How do you enjoy your 9 to 5? Overzealously like Dwight from The Office or more apathetically like relatable Jim. Probably the second option, right?
Seems like relatable Jim has become the norm. Only 36% of employees in the US report being engaged in their job, and employers are being handed more resignation letters than ever before, about 43 million in December 2021 alone.
The Great Resignation has made it even tougher to stay strong in a post-pandemic full-time job, creating the trendy phenomenon of quiet quitting, meaning staying on for as long as possible while doing the bare minimum to fulfill your job description.
Sounds familiar to you? Have you, by any chance, quietly quit your day job already?
If you’re unsure, here are the signs:
- You had a solid excuse for the past meetings you’ve missed.
- You’re late to work even on the days you’re working from home.
- You think of nails scratching a chalkboard the minute someone adds something to your pile.
- You’re always lurking on LinkedIn, daydreaming about your next move.
- You’re getting really uncomfortable right now.
Relax, Jim! You’re not the only one. But hold on before you write that email to HR.
FACTS
Quitting a job is overwhelming for most people.
The reality of such a drastic change could hit your pockets harder than anticipated. Most people can’t afford to give their 2 weeks’ notice before having something better lined up or destroying their savings.
Plus, quitting also means leaving great colleagues and adjusting to new ones. And even with a better salary, a new environment can take its toll and become very stressful.
Assuming that you work in an area where your skills are put to good use and that you earn a decent salary with good benefits –if it’s not the case, you might consider a little chat with your boss–quitting might not solve your lack-of-engagement problem.
A full-time job is not enough anymore.
Sad, but true. Millennials are struggling. The American dream is dying, crushed by inflation, lack of housing, and student debt. To adjust to the cost of living, nearly 44% of people in the US work multiple jobs to make ends meet.
FICTION
A new full-time job will make you happier.
That couldn’t be further from the truth. A new job will be new, at least for the probation period. After that, it becomes other regular 9 to 5 with at least one narcissistic colleague, a bunch of video calls, and lots of annoying tasks to postpone.
A 9-to-5 job is supposed to be fulfilling.
To a certain extent, yes. You do want to work in a job that leverages your skills and gives you some satisfaction at the end of the day. But a job is a job, and what brings in the most results may not be what you enjoy doing most. So if your LinkedIn feed has only shown you happy people in the workplace, it straight up lied to you.
It’s not necessarily about having a fulfilling job but rather a fulfilling lifestyle with a good income. And that's where most workers struggle.
How do you leverage quiet quitting with quiet overemployment?
9 to 5 is far from ideal for the modern-day millennial, but it achieves its most potential when combined with one or more extra jobs. Financial security is important, especially with inflation. But it shouldn’t keep you from exploring other options that will pay well and create better opportunities long term.
So let’s talk about exploiting overemployment by working more than one gig at a time and keeping it on the down low. And the best side hustle you can explore from home is affiliate marketing.
It’s strategic, time-effective and business-oriented, and it will keep your savings intact.
Let’s dive in!
What is quiet overemployment with affiliate marketing?
Quiet overemployment is having multiple jobs and not telling your other employers/clients about it. You get to work on different projects, touch on more types of tasks that interest you, and earn additional sources of income.
The advantage of quiet overemployment with affiliate marketing is that you can work for more than one boss, one of them being yourself.
As an affiliate marketer, not only can you work from home on your own terms, you get to decide how many hours you work per day, and your salary is not directly linked to the number of hours you put in. You then maximize your time and resources for a better income and lifestyle in the long run, and you acquire business skills in the process.
It’s probably one of the best ways to make extra money when inflation is getting the best out of your paycheque!
In affiliate marketing, your income is based on three important concepts: traffic monetization, conversion, and return on investment.
Traffic monetization
Traffic monetization is the pillar of affiliate marketing.
In this 21st-century digital world, everyone owns some sort of online platform that can drive little to huge amounts of traffic. Whether you have a blog, produce YouTube videos, or own an app–that would be terrific–you must already have some sort of traffic.
