Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whaltbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
Speaker 3: whiles that helps you dodge the scams, skip the gimmicks,
Speaker 3: and focus on real ways to create your wealth. I'm
Speaker 3: your host, Victoria Devine, and if you've been following along,
Speaker 3: you know that I have been on and will continue
Speaker 3: to be on a little bit of a crusade against
Speaker 3: multi level marketing schemes. Yep, those too good to be
Speaker 3: true quote unquote businesses that promise big bugs but usually
Speaker 3: end up only making your upline rich. And since I
Speaker 3: started calling out MLMs. A lot of you have been
Speaker 3: reaching out with questions about affiliate marketing. Is that the
Speaker 3: same thing? Is it legit or is it just another
Speaker 3: scheme dressed up in sleek Instagram stories and seven dollar courses? Well,
Speaker 3: my friends, here is the thing. Affiliate marketing is a real,
Speaker 3: totally legitimate way to earn money by promoting products from
Speaker 3: brands you love. But there are some bad eggs out there,
Speaker 3: especially on social media, that have made affiliate marketing feel, well,
Speaker 3: a little bit sketchy. Let's just say there's a side
Speaker 3: to affiliate market that isn't as shiny as the Instagram
Speaker 3: stories make it seem, and we'll get into that a
Speaker 3: little bit later. Today we're going to be diving into
Speaker 3: what real affiliate marketing actually looks like, and then after
Speaker 3: the break, I'm going to reveal some red flags to
Speaker 3: watch for in those social media courses that don't always
Speaker 3: live up to the hype. If you're ready to sort
Speaker 3: the real from the red flags, lets my friends get
Speaker 3: into it all right, Let's get down to basics and
Speaker 3: start from the very start. What is affiliate marketing really?
Speaker 3: At its core, Affiliate marketing is a way to earn
Speaker 3: commission by promoting products or services. So think of it
Speaker 3: like this. You're recommending a product to a friend, but
Speaker 3: instead of just giving them a heads up, you're getting
Speaker 3: a special link to track the sale, and if they
Speaker 3: buy it, you get a cut. It's a way for
Speaker 3: companies to reach more customers through people who genuinely like
Speaker 3: and use their products, and for the affiliate it's pretty handy.
Speaker 3: Side huzzle, you've probably seen a lot of your favorite
Speaker 3: influences using platforms like lack to Know It or who
Speaker 3: What Where and their affiliate marketing platforms. It can be
Speaker 3: a little bit strange when you see your favorite influencers saying,
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, the skirt that I'm wearing is linked here,
Speaker 3: and you're kind of thinking, well, I wish you would
Speaker 3: just tell me the brand of the skirt. But the
Speaker 3: reality is, if you are wanting to click on that
Speaker 3: link because they've essentially influenced you to purchase the product
Speaker 3: or even just look at the product, I think they
Speaker 3: deserve a cut. After all, they have influenced you, and
Speaker 3: if you're purchasing a product because of them, I think
Speaker 3: they deserve a bit of the cut. They've done a
Speaker 3: lot of the marketing work, right so typically it works
Speaker 3: like this. You sign up for an affiliate program with
Speaker 3: a big platform or a big brand. There are big
Speaker 3: names like Amazon and Lulu, Lemon, and even airlines that
Speaker 3: offer these programs. So once you're in, what will happen
Speaker 3: is you'll get a unique code or a link that's
Speaker 3: tied to your personal account, and when someone clicks that
Speaker 3: link and makes a purchase, you get to earn a
Speaker 3: percentage of that sale. That percentage is going to vary greatly,
Speaker 3: but usually it's between like five and twenty percent, ending
Speaker 3: on the brand and the type of product. And the
Speaker 3: best part, you can get started without any upfront costs,
Speaker 3: so most legitimate affiliate programs don't require you to pay
Speaker 3: any money to join them. Instead, they're betting that you're
Speaker 3: going to have some genuine recommendations that will bring them business.
Speaker 3: So the only way for you to make money is
Speaker 3: if you do and vice versa, right, because if you're
Speaker 3: signing up to an affiliate platform and sharing products that
Speaker 3: nobody's interested in, nobody is going to be making money.
Speaker 3: Some of the most popular places for affiliates to share
Speaker 3: their links so obviously Instagram, stories, blogs, YouTube channels, literally
Speaker 3: all over social media and even in email newsletters. The
Speaker 3: key here is that you're genuinely recommending a product or
Speaker 3: service that you think your audience is going to benefit from.
