these platforms inside and out. They've seen people get kicked out. They've seen people get their account restored because they were kicked out by mistake and things like that. 

[00:19:19] So, that is where they conjugate is mostly on Facebook. Like I said, some of them may have Discord, but I'm just not in Discord. But if you find someone on Discord, go for it. But I think that's the best way is to, you know, absorb what's going on, what's being talked about, what's being said first, before you, you know, make mistakes with things, the do's and don'ts. 

[00:19:44] Now going back to Amazon, I will say, in the last, I'll say this year, 2024, they have made a huge effort to educate. They do weekly webinars now. They also have, like I mentioned earlier, reading the operator agreement. But, I know, this is the same way for me. You're reading the operating agreement. Like how am I supposed to know what? So what they did was they put together do's and don'ts. 

[00:20:14] Tim: Oh, that's helpful.

[00:20:15] Ileane: So, based on, you know, the questions that people ask and the reasons people get kicked out, they went on, you can't do this. Can't do that. So, making sure that you go through what they call Creator University, and see those do's and don'ts. And they also have other examples of here's creators that are doing things the way they should and things like that. But of course, YouTube University and my YouTube channel is a wealth of information, of course.

[00:20:44] Tim: Absolutely. Yeah. And I think like you raised a good point there because I think sometimes people charge into multiple affiliate arrangements or groups and they don't take that time to learn, like just, just learn one platform and and figure out how to, how to succeed there before branching out and spreading yourself too thin.

[00:21:06] Ileane: Yeah. And, and especially with the Amazon situation, because as I mentioned earlier, it's so different, so counterintuitive to other programs that you hear about all the time and, you know, and then you're like, Oh, you can't do that on Amazon? Nope, you can't do that on Amazon. Yeah. But, you know, once you know the rules and it's, it's kind of like, oh, here comes another person asking the same question.

[00:21:35] Because I've been around for a while and, you know, but I may have had those same questions in the beginning, and then also Amazon will update their operating agreement. And I'll give you this as an example, because I even did a video about it, that I had to do a retraction. Because they used to say that they don't want you to have links in your emails.

[00:22:00] So you got email email list. 

[00:22:02] Tim: This is basic for affiliate marketing, right? 

[00:22:05] Ileane: Right. And this year, they finally, in March of 2024, they finally updated their operating agreement and you can put links and DMs and that's why Instagram is so crucial, 

[00:22:22] Tim: Right.

[00:22:23] Ileane: Or your email list. The key is that the person has to opt in.

[00:22:29] That's the only requirement now 

[00:22:31] That only makes sense because they probably were kicking so many people out. 

[00:22:34] Tim: Right. Right. 

[00:22:37] Ileane: And they realize, this is like kind of old school stuff. So they, you know, so you have to keep up. 

[00:22:42] Tim: That's interesting.

[00:22:43] So with, email, I understand, you know, people opt in when they subscribe to your list or whatever, if you've got it set up in a way that that's compliant with that. But how about for DMs? Like how does someone opt in to receive your DMs? 

[00:22:57] Ileane: They use those tools. I know ManyChat is the one that everybody talks about. But I have a friend, Kelly Noble Mirabella, and she works for Chatbot Builder. And they do similar as ManyChat, as I understand it, because I haven't used it myself. As I understand, it's much easier, cleaner. 

[00:23:16] Tim: Right. 

[00:23:16] Ileane: And it's kind of like a broadcast channel, but through DM. And you can use broadcast channels too. I'm glad you mentioned that because people have to opt in.

[00:23:24] Tim: That's right. But I guess it's to prevent people from just like randomly spamming people on Instagram or whatever, sending them their, their affiliate links. 

[00:23:33] Ileane: And it has to do with the FTC. So, Amazon is not the big bad wolf on this one, it's the FTC that has these requirements and it protects us too. We know people showing up in our DMs like, I can double your YouTube channel. I'm cool. I'm good. My YouTube is where I want it to be. And it comes in on Facebook as well. But anyway, they shouldn't be doing that. 

[00:24:02] And so it's, it's just good to be in those groups where you have people that know the ropes as well as others that have that question that you have, maybe they had a better way of wording it, or maybe they had a little slightly different experience or, you know, you had this experience and you're thinking, no, I'm not going to ask that question because nobody else. And then you see somebody else.