And the wonderful thing about traffic is that it can be leveraged for advertising. The internet is the new Times Square of the world, and the amount of traffic you can bring to your platform is equivalent to the “billboard space” you can exploit. The more traffic you generate with your online space, the more money you can make promoting products on the web.
Conversion
That brings us to the concept of conversion. How does that online space and advertising mumbo jumbo translate into something tangible? Here's how.
Let’s say you run a blog on the uses of CBD for pets. Your blog brings in average 20,000 pet lovers to your blog monthly. If you decide to show a pay-per-sale banner ad on your home page for a CBD advertiser, that’s 20,000 opportunities to monetize your traffic. Let’s say that you keep that banner on your site for 3 months, and about 5,000 clicks on your banner and buy a product from that CBD brand. You earn a fixed amount for each sale!
In that previous example, the sale was a conversion. A conversion is the desired action that your users have to take for the ad to fulfill its mission. It can be a click, a sale, or a subscription. The type of conversion needed depends on the offer you’re promoting and what is required from a given advertiser.
Return on Investment (ROI)
Becoming an affiliate is 100% free, so you start with a very low investment cost! But as you get into affiliate marketing and start promoting offers, you’ll realize that some marketing campaigns you run might require some tools.
Indeed you might have to work with an ad network to buy traffic sources for specific offers. You might have to get some WordPress plugins to optimize your blogs and create more eye-catching, clickbait ads. These tools are far from buying expensive software, but they are investments with a cost to factor in.
Like in any business, your profit is what you make after expenses. And that profit can be calculated in terms of ROI. That’s the percentage of your profit based on your investment cost. It’s expressed with the equation ROI = Net income / Cost of investment x 100.
You know a marketing campaign did well if your ROI is over 100%. That means you made more than what you put in. A 50% ROI means you recovered half of your investment cost and lost half. An excellent example of ROI is 300%, where you made 3 times the amount you put in.
How can affiliate marketing turn into a long-term gig?
Absolutely! Once you get the hang of it, you’ll notice how many conversions you can make happen with this or that type of offer. In no time, you’ll be running many marketing campaigns at once time and cashing in left and right. It’s all about strategy and perseverance.
Affiliate marketing is a very lucrative venture. In 2022, this field was estimated at $13 billion, and it should reach 15.7 billion by 2024. If you stick to it long enough to notice high returns. We’re talking about thousands of dollars per year in passive income. Based on Glassdoor estimates, it’s about $60k per year.
Yep! That's enough money to consider quitting your day job! And if it’s your end goal after X amount of time, why the hell not?
Is affiliate marketing new to you? Here’s where to start
It may look daunting at first to get into affiliate marketing, but with the right tools in your backpack, you’re ready to conquer the digital marketing world.
Here’s how to get started like a pro:
1. Take a short online course on affiliate marketing
Never underestimate the resourcefulness of a few hours of online training. Do it while you cook or during a workout. A short course with an experienced marketer will give you all the basics to understand the ins and outs of this booming field.
2. Subscribe to an affiliate marketing blog
Affiliate marketing blogs are written by affiliate marketing experts who know what it’s like to run a few campaigns, succeed, fail, and do it all over again. A blog like CrakRevenue, for example, will give you a handful of resources to optimize your campaigns and make the most out of your traffic. If you subscribe, you’ll get a link to every new blog post straight in your inbox, and you’ll never miss valuable info.
3. Join a CPA network
That’s one of the best ways to start. A CPA network is a digital marketing agency that will facilitate partnerships between advertisers and publishers (you). That means you don’t have to look for advertising opportunities. As an affiliate within a CPA network, you can spot these opportunities within your network. You simply have to pick the offers that you think will fit best with your traffic et voilà!
Before you start, remember one thing: affiliate marketing is work. It won’t be easy at first. Like with anything new, there’s a learning curve, and you have to give yourself a chance to be good at it before it pays off. So be patient: results do take time!
And if you don’t really notice any profits after a few weeks, get in touch with the CrakRevenue team. We might have some pointers to get you on the right path to conversions!
Quiet overemployment is definitely an avenue we recommend to make more money while keeping your day job. Sure, it will require some learning, lots of time management, and constant improvement, but it’s one of the surest moves you can make for your career.