Speaker 3: You're not actually pushing a membership or a subscription to
Speaker 3: join the affiliate program itself, right, And at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, if they look at the product and
Speaker 3: don't purchase, nobody is in a worse off position. Also,
Speaker 3: there aren't quotas to be met and things that you
Speaker 3: need to do in order to participate. Brands aren't saying
Speaker 3: you have to share this link this many times this month,
Speaker 3: and if only one person purchases, you're not getting paid.
Speaker 3: You get paid every single time it converts. And that's
Speaker 3: why for big influences and people on social media, makes
Speaker 3: a lot of sense, but they also make a lot
Speaker 3: of money. But for smaller creators often affiliate links are
Speaker 3: only going to bring in a few dollars here and there.
Speaker 3: Sounds pretty straightforward, right. That's because when it's done correctly,
Speaker 3: affiliate marketing is really straightforward, really ethical, and makes a
Speaker 3: lot of sense. You're helping people find really good products
Speaker 3: and you're getting a small thank you commission in return.
Speaker 3: In this space, I don't believe there's any shame in
Speaker 3: you collecting a commission for the marketing that you've done
Speaker 3: on behalf of that brand. But here's the thing, right,
Speaker 3: there's I would say, there's a bit of a dark
Speaker 3: side to affiliate marketing on social media that's catching a
Speaker 3: lot of you off guard. It's why a lot of
Speaker 3: you are asking me, is a filing marketing VI a scam?
Speaker 3: It looks really shiny, but behind the flashy promises and
Speaker 3: influencer success stories, some of these so called like affiliate
Speaker 3: opportunities are hiding something really sketchy. After the break, we're
Speaker 3: going to dive into the red flags that you need
Speaker 3: to watch out for so you don't get pulled into
Speaker 3: a side housle that's more of a scam than a success.
Speaker 3: So stick around because I don't think you're going to
Speaker 3: want to miss this. My friends, we are back, so
Speaker 3: let's start talking about the darker side of affiliate marketing.
Speaker 3: Because before the break, we determined that affiliate marketing just
Speaker 3: makes sense. Right, this darker side of affiliate marketing seems
Speaker 3: to be spreading all over social media. Now by now
Speaker 3: you should know the basics. Real affiliate marketing is very straightforward.
Speaker 3: It's focused on promoting actual products from reputable brands. It's
Speaker 3: typically free to join, and if you're recommending products that
Speaker 3: aren't of interest to anybody, you're not making any money.
Speaker 3: But there's this whole other side to the that's making
Speaker 3: waves on TikTok and Instagram and beyond. To be honest,
Speaker 3: I just live on TikTok and Instagram where certain quote
Speaker 3: affiliate programs are advertised as the fast track way to
Speaker 3: financial freedom, and you and I both know that that's
Speaker 3: going to give me the ick immediately. They say things
Speaker 3: like all you need is your phone, a laptop, Wi
Speaker 3: Fi and one to three hours a day. They say,
Speaker 3: but instead of teaching you to promote products, they're more
Speaker 3: interested in getting you to buy their course, right ick.
Speaker 3: One example of this that keeps popping up in the
Speaker 3: news is Legendary Marketer. You can look them up later,
Speaker 3: and it's a perfect case study on how these schemes work.
Speaker 3: Right So, according to a report from NBC News, Legendary
Speaker 3: Marketer starts with a hook that's pretty hard to resist,
Speaker 3: a super low cost entry like a seven dollars fifteen
Speaker 3: day challenge that advertises as your first step into a
Speaker 3: side hustle that could eventually make you millions of dollars.
Speaker 3: Right at first glance, it sounds like pretty low rech.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's only seven bugs and like a total win,
Speaker 3: just seven dollars, and you get to learn the ropes
Speaker 3: of affiliate marketing. Right I just taught you in the
Speaker 3: first half of this episode. But moving on, after a
Speaker 3: few days, things start to shift. Suddenly you're introduced to
Speaker 3: a new coach who's pitching their business blueprint package. Right,
Speaker 3: it's a hefty twenty five hundred bucks. They frame it
Speaker 3: as absolutely essential if you're in the business for making money,
Speaker 3: and they turn up the pressure to invest in yourself.
Speaker 3: It's so important. But here's the catch. When someone buys
Speaker 3: that twenty five hundred dollar package, the person who originally
Speaker 3: referred to them gets a big cut. It's usually around
Speaker 3: one thousand dollars. So when you see those influencer or
Speaker 3: TikTok personalities saying that they're making bank with affiliate marketing,
Speaker 3: a new could too, and they're calling themselves digital marketers,
Speaker 3: all thanks to them taking a chance on a seven
Speaker 3: dollar course. It's not from promoting everyday products like u
Speaker 3: Lululemon tights that you love or address that you wore
Speaker 3: to the races, and you linked it so that other
Speaker 3: people could buy it because you looked really cute in it.
