I decided to name this blog “Passive Income Rising” after the long-lived Phoenix bird associated with re-birth… it dies in flames and then obtains new life by arising from the ashes. After I was homeless in Phoenix, AZ for around five months in 2012, I vowed that I would eventually rise up no matter how long it took.

When I started online

My quest to earn income online started in 2009 when I was working as a waitress for a pizza chain. I had just quit college and moved to Chicago from Kansas with hopeful ambitions of starting a new adventure. I was a horrible employee because I hated my job and just knew there had to be more to life.

I didn’t care about my job. I showed up late almost every day, and in a bad attitude. I didn’t care, either. So I went online and starting researching legitimate ways to earn money from home. I discovered Clickbank early in 2009 and I was totally clueless. I thought those hoplinks were going to make me rich in a week… so I quit my job right away. Can you say CLUELESS?

Fortunately, I did not waste much money on scam products (because I was pretty much too broke to spend any money), but mostly I just wasted precious time on surveys, paid-to-click sites, and other online task sites.

Lots of wasted time and energy

Over a span of almost a decade, I continued my research of many different ways to earn online and ended up wasting a lot of time just tinkering around with all these different affiliate programs, online courses, and programs that led me to nowhere. Not because they were all scams or totally useless, but because I had information overload!

I was paralyzed by all the different parts and pieces of the process and didn’t know how to proceed in an organized fashion. People around me also thought I was crazy to keep pursuing my online passive income goals… they thought it was a waste of time and full of false hopes. Worst yet, I was feeling depressed and overwhelmed by the next “shiny object”. I was my own worst enemy for years.

Getting serious

In 2020, something hit me. I knew that I would never earn serious passive income online until I got serious about my business. I knew that whatever I was doing in the past wasn’t working.

While my online business is still a work in progress, I feel so fortunate to have all the knowledge I’ve accumulated over the past 11 years studying content marketing, lead generation, branding, list-building, mindset, and much more. These are the foundation of building a successful online business! More importantly, yet, I realized I needed to be adding value to the lives of others!

I also realized I was operating from a mindset of lack and limitation for many years, which led to my lack of results in my business. Now I am always studying mindset because self-development is very important to me. And I prefer to surround myself with those who are always aiming to improve themselves, as well.

With this blog, I’m sharing all the tips, resources, and lessons I have learned about affiliate marketing along the way so you can find your own entrepreneurial spirit and financial freedom!