[00:24:26] Cause I see it a lot. Sometimes, someone will post a question and there'll be like 10 people say, I was wondering the same thing.

[00:24:32] Tim: Someone's got to ask the question, right? 

[00:24:34] Ileane: Yes, having that discussion. 

[00:24:37] Tim: Okay, excellent. And so would you say that the same kind of principles like for physical products, selling those online, do those also apply to selling digital products, like software?

[00:24:49] Ileane: Well, yes and no. That's a good question. Yes and no. And for me, because, tutorials are my thing, I love doing tutorials. That's how I started this whole digital media thing is from teaching people what I learned, right? I learned how to do something. The next day I'm ready to make a tutorial. 

[00:25:13] Tim: Okay. Yeah.

[00:25:14] Ileane: And so, for me, with the software products, like, for example, I'm an affiliate of the eCamLive, which what I'm using now in behind the scenes as my virtual camera, and so this is how, let's just say, for example, I'm going to move myself around. That's all because I'm using a virtual camera. StreamYard is another. 

[00:25:39] And so because I do tutorials, this has helped me with my affiliate sales because people are like, Oh, she showed me how I can do this thing here and you know, like right now we're talking on Riverside. And Riverside is another one, and I'm not personally affiliate, but I know that they have an affiliate program because I listened to a lot of podcasts and I hear people say, use my code to sign up for Riverside.

[00:26:10] So, some of my friends are into TikTok shop. They do the same thing. They, in some cases they are doing like, not so much a tutorial, but a demo. They're showing this is the product, this is how it works, you know. 

[00:26:24] Or, this is this cup. And if you want to stay hydrated, and you take a sip of water, it's not a tutorial because everybody knows how to drink water. But it's, it's a demo. 

[00:26:34] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:26:35] Ileane: Right. So, and for me, those things align. Now, everybody that does those physical product promotional videos, doesn't do demos. Some people just walk around with the thing in their hand, or, you know, it just all depends upon what that specific product is.

[00:26:53] And, you know, so there's a lot more wiggle room there for those kinds of videos, especially fashion. You're just sitting there like this is a matter of fact, I got this from Amazon. Right. So I don't have to, you know, I could, if I wanted to, tell you how well it's me, but I don't have to. 

[00:27:14] Tim: Yeah, so it seems like with software, with like digital products, you kind of need those tutorials. Cause the product, like you say, it's not going to sell itself or it's a little harder for the influencer to just show that they use it. The question becomes more like, what does it do? Yeah. 

[00:27:30] Ileane: Right, right. 

[00:27:31] Tim: And this is a question I think a lot of creators face is like, okay, I could make affiliate sales, focus on that, or I could create my own digital products and sell those. What's been your experience with that? Is there one you prefer over another, and how, how come? 

[00:27:46] Ileane: I, I actually haven't created any product. I, in fact, I kind of, I'll take that back a little bit. I've had courses. I used to be a Udemy instructor. I guess technically I still am a Udemy instructor, but don't go over there and buy my course cause it's like so outdated. And I used Teachable for a while to create courses and things. And so here's, here's my dilemma because I'm always teaching software, the software is constantly changing. 

[00:28:18] Tim: Yes. 

[00:28:19] Ileane: And do I have time to keep up with updating all those courses? If I didn't have a full time job, that's what I would do. 

[00:28:27] Tim: Right.

[00:28:27] Ileane: Because I have a full time job. You know. Udemy course hasn't been updated probably in like 10 years, so don't go, like I said, don't go over there looking for that. But I, but I do have third party experience because my daughter, she is, has a real estate club 

[00:28:50] Tim: OK 

[00:28:50] Ileane: that sells memberships, but there's constantly training and so forth and shout out Nicole Purvey, and the Better Than Success Real Estate, but she's actually making a pivot now into doing like productivity and things like that.

[00:29:06] So, I'm like her advisor, partner slash advisor. I see it from her perspective of, you know, creating products, always having something that people can, buy into whether it's a membership. Or it's just like a one time deal or a course, a short course. 