Speaker 3: Their income actually comes from recruiting others to buy these
Speaker 3: high ticket up cells. It's giving multi level marketing and
Speaker 3: what's taught to these new recruits as the way to
Speaker 3: make big money. Well, of course it's selling the course
Speaker 3: to get more people, who are then encouraged to recruit
Speaker 3: others themselves to rinse and repeat. So what do you
Speaker 3: hint to watch out for? Apparently everything in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: But how do you actually spot when a program is
Speaker 3: more about getting you to spend than actually setting you
Speaker 3: up for success, because so many of you might actually go.
Speaker 3: But the investing twenty five hundred dollars in a coach
Speaker 3: makes a lot of sense for me. So here are
Speaker 3: some key affiliate marketing course red flags that I have highlighted.
Speaker 3: All right, So the first one is a low cost
Speaker 3: bait to hook you in, so that initial really low priced,
Speaker 3: so like seven bucks, it's a classic baiting tactic. It's
Speaker 3: low enough to feel like really risk free. I mean
Speaker 3: seven dollars these day is basically an oat latte, right,
Speaker 3: And they lower your guard. But the real intention is
Speaker 3: to get you in the door and then get you
Speaker 3: ready to be able to be upsold to. And this
Speaker 3: low cost entry kind of acts like a gateway because
Speaker 3: once you're inside, the real pitch begins with essential upgrades
Speaker 3: that cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars, and that
Speaker 3: is giving massive red flag energy. The next is the
Speaker 3: high pressure up cell midway through. So you've gotten in
Speaker 3: and you're doing this course and you're like, this is
Speaker 3: some money win. It's seven bucks, this is fantastic, and
Speaker 3: then the course it pivots suddenly a coach or a
Speaker 3: mentor ap who's basically out of nowhere, emphasizing that to
Speaker 3: truly succeed in this world and with what you're destined
Speaker 3: to do, you need to buy their business blueprint that
Speaker 3: costs thousands. This up cell is framed as the key
Speaker 3: to making a big like you can't make a big
Speaker 3: without this, adding pressure to invest far beyond that original
Speaker 3: seven dollar oat latte price. The next red flag is
Speaker 3: they focus on recruitment instead of real products. We talked
Speaker 3: about this in the multi level marketing episode. So many
Speaker 3: of the women who are involved in multi level marketing.
Speaker 3: If you just do a little bit of an audit
Speaker 3: of their posts. More often than not, they're talking about
Speaker 3: this incredible opportunity joining the business. Oh my gosh, there's
Speaker 3: two spots in my downline that you could join. Like,
Speaker 3: they're not really talking about the value of the product,
Speaker 3: and to me, that's a massive red flag. Genuine affiliate
Speaker 3: marketing is all about promoting an actual product or service.
Speaker 3: They're not going, oh, join a course you could learn
Speaker 3: about this. Like, affiliate marketing is very very simple. They
Speaker 3: signed up to a website, they got a code, and
Speaker 3: if you buy the leggings that they are talking about,
Speaker 3: they're going to make a cut. So they might talk
Speaker 3: about the leggings all the time, but in that interaction,
Speaker 3: you as the consumer, you're not misled about what purchasing is.
Speaker 3: You might be feeling a little bit misled because you're
Speaker 3: like ve, I didn't know that because my favorite influencer
Speaker 3: was promoting the leggings so often it was because they
Speaker 3: were getting paid. That's a different front story. I'm very
Speaker 3: much on the page of influencers getting paid for their
Speaker 3: recommendations because at the end of the day, that's part
Speaker 3: of the marketing wheel. But it is very transparent what
Speaker 3: you're getting. At the end of the day, if you purchase,
Speaker 3: you will receive the leggings in the mail, right, Like,
Speaker 3: that's it. But these programs, however, lean really heavily on
Speaker 3: getting you to recruit others into the same course, and
Speaker 3: the income structure is built on upselling new members rather
Speaker 3: than helping you to promote a range of real products
Speaker 3: that arguably everyone would want. The next red flag I've
Speaker 3: got listed down is vague earning claims and misleading success stories.
Speaker 3: So the promoters of these courses is often going to
Speaker 3: showcase really impressive earnings, same as multi level marketing people.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: I saw so much content online the other week about
Speaker 3: people saying, oh, yes, but there are twenty two millionaires
Speaker 3: that have been created in Australia because of this business.
