My journey didn’t begin with a grand business plan. It began with curiosity and a healthy dose of frustration.
As a student, my budget was tight, and the idea of financial independence was a distant dream.
I spent countless hours scouring the internet for a “way out,” sifting through get-rich-quick schemes and convoluted methods that always seemed to require money I didn’t have.
Then, I stumbled upon a video by a guy named Russell Brunson. Today, he’s synonymous with ClickFunnels, but back then, he was just a passionate marketer sharing his knowledge.
He wasn’t selling a software suite; he was selling an idea. The idea was that the architecture of a sale,the “funnel,” was more important than the product itself.
He talked about affiliate marketing not as a sleazy, link-spamming endeavor, but as a service. You are a bridge.
You connect a person with a problem to a product that provides a solution. And if you can build a good, trustworthy bridge, you deserve to be compensated for it.
His clarity cut through the noise. He presented a straightforward, actionable blueprint. And that blueprint became my bible.
How I Made My First Affiliate Marketing Sale
That first sale wasn’t just about the $20 commission—it was about proof of possibility. I realized that if I could do it once, I could do it again, and then scale it.
In this post, I’ll walk you through the exact steps I took, the lessons I learned along the way, and how you can apply the same principles today, even if you’re just starting.
The Blueprint: Deconstructing the “Self-Liquidating Funnel”
Russell’s core lesson, the one that directly led to my first sale, was the concept of a “self-liquidating funnel.” The name sounds intimidating, but the principle is elegantly simple.
The goal is to create a marketing system where the cost of acquiring a customer (your ad spend) is covered by the immediate sale of the front-end product.
If someone buys the product you’re promoting right away, your ad spend is “liquidated”—it’s paid for.
But the real magic happens when they don’t buy immediately. By capturing their email address, you acquire an asset (a subscriber) that you can market to again and again at no additional cost.
This was the key that unlocked everything for me. It wasn’t about hoping for a sale; it was about engineering a system that was profitable in both the short and long term.
Here is the exact, step-by-step process I followed, expanded with the nuances and “whys” I’ve learned since.
My Journey to My First Affiliate Marketing Sale
Here are the steps I followed to make my first commission.
Step 1: Discovering Affiliate Marketing
Like many beginners, my journey started with curiosity. I had always wanted to earn money online, but the internet is filled with promises that often sound too good to be true.
One day, I stumbled across a video from Russell Brunson. If you know him today, he’s the founder of ClickFunnels, but back then, he was just another marketer sharing his ideas about how to create simple sales funnels that worked.
His teaching was simple but powerful:
- Find a product that pays good commissions.
- Build a simple funnel.
- Send traffic to it.
- Collect emails and follow up.
For me, that was enough to light the spark.
Step 2: Finding the Right Product
Russell’s advice was clear: start with a high-converting product.
At the time, ClickBank was one of the most popular platforms for affiliate marketers, so I opened an account and started browsing.
I didn’t know much about niches or evergreen demand yet, but I was mostly looking for something that fit the criteria.
- Priced affordably (so people didn’t hesitate to buy).
- Paid a high commission (to make the effort worthwhile).
- Had a solid sales page (so I didn’t have to do all the selling).
I landed on a product priced at $27, with a 70% commission rate. That meant if I made a sale, I’d pocket around $20.80.
At first glance, twenty dollars might not sound like much, but for me at that stage, it represented possibility.
My ClickBank Product Criteria
I didn’t just randomly pick a product. I became a detective. I spent hours inside the ClickBank marketplace, and I set strict criteria for my first promotion:
Commission Rate
I was looking for a commission of at least 50%, but ideally 70% or higher. As a beginner with no traffic, my margins were everything.
A 70% commission on a product meant I could make a meaningful profit from a single sale.
Product Price Point
I avoided anything too cheap ($7) or too expensive ($997). A mid-range product, around $27, felt like a sweet spot.
It was a low-enough barrier for an impulse buy but high enough to generate a decent commission.
Gravity Score
This was my most important metric. ClickBank’s “Gravity” score is a rough indicator of how well a product is selling across its affiliate network.
A very low score might mean it’s not converting; a very high score might mean it’s too competitive.
I looked for products with a Gravity between 20 and 100—proven to convert but not so saturated that a newbie like me couldn’t get a foothold.
