Associate Programs Newsletter #560
Where's the champagne? I'm celebrating. It's the 10th anniversary of the scariest time of my life.
As a few longtime readers may remember, 10 years ago I was lying in hospital after having a bone marrow transplant.
In the previous two years, I'd gone downhill from having anemia to pancytopenia. “Pan” means all – ALL my blood counts were lower than normal, not just my red cells.
When my blood counts dropped even lower, doctors drilled into a hip bone, examined my bone marrow, and told me I was “lucky” – I didn't have leukemia. Instead, I had aplastic anemia – my bone marrow was on a go-slow. It wasn't producing enough blood cells.
That was scary enough, but the really scary bit came later.
First, the doctors tried to fix me by using immuno-suppressant therapy – stuff called Atgam. They pumped me full of a cocktail of chemicals to try to teach my T-cells to stop attacking my immune system. All that did was give me horrible side effects.
They followed that up with Prednisone – steroids – and platelet transfusions.
For the next few months, my blood cell counts kept declining. I was being kept alive with blood and platelet transfusions. (Platelets live for only a week, so I needed regular transfusions.)
Then the doctors tried my last chance – a bone marrow transplant.
To do that, they had to give me toxic doses of chemotherapy to destroy all my defective bone marrow. The side effects were NOT nice.
They burrowed into my sister's hip bone, sucked out some of her healthy bone marrow, and gave it me.
So there I was, 10 years ago, lying in a hospital bed in an oncology ward, waiting to see if the bone marrow transplant would “take”.
Imagine someone testing your blood counts – red cells, white cells, neutrophils and platelets – and then telling you the counts are all exactly zero. That's where I was.
The doctors were saving my life, but it felt as though they were trying to kill me.
I won't dwell on all the nasty side effects, but on top of them I had to wait patiently, for day after day, to see if my blood counts would start to move up from zero.
Each day, a blood sample would be taken and tested. The nurses kept track of my progress. That was simple: Zero.
So there I was, pumped full of painkillers and antiobiotics, and occasionally hooked up to oxygen… while I waited for my body to decide it wasn't ready to die yet.
It wasn't until what they called “Day 13” that my neutrophils (those important little white disease-fighting blood cells) at long last moved upwards from zero to .04. It wasn't much, but that was the start of a long, slow recovery in my health.
One thing I remember about those days is all the wonderful messages of support I received at the time. Those messages meant a LOT to me. You know who you are… Thank you!
Ten years later, I'm fine now, thanks to healthy living and help from doctor who's also a trained naturopath.
My favorite morning walk, around the beaches at Rainbow Bay, Queensland, includes a couple of small hills and I'm using those hills to increase my fitness. I ran up 80 steps without stopping today.
I'm training for a mountain walk I'm going to do. I'll tell you more about that another day.
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When bad things happen…
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When bad things happen to us, or to people we know, we're supposed to learn valuable lessons from them. That's the way the world works, isn't it?
You might want to learn from my bad health experience.
Don't take your health for granted. I suspect my aplastic anemia was my own silly fault. I'd worked crazy hours, seven days a week, without proper breaks, for several years. I should have known better.
You know what to do – get enough sleep, exercise, eat healthy food, take vacations, look for balance in your life. But are you doing these things?
What would happen if you were suddenly unable to work? Would your family cope? Have you written a “Letter to Survivors” letter?
Who would run your business if you couldn't? Would they know where look for the instruction manual? Could they sell your business? Would they know how?
Do you even have a business your survivors could sell?
Perhaps it's time to set some new goals?
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On a more optimistic note
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Talking about goals, how's your progress in affiliate marketing?
Is what you're doing working, or is it time to try a different approach?
To succeed, one of the most effective things you can do is invest in high quality education.
Here are three training systems I recommend…
1. SBI SYSTEM
An old favorite – constantly updated as the Internet changes – the SBI system has tens of thousands of users. It's an all-in-one-place, business building system, with courses at more than 25 universities and colleges around the world – and online. It teaches a variety of ways of earning revenue online, including affiliate programs. There's a step-by-step Action Guide, with videos. It has heaps of testimonials and proof of success.
2. NICHE SITE FORMULA
Super affiliate John Gibb's Niche Site Formula teaches you how to build mini sites in health niches. Because he gets you started by building a unique mini site for you, I call it “almost like cheating”. He helps you choose good affiliate programs, often with residual commissions. You need to have a working knowledge of WordPress.
3. AFFILIATE BLOGGER PRO
Rosalind Gardner's blogging “academy” is also based on WordPress. If you want to use WordPress to make money from affiliate programs and are looking for a decent instruction manual this is an excellent place to start. The training includes dozens of short videos.
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Thought for today: Making progress
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“If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn't need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.” – Jim Rohn.
All the best
Allan Gardyne
