Many people think that everything has to be big… especially when it comes to making money online. They will try to tell you that home based internet marketing businesses can’t make money…not unless you are really big. Sure, you want to have a big list, but not everything has to be big to be successful! Sometimes less is better.

One of the mistakes people make when they think things have to be big is that they put off starting. Take affiliate programs, for example. I’ve talked to a lot of people who have a product, even a great product, but they don’t have any kind of affiliate program.

If you ask them why, they’ll tell you it’s too big a project, they’re not ready, or they need tons of affiliates to make it work, why bother?

Oh really! Many people think that you need to have like 10,000 affiliates to make money from your program.

The way I calculate it is that for every affiliate sale you make, it’s money you didn’t have before…so you’re making money, maybe even if you only have one affiliate.

I realize I’m being an extreme example, but let’s look at each other… when I promote someone else’s stuff. The reality is that when I do a promotion for an affiliate, if I make less than $20,000 I’m a little irritated… that’s $40,000 in sales.

Once again, I know that I am an extreme example. I have a huge list, one that is very responsive and I know how to make sales.

So let’s take someone who is 1/10 as good as I am at making sales, maybe they don’t have that big of a list… maybe their list doesn’t buy as often… or maybe they haven’t learned some of the marketing techniques that I have. Whatever the reason, your results are 1/10 of what you would get. That’s $4,000 in sales. You get half of that for $2,000.

So if you have 10 affiliates who are 1/10 as good as me…whose lists are smaller or less receptive, whatever, with those 10 people you’re making $20,000 a month. That’s some decent money… probably worth your effort, right?

It’s much easier to keep up with 20 or 30 people than 10,000…so think small. Make sure those affiliates are happy and have everything they need to promote your products.

One day you might have 30,000 affiliates, for example, but of those 30,000 maybe only 20 or 30 actually make a substantial amount of money.

Home based internet marketing businesses can have successful affiliate programs; don’t think your affiliate network has to be huge…start by building relationships. Find a couple of good affiliates and keep in mind that each one you add basically adds two or three thousand, or more, to your bottom line.