The Vendor’s Affiliate Resources
I clicked through to the vendor’s page. Did they provide banners, email swipes, and pre-written copy?
A vendor that supports their affiliates is a vendor who understands the game. It showed they were professional and made my job easier.
After an afternoon of research, I found my winner: an eBook about a specific digital marketing technique.
It was priced at $27, offered a 75% commission (just over $20), had a healthy Gravity score of 45, and the vendor had a full affiliate resource kit. The product solved a clear, specific problem for a defined audience. It was perfect.
Step 3: Building My First Funnel
I didn’t have ClickFunnels back then. Instead, I cobbled together a basic funnel using tools that were available to me:
- A simple landing page builder (nothing fancy).
- A basic autoresponder to capture emails.
- A direct link to the affiliate offer.
It wasn’t pretty. In fact, looking back, my funnel design was embarrassingly simple. But I stuck with the golden rule: “Done is better than perfect.”
With the product secured, it was time to build the bridge. I was terrified of this part. I had no coding skills and no money for a fancy developer. But Russell’s method required only the most basic of tools: a landing page builder. I used a cheap, simple one—getResponse, if I recall correctly, though today there are many others like ConvertKit or Carrd that are perfect for this.
My funnel consisted of just two pages:
Page 1 – The Value-Promise Landing Page (The Squeeze Page)
This was the entire battle. Its sole job was to capture an email address. It had to be compelling, concise, and crystal clear.
The Headline
I didn’t say “Sign Up For My Newsletter.” I used a benefit-driven headline that promised a transformation.
It was something like: “The 5-Minute Guide to Doubling Your Website Traffic.” It was directly related to the product I was promoting, but positioned as a free, immediate insight.
The Body Copy
I wrote three short paragraphs.
- Paragraph 1: Agitated the problem. “Are you struggling to get visitors to your site? Spending hours on content that no one sees?”
- Paragraph 2: Introduced the solution and the promise. “I was in your shoes until I discovered a simple, often-overlooked technique. I’ll send you a quick guide that explains it all, free.”
- Paragraph 3: Presented a clear call-to-action. “Enter your email below, and I’ll send the guide to your inbox right now.”
The Opt-In Form
A single, bold field for the email address and a prominent button that said “SEND ME THE GUIDE!”
There were no distractions. No navigation menu, no links to my “About Me” page, no social media icons. It was a digital cul-de-sac with only one way out: typing in an email.
Page 2 – The Immediate Offer (The Tripwire)
This is where the “self-liquidating” magic happened. Immediately after someone entered their email, they didn’t go to a “Thank You” page. They were redirected instantly to the sales page for the $27 eBook.
The psychology was brilliant:
- The visitor was already in a “problem-solving” mode.
- They had just taken a micro-commitment (giving their email) and were feeling receptive.
- The product I was offering was a direct, more comprehensive solution to the problem I had just addressed on the previous page.
For a segment of the audience, this was a no-brainer. They’d buy on the spot. If they did, my $20 commission would soon be on its way. If they didn’t, no problem. They were now on my email list.
Step 4: Driving Traffic with Solo Ads
This was the moment of truth. I had a product and a funnel, but no one to send it through.
I had no audience, no blog, no social media following. The only option was to buy traffic.
This is where most beginners freeze. Spending real money is terrifying. But I understood the principle: I had to invest to learn. I set a strict test budget of $25.
I chose to buy Solo Ads. This is where you pay another list owner in your niche to send an email promoting your link to their subscribers.
I found a small-to-mid-sized marketer in the digital marketing space whose audience aligned with my offer. I negotiated a deal for $25 to send my link to a portion of their list.
I remember my hand shaking as I entered my PayPal details. $25 was a lot of money for me then.
It was a week’s worth of coffee. It was a genuine risk. But I had a system. My funnel was built. My product was vetted. All that was left was to launch.
Step 5: The Agony and The Ecstasy – That Fateful Afternoon
I hit the “approve” button on the payment at around 4 p.m. The solo ad vendor confirmed my email would go out within the hour. And then… I had to wait.
I tried to distract myself with university homework, but it did not work. Every few minutes, I’d reflexively click over to my ClickBank account.
Nothing. I’d check my email analytics. A few clicks were starting to trickle in. My heart raced with each new number.
