There are two separate ingredients to living your dream by creating income with affiliate programs online. They are vital to your success both as a sponsor and as a downline member. Your role as a sponsor and your role as an active affiliate in your chosen program are equally important if you wish to truly increase your earning power.

Let's first look at the fact that most people tend to come to the internet with a lotto mentality hoping to make big money fast. They believe the hype. They tend to pogo stick from one money making opportunity to another in hopes of finding the gold and yet fail to do the easy stuff that really does create that lifestyle they desire to achieve.

In grade school your teacher probably said something like "ok let's settle down" well the same can apply to both sponsors and members. SETTLE DOWN! To make real income anywhere online or off doesn't matter, it's a real business and it will take three to five years to develop a successful business. Not five to ten minutes like the lotto mentality would dictate.

Don't believe the hype. Become a good member and be a great sponsor who over delivers on support, training and personal help. You know old school, one on one with your new members. These are the tools successful sponsors in any program have mastered and it took a lot longer than five minutes. In order for you to be a great sponsor you first have to be a great affiliate so let's look at the to do list.

Affiliates, downline or team members can also be considered customers and clients, leads and contacts. The people are the constant needed for any business to thrive. Being an active and involved affiliate member yourself is easy to accomplish and anyone who is serious about being in business and creating the income from affiliate programs "that you can brag about" will have to get seriously involved in certain actions and steps to pull it all together over time, and they are:

1. Login to your account! Most people because they are pogo sticking around looking for gold (and only finding dirt) have only went so far as to fill out the form on the page to join xyz affiliate program. They failed to complete the next step which is to login and take a look around. So if this is you, here is your to do list.

a. Login using your username and password and fill in your correct contact information. Why use a bogus email or phone number? It accomplishes the opposite of what you are looking for. Without connecting to other people in the program you will not grow and you will not make money. How is your sponsor supposed to contact you?

b. Once logged in click every button and link. Everywhere you can fill out your own information for any of the downline programs in your members area, you should have your affiliate id in it so you get the growth from your marketing efforts and not someone else. Do the paper work.

c. If the program requires you to surf do it! After all, didn't you need more traffic or leads when you signed up? Use the program you just joined to it's fullest so you can easily help and train Your new member how to use the system successfully as well. This is the first step to being a great sponsor and the beginning of your affiliate income.

d. Promote it! Why join if you have no intention of actively promoting it to create the growth you need to make money from that particular program. Otherwise it's just another program that "failed to produce?" on your list. most likely it was not the program that failed but you, because you took no action.

e. When you need help ASK YOUR SPONSOR! They should be your first line of information when you need answers quick. Remember that when you are the sponsor, using a fake email or having no phone number is not a good way to do business and if your downline cannot get a hold of you they will pogo stick right out of your income stream into someone else's.

f. Attend any and all online free workshops, training classes or special meetings related to that program so you ask the questions you need answers to. This is the best place to bring your own new referrals into your new program too so they can not only meet with you live but meet the other members in the program. The community will help warm your new lead and help get through any trouble spots they may run into.

By accomplishing these tasks as a free affiliate of any program you will be training yourself to be a great sponsor who gets incredible results from these simple steps. As a sponsor how do you "over deliver" to your customers, downline members and team mates you ask? Well it has to do with first really understanding the program you are in, knowing it well enough to answer any questions your people may have and mentoring them so they to can achieve the success they are looking for. There is a great PDF file on how to wow your customers and keep them coming back forever and you can get it here for free.

Read it, follow the steps above and focus focus focus until you see the results you want. Your success is not guaranteed and neither is failure. You reap what you sow so be the best affiliate you can be in the program you choose to represent, strive to be the best sponsor to your own referral, your clients, and always be willing to learn how to help before you learn how to profit. This will increase you earning power and increase your online business success for years to come.