[00:29:30] But recently, Tim, let me tell you that recently, I decided because of all this, these questions that I'm always answering about the Amazon affiliate program, and the influencer program, I decided to start offering 30 minute sessions.

[00:29:47] Tim: Excellent. 

[00:29:48] Ileane: If you go over to the Anchor Show. Dot.Com, which is my website, one of my websites, the anchor show. com you'll see the banner up at the top. If anyone wants to book a 30 minute, probably go longer than 30 minutes, but you would book initially a 30 minute session with me. And so I'll start it with that and see how, how it goes, because like I said, I do have a full time job, so

[00:30:15] Tim: I know what you mean, and I think that's like in a way it's a logical extension of what we do as content creators, like to recommend products and then to teach about, you know, processes behind using the products or what we're doing. But it is, it is difficult. Like you say, it's very time, much more time intensive. And I think I hear people often talk about like, well, the, the reward is greater, like per sale.

[00:30:41] It's like, Sure, but it's also significantly more work and you mentioned about updating too. So it's not just about like one and done. And it is often kind of presented as like, Oh, create your course once and sell it forever, but not really. 

[00:30:59] Ileane: If you find those evergreen topics. You know, like if, let's just say you do a meditation course, you probably can set it and forget it cause I don't want to change too much about meditation, you know, but software. When you're like myself and like you who teach software and you know, it's like, you can't always keep them up. So that's why I decided what made more sense. Yeah. Because I'm always keeping up to date with all the things that are going on.

[00:31:33] Mm-Hmm. with the influencer program with Benable. Right. And you know, all these other little platforms. Yeah. And YouTube. Oh, we gotta talk about YouTube, we gotta talk about YouTube . Because I'm always keeping up with what's going on with them. Yeah. It makes sense to just have these sessions that are in real time and I can give the up-to-date information. And even though it's not easy to scale this later on, I may roll it out into like a group coaching and things like that. But you know, for now it's just one on ones. 

[00:32:07] Tim: Yeah, and you mentioned YouTube. I did want to talk to you about that because you have built a, you know, very successful YouTube channel with more than 12, 000 subscribers. And you know, that that's part of what we talked about on this show is like how to, how to build your YouTube channel. So how did you do it? 

[00:32:25] Ileane: Yeah. You know, it's been a long time coming and it's really a matter of perspective. Like, some people may use the terminology, even though I hate this terminology, you're a small YouTuber.

[00:32:39] No, I'm not small because not small, but 

[00:32:42] Tim: No, not at all. Like if you look at percentage of channels above a certain level. Like even if you have more than a hundred subscribers, I think I heard like you're in the top 20 percent of channels. 

[00:32:54] Ileane: Something like that. And, you know, I started my channel in 2009. 

[00:33:00] Tim: Yeah, 

[00:33:01] Ileane: and I started with tutorials 

[00:33:03] Tim: right 

[00:33:03] Ileane: and, and educating. A couple of times I've done some shorts that were more entertaining than they were educational. But that's only for shorts. I probably wouldn't do a long form video like that. Maybe I did a giveaway one time, I guess. 

[00:33:18] So YouTube, going back to the affiliate, they invited me to join the affiliate shopping program and I haven't earned any money in it yet, but, it's okay, because I remember when I first started with Amazon, I think, you know, like I mentioned, I started in 2012. The first month I made a dollar and 26 cents.

[00:33:47] Couldn't even get a payout. Because you need 10 to get a payout. So, it's okay. Even, when YouTube, when I started, when I got my YouTube channel monetized, because like I said, I started in oh nine, it probably was 2012 when I got monetized and it was all different back then, as I've mentioned. You didn't have the watch hours and all that stuff. You just needed to have a certain amount of subscribers. 

[00:34:12] Tim: Mm-mh 

[00:34:13] Ileane: Currently, in order to get into the shopping program, you need to have first. It was 20, then 15. I don't know if they reduced it to 10 now, but I think there's some people that have 10 that still haven't gotten the invitation and you do need to be in the U.

[00:34:30] S. as far as I know. 

[00:34:31] Tim: Okay. 

