There is a conversation we need to start having more seriously, especially with young people, graduates, unemployed professionals and people who feel trapped in jobs they hate.
Getting a job is not the only way to make money.
For years, many of us have been taught the same journey. Go to school. Get good marks. Study further if you can. Prepare a CV. Apply for jobs. Get employed. Work hard. Wait for a promotion. Earn a salary. Repeat.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that journey. Employment can give you experience, stability, structure, benefits and access to opportunities that would otherwise be difficult to reach.
The problem starts when we are taught that this is the only journey available to us.
That thinking needs to change.
The world has changed. Technology has changed. Marketing has changed. The way businesses find customers has changed. The way people shop has changed. The way people learn has changed. Even the way companies hire talent has changed.
Yet many people are still approaching income as though we are living in a world where the only options are employment or unemployment.
We need to wake up.
The Journey Usually Starts With “I Need a Job”
Imagine someone who has recently finished studying.
They prepare their CV. They create a LinkedIn profile. They apply for ten jobs. Then twenty. Then fifty.
Nothing happens.
Eventually, rejection emails start arriving.
“Unfortunately, we have decided to proceed with other candidates.”
“While your qualifications are impressive…”
“We will keep your CV on file.”
We all know those emails.
After several months, frustration starts building. The person begins questioning their qualifications, their experience and sometimes even their own ability.
Eventually, the entire day becomes centred around searching job boards.
Wake up. Check vacancies. Apply. Wait.
Tomorrow, do it again.
There is nothing wrong with looking for employment. The mistake is allowing your entire future to depend on whether somebody decides to employ you.
Keep applying.
But after submitting those applications, there should be another question:
What can I build while I wait?
That question opens an entirely different door.
Start With What You Already Know
You do not have to wake up tomorrow morning and suddenly become an entrepreneur.
Start smaller.
Look at what you already know.
Maybe you understand social media.
Maybe you can write.
Maybe you are good at Excel.
Maybe you understand beauty products.
Maybe you know how to design invitations.
Maybe you can build websites.
Maybe you understand accounting.
Maybe you know how to edit videos.
Maybe you are good at finding information.
Maybe you understand fashion.
Maybe you are excellent at organising things.
Maybe you know how to use Canva.
Maybe you know how to create presentations.
These things might seem ordinary to you because you already know how to do them.
Someone else does not.
That is where the journey can begin.
Instead of only asking, “Who will employ me?”, start asking:
“What problem can I solve for somebody?”
That is the foundation of business.
Your First Income Might Come From a Service
Services are often one of the simplest places to start because you do not necessarily need stock, a warehouse or thousands of rands.
You need a skill and somebody willing to pay for that skill.
Imagine that our job seeker knows how to create social media content.
Instead of spending another month only applying for marketing jobs, they approach five small businesses.
They offer to create social media content for R1,500 per month.
Four businesses say no.
One says yes.
That first R1,500 is important for a reason that has very little to do with the amount.
It proves something.
You can create income without receiving a payslip.
Suddenly, the world looks slightly different.
Now you start asking better questions.
How do I find another client?
How do I improve my service?
How do I charge properly?
How do I create contracts?
How do I market myself?
How do I build a website?
How do I turn R1,500 into R5,000?
Those questions take you down another road entirely.
Then You Discover That the Internet Is Much Bigger Than Social Media
Once you start researching digital business properly, you realise how many different models exist.
One of them is affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is relatively simple in principle. You promote another company’s product or service using a tracked referral link. When someone completes a qualifying purchase or action through that link, you may receive a commission according to the program’s terms.
That sounds easy.
It isn’t.
And this is where people need to stop believing every person standing next to a rented Lamborghini telling them that passive income is three clicks away.
Affiliate marketing is still marketing.
You need traffic.
You need an audience.
You need useful content.
You need trust.
You need products people actually want.
You need to understand search behaviour, customer intent, conversion and content.
An effective affiliate marketing program setup is not simply creating a link and throwing it all over WhatsApp.
The real work is building the system around that link.
Imagine Starting Your First Affiliate Website
Our job seeker decides to experiment.
They are interested in home appliances, so they create a small website.
