• Home
  • About Us
  • Advertising opportunities
  • Contact Us

Associate Programs

  • Articles16 Yrs of Expert Advice
    • Advanced Articles
      • Branding
      • Business Partnerships
      • Conversion Rates
      • Datafeeds
      • Employees
      • Geo-Targeting
      • Interactive Websites
      • List Building
      • Membership Sites
      • Outsourcing
      • Super Affiliates
      • Visitor Created Content
      • Web Video
      • Your Own Program
        • Affiliate Program Management
        • Recruiting Affiliates
    • Affiliate Resources
      • Affiliate Blogs
      • Affiliate Networks
      • Affiliate Tools
      • Affiliate Training
      • Books And Courses
      • FREE Marketing Courses
      • Free Software
      • Merchant Resources
      • Recommended Newsletters
      • Research Competitors
      • Residual Commissions
      • Tracking
    • Beginners Articles
      • Affiliate Marketing Success Stories
      • Affiliate Training
      • Building A Website
        • Web Content
        • WordPress Plugins
      • Business Training
      • Getting Started
        • Business Ideas
      • Getting Traffic
        • Link Building
        • PPC Advertising
        • Search Engine Tips
        • Social Media
      • Goal Setting
      • Monetizing A Site
      • Motivation
      • Time Management
      • Writing Tips
    • Intermediate Articles
      • Blogs
      • Buying Advertising
      • Ebook Publishing
      • Ezine Publishing
      • Getting Publicity
      • Improving Sales
      • RSS
      • Squeeze Pages
      • Video
    • News
    • Product Reviews
      • AdSense
      • Affiliate Manuals
      • Autobiographies
      • Blogging
      • Content Packages
      • Keyword Research
      • Link building
      • PPC
      • Product Creation
      • Search Engine Optimization
      • Site Building
      • Traffic generation
      • Useful Newsletters
      • Useful Tools
    • Newsletter Archive
      • 1998 Newsletters
      • 1999 Newsletters
      • 2000 Newsletters
      • 2001 Newsletters
      • 2002 Newsletters
      • 2003 Newsletters
      • 2004 Newsletters
      • 2005 Newsletters
      • 2006 Newsletters
      • 2007 Newsletters
      • 2008 Newsletters
      • 2009 Newsletters
      • 2010 Newsletters
      • 2011 Newsletters
      • 2012 Newsletters
      • 2013 Newsletters
      • 2014 Newsletters
  • Recommended ResourcesThe Actual Tools and Resources I Use
  • Affiliate Program DirectoryFind Affiliate Programs to Promote
Home The Scariest Time Of My Life

The Scariest Time Of My Life

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.

====================
When bad things happen…
====================

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?

=====================
On a more optimistic note
=====================

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.

===========================
Thought for today: Making progress
===========================

“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

Oct 23, 2013Allan Gardyne
5 Ways to Improve Your Social Marketing Results - Starting Today!Are You STILL Wasting Time Blogging?
Comments: 1
  1. Dr.Mani
    9 years ago

    TEN years!  Wow!  How time flies.

    I vividly recall that period, Allan... and the ONE thing that stood out (that I even made the central theme of a special report I shared with thousands on my email list) was that you were ALWAYS positive in your attitude through what must have been among the darkest periods of your life.

    It's something I like to call your "success attitude".  And I'm delighted and grateful to have you around for so many years since, so that you can touch and impact so many people with your experience, knowledge and 'success attitude'.

    Here's wishing you many, MANY more happy anniversaries! :)

    All success
    Dr.Mani

    ReplyCancel

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Allan Gardyne

Affiliate marketing veteran, entrepreneur. Founder of AssociatePrograms.

9 years ago 1 Comment 2013 Newsletters2013 Newsletters92
Recent Posts
  • When to Use Black Hat Marketing (Almost Never)
  • How Much Money Do You Need to Start an Online Business?
  • 3 Emails You Need to Send When You Have an Ecommerce Store
  • How to Start an Ecommerce Business 24 Hours
  • Drive Targeted Traffic using The $5 Facebook Ad Strategy
Latest Directory Listings
SG Health

Make money with multiple health affiliate programs and unique offers. This is a two-tier program paying residual commission of 30% on the first tier plus 5% on second tier sales. no minimum payout, unlimited cookies, get paid every 2 weeks. Sign ...

Exotic Nasal Spray

Exotic Nasal Spray is an advanced new technology uses a tried and tested unique blend of 9 herbal ingredients, which work together to help combat erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation. Affiliates earn 50% commission on sales.

Never an Outbreak

Never an Outbreak offers a proven, all natural treatment to prevent cold sores and genital herpes outbreaks caused by HSV 1 and 2. With over 65,000 satisfied customers already, Never an Outbreak's protocol has shown itself to be effective in all...

Audio Book Fest

Thousands of audio book titles across various genres from well known publishers such as BBC, Simon & Schuster, Time Warner and Harper Collins. Instant download after purchase. MP3 format available. Free samples available. No monthly subscription f...

Moonshadow Rainmaker

The Moonshadow Rainmaker is a free book browser with tens of thousands of books. You can plug it in to your website or blog. The Rainmaker will generate referral fees for you by sending customers to Amazon and other vendors. Add a free Rainmaker t...

Other Pages
  • Create an Account
  • Directory Dashboard
    • How to submit an affiliate program
    • Add an Affiliate Program
  • Advertising Opportunities
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Disclosure & Other Legal Stuff
  • Privacy Policy
Proudly hosted by Cloudways

We wanted the fastest WordPress hosting, so after tons of research, we picked Cloudways and couldn’t be happier.

Copyright © 1998 - 2020 AssociatePrograms by Bedrock Co. All rights reserved. View our Privacy and Disclosure policies.