Is Natural Talent Required To Be Successful Online?

Every now and then someone will reach out to me claiming they can’t make money with affiliate marketing because they don’t have the same natural talent for it that I do.

That statement makes me laugh every time I hear it.

The fact is, there is not a single drop of natural talent in me when it comes to affiliate marketing — or making money online in general.

I don’t have a marketing degree or a computer science degree.  I was a casual internet user when I started.

Any talent I have has been learned in the trenches while I was attending the Internet Marketing School of Hard Knocks.

And let me tell you, I got knocked down a lot!

I’m afraid that people confuse natural talent with sheer determination and constant forward-moving action.

We all have the ability to make some money online with affiliate marketing. The talent to do that is not something you come into the game with – it’s a talent you learn… and you earn.

Hard Work Leads To Success

I read this great article over at OneSpoonAtATime.com that asked Do You Believe in Natural Talent?

Here is something the author said that I believe hits the nail right on the head:

“The Ego is programmed by thousands of years of evolution to keep us alive – and as a result it hates change.

That’s because with change comes uncertainty. With uncertainty comes potential danger. So the Ego tries to steer us away from change. And uncertainty. And potential danger. And when we want to learn to play a musical instrument, or learn to speak a foreign language, or learn to draw, or paint, the Ego does its work like this:

It finds an example of someone in your field who is really good. And it whispers in your ear: ‘you can never be as good as them. They’re naturally talented.’

Most of us are lost the minute we listen to that voice. “

As someone who teaches new affiliate marketers, the passage quoted above was very powerful for me to read… and to understand.

Perhaps when one states they don’t have a natural talent for this, they actually mean they are afraid they don’t have the ability to go outside their comfort zone – and that is the natural talent they think I possess that they do not possess?

Stepping Away From Your Comfort Zone

I also think it’s important to note that it took years worth of “baby steps” for me to step away from my original comfort zone. It was definitely not an overnight thing.

I don’t think I know a single successful Internet marketer who easily succeeded online based on some natural talent for the profession. However, I do know plenty that let their fear of uncertainty fuel them as they worked hard to develop their talents.

Is Natural Talent Required?

What advice would you offer someone new to affiliate marketing who feared they didn’t have the natural talent to be successful? Do you think natural talent is required?

Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments area below.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Jennifer Ledbetter

Jennifer Ledbetter aka "PotPieGirl" is most known as an affiliate marketer who went from zero to six-figures a year starting with all free methods (like she teaches at OneWeekMarketing.com).