So I'm new to the board but love it so far. Thanks again for the invite.So a few things really quickly!I get you guys. Where most of you are now, I've been there. I think there is a pretty predictable path to success online that often looks like something like this. Not everyone follows this path, but it's something that I've seen over and over again and it ran true for me. Here's how things play out:1) Learning Websites: Learning to build websites or figuring out the process of getting them built.2) Making money building websites for other people for money.3) Learning SEO/internet marketing.4) Making money offering SEO/internet marketing to other people.5) Learning Affiliate marketing/branding/conversion optimization techniques6) Making money as an affiliate marketer by essentially offering all the skills you've picked up in the previous steps.Number 6 is where most of you are at now. I've been there. Some of you make good money, some of you make enough to keep the lights on, and some of you haven't made your first dollar yet. And that's fine, there has to be a bellcurve somewhere. Not everyone can win.Unfortunately though, many of you guys stop at 6. There is a #7.Using all these skills to market your own company!!!So instead of being a marketer for some brand, you become the brand and use all of the skills you've picked up so far to build your own businesses.That's what I did. And that's how I got from a few hundred per month in affiliate marketing to well over $2 million per year and that number is still growing. (obligatory screenshot)My thought process was like this: Why compete with all of these affiliate marketers who are sophisticated, understand internet marketing, understand branding, understand conversion optimization, understand traffic building, etc. Why compete with these folks for crumbs when I can go compete with folks that don't know what the hell they're doing?So I started going after building my own brands primarily in local services 3 years ago. Competition does not get any weaker than this, so I dominate immediately. So in the last 3 years:Home cleaning: Over 3 million in revenue.Lawncare: $25K in the first 4 months of business.Launch27: Saas app for local businesses: $15K per month in revenue so far.Getting ready to launch carpet cleaning and a moving service in the new years. Site mockups are ready to go:And for shits and giggles I started wet shave club in May 2014 and we did $60K in December alone.The point of all of this is to say: Affiliate marketing is awesome. It's how I got my start. But remember that you can your own brand at any time, and it's not as difficult as it sounds. I'm partial to local services because they are by far the easiest foray into entrepreneurship. Weakest competition you'll find. Homejoy launched a home cleaning service a few years back and became the fastest growing Ycombinator company of all time.I shared my story on reddit 2 1/2 years ago and a lot of folks started companies. Since then the top 50 companies are now doing combined $1 million per MONTH in revenue.This is no coincidence.Here's the case study I shared on there describing how I attack local industries: http://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneu...day_26_from_zero_to_website_launcha_recap_of/ Here's the one I did on Wet Shave Club: http://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneu...inner_workings_of_a_subscription_box_company/ Let me know if I can answer any questions.