[00:34:32] Ileane: It could be North America, Tim, 

[00:34:34] Tim: I'm hoping to expand it up here, but, 

[00:34:39] Ileane: For now it's just U. S., and you get to tag products. So I could, even though we're not specifically talking about this folding bookshelf I have What I could tag that 

[00:34:58] Tim: Right. 

[00:34:59] Ileane: My video, you could also do dedicated shopping videos where you're just like, come in, like, these are all the things that I just got from Target because Target is in that program as well.

[00:35:12] And 

[00:35:12] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:35:13] Ileane: Yeah. So I see and hear that especially fashion and beauty YouTubers are making good money from the shopping program. And so I'm just going to keep hanging in there and, you know, tagging to me. I'm going to only tag things that are really appropriate. I'm talking about, or, you know, if it's playing a prominent role in the video.

[00:35:38] Tim: That makes sense. Yeah. And it looks like you have like a variety of, of content, you know, you talk about content creation on YouTube, you talk about Twitter, you've got so, you know, and you've got some shorts, it looks like that are more product related. What was, what do you think was like more of the, the driver for growing your channel when, as you were coming up through it.

[00:36:00] Ileane: Yeah, and Facebook tutorials mind you, I mentioned earlier that reluctantly I'm on Facebook now, but that's only because they keep changing the platform and that's one of the reasons why I'm reluctant. 

[00:36:15] Tim: Mm-mh 

[00:36:16] Ileane: I had done these really amazing tutorials on Facebook. And then they said, ah, no, we're not doing that anymore.

[00:36:25] Like, they were embracing audio. They were embracing broadcasting. And I've got like five or six videos about audio on Facebook, but after clear blue sky, they decided they were going to stop doing. So I said, you know what? I'm going to stop doing Facebook tutorials. 

[00:36:41] But guess what? Your girl's still getting views on her Facebook tutorials. The ones that, you know, are still relevant. And but you know, of course, and the YouTube tutorials as well. Yeah. And now I'm slowly building up that exposure for my Amazon influencer tutorials, because I've maybe seven or eight videos out there now on the topic. And so people are finding me through that as well. And so yeah, yeah, YouTube, YouTube is my favorite platform, all time favorite is always been my favorite. And I'm glad that they are embracing podcasting now as well, even though it may not be implemented the way I wanted them to. I'm okay with that.

[00:37:32] Tim: Yeah. Yeah. I really, I really like YouTube too. And I, I see you're on a lot of other platforms. Do you have a favorite? favorite outside of YouTube and do you find it's effective in, in helping your YouTube channel or do you see it as something kind of separate from that? 

[00:37:48] Ileane: Okay. So let me see. That's a two part answer.

[00:37:50] I know that's a lot of 

[00:37:50] Tim: questions in one.

[00:37:56] Ileane: YouTube can supplement, because I'm a live streamer. Let's get that clear. I'm a live streamer. So when I go live on Amazon, which I haven't done in a while, but, when I go live on Amazon, I'm probably also live on YouTube. So, yeah, that can work. That can work well together because it gets the YouTube people a chance to know, Hey, she's got Amazon, you know, and it kind of, Reflects on one and each other and helps build just that authority and that visibility as well, because people are seeing you in both places, you know, I've gone live on YouTube and Facebook or live on YouTube and Twitter.

[00:38:45] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:38:45] Ileane: And I will say that, outside of YouTube, my favorite platform is Twitter. 

[00:38:52] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:38:52] Ileane: Yeah, I still call it Twitter. I'm not calling it the other name, because I think the other name is dumb. It's not anything against the person, or I just think it's dumb. Saying it is dumb and it's awkward and 

[00:39:03] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:39:04] Ileane: it's their branding problem, not mine. And if I say Twitter, everybody knows what I'm talking about.

[00:39:11] Tim: Everybody knows. Yes. 

[00:39:13] Ileane: Okay. So, so there's that. 

[00:39:16] Tim: I really enjoy it too. Like it's a, it's such a good platform for you know, interacting on. And I appreciate that has, you know, some third party tools you can use with it. 

[00:39:27] Ileane: Yeah. Well, now let's be clear too. Nowadays they're making it so you need to have a premium account, which I do. 

[00:39:36] Tim: That's true, yeah. 

