Finding jobs for students

Date: 2010.10.18 | Category: Home business | Tags:

My son is 20 in his first year of university. He is constantly looking for ways to make extra money, and has discovered that finding jobs for students is not easy. Although he’s been in the loop in terms of my affiliate marketing adventures, he had never taken a huge interest. About a year ago, however, he started to notice just how much money can be made in affiliate marketing, so we had some discussions about job opportunities for students in affiliate marketing.

My advice to him was to look at what interests him, then research niches in terms of competition, products and opportunities. I went through the detail with him, and left him to it. Time came and went, but I decided I wasn’t going to nag him. He is studying, has two other part time jobs that keep him fairly busy on weekends, so I figured when he’s ready, we’ll talk some more.

Imagine my surprise six months later when he sat down with not one idea, but three plans to start affiliate marketing campaigns – and one of them was a membership site that I think could really take off! I was thrilled, as we have all the resources we needed to make this happen, and of course I was even more happy that he had seen the value of affiliate marketing. I asked him what made him want to get into this avenue, and his answers were somewhat surprising. He said:

• he liked the idea that this was something he could do when he has the time, even if it’s late at night
• he was very excited about the possibilities, because he had found niches that he is really interested in
• it wouldn’t interfere with his studies – he wouldn’t have to skip lectures to go to ‘work’ (this is a problem he has found with many job opportunties for students)
• although he would need my help and that of my husband, he felt this was something he could learn and do himself, properly. He liked the idea that it would be ‘his business’, and that he would not be a junior working for someone else.

The first three corroborated my feelings about affiliate marketing as a home business. The third one was interesting though. I took a long time to get used to NOT having a boss, and I still struggle with self-motivation and planning – I worked for big companies most of my life and was very used to doing what I was told to do. Here was my son wanting to be his own boss, and looking forward to the opportunity to do so! (I will say this though, he has his dad’s aversion to authority for authority’s sake so this shouldn’t have surprised me at all!)

He started planning his websites, and I insisted he set up an editorial calendar, particularly since I was going to have to help him with article writing in the beginning. His dad helped him do all the technical stuff. What was really nice was the fact that he was spending more time at home (I am still a mum!) and we sat every night for an hour going over what he was doing, what still had to be done and where he was with his plan. It was exciting going through all the baby steps with him again.

What I did find very satisfying was that he thought I was some kind of genius ! Thanks to my training at Wealthy Affiliate, I could give him tried and tested advice and ideas that really motivated him to get going. When we got stuck, I could look for advice on WA that gave us the help and inspiration we needed – some of which we would have paid a fortune for elsewhere.

His first site was launched a few months ago, and his traffic and sales are rising steadily. The second one was put on hold for end-of-semester exams, but it’s back on track and due to be up and running soon. The membership site is on track for a January launch. He’s motivated, excited, and loving the fact that his sites earn him money while he’s asleep! (Sounds just like a student, doesn’t he!) Turns out finding jobs for students wasn’t that hard after all.

Now we just need to get him earning enough so we can retire and live off him for a change!