Welcome to Wealthy Affiliate, The Open Education Project!

Before I get into anything, I want to give you two simple pieces of advice within the Wealthy Affiliate community.

(1) Don’t be afraid to ask questions
(2) Take action on what you learn

Right now you should take a second and introduce yourself within the main chat....this alone is a big hurdle for many (and perhaps you) and this alone will set you off in the right direction.

Post a little "hello" in WA Chat!

If you can do this, you will utilize WA to its full potential and be well on your way to creating success online. Ask for help if you are ever stuck on something. Build stuff. Write stuff. Make stuff. Network. This is not just an educational resource, Wealthy Affiliate also provides you with all the tools, services and support you need to make money online.

In the next 10 days our goal is to help you...

(1) Choose a niche you are interested in
(2) Build a website
(3) Create content for your site
(4) Get traffic and hopefully some sales
(5) Experience SUCCESS!
(6) Build a foundation of Internet Business knowledge

Sounds like a lot, but with the training, tools, and support network you have here within the Wealthy Affiliate community you can accomplish this (and even more!). We also want to prepare you for longer term success and creating a REAL business online.

You have to be realistic about this and you can’t expect to know everything in a couple of weeks...it takes time to become an expert and you need to give yourself a lot of credit for all your accomplishments along the way.

I now want to give you a quick overview of the 5 W’s of the community (who, what, where, when, why) as this will help you understand what you are going to be able to accomplish here in the upcoming days, months, and if we do our job of getting you to absolutely love WA, years!!! :)

Getting Started Course - Your First 10

Who Are We?

We are Wealthy Affiliate. Our names are Kyle and Carson and we are just a component of the awesome community here. We are very active members and are very experienced in Internet marketing and online business. We are the owners, but we are on the same level as you and everyone else.

Behind the scenes we have a vision and our focus is to continually improve Wealthy Affiliate to become a better place to “learn and earn” within the Internet space. Over the years we have evolved. If we didn’t we would not be the current and thriving community that we are today.

Wealthy Affiliate is the ONLY place you need to be if you are looking to start, build, or scale an online or offline business via the Internet. You have an entire community behind you and we are all here to support each other through the ups and downs that are inevitable within any business environment.

We would like to personally welcome you and thank you for taking the time to join Wealthy Affiliate. I think you will love it here and if you do ever have any feedback (positive or negative) do let us know!

What You Can Accomplish Within The Open Education Project?

The SKY is the LIMIT! Seriously, anything that you have ever wanted to accomplish can be achieved with a bit of learning, some hard work, and some dedication to what is taught here within the community.

And the really awesome part? If you ever need a hand, we are here to help.

Like any trade or any business, before you succeed you need to a solid foundation to work from. I like to say that you cannot build a skyscraper on a mud foundation. The same goes for a business on the Internet. You cannot build something successful if you don’t have a sound foundation of knowledge.

That is why we created our foundation building course called "Your First 10".

Your Getting Started Course: Your First 10 - Getting Rolling with Wealthy Affiliate

This is the training that has been created specifically for you and you should follow through this training in the next 10 days. You can also find this training if you search "Your First 10" within the search bar above. :)

Unlike any other “opportunity” program, at Wealthy Affiliate we provide you with everything you need. There is nothing that you need to purchase outside of WA other than perhaps a domain name (which we do recommend you get), but you will never see us promoting anything outside of the content that is provided to you here at Wealthy Affiliate.

This allows you to focus on the task at hand and not worry about “the next shiny object” that you have to buy. You are in a safe haven here at Wealthy Affiliate. You do not need anything else. You can simply focus your success goals and if you ever need a hand getting there, we are here to help.

Learn and then take action on what you learn. The action will lead to success and your potential is only limited by your actions. The sky is truly the limit.

Where Do you Go to Do Stuff?

Our motto here at Wealthy Affiliate is...

“Learn. Build. Network. Succeed.”

To accomplish these tasks, there are different areas within the WA community that you need to go. We have covered where you go to accomplish all of these within the “Learn How WA Works” training.

Get an Overview of the Wealthy Affiliate site Here!

Read the overview and breakdown of how to navigate and make full use of your membership here at Wealthy Affiliate.

You have your fingertips on the training, the tools, the systems, and the community that will ultimately lead you to success.

