When you first venture into the world of online business, the journey can be very exciting when you earn your first commission. But a single commission sale isn’t going to be enough for you to walk into your bosses office and say so long. Yes, there will be a time where you can walk in to work one day and say I quit like this guy:
But before you call Steve Harvey, let’s learn how to manage your day job AND run your affiliate business at the same time without going insane! The following are some simple tips on How to Run Your Affiliate Business While Keeping Your Job.

Get an Affiliate Business Schedule

You have a work schedule right? And I am guessing you probably live your life around that work schedule. So why not have an affiliate business schedule? It is extremely important to organize your online business with all the tasks that need to be done.  From writing content to scheduling social media posts, make sure you have some sort of calendar or system to remind you of what needs to be done. There are a plethora of tools available for this (Basecamp, CoShedule, G Suite by Google Cloud etc.), but a simple online calendar will do just fine.

Have an Awesome Office for Your Affiliate Business

Awesome OfficeJust like your job, you should have a dedicated business area so that you can get your work done. Does this mean you need to run out and rent an office? Absolutely not! But find an area in your home or outside of your home such as a coffee shop or library where life won’t stumble in front of you. The last thing you want are distractions by people or excuses to get other things done before your online business. It can be as simple as a corner on your couch, but let your family know that your affiliate business time is not to be interrupted.

Remove All Distractions and Shiny Objects

Now that you have a great physical space to work, it is time to remove all the distractions that would pull you away from your work. Things such your phone, instant messaging, live chats and various forms of shiny things that pop up on your computer. One of the worst culprits is email and the notifications that come with them! Unless it is essential to your business, keep away from checking your email every few minutes. Don’t worry, those messages can wait until your affiliate marketing shift is done.

Wicked Music and Awesome Headphones

Pink Floyd'S Dark Side Of The MoonThis post has been brought to you by Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.  I wrote this entire piece while listening to the entire album and loved every moment of it! Similar to removing your distractions, I personally think it is wise to get a good playlist of music you like and listen to it while you work on your affiliate business. 90% of an affiliate marketing business involves writing, and plugging in with some decent headphones and a good set of music will help you achieve some great content. Just like how music can pump you up for working out, music can calm you down and help you concentrate while writing.

Conclusion

Is it ironic that we come to the end of this post and Pink Floyd’s Money is playing on my headphones right now!? Love it. Running an affiliate business has it’s awesome rewards and I personally love every moment of it. It takes a great amount of time and effort, but it is way better than working for someone else. So, until you are able to kiss your day job goodbye, keep organized and implement these tips today!
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15 Comments

  1. Hi there
    I have just read your post on how to run our affiliate business and still do our day job and I must admit that your review is informative and very practical.
    Your tips are spot-on and I agree totally with you that we need to somewhat disiplined, if we are to achieve success with our online affiliate business.
    We need a structured week and treat both our day job and our online opportunity as a means to an end, of sorts.
    I guesss its finding a balance in many ways and try to strike a happy medium, in the combination of the two.
    Thanks again for the great advise and ideas
    Cheers PB

  2. Thank you Jay, I usually work on my bed. Looking out the window. I double as a professional website designer for businesses too. So the little time I am not working for a client I put it into my affiliate business. But thanks to you,
    I will start treating the two differently now . giving both equal opportunity at my time.

    The comment was done listening to the night life of crickets. Lol
    Queen

  3. Setting a schedule for an affiliate marketing business is a great idea. When working and running a business on the side you really need to be organised and make valuable use of the time available while still managing to maintain some semblance of a work/life balance. Without a schedule this will be almost impossible to achieve.

    Distractions can be the biggest killer to success working from home and having an awesome office, music and headphones will certainly help with that.

    Some really good tips here. Thanks for sharing and for the insight.

  4. I work from home on a daily basis and I know how hard it is to get work done if I don’t go to a space away from all the family and noise. Having my own space has saved my business more than once. But what if your on vacation or somewhere that you don’t have your own space, what do yo suggest to get that time in?

  5. Hi there, thanks for your very useful article. Being myself in the affiliate business and having a job so falling in this category, the tips on this article are very useful, so thanks! (Have you any tips on how to remove the distraction of a very annoying partner?!) that’sl the main thing for me! Thanks for your help, I’ll be sure to follow the advice you have here :-)

    Dan

  6. Hey, we’re big Pink Floyd fans too, so that would go down well. I completely agree with all your tips – I just don’t always implement them as well as I should. One that I haven’t though, is the music thing! I actually have no stimulation going on when I’m working on my sites – and sometimes I think that actually makes me sleepy. So….. time to invest in some decent headphones I think :).

  7. I can’t wait for the day when I can finally walk into my job and just call it quits and then take on my affiliate business full time. But it’s been three months and I haven’t made a cent, but fingers crossed for the rest of the year.

    In the meantime, I have to manage my online blog and also my job at a gas station all at the same time. It sucks, but it’s money too.

    I like to make sure that i work in a clear space. Clear space= clear head for me.

  8. Hi Jay, thanks for the great tips on managing the online business while keeping the day job.I agree with you about a neat nice place to work on the affiliate marketing business. Previously my work desk is very mess up with all kind of paper and unuse flyer.After clearing out the mess, I can easily focus on working on my business.

    Meantime, do you think eating some snacks help us to concentrate? Personally, I standby some snack and biscuit around when working on my website blog.It did help me to get some inspiration for writing!

  9. Great post full of good advice, I especially agree with the playlist idea as I write just about all of my content for my site while listening to music.

    I have to say it is hard for my to schedule time around my job and affiliate business, I usually only get down to making about 2-3 posts a week, its something I definitely need to work on improving upon.

    Another huge struggle I have is my ability to shut out friends, I’m not very good at it and haven’t found a way around it because I work 7 days a week, 12 hour shifts, then I have about 3.5 days off per 7 days worked, and I know my friends miss me when I;m at work, maybe I should dedicate certain times a day on my days off to my business and once that’s over with then I could hang out with my friends. What do you think?

    Thanks for your post, it was a good one.

  10. Hi Jay,
    Thanks so much for this great post. I have just started with my affiliate business and am finding it hard sometimes after a hard days work in my day job to come home and put in the hours again. What I liked most is the advice about setting up an affiliate business schedule so I know what I need to be doing and that will make me more efficient and hopefully get more done quicker. Also removing the distractions !!!!
    Thanks again, Nigel

  11. Running an affiliate marketing business on the side while you are working a full time job can be tricky, but if you want it enough you make it work.

    A schedule is essential, and not only that, but you also have to have the discipline to follow it through.

    Having a dedicated office space is great, especially if you move it far away from the TV.

    I must admit, listening to music is quite distracting for me, and I prefer to work in silence.

    The best time to do your work is early in the morning, as there are fewer distractions and while you are fresh you get a lot more done. This works very well for me.

  12. Hey Jay. I couldn’t agree more. Having a dedicated space where you work on your online business is crucial to your online business success. While it’s possible to work out of your kitchen or other common area, those areas tend to be full of distractions. Having your own dedicated space that you alone can control will help to keep you focused. Great post! Thanks! Alanna

  13. Dude, this post hit the spot. Especially the first part about having a schedule. After 9 years I still struggle with that. I respect the calendar for the podcast (btw would love to have you on as a guest). But for many other parts of the biz I’m all over the place :( thanks for the reminder.

    BTW this comment was typed while listening to Floyd’s “Pulse” live album… playing on a cassete tape ;)