At first, practically nobody visits it.
They publish an article about air fryers.
Seven people read it.
They publish another article.
Twelve people read that one.
It feels ridiculous.
After all that work, twelve people?
This is usually the stage where people quit.
They expect the internet to reward effort immediately.
It doesn’t.
So our beginner keeps learning.
They discover search engine optimisation. They learn about keywords. They learn how people search before buying products. They start understanding the difference between somebody searching “what is an air fryer?” and somebody searching “best 8L air fryer under R2,000.”
Those searches represent different stages of the buying journey.
Now their content becomes more useful.
Instead of writing random articles, they develop a content marketing strategy.
They create buying guides, comparisons, tutorials, product explainers and practical advice.
Slowly, traffic starts arriving.
Not thousands of people overnight.
Twenty visitors become fifty.
Fifty becomes one hundred.
Eventually, somebody clicks an affiliate link and buys something.
The commission might be tiny.
But once again, something important has happened.
The system worked.
Now it can be improved.
Amazon Is Not the Whole Affiliate Marketing Industry
When beginners start researching affiliate marketing, they often immediately search for Amazon Associates.
Amazon is well known, but it is not the entire industry.
There are many Amazon Associates alternative networks, independent retailer programs, affiliate platforms, software companies and brands with their own partnership programs.
This is where strategy becomes important.
You should not simply choose the company offering the highest percentage.
A 40% commission sounds fantastic until you discover that nobody in your audience wants the product.
Meanwhile, a lower commission on a relevant product may perform significantly better.
Your audience should guide the decision.
If you create beauty content, investigate programs relevant to beauty consumers.
If your audience consists of entrepreneurs, look at business tools and services.
If you write about technology, explore technology products and software.
If you understand travel, build around travel.
Relevance comes before commission.
Then You Discover SaaS Affiliate Marketing
As you learn more, you may eventually come across software affiliate programs.
This is where things become particularly interesting.
Software-as-a-Service companies sell tools through subscriptions. These might include website builders, email platforms, accounting software, marketing tools, design platforms, project management systems and many other business services.
Because customers may pay monthly or annually, SaaS affiliate commission structures can work differently from traditional retail commissions.
Some companies offer a fixed amount for each successful referral. Others offer a percentage of the initial purchase. Some programs offer recurring commissions while the customer remains subscribed. Others use performance tiers.
Again, none of this means easy money.
If nobody trusts your recommendation, you make nothing.
If nobody visits your content, you make nothing.
If you promote terrible software purely because it pays a large commission, eventually your audience stops trusting you.
Trust is an asset. Do not sell it cheaply.
The Journey Can Move From Affiliate to Expert
Something interesting happens while you are learning all of this.
You develop skills.
You learn tracking.
You learn conversion.
You understand affiliate links.
You understand content.
You understand commission structures.
You understand reporting.
You understand what makes affiliates actually promote a business.
Now another opportunity appears.
Instead of only earning money as an affiliate, you can help businesses build their own affiliate programs.
An affiliate marketing program setup can involve selecting tracking technology, establishing commission rules, writing program terms, creating promotional materials, recruiting affiliates, monitoring performance and preventing fraudulent activity.
Suddenly, something you originally learned as a side hustle becomes a professional skill.
That skill can become a service.
That service can become a business.
This is what people miss when they dismiss online learning as “playing around on the internet.”
One skill can lead to another.
The Same Thing Happens With Influencer Marketing
Maybe affiliate marketing is not your thing.
Fine.
There are other roads.
Perhaps you already spend time on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. Instead of only consuming content, start studying how the industry actually works.
Learn how to launch a micro-influencer campaign.
Businesses do not always need celebrities with millions of followers. Smaller creators can have highly engaged niche communities.
That creates opportunities for creators, agencies, freelancers and small businesses.
You could become the creator.
You could manage creators.
You could help businesses find suitable creators.
You could plan campaigns.
You could manage reporting.
You could negotiate partnerships.
Again, the opportunity is bigger than simply saying, “I want to be an influencer.”
Learn the business behind influencing.
