Some people look at affiliate marketing as some scammer trying to push any old product in order to get a commission. If you're not an affiliate marketer, you may have preconceived notions that affiliate marketing is in some way less than legitimate. Today, we are going to set the record straight. The Affiliate Guy, Matt McWilliams is here to talk about his affiliate marketing journey and how affiliate marketing can have a positive impact on the world.  We are specifically going to talk about partnering with other online entrepreneurs to reach a broader audience and get your product in front of those who actually need it. Matt breaks down how anyone can start an affiliate program for their product for free. We talk about some of the tools needed and how to remain ethical while actually doing good. According to Matt, the best partners are ones that help you create value, provide quality, and have a relevant audience. He's not willing to promote a product that he wouldn't be willing to sell to one of his closest friends. Matt has been doing affiliate marketing for over 16 years. In fact, it's how he saved one of his businesses. He has trained more than 300,000 affiliates. He has worked with Shutterfly and Adidas. He's also worked with entrepreneurs like Michael Hyatt, Stu McLaren, Lewis Howes, Brian Tracy, Ray Edwards, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington, and Zig Ziglar. He’s the host of The Affiliate Guy Podcast, and he’s passionate about creating positive impact by helping great businesses thrive and build an audience.  And be sure to subscribe to The Self-Employed Life in Apple podcasts or follow us on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts so you don’t miss an episode. Everything you need can all be found at jeffreyshaw.com  Matt McWilliams thank you so much for being here! Remember, you might be in business FOR yourself but you are not in business BY yourself.  Be your best self. Be proud and keep changing the world.   Join 17,000 subscribers looking to do "business with a soul" and sign up to receive my Self-Employed Nutshell Newsletter! Sign up here!   Highlights –   [02:24] Matt has been on a 15-year journey to become a better leader. He discovered that fear was holding him back. He had PTSD from a failed business in the past. Now that he's acknowledged that, it's made a huge difference in his leadership ability.  [04:43] He also lost 88 pounds and improved his health.  [07:35] Matt has been involved with affiliate marketing for the last 16 years. Affiliate marketing saved his business. [10:33] Matt shares how he realized the actual importance of his job helping businesses by teaching affiliate marketing. He realized he is making a difference.  [15:13] Matt lost 88 pounds with the help of his coach. He felt his weight was holding him back in his business. [19:46] Values, quality, relevance and being able to offer the product to a friend can help you decide if your values are in line with the affiliate program you're looking at. [22:55] When looking at potential affiliate programs always ask what is the best way to serve your audience. It's good to go through it or have someone on your team do so. [26:29] When you promote a program, don't send it to everyone on your list or your new subscribers.  [30:10] If you promote something, always give value. Share how it impacted you and why that is so valuable. Give your subscribers an option to opt out of your further affiliate marketing emails on this one program that you are promoting. [32:02] The best place to start finding affiliates is with your friends and people who have promoted similar products.  [34:35] The four sentence rule. Don't overwhelm your list. You can start an affiliate program for free. [36:02] You can use a tool like ConvertKit to set up a landing page URL that will tag affiliates that send traffic to that URL.  [38:39] Follow best practices, and then test everything else. A/B split testing will help you improve your conversions. [45:26] Matt