[00:39:37] Ileane: I have the premium account from day one when they announced it. I was like, yep. Sign me up. I don't care. 

[00:39:44] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:39:45] Ileane: Well, first it was called Twitter pro or whatever. And then they said, Oh, even more money. And we'll do this, this, this. And I'm like, okay, I don't care. I want it. So 

[00:39:56] Tim: They got me too. So 

[00:39:59] Ileane: Because it's, you know, I mean, you've got Twitter Live, you've got Spaces, which I absolutely love Spaces and you know, you can write articles there. They even have the built in AI tool, which is the Grok, but you, you, you need to have the premium account.

[00:40:17] I'm not, I'm not. Pushing that on anyone. I just think that people who think, Oh, I don't want to be on Twitter because I see this kind of content. I don't want to see your deck. Here's what I do. I have a Twitter list 

[00:40:36] Tim: Mm-mh 

[00:40:36] Ileane: Twitter list. I'll tell you because it's public. It's social influencers and tools.

[00:40:41] So I have people that I follow on social media as well as the tools, like, especially the ones that I used and like YouTube and team and all that. All right. When I go on Twitter, that's where I go. I don't even go to For You, I don't go to Home, I don't go to Following. I don't even look at none of that.

[00:40:57] Tim: It's the same, same here to be honest, like I have some lists that I use and I focused mainly on those. And if I, I do For You a little bit, but I think I've used the list so much that anything that I wouldn't want to see is kind of disappeared from my timeline anyways, because I just don't engage with it.

[00:41:16] Don't click on it. I don't. It's 

[00:41:18] Ileane: Just thought about that. I need to make sure you're in that list. I'm going to make myself a note, but I see you anyway, because we interact with each other's content. 

[00:41:25] Tim: That's right. Yeah. And that's the other way you see people, right? As you interact with their content and you know, so I don't, I don't see that problem with Twitter.

[00:41:34] And I, like I said, there's a lot of good features and it's just, I find it so much more seamless to interact with people. It's easy, right? Yeah. I like that too. It's easier to be consistent on a daily basis. 

[00:41:46] Ileane: And if you want to keep up with the news, where are you going to go? You're not going to go to Facebook. You might go to YouTube, you may. But for me, just to get a quick headline, boom, Twitter. So I'm not going to let anyone steal my joy.

[00:42:05] Tim: Yeah, because 

[00:42:07] Ileane: I don't like the person who's, you know, in charge or whatever. 

[00:42:11] Tim: That's right. 

[00:42:11] Ileane: They're not bothering me. Yeah. So, yeah. I don't bother them. So yeah, for me, it's Twitter. Like I said, Facebook for the groups, honestly, I love, love, love. The groups that I'm in on Facebook, I don't know what other platform we would be on anyway, to have that group conversation where you're, you're in this silo of, like I said, I'm in an Amazon influencer group. So, you influencer or they want to be an influencer.

[00:42:51] So I don't have to worry about conversations that are, you know, political or about, you know, something that's happening in their neighborhood or their town. 

[00:43:03] Tim: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:43:07] Ileane: Let's just talk about Amazon. Yeah. Yeah. That is helpful. Let's just talk about YouTube. And then YouTube groups as well. Let's just talk about YouTube.

[00:43:14] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:43:15] Ileane: And that siloed that conversation. Yeah. Learn how to filter the things out that make you stressed, make you feel overwhelmed, people use that word overwhelmed, you know, ignore that stuff, learn how to stay in your lane, and this will give you like a nice, When it's time for you to shut off your computer, you're like, that's true.

[00:43:41] You're not shutting it off. Like, I'm not getting it . I ain't got time for that. . 

[00:43:48] Tim: That's good. Yeah, 

[00:43:49] and I, I know we're, we're running out of time soon, but I, there's a couple questions I really wanted to ask you while we had some time together. 

[00:43:56] So like, how do you, how do you balance your influencer career with your full time day job? 

[00:44:02] Ileane: I kind of hate this question, cause you're not going to like the answer. Okay. I sit at my computer all day long. 

[00:44:10] There is like, I am single. Yeah. Okay, my daughter, who I keep talking about, lives in California. I'm in Philadelphia. Yeah. So we do FaceTime every day. 