Your First Campaign Will Teach You Quickly
Imagine our beginner gets their first opportunity to coordinate a campaign for a small skincare company.
The brand wants five creators.
Now the real work starts.
Which creators?
What audience should they have?
What content should they produce?
How much should they be paid?
When should they post?
Who owns the content afterwards?
Can the company use the creator’s video in paid advertising?
What happens if the creator misses the deadline?
What happens if the company delays payment?
Suddenly, an influencer contract negotiation template becomes more than some document you downloaded from the internet.
You begin understanding why contracts matter.
A proper agreement should clearly explain deliverables, timelines, compensation, content rights, approval requirements, disclosure responsibilities, cancellation terms and other important obligations.
This is business.
A WhatsApp message saying “Sharp, we have a deal” is not business administration.
If money is involved, learn to protect the relationship properly.
Your Skills Start Connecting
This is where the journey becomes powerful.
You started by looking for a job.
Then you learned social media.
Social media introduced you to content.
Content introduced you to affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing taught you about tracking and conversion.
That introduced you to SaaS affiliate programs.
Influencer marketing taught you campaign management.
Campaign management taught you contracts.
Your website taught you SEO.
SEO taught you analytics.
Analytics taught you how customers behave.
Now look at your CV.
You are no longer only saying:
“I need experience.”
You have experience.
You created it.
Perhaps you still want permanent employment. Excellent.
Now you enter an interview with actual projects to discuss.
You can show the website you built.
You can explain the campaign you managed.
You can show traffic growth.
You can explain what failed.
You can discuss what you changed.
You can show the client you worked with.
You can demonstrate that you understand business beyond theory.
That is a completely different conversation.
Stop Waiting Until Everything Is Perfect
Another disease we need to deal with is perfection.
People will spend six months designing a logo for a company that has no customers.
They will research website platforms for three months.
They will create 14 versions of a business card.
They will spend weeks deciding between dusty pink and slightly dustier pink.
Meanwhile, nobody has bought anything.
Please wake up.
Your logo is not your business.
Your Instagram feed is not your business.
Your motivational quote is not your business.
Calling yourself Founder and CEO is definitely not your business.
A business needs to solve a problem for somebody who is willing to pay.
Start there.
Your First Attempt Might Be Terrible
Your first website may look awful.
Your first article may receive ten visitors.
Your first client may say no.
Your first affiliate website might make R0 for months.
Your first influencer campaign may be chaotic.
Your first proposal might embarrass you six months later.
Good.
That means you started.
Nobody becomes experienced before getting experience.
You become good by surviving the stage where you are not good yet.
This obsession with appearing successful before doing the work is one of the strangest things social media has created.
You do not need to look successful.
You need to become useful.
You Do Not Have to Quit Your Job Either
And this is important.
Building additional income does not require dramatic behaviour.
You don’t need to walk into the office tomorrow, throw your access card at your manager and announce that you are choosing freedom.
Please pay your bills.
Employment and entrepreneurship are not enemies.
Your salary can finance your first website.
Your job can teach you skills.
Your workplace can expose you to systems and processes.
Your career can build your professional network.
You can build something slowly after hours.
The goal does not have to be quitting your job.
The goal can simply be creating more options for yourself.
Perhaps your salary pays the bills while your small business grows.
Perhaps affiliate income pays for groceries.
Perhaps two freelance clients cover your car payment.
Perhaps your content eventually becomes a meaningful business.
Perhaps your side business never replaces your salary but gives you additional financial breathing room.
That still matters.
If You Are Unemployed, Your Time Has Value Too
Unemployment is difficult, and telling someone who desperately needs money to “just start a business” can be insulting when we pretend there are no barriers.
There are barriers.
Data costs money.
Equipment costs money.
Transport costs money.
Starting certain businesses requires capital.
South Africa has serious unemployment challenges that cannot be solved by motivational speeches.
But within those realities, there is still a useful question:
What can I do with what I currently have?
If you have a smartphone and internet access, can you learn something?
Can you build a simple portfolio?
Can you approach a local business?
Can you write?
Can you research?
Can you offer administration support?
Can you learn content marketing?
Can you understand affiliate marketing?
