They Mock Affiliate Marketing, While I Build Income Between Push-Ups

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Let me say something unpopular.

Affiliate marketing is being publicly shamed right now.

Same way network marketing was.

Same eye rolls.

Same “that’s scammy.”

Same fake superiority from people who’ve never built distribution from zero.

And I’ve seen this movie before.

Because long before there were creators, newsletters, link-in-bio funnels, or “personal brands”…

Network marketing taught people how to:

• sell

• follow up

• build audiences

• present

• think in leverage instead of hours

you don’t have to like it.

But without that generation?

There is no creator economy.

Now affiliate marketing is next on the chopping block.

Here’s What They Don’t Tell Young Entrepreneurs

Not everyone is built to raise VC.

Not everyone gets a pitch deck moment.

Not everyone becomes a unicorn.

Most people just need cash flow.

Now.

Affiliate marketing gives you:

• no inventory

• no shipping

• no manufacturing

• no payroll

• no customer support

Just:

attention → offer → automation

That’s it.

You learn traffic.

You learn messaging.

You learn conversion.

Those skills compound forever.

This is why I don’t argue about theory.

I build systems.

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My Real-World Stack (No Fantasy, Just Reps)

Right now I’m actively running multiple affiliate lanes.

Not hypotheticals.

Live reps.

I create movement-based UGC content — bite-size workouts filmed around the world.

That feeds into:

• creator monetization platforms like Huge

• education ecosystems like AI Film School

• and my owned audience engine powered by this newsletter

Three verticals.

Same strategy.

Audience → value → link → automation.

Huge rewards creators for producing UGC.

AI Film School rewards creators for onboarding new filmmakers into their community.

Beehiiv lets me own my audience and monetize referrals while building my newsletter into an asset.

Different products.

Same mechanics.

All scalable.

No inventory.

No gatekeepers.

Just systems.

This is affiliate marketing in real life — not screenshots on Twitter.

This Is Where Athletic Entrepreneurs Separate

I don’t sit around waiting for permission.

I build while moving.

I shoot content in different cities.

Do squats in airports.

Push-ups in hotel rooms.

Write newsletters in cafés.

Create UGC on sidewalks in foreign countries while drinking a beer.

Bite-size workouts.

Bite-size content.

Bite-size monetization.

That’s Athletic Entrepreneur energy.

Movement fuels momentum.

While people argue online about whether affiliate marketing is “real business,”

I’m stacking reps:

Physical reps.

Creative reps.

Revenue reps.

Same discipline.

Different arena.

The System Hates What It Can’t Fully Control

Platforms want creators.

Corporations want distributed sales forces.

Every major company now runs affiliate programs.

But media narratives quietly teach you to feel ashamed about using them.

Why?

Because decentralized monetization is dangerous.

If individuals can:

• build audiences

• drop links

• automate ads

• create silos

• generate income without institutions

then gatekeepers lose leverage.

So they attack perception.

They call it cringe.

They mock it.

Same playbook they used on network marketing.

Different decade.

“Fast” Doesn’t Mean Lazy

When I say affiliate marketing lets you move fast, I don’t mean half-assing.

I mean:

• strategic content

• intentional positioning

• paid + organic

• automated pipelines

• proof of work

You can scale a single link into a system.

Not overnight.

But faster than building a startup from scratch.

And way faster than waiting for approval.

This Is Bootstrap Capitalism

Affiliate marketing is modern bootstrap capitalism.

It’s how you:

• test markets

• learn sales psychology

• build momentum

• generate operating cash

before products.

before SaaS.

before startups.

It’s the digital dojo.

My Unhinged Take

If you’re too good for affiliate marketing?

You’re probably too broke for your ego.

If you’re waiting for investors?

You’re already behind.

Meanwhile someone with a phone, discipline, a newsletter, and a link

is quietly building leverage between push-ups.

Final Word

They laughed at network marketers.

Now creators dominate culture.

They’re laughing at affiliate marketers.

Pay attention.

History doesn’t repeat.

It rhymes.

Athletic Entrepreneurs don’t wait.

We move.

We build.

We monetize.

Anywhere.