[00:44:20] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:44:21] Ileane: And I have my desk over here, which is the Mac that I'm on. And I have a desk workstation over there, which is the PC that my day job because I work from home. And so I roll back and forth from the desk.

[00:44:36] Yeah. That's my work life balance. 

[00:44:38] Tim: I think it's a I 

[00:44:39] Ileane: don't recommend it, but that's how it is. 

[00:44:41] Tim: I think it's a good answer because it's the reality, right? Like if you're gonna, if you're gonna do both, they're both you know, they both take up time. So yeah, you've got to you know, this is a matter of priorities, right?

[00:44:52] Ileane: I do. I take breaks. First of all, I have very weird hours. So like Seven o'clock is my bedtime. Seven o'clock. That's it. Computer's off. I might watch TV or something like that. I'm not watching any more YouTube videos. I may listen to a podcast. Yeah. Only to put me to sleep or read an audio book or something like that.

[00:45:18] But you know, so that is kind of like the break that I take every day. 

[00:45:23] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:45:23] Ileane: Because I get up super early, but I also go to bed super early. 

[00:45:27] Tim: Right. 

[00:45:28] Ileane: And so that helps, that kind of helps with my, Personal balance, but you know, there are times when, you know, I may use a scheduling tool just so I don't have to be on ever present, but for the most part, yeah, I'm online every day because I also do social media for the day job.

[00:45:51] Tim: You must really love 

[00:45:52] Ileane: it. So I got a bunch of Twitter accounts, I got a bunch of Facebook, well I have one Facebook, but you know what I mean, pages that I'm connected with, and LinkedIn, and I don't I don't post that much myself on LinkedIn, but now you all, if you've been listening to me for the last 10 minutes, you know why, because you can't be all the places.

[00:46:15] Tim: That's right. 

[00:46:15] Ileane: Like for me, Instagram is something that most of my influencer friends are like into this Instagram thing, like I mentioned earlier about the DMs and all this comment, the word by or whatever, and I'll send you the link for this outfit. I don't, I just don't have, you have to realize what your capacity is.

[00:46:40] Tim: Yes. 

[00:46:40] Ileane: So if I'm spending time building relationships with someone like you, Tim, and I have my Twitter spaces and I've got my YouTube, I've got my YouTube community tab, 

[00:46:53] Tim: Mm-mh., 

[00:46:54] Ileane: I do visit Facebook for the groups, but I post on my Facebook page and I do have a broadcast channel on Facebook. I don't have time for Instagram because they, they're, 

[00:47:04] Tim: it's a whole thing in and of itself.

[00:47:05] Yeah, yeah. That's, that's one of the reasons actually I don't spend as much time on Instagram is I realized that if I, if you really want to grow Instagram, you kind of have to dedicate yourself to Instagram and it's hard to do that and grow a YouTube channel.

[00:47:18] Right. Yeah. 

[00:47:19] Ileane: It is. It really is. Unless those are the only two things. Yeah. 

[00:47:24] Tim: Exactly. You go pick two kind of. Right. Because 

[00:47:27] Ileane: my daughter does that. 

[00:47:29] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:47:29] Ileane: Right. So she's got her YouTube channel. Yeah. Yeah. And Instagram is her, her primary social platform outside of YouTube. And, you know, I'm like, come on, you got to post, you know, you look so cute in that outfit.

[00:47:42] You got to post it up on your influencer page. And she's like, mom, I don't have time. I'm thinking you could be making money doing that. But she has a lot of her business and her leads come in through Instagram. She knows how to work. Instagram to grow her business. 

[00:47:58] Tim: Yeah, so it's kind of what works for you, right? 

[00:48:01] Ileane: And it's her demographic that has a lot to do with it. And this is what I want to kind of stress to folks as well. You know, like I'm keep talking about Facebook. Yes. My demographic is on Facebook, even though most of them are also on Instagram, the content that I produce, like tutorials don't go over too well on Instagram.

[00:48:25] Tim: Tell me about 

[00:48:26] Ileane: it.. 

[00:48:27] It.. 