There are 4 aspects that you should try to acquaint yourself sooner than later.

(1) The Community

This is where you can find stuff, new material, new content, new chats, and new discussions. There are many ways in which you can communicate, starting with the "comments" section at the bottom of this blog.

You can also join in on any chats (on the main dashboard), communicate via the forum, send people private messages (including us), comment on peoples profiles/training/blog. LOTS of ways to communicate and network with fellow members of the community here!

(2) Building Websites & Research

Building websites and performing all of your research tasks is a breeze within Wealthy Affiliate. If you are looking to build a website, you can do so from the "quick actions" menu in the top header (see below).

You can also see it within the "Premium Services" menu (which are all included for no extra cost here).

This is where you will find the keyword tool as well. This is your ultimate keyword research tool that can be used to find keywords for your campaigns. This will make more sense as you go through the main Getting Started course.

(3) Your Member Ranking (the SUM of your activity within WA!)

This is your birds eye view of your activity metrics. You can see everything from the number of people you have invited, to the number of people following you, and your overall rank within the Wealthy Affiliate community (lots of incentive to try to achieve a higher rank).

You can also click the “create” button within the top menu to create a blog post, a website, or a training resource from within any page at WA.

(4) An Unbelievable Amount of Training

This is where you can search the system for any specific training you are looking for. Whether it is a training module (video or tutorial), a blog post or a webinar, the search will reveal the most relevant training from The Open Education Project that is specific to your search. If you are looking for training on local marketing, simply type in “local marketing” into the search.

You can build websites easily. You can build an empire online. You can learn anything you want and if the training isn’t there yet, you can request it. You can get help from those that are very successful within the online business or network with those that are in the same situation you are. You can build a following. You can follow others.

(5) Help ME!!!

I want you to promise something here...

If you get stuck with ANYTHING, ask for help. I don’t want you getting frustrated and missing out on this unbelievable opportunity because you are disappointed with your WA experiences. I want you to get the most out of WA and asking for help is a big component of that. If you have a question, ask us, ask for help in chat, post a comment, write a blog post with your question, or send Carson or myself a private message. You WILL get answers!

When Should You Start?

NOW! Don’t procrastinate. If you are like MANY (I mean MANNNNY) people that I have worked with over the years, your biggest hurdle is the fact that it seems easier to “not try” something than it is to actually “try it”. That is also the safe way out of things...or is it?

You have an unbelievable amount of talent and knowledge and this can be harnessed through the Internet. The reason I know this is that everyone has a specific skill, knowledge, or passion that can be leveraged to create an entire business online for yourself, or to help other businesses out. The technical stuff has become very easy and at Wealthy Affiliate we will help you overcome all of these fears so you can focus on YOU. Your business. Your path to success!

Start with the "Your First 10" and work your way through this training:

Your First 10 - Wealthy Affiliate Started Course

Take action on what you learn. Action leads to success and if you do have any questions along the way, let us know.

Why is it Important to Get Educated and Start Your Own Online Business?

The world is changing. Conventional education being taught in University is leading to a ton of expenses, yet no job on the other end. Conventional education cannot keep up to the speed in which the Internet is changing the way we behave and the way we do business.

Within the Open Education Project here at WA you are going to get access to the most current training, the most current discussions, within the most helpful community anywhere. There are knowledgeable people on just about any topic imaginable and you should spend your next 10 days getting immersed into the Wealthy Affiliate system.

Learn from our training. Create relationships with fellow members. Build a website, content, and knowledge set. And work towards success.

Take care and do let us know if you EVER have any questions! Make the most of your time here and feel free to use the system to its full potential!

I can speak for Carson and Myself when I say that we look forward to being part of your success and get a chance to work with you indefinitely.

My initial suggestion is to browse around Wealthy Affiliate to see what we offer and make your way to the Step-by-step 30 day success club training labeled “Getting Started” in the main menu!

An Action You Can Take RIGHT NOW to Earn $$$!

Before I leave you today I want to make sure that you are off on the right track, so again I'll point you in the direction of the "Your First 10 - Getting Started Course".

That is all for the introduction.

Again, welcome to Wealthy Affiliate and I look forward to getting to know you and helping you achieve success online! :)

Kyle (& Carson)
Co-founders of WealthyAffiliate.com, The Open Education Project