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Affiliate marketing can turn you into a $6 an hour full-time employee to a multimillionaire in a very short amount of time. I’ve never heard of an industry where a complete individual can go from broke to seven-figures or more in less than a year. It’s incredibly lucrative in the now. That’s the problem – Most affiliate marketers aren’t thinking about 1 to 2 to even 10 years from now.

I think it’s really time for any affiliate marketer, especially the ones that banked hard during the acai and biz-op continuity craze, to start thinking about how they can make their short term affiliate income into something more sustainable. The day and age of gorilla affiliate marketing tactics, I think, is coming to an end within the next year or two, and affiliates are going to have to become more creative to actually start generating leads and sales.

Let’s not forget all the competition that is creeping in on us. Many companies that have used affiliate marketers before, are slowly starting to see they can hire people in the industry to do these jobs internally. Well at least someone there found a long term solution (job, security, benefits, etc). Although most don’t want to have an employer, this is a route I think we’ll find a few people take.

In actuality, you can modify your marketing methods within a few days to go from short term to long term business practices. I’m attempting to convert over in a few ways myself.

First, I’m trying to build assets. Using Aweber on my landing pages and blogs, I can easily build a large list of emails. With an email address, I can constantly send out information, links to items I’m selling, affiliate offers, etc, literally to no end. As long as I provide a useful service and some benefit to those that sign up to the mailing, and I don’t spam them with emails multiple times per day, I can build a pretty sustainable business.

An example I’ll give you is the newsletter on my blog. In exchange for your email, I give you 750+ Facebook sized images you can use for your ads. I also send out coupon codes for my marketplace, and its an extra way to reach out and connect with those that read my blog. I can also send out reviews for products I’ve used, be paid to send out relevant emails featuring other businesses products and services, and generate sales and affiliate commissions through that. And to say the least, it has gone over really well. While it took me a few months to get the list to the size it is now, it consistently generates about a 10 – 15% CTR on any links inside the emails (I mean, I have a list of 800 people… 200 – 300 will open it and about 100-130 will click-through: 25% Open-rate -> 50% CTR after opening).

You can combine email list building with all of your current landing pages and marketing tactics. PPV, Facebook, Google, SEO, Media Buys, whatever! You can start building your asset list, email out your offers in the 1st – 2nd email, and keep hitting them again and again.

Other ways I see affiliates going: starting up their own affiliate network. Many are building their own products. Some are moving from this industry to another with their short-term affiliate profits (Forex, investing, real-estate, physical businesses, etc). In all honesty, I’ll ask this. Do you really want to still be an affiliate marketer in 5 years? In 10? When you get married and have children? I don’t mind it being another form of revenue for me, but I don’t want to be stuck stretching my creativity and budget for it the rest of my life. I’ll always keep it there to net me a few extra figures per month, but eventually it will have to move over for something more sustainable.

One thing I’m looking to move in to is consulting. Most of you may have gotten the email I sent out a couple days, but for those of you who haven’t feel free to check out my consulting page. I’ve always really like teaching people and helping them get over what they were struggling with. Making money, maximizing revenue and ROI are a couple of those problems that affiliate marketers struggle with. I’ve been there and done that, and know how hard it can be to deal with as a new affiliate. Some people may see it as selling out, some people may see it as an escape, however I see it as something I really enjoy. I’ve been a student-teacher, a writing-aid, and did one PPV mastermind session with PPVPlaybook and I loved doing it. Using my knowledge and helping someone succeed – whether that means helping them write an extraordinary final’s essay or generating a higher CTR on Facebook – is very fulfilling. And isn’t that what life, as well as long-term business, should be about? Love what you do.

While I don’t think you should, in anyway, slow down your hustle to generate any money now, you should start thinking about how you can start taking your now money and turning it into tomorrow money. We all know how volatile the affiliate industry is – offers blow up, advertisers and networks go bankrupt, traffic sources dry out (or kick you off), and FTC pulls a lawsuit up against you for illegal business practices. Will you be prepared to face the music if the affiliate industry just implodes on itself?

What’s your long-term business plan?