How I turned my Injury into a 6 Figure Business in 10 Months

working on a laptop in bed

My back first ‘went’ in 2013.  That’s when my fitness business started heading downhill. As a Personal Trainer and bootcamp instructor, I used to carry out some work from home, but it was very much ‘trading my time for money’ when clients came to train with me. I’m going to open your eyes to a whole new work from home idea called Affiliate Marketing. It helped me transform my life, and finally pulled me out of the pain filled, mental health hole that I fell into for a few years.

It was during the years that I was somewhat ‘lost’ that I first discovered the idea of taking my fitness business online. I loved the idea of working online as we then began a chaotic 4 year period where we moved house 4 times! The thought that I could take my fitness business online and work remotely with clients was a revelation (and this was before the Pandemic).  The programme I initially invested in showed me everything I needed to be an online PT.  It was brilliant and I loved to learn these new online skills.

The trouble is though, I no longer felt like a good coach; how could I train others when I was still in pain physically and mentally. To be fair, I developed a bunch of programmes and had some success delivering them, and even though I got great results for my clients and received lovely testimonials, the imposter syndrome was real! And by now, we were fully renovating our new property – a listed building.

Just as we embarked on our renovations, I came across a great course about setting up an online business I loved, that didn’t require me to have any of my own products or courses (or splash myself all over social media!) I’d actually seen a similar one the year before and dismissed it, but this time, something drew me in, it looked genuinely possible.

Despite being a sucker for a shiny object, I was still hugely sceptical of a potential scam.  I also had some fear about my technical abilities, could someone my age actually set up an online business?  Would I need to be splashing myself all over Social Media? (Turns out, not all all!) The course was such great value and refundable though, so it seemed like a no-brainer to at least check out what was possible online, so I could make an informed choice. 

I guess he knew me well, because despite having all the support and training at my fingertips, I just couldn’t make it work.  The thing is, I was doing all the project management on our home as well as being chief decorator.  As we were renovating, we were living in a tiny flat and I was driving 45 mins each way to the girl’s schools, so I was chief taxi driver. I was also working free for a friend who let me use some of her office space, and I was also working to build my online fitness business, whilst also thinking I could set up an affiliate marketing business (I’d chosen the Affiliate Marketing route, as this was the quickest and easiest way to start earning a good income). Talk about trying to catch multiple rabbits!!

“(S)He who chases two rabbits, catches none”
Confucious

Mentally and physically I wasn’t in a great place, but the chase continued. 

We finally moved in, but having run out of funds and unable to complete a number of jobs in the house, it wasn’t the celebration we’d hoped for.  We had no kitchen, no garden and no carpets!  Then the pandemic hit.  I was getting a little traction as on online coach (using the new training I’d invested in), but now every PT in the world jumped online and most of them were doing stuff for free!  So I continued to flounder around with both my online businesses, whilst doing all my ‘mum’ stuff (and some additional family stuff, I’m not going to go into) so still those rabbits were frolicking free in the fields, waving their fingers at me!

My mental health was taking a battering, I was drinking too much, I’d lost any enthusiasm for training as most things just hurt, and all this time I hadn’t appreciated the chaos menopause was having until hot flushes and night sweats left me truly wrecked (that’s a whole other story!!)

In all of this, I continued to subscribe to the incredible community of online entrepreneurs and coaching & training resources I had access to, as I just knew I was in the right place. I could see the success others were having in their ‘work from home jobs’ and knew I could do it too, somehow.  And then, my back ‘went’ again. This time, the pain was so bad I ended up horizontal for 9 weeks.  I was in excruciating pain.  I couldn’t sit, I could barely stand, my left leg felt like it was on fire.  The only slight relief came from lying on my side. 

I used those 9 weeks to get stuck into the training I had invested in and really learn how to be a successful Affiliate Marketer.

how to set up a work from home business

Lying on my side, I joined the group calls.

Lying on my side, I had my 1-2-1 calls with some incredible coaches.

Lying on my side, I wrote a blog post.

Lying on my side, I set up a Google Ad to that blog post.

7 days after setting up that ad, whilst I was open water swimming (having had 2 spinal block injections) I made my first sale through affiliate marketing.

6 months later I had my first ever 5 figure month – with just that same single blog post.

I’ve spent years chasing 2 ‘business’ rabbits, but having been forced to focus on just the one, I can now proudly say I’m a successful (high ticket) affiliate marketer! (you can see some of my high ticket commissions in the screenshot below).

Work from home as an afiliate marketer

I have income being generated 24/7 through the systems I have in place, and I now have the time to focus some attention back to my fitness business.  Having now learnt how to effectively and successfully work from home, I’m not trading time for money with coaching any more. Much as I’ve loved it, I’m loving the freedom that working online brings me, more!  I have digital health and fitness resources (including some on menopause!) that having created once, will generate a passive income using the digital marketing skills I have learned through the training.

I can finally pay off the loan I took out when I decided to invest in myself.
I bought some new carpets!!

And we are sticking with our second-hand kitchen a while longer, because I’m taking the family on a cruise this year!

work from home

Working online on my terms has been a life changer and it all started when I checked out this course…..

affiliate marketing
jennie edmondson

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