[00:48:27] People wanna learn about stuff. They come over to Facebook to ask the questions. Yeah. You know, they may ask questions on, on Instagram, but it's just the two things don't mesh. Yeah. Easily. It can be done. 'cause there are people that do it. Don't get me wrong. I know there's people that do it. Yeah. But it's not as easy flow like it is on YouTube. Like people expect to learn something and want to be entertained and all that. But, at the same time, you know, YouTube has the Shorts too, as well. 

[00:48:58] And oh, and one thing I want to tell everybody about YouTube, don't sleep on the community tab.

[00:49:04] And Tim, I see you using it, but you also, you want to use it for polls and quizzes. Not just to say, I got a new video. Watch it. That's okay to do sometimes, but use the polls and the quizzes, 

[00:49:21] Tim: Right. 

[00:49:22] Ileane: Because YouTube will push them out to your non subscribers. I am getting subscribers from my community.

[00:49:31] Tim: That's amazing. 

[00:49:32] Ileane: Y'all. 

[00:49:35] Tim: You know how hard it is to make a video, so if you can get even a few from polls that's amazing. 

[00:49:45] Ileane: Tim, this also you an opportunity to deviate from your niche because you're what you put up on the poll doesn't have to do anything with your niche. It doesn't matter. Or it was a quiz. It doesn't even matter. 

[00:50:00] Tim: That's true. 

[00:50:01] Ileane: It's because like I said youtube is going to push it out It's not just going to be your subscribers that are going to see it And your your community tab posts may get pushed out further than the video that yeah, it's just two hours. So you got to strike while the iron is hot.

[00:50:16] Tim: Yeah, yeah. I found some of mine that I've done the best are more general questions. Like you know, how much time do you spend on social media and have some options there and people just, you know, they just want to share like, oh yeah, it's like for me, it's two hours or 

[00:50:30] Ileane: we all want to voice our opinion and you know, and we get to different.

[00:50:35] People just scroll past it because they're like, I'm not interested in that. YouTube doesn't hold it against you. Like there's not a click through rate on your, on your poll. Yes, exactly. So yeah. Yep. Yep. So that's, that's a fun thing to use as well. 

[00:50:52] Tim: Well, before we go, I wanted to ask, first of all, how can people get in touch with you?

[00:50:56] And is there anything you're working on right now that you want people to know about? 

[00:51:00] Ileane: Okay. So the first thing people need to do, make sure you know how to spell my name. Here we go. You ready? I L E A N E. I'll say it one more time. I L E. A N E so tonight, when you lay your head on your pillow, you'll remember me singing that tune.

[00:51:28] I L E A N E. 

[00:51:29] Tim: Okay. I'm going to remember now. I always, I always, I'll put up Twitter to look up, okay, how do we spell your name? 

[00:51:36] Ileane: That's right. Because people always forget the A, or they forget that it starts with an I. So that's what, that, once you do that. Type it in anywhere, Google, probably even Grok, type it in and you're going to find me.

[00:51:50] And also, theanchorshow. com is where you'll find, I have a podcast, I have, actually my podcast was, The Anchor show, as we know Anchor is no more, but that's okay. I I like the domain name. Yeah. So I'm sticking with it. And I have a YouTube podcast, which is Build Influencer Profit, but you'll find all of that when you go to the Anchor show.com, or you just look for me on any social platform.

[00:52:22] If you don't find me as Ileane, you'll find me as Ileane Smith. So like on YouTube, I'm Ileane Smith TikTok, Ileane Smith, Twitter. I mean, that's how you find 

[00:52:34] Tim: Thank you very much. Ileane. I really appreciate taking some time to spend with me today and hear about all your experience. 

[00:52:41] Ileane: You're welcome. And it's been good. It's been fun getting to know you. And that's what this is all about about collaborating and building community building relationships. And so this has been really fun. 

[00:52:54] Tim: So I'm excited to apply a lot of what we talked about in today's episode with Ileane. You know, there's one area that has my attention right now in particular, and that's the opportunity to take another run at the Amazon Associates program. And Ileane's an excellent mentor for this because as we said in the introduction, she's already part of the higher level Amazon Influencer program, and she's got a lot of experience as an affiliate marketer.