Can you create a basic website?
Can you edit videos?
Can you manage a business’s social media page?
Can you learn analytics?
The answer will not be the same for everybody.
The important thing is moving from waiting to building wherever possible.
Stop Consuming Everything and Creating Nothing
This is probably one of the harshest truths.
Some people spend enough time online to build entire businesses.
They simply spend that time consuming instead.
Three hours on TikTok.
Two hours on Facebook.
Another hour watching YouTube.
Then another hour complaining that there are no opportunities.
The same internet you are using to watch somebody else’s life can be used to build your own skills.
You can learn copywriting.
You can learn SEO.
You can learn digital marketing.
You can learn basic coding.
You can learn analytics.
You can learn sales.
You can learn graphic design.
You can learn video editing.
You can learn how e-commerce works.
You can learn how to create content.
You do not need to learn everything.
Pick something and go deep enough to become useful.
The Journey Is Not About Becoming Rich Overnight
There is far too much nonsense online about entrepreneurship.
People sell the fantasy of waking up at 10am, opening a laptop next to a swimming pool and discovering that R80,000 magically arrived while they were sleeping.
Ignore that rubbish.
Building something can be exhausting.
Clients can be difficult.
Sales can be inconsistent.
Algorithms change.
Websites break.
Campaigns fail.
People don’t pay.
Content doesn’t rank.
Products don’t sell.
Sometimes you will spend hours building something and discover that nobody wants it.
That is the reality.
But there is also something powerful about learning that your ability to create income is not completely controlled by a monthly payslip.
That is the bigger lesson.
Your Goal Should Be More Options
Maybe your journey remains corporate.
Maybe you build a successful career and eventually become an executive.
Great.
Maybe you become a full-time entrepreneur.
Great.
Maybe you build a small business alongside your career.
Also great.
Maybe you freelance between jobs.
Great.
Maybe you build an affiliate website that earns a few thousand rand per month.
Great.
Maybe you become a micro-influencer.
Maybe you manage influencer campaigns.
Maybe you specialise in affiliate marketing program setup.
Maybe you build a niche website around SaaS affiliate commission structures.
Maybe you develop a content marketing strategy for small businesses.
Maybe none of those become your final destination.
They can still teach you something that leads to the next opportunity.
The objective is not to copy somebody else’s path. It is to stop believing there is only one path.
Apply for the Job, But Build Something Too
Send the CV.
Apply for the internship.
Prepare for the interview.
Ask for the promotion.
Build your corporate career if that is what you want.
But please stop believing somebody else must give you permission before you can begin creating value.
After you submit the application, close the job portal for a while.
Learn something.
Create something.
Publish something.
Approach somebody.
Sell something.
Test something.
Fail at something.
Improve something.
Then do it again.
Your first attempt might make R0.
Your second might make R200.
Your third might fail completely.
Your fourth might introduce you to somebody who changes your career.
You don’t know.
That is precisely why you need to start.
Nobody Is Coming to Build Your Future for You
At some point, we have to stop waiting to be rescued.
A company does not owe you a job.
An algorithm does not owe you traffic.
Customers do not owe you sales.
The economy does not owe you an easy journey.
And entrepreneurship does not owe you success simply because you tried.
You still have to build.
That means learning when you don’t feel like learning.
Starting before everything is perfect.
Being embarrassed by your first attempt.
Getting rejected.
Changing direction.
Trying again.
Improving your skills.
Understanding money.
Learning how businesses actually work.
And slowly creating something that did not exist before you decided to start.
So yes, keep looking for work if you need work.
But while you are waiting for somebody to open a door, learn how to build one.
Build the skill.
Build the portfolio.
Build the website.
Build the audience.
Build the service.
Build the relationships.
Build the little business that currently makes R500.
Build the thing that might eventually make R5,000.
Then R10,000.
Or maybe it doesn’t.
Maybe it simply gives you the experience that lands your next job.
That still means it worked.
Because the real transformation is not going from unemployed to entrepreneur overnight.
It is going from:
“I need somebody to give me an opportunity.”
to:
“I am learning how to create opportunities too.”
That is the journey.
And more people need to start taking it.