Speaker 3: Yeah great, but there's also twenty two thousand of you
Speaker 3: doing that. Those numbers don't stack up. Those numbers are
Speaker 3: not impressive. But these promoters of these courses are going
Speaker 3: to often showcase super impressive earnings or talk about the
Speaker 3: freedom that they've achieved, but they're usually really vague on
Speaker 3: how they're actually making that money. They might imply that
Speaker 3: their income comes from traditional affiliate marketing, sometimes even claiming
Speaker 3: it's from a separate account or a product link that
Speaker 3: they never clearly reveal. In reality, most of their income
Speaker 3: comes from recruiting others into the same course and upselling
Speaker 3: them on really expensive packaging. At the end of the day,
Speaker 3: influencers who are really promoting and making money through affiliate marketing,
Speaker 3: they're not really talking about it, and they're not talking
Speaker 3: about it not because they're not transparent. Influencers who are
Speaker 3: using affiliate marketing know that the reason affiliate marketing works
Speaker 3: for them is because they have a very large and
Speaker 3: engaged audience. They know that this isn't something that anybody
Speaker 3: could get into. I mean you could. You could sign
Speaker 3: up for a few marketing platforms and start promoting the
Speaker 3: leggings or the dress or the shoes or whatever fashion
Speaker 3: you've got. And I mean, if you're doing fashion content,
Speaker 3: that makes a lot of sense because a few dollars
Speaker 3: here and there do add up. But if an influencer
Speaker 3: is making bank through their affiliate links, it's very unlikely
Speaker 3: that they are going to be talking about it because
Speaker 3: they know it's not easily obtainable for the average Instagram user.
Speaker 3: Right if you're finding it really hard to tell what
Speaker 3: products they're promoting. So if a company is really like
Speaker 3: a bit wishy washy, or what they're promoting, or the
Speaker 3: details about their earnings seem a little bit unclear or
Speaker 3: like overly broad, to me, that's a very strong indicator
Speaker 3: the recruitment, not general affiliate product sales are at the
Speaker 3: core of their business model. So you're asking me Va,
Speaker 3: what's the bottom line? As always, I need you to
Speaker 3: do that is it too good to be true? Test?
Speaker 3: If something promises to turn you into a millionaire working
Speaker 3: just a couple of hours a day, or claims that
Speaker 3: you'll achieve financial freedom with zero experience or effort, it's
Speaker 3: probably time to pause and think critically. Quick and easy
Speaker 3: paths to wealth are very rare, and programs that overseell
Speaker 3: simplicity are often masking what's really involved. Before you decide
Speaker 3: to dive into any course, take a few minutes to
Speaker 3: google the course name along with the word scam and
Speaker 3: see what comes up. Scanning through real people's experiences can
Speaker 3: reveal a lot about what's behind the flashy marketing works
Speaker 3: with multi level marketing as well. My friends also very spicy,
Speaker 3: good for a drink on a Friday Nash. Are there
Speaker 3: consistent complaints about these high pressure sales tactics, Do people
Speaker 3: mention unexpected up cells or maybe like some hidden costs.
Speaker 3: Seeing these patterns is going to be able to help
Speaker 3: you spot red flags early and avoid the trap of
Speaker 3: spending more than you'd planned, or even being sold a dream.
Speaker 3: If the main pitch is less about promoting real products
Speaker 3: and more focused on recruiting others into the program, to me,
Speaker 3: that's a definite red flag. When the emphasis shifts from
Speaker 3: actual product promotion to recruitment, it signals a structure where
Speaker 3: the real money comes from getting other people to join,
Speaker 3: not from genuine affiliate commissions. It's never about the product
Speaker 3: in that situation. This recruitment based model is often a
Speaker 3: warning sign that you're dealing with a scheme that has
Speaker 3: a lot more in common with a multi level marketing
Speaker 3: company or MLM than legitimate affiliate marketing. Right, my friend,
Speaker 3: if you enjoyed this episode, because I'm done now and
Speaker 3: one more content that keeps you one step ahead of
Speaker 3: the latest money scams, make sure that you are subscribed
Speaker 3: to She's on the Money, And if you want to
Speaker 3: see what else I'm exposing in the world of scams
Speaker 3: and multi level marketing and get rich quick schemes. You
Speaker 3: probably should be following me on my personal Instagram, which
Speaker 3: is Victoria Underscore Divine and I think you'll be shocked
Speaker 3: at what I'm finding and sharing. Have a good weekend, guys.
Speaker 3: The advice shared on Shees on the Money is general
Speaker 3: in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
Speaker 3: on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
Speaker 3: not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
Speaker 3: If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the.
Speaker 4: PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice.
Speaker 3: Tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 4: Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives
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