My name is Erica Stone and I’ve been a self-employed internet marketer since March 2010.
I certainly didn’t set out on this course of employment. It wasn’t as if I chose to study this field in college, built my business and on I went.
In fact, my college education had very little to do with marketing, blogging or website development.
I attended Portland State University and Linfield College with a focus on Financial Accounting.
After college I spent 20 years in banking (specifically in automotive lending).
I began in a Collections department calling customers who were behind on their bills, was promoted to supervisor, became a manager and eventually a vice president running the service department responsible for working with customers at the end of their lease and selling all assets acquired by the bank through lease termination and repossession (cars, boats, RVs and even airplanes).
I had as many as 350 employees located in four locations across the US and we sold through wholesale physical and online channels as many as 100,000 used vehicles each year. (Shortly before I left my last position I won an award for being one of the top females in my industry!)
My corporate work gave me a great deal of experience in:
- Customer service
- Project management
- Process management and documentation
- Risk management
- Strategic planning
- Human resources
- Data management
- Analysis
Needless to say, though, I traveled a LOT. There are only 10 states in the USA that I’ve not visited more than once.
For years I earned the highest level of frequent flyer status you could obtain on at least one airline every year.
During that time I had also married and had three children (all boys).
It became increasingly difficult to leave the house and head for the airport knowing I would miss yet another week with my family. (One day this weighed on me so heavily I broke down in tears on the way to the airport, turned the car around and skipped my flight!)
This amount of travel meant I was also spending a lot of time alone in a hotel room somewhere with not much to do.
So, in 2009 I began searching for a hobby that could fill that downtime.
I’ve always been technically minded and decided to study HTML and CSS so I could start a family website. (Of course, Facebook was growing rapidly at the time which eliminated the need for such a website but I did learn a lot.)
During my research I stumbled across the world of affiliate marketing.
I joined the Amazon Associates program, learned the ins and outs through a site called Squidoo (now no longer in business), built my first affiliate marketing website and within a year I quit my six-figure, management position (with corner office and sweet perks) and set out on my own.
I’ve since built a solid business as an internet marketer and have made more than $2million on line.
I wouldn’t change my journey for anything in the world. The extra time I’ve had with my children was worth everything it took to get here.
I currently live in Glendale, Arizona, with my husband and my two youngest sons (ages 16 and 22). My oldest son (now 25) lives just a few miles away. We have a Chihuahua named Rocky that we rescued 7 years ago and a stray cat who has adopted us named Ninja.
We have a beautiful, in-ground swimming pool (almost a necessity in Arizona) and I work on my back patio – in my swimsuit or shorts/tank-top/flip-flops in the summer or jeans and a t-shirt in the winter – with a great view of the pool and landscaping. (Sounds rough, right?)
Getting to this stage wasn’t easy, though. It sounds amazing to work for yourself, be in charge of your own schedule, have the freedom to work where you want and when, and to have your own business?
It ABSOLUTELY is but it does NOT happen without some stress and a big learning curve. (The kind of stress that leads to nightmares-of-being-forced-to-sell-your-home-because-you-can’t-afford-the-mortgage kind of stress!)
In order to save others from having to spin in circles figuring out all the little intricacies of affiliate marketing I’ve written a library of posts on this site, ebooks and how-to guides to help others more quickly see the same level of success I’ve been able to experience myself.
My work experience allows me to create thorough, step-by-step how-to guides that anyone can follow.
I know the roadblocks and challenges that can stand in your way and it’s my goal to help as many people as possible over, through, and around those hurdles.
I hope you find this site a helpful resource in your online journey.
Sincerely,
Erica Stone