[00:53:18] And I say take another run because I actually tried to become part of the Amazon Associates program about a year ago. But I wasn't able to get fully accepted because part of the criteria is that you need to make three qualifying sales within the first 180 days. And we say qualifying sales because it can't be like you making the purchase or members of your immediate family. It has to be fresh traffic that you're driving to the Amazon site. 

[00:53:43] And the reality is, with a small channel, it's tough to get the word out enough to drive enough traffic that generates enough click throughs to get enough conversions to hit that sales target. 

[00:53:54] But it's not insurmountable. I mean, let's do some math here. Let's say we're able to get like a thousand eyeballs per month onto our links. That's 6, 000 potential customers. And then we'll say that a low number of those, like 3 percent, convert and actually go to the Amazon site through your link. It still leaves 180 people. And again, with a 3 percent conversion rate that leads to 5. 4 sales. 

[00:54:18] So we can get there. But like I was saying earlier, it's got to be qualified leads. It can't be just random people. It's got to be people who are interested in what you're promoting, and that's why it's so important to make videos and content around a specific set of topics so that you're building an audience that shares those interests and that when you do do promotions, they're also interested in what you're promoting. 

[00:54:45] And with what we learned in today's episode with Ileane, I think there's a really good strategy to be found here that can help get those qualified leads over to your Amazon page and get those conversions to make it into the program. 

[00:54:58] And that strategy is to combine the Amazon associates program with a Benable account.

[00:55:04] You see, with Bennable, you can get traffic through dropping your links into your video descriptions, but you can also get organic traffic on the platform, and there's an opportunity to be indexed on Google. So you can go from having hardly any clicks to getting some fairly regular traffic over to your Bennable site and ultimately over to Amazon.

[00:55:22] I've already created a few lists over there which have started to get some traffic. And because the lists are all interrelated, you can see how one list can help generate traffic for the other lists as people come over to the site. 

[00:55:34] So, why are we doing this? It goes back to what we were saying earlier, that affiliate marketing is really an easy, seamless channel to integrate if you're already creating content.

[00:55:44] You don't need a lot of infrastructure or a lot of investment. And I mean, it's not like digital product creation where you have to expend a a lot of time and effort up front to create the digital product and then create, you know, sales funnels and email lists and all the other apparatus that goes with creating and promoting digital products of your own.

[00:56:07] These are really other people's products. You're just creating links to them and earning commissions if people are using those links to make a purchase. And that's part of what makes this an effective monetization channel for part time content creators. 

[00:56:20] And you note in the episode earlier, Ileane mentioned that time saving aspect as a big reason of why she was focused on affiliate marketing as someone who had a full time position outside of content creation. 

[00:56:33] You know, the other thing I was thinking here that if you really did want to develop a digital product one of the things you could do is reinvest the revenue you're getting from the affiliate sales Into the creation of the digital product by outsourcing all of the labor intensive parts of that.

[00:56:49] So just focus on the idea, the content and the strategy behind it and have somebody else that do all the production. And there are a lot of talented people on Fiverr. Upwork that can do this at a fairly reasonable price. 

[00:57:05] Of course, there is some risk involved And that's why it's important to do that pre research and pre betting of ideas before we pursue them. Still, even with all that research, it might not work out. On the other hand, it might do really well. That's the risk reward factor that's a reality of entrepreneurship. 

[00:57:25] For now, I'm happy to focus mainly on affiliate marketing and sponsorships as my main monetization efforts. I think it's kind of like social media platforms. You want to do one or two things and do those really well before you start adding other stuff. And as you add other stuff, you gotta be able to add other resources in order to do that stuff well. 

[00:57:46] But just going back to the Benable-Amazon Associates combo again, the other reason I like this is it gives us access to selling physical products.

[00:57:55] So as photography, video creators, that gives us an opportunity to promote some of the gear that we're using and maybe also attract sponsors who see that we're promoting gear. 

[00:58:04] The thing is right now Benable is invite only but I've got you covered. If you join my email list I'm going to send everyone a link that they can use so that they can skip the wait list and try this out for themselves today. Check out the link for my email list in the description and also check the links for Ileane's channel, store, and Benable list. 

[00:58:23] I hope you found this helpful. Thanks for watching. Have a great day and we'll see you in the next video.