To the skeptical, affiliate programs are just “pyramid schemes” that get you in the door and make you sell things to your family and friends. I have to admit, I was a bit of a skeptic, but that didn’t keep me from trying out an affiliate program or two to see if they could work. In the process I discovered one of many ways that affiliate programs really do work. While following the advice and training of the affiliate programs I have had the opportunity to learn about internet marketing – first hand and with practical application. Using this knowledge I started to think about ways that I could start my very own business using these same strategies and tactics. Many of the internet success stories you read about these days include both affiliate programs and their own business creations. It is a natural synergy.

If you apply yourself to the teachings and principals of a legitimate affiliate program – it will work. The level of success you achieve is really up to the level of effort that you invest. A big part of your return on investment, however, is the education you receive from the affiliate program. You actually become an internet marketing specialist and this is a valuable set of skills and know-how that are marketable. These skills become the foundation for your personal assets.

Let’s look at an example scenario of the synergy between affiliate programs and true financial freedom. This is hypothetical and I am not trying to give anyone investment advice. Let’s say you are a business consultant as your full-time occupation and you deal with office politics and quotas. You love the work, but it’s the environment and people that leave a lot to be desired. Everyday you come home stressed out and tired and you think there has to be something more. You decide to start looking online for something that you can start from your home that provides the opportunity for you to one day quit your job. The answer is an affiliate program that provides a proven system, high quality products and real support/training.

You apply yourself and invest in the affiliate program and eventually it starts to generate a modest income. You now know how to market and sell things on the internet so you start dabbling with a business consulting website of your own. Using your network of people in the business consulting world you find a client or two that have websites or marketing goals that could really use the help of an internet marketer. Since they know and trust you, you have new clients for your own business consulting firm. You then apply your internet marketing knowledge to your own business and the client list starts to grow. All the while, your affiliate programs are still working away.

Now that you have two streams (or maybe more) of income coming from your own assets you can look at diversification. Let’s say you decide to invest in commercial real estate by buying a small strip mall in a suburb of a medium sized city. Your tenants now pay you rent on the property and you can help them with their businesses through internet marketing or your business consultancy.

Think of the many different ways that you can become an “investor” or venture capitalist through the synergy of affiliate programs and your very own business creation.