How I Started Affiliate Marketing With No Experience and Earned My First Commission

Affiliate marketing is one of those buzzwords that gets thrown around in the online business space a lot. But for the longest time, I thought it was only for tech-savvy people or marketing experts. I had zero experience, no fancy website, and barely understood what a "funnel" was. But despite all that, I still managed to earn my first affiliate commission—and that small win completely changed my mindset.

If you’re curious about how to get started with affiliate marketing (without any prior experience), this post is for you. I’ll walk you through exactly what I did, the tools I used, what worked (and what didn’t), and how you can start your own journey today—even if you're starting from scratch like I did.

👉 Click here to discover the system I used.

What Is Affiliate Marketing (In Simple Terms)?

Affiliate marketing is when you promote someone else’s product or service and earn a commission when someone buys through your unique referral link.

Let’s say you promote a digital course that costs $100. If the company offers a 50% affiliate commission, you earn $50 every time someone buys through your link. No need to create your own product, handle shipping, or deal with customer support. Just refer, and earn.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Step 1: Discovering Affiliate Marketing

I stumbled upon affiliate marketing while scrolling YouTube late at night. I saw someone talking about how they made $1,000 in a week just by promoting a product they didn’t even create. That got me curious.

I did a bit of Googling and came across a platform called Legendary Marketer—a training program that teaches beginners how to start making money online through affiliate marketing. I was skeptical at first, but since it only cost $7 to get started, I figured I had nothing to lose.

That $7 investment became the best decision I ever made.

Step 2: Learning the Basics

Inside the training, I learned about things like:

• Sales funnels

• Email marketing

• Traffic generation

• How to find affiliate products

• Creating content to attract people

The training broke everything down into beginner-friendly lessons. I didn’t need any experience, and each step built on the last. I followed along and took action after each video.

The most important thing I learned? You don’t need to be an expert to get started. You just need to be willing to learn and take action.

Step 3: Picking a Product to Promote

Once I felt confident in the basics, I signed up for a few affiliate programs. I wanted to promote a product I actually believed in—so I decided to start by promoting Legendary Marketer itself. After all, it was the exact system helping me learn the ropes.

There are tons of other affiliate programs out there too. Some popular ones include:

• Amazon Associates (great for physical products)

• ClickBank (digital products)

• ShareASale

• Digistore24

• JVZoo

But I chose Legendary Marketer because I liked the training and saw real value in it.

👉 Click here to discover the system I used.

Step 4: Creating a Simple Funnel

This part sounded complicated at first, but the training walked me through how to build a simple 2-step funnel:

1. Landing Page – A simple page offering a free resource or training to capture email addresses.

2. Bridge Page – A quick video from me introducing the product I was promoting and encouraging them to click through to the affiliate offer.

I used a tool called ClickFunnels, but there are free and cheaper alternatives too, like Systeme.io or GetResponse.

The main goal was to collect email addresses so I could follow up with people later—even if they didn’t buy right away.

Step 5: Driving Traffic

Here’s where the magic started to happen.

I used TikTok to start creating short videos with tips about affiliate marketing. You don’t need to show your face if you’re camera-shy—I used screen recordings and voiceovers at first.

Each video included a call to action like: “Check the link in my bio to learn how I got started.”

And slowly but surely, people started clicking. Some joined my email list. A few even bought the $7 training through my link.

Step 6: My First Commission 🎉

About two weeks after I launched my first funnel and started posting on TikTok, I got an email:

“You’ve earned a commission.”

It was only $2.80.

Not a life-changing amount, but it felt like it. That one email proved that the system worked. It was all the motivation I needed to keep going.

I kept learning, tweaking, and growing. More commissions followed.

👉 Click here to discover the system I used.

Lessons I Learned as a Beginner Affiliate Marketer

Here are a few things I wish I knew from the start:

• Start before you're ready – You’ll never feel 100% prepared, but action beats perfection.

• Pick one strategy and stick with it – Don’t try to do everything at once. I focused on TikTok only.

• Build an email list – This is your real asset. People may not buy right away, but they might later.

• Be consistent – Post content regularly and stay in the game.

• Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself – That $7 course gave me the roadmap I desperately needed.

How You Can Start Today (Even If You’re Brand New)

If I could go back and give myself advice on Day 1, it would be this:

Don’t waste time trying to figure everything out on your own. Find a proven system and follow it step-by-step.

That’s what helped me get results.

If you’re serious about starting affiliate marketing and want a beginner-friendly path, I highly recommend checking out the exact system I used to go from zero to my first commission.

👉 Click here to discover the system I used.