The first hour passed. A few dozen people had visited my landing page. A handful had even opted in.
But my ClickBank account remained stubbornly at $0.00. The doubt started to creep in. Was my headline bad? Was the offer weak? Did I just throw away $25?
This is the part of the story nobody shows you—the agonizing wait, the imposter syndrome, the fear of failure.
Then, around two hours after the campaign started, I clicked refresh on my ClickBank dashboard for what felt like the thousandth time.
And there it was.
A line item I had never seen before. Under “Total Earnings,” it didn’t say “$0.00.” It said “$20.80.”
I stared at it. I blinked. I refreshed the page again, convinced it was a glitch. The number remained. $20.80. I had done it.
A real person, somewhere in the world, had clicked my link, gone through my funnel, and bought that product.
The vendor got their share, ClickBank took their fee, and I was left with my $20.80. It wasn’t a life-changing sum, but the emotional payoff was immeasurable.
I had proven to myself that I could provide value, architect a system, and get paid for it.
The coffee tasted better that evening. The Mexican sunset looked more vibrant. I was no longer just a student; I was a businessman.
Step 6: Realizing the Power of Proof
That first sale taught me one of the most important lessons in online business:
👉 You don’t need to know everything before you start. You just need proof that the model works.
For me, that $20 was priceless. It wasn’t just income—it was validation. It meant that the system worked:
- A product I didn’t create.
- A funnel that wasn’t perfect.
- Traffic that I didn’t own.
And yet, the sale happened.
The Aftermath: Lessons Learned from That First $20
That first sale was a spark, and it lit a fire. I didn’t retire on that $20.80, but I reinvested it. I bought more solo ads.
I tested new headlines. I promoted different products. Some campaigns lost money, others made a little. But I was now operating from a place of knowledge, not guesswork.
The core lessons from that first success are the ones I still carry with me today:
Simplicity is Superior
My funnel was brutally simple. No fluff, no complexity. Focus on the essential steps: Attract, Engage, Offer.
The System is the Solution
I didn’t get lucky. I followed a proven marketing system. Success in affiliate marketing is less about a “secret” and more about the disciplined execution of fundamentals.
Your List is Your Asset
That first email list, though tiny, was my first business asset. Those people had permitted me to talk to them. The real long-term money in online business is built on the back of a trusted email list.
You Have to Spend Money to Make Money
My $25 investment was the best educational purchase I ever made. It bought me data, confidence, and my first sale. Calculated risk is non-negotiable.
Action Cures Fear
I was scared to spend the money, scared to build the page, scared to fail. The only thing that silenced the fear was taking action.
Your Turn: How You Can Start Your Own Journey
The landscape has changed since my first sale. We have better tools, more platforms, and different traffic sources. But the fundamental principles have not.
Find Your Product
Go to ClickBank, ShareASale, or Amazon Associates. Apply the same criteria: look for a good commission, a fair price, and evidence that it’s selling.
Build Your Simple Funnel
Use a user-friendly tool like Carrd, ConvertKit, or Systeme.io to create a one-page opt-in. Promise a quick win or a valuable tip related to the product.
Drive Targeted Traffic
Start with a small budget. Consider Pinterest ads, Facebook ads in a narrow niche, or a small solo ad purchase.
Your goal for the first campaign is not to get rich, but to get data and prove the concept.
Analyze and Iterate
Did you get clicks but no opt-ins? Your headline might be weak. Did you get opt-ins but no sales? Your offer page might not be aligned. Use the data to make small, intelligent improvements.
That first $20 commission was more than just money. It was a token of proof. Proof that the digital world was not just a place to consume, but a place to create, to contribute, and to build.
Your journey will be different from mine. Your product, your funnel, and your voice will be unique.
But the feeling of that first sale? That universal thrill of validation? That can be yours too. You just have to take the first step.
Final Thoughts: Your First Sale is the Hardest, But the Most Important
Earning my first affiliate commission wasn’t about the money; it was about confidence.
It proved that:
- Affiliate marketing works.
- I could do it from anywhere (even as a student in Mexico with little experience).
- The internet truly offers unlimited opportunities if you’re willing to try.
So if you’re on your journey right now and haven’t made your first sale yet, don’t give up. Focus on simplicity, proof, and persistence.
Because once you earn that first $20, you’ll never look at making money online the same way again.