So I jumped into outsourcing my affiliate team last month thinking I'd scale faster, right? Instead I got a bunch of newbies who don't know how to track conversions properly, plus I'm chasing them for reports eveeery damn day. Thought I'd save time but now I'm just throwing cash at training wheels. And don't even get me started on the network I'm using payments are late, cpl drops without warning, and the support feels non-existent. Gave it a shot, thought I'd finally crack the code on a semi-passive income but it's turning into a full time headache. Anybody got a real, reliable way to outsource legit or am I just better off doing it myself and eating the workload? SMH, it's like every campaign is a sinking ship lately. Just needed to vent, feels like I'm losing more than I'm making and I'm tired of the noise.
Lost money, building team, and no clear wins yet
- Thread starter Leverage
- Start date
Lost money, building team, and no clear wins yet
Look, outsourcing sounds sexy until you realize most of these folks are just parts replacers not actual growth drivers. Chasing reports daily? That's on you not them. You want real scale, gotta build systems and train people right from the start, not just toss cash and hope. And that network?
Credence
New member
Systems and training matter but lets be real here sometimes the market just eats your campaigns for breakfast and no amount of system building will save that. outsourcing is risky but doing it all yourself is just as much a headache if not more long term. gotta find a balance between control and delegation or you'll burn out chasing ghost wins. no easy answers but keep pushing, sometimes it's just a bad run not a bad strategy
exactly, data don't lie and most of the time outsourcing is just a fancy way to throw money into the wind unless you really vet the team and process. I've learned the hard way that building a solid system and training in-house beats chasing random freelancers every time. Outsourcing can work but only if you keep the control tight and know what to look for.
Tap
New member
Haste, I gotta call BS on that. Lost money is not just part of the game, it's a sign you missed the mark somewhere. Building a team is to SCALE not to recover losses.
If your campaign isn't moving forward with measurable results, adding bodies won't help. Proven metrics, solid creatives, and targeted traffic are what actually move the needle. Burning cash with no clear path is just pouring fuel on the fire. Show me the wins first, then talk about scaling.
smh these threads man. everyone acts like losing money is some kinda badge of honor. imo if you ain't making profit after a couple of weeks, you're just throwing more money into a black hole. building a team sounds cool till you realize most of these guys don't even know what they're doing yet. it's just more mouths to feed when you should be tightening creatives, optimizing your LP and fixing targeting. and about wins, lol. if your creatives and LP are dead, no amount of team members will save that. focus on your numbers first. automation tools are a waste of cash until you're doing at least 10k a day. till then, just grind, test, optimize. chasing wins without data is just wishful thinking.
Flex, I get where you coming from but I think that's a bit harsh. Losing money isn't a badge but sometimes it's just part of testing and learning the market. Doesn't mean you're throwing cash into a black hole every time. It's all about how you handle the loss and what you do next. If you keep throwing money without analyzing and adjusting, then yeah, you're just burning cash.
Girder
New member
sounds like you're stuck in the classic cycle, gotta pick your metrics and stick to them. lost money, building team, no wins - all signs you might be chasing the wrong signals. maybe step back, evaluate what actually moves the needle.
more bodies won't fix a bad offer or targeting, trust me. test it yourself, the root cause is usually the offer or lp, not the team. cloaking is a technical art, not cheating, so keep tweaking your angles instead of just throwing cash around. slow and steady wins the black hat race.
Flex, I gotta call BS on that. Imo if you ain't making profit after a couple of weeks, you're just throwing more money into a black hole. This business is not about rushing to hit a number, it's about understanding the traffic, the offer, the lander, and how they all play together. You don't build a team to chase losses, you do it when you see consistent signals of scale. Otherwise, you're just piling more fuel onto a bonfire that's about to burn out. Nobody gets rich overnight, but acting like profits should come quick is setting yourself up for failure
I see your point about the patience needed in this game... but I've seen this pattern before where people mistake "building" for "burning." Losing money in the beginning can be part of testing but if you're not adjusting quickly and learning, you're just delaying the inevitable. Building a team sounds great till you realize most of the time it's just extra overhead until your offer, traffic and landing pages align. I'd say if you're not seeing at least some signals of progress in a couple of months, you probably need to reevaluate the core assumptions and not just keep throwing resources. Sometimes the best move is to strip it down to basics and focus on what moves the needle instead of trying to scale before you know what works.
Liquid
New member
Been there, tested that. Building a team and hoping for wins is slow if your CVR is trash from the start. You gotta drill down on creatives, T1/T2, LTV, all that. Without solid creatives and tracking, you're just throwing money at the wall. What's your current CVR and post-install funnel look like?
Nomad
New member
cope harder liquid, but i gotta say building a team and waiting for wins isn't just about creatives and tracking. sometimes you gotta take a step back and rethink your offer or niche. chasing the perfect CVR without a solid foundation is like trying to build a house on quicksand. focus on the core problem, not just the symptoms. lfg.
Interesting thread... I see where both of you are coming from but I think there's a bit of a middle ground. Building a team and improving creatives are, no doubt. But the data, in my case, told a different story. Sometimes the issue is more about the attribution and tracking setup, especially across multi-touch journeys. You can tweak creatives all day but if your attribution is off, you'll think you're losing but really you just don't have the full picture. For my campaigns, I found that optimizing LTV and using multi-touch tracking has given me better insight into where the real wins are. It's frustrating but sometimes a recalibration on the tech side makes the biggest difference before you spend more on teams or offers.
Facade
New member
Lost money, building team and no clear wins yet? Welcome to the grind. It's a marathon not a sprint and most folks blow through cash before they get to the real wins. Keep testing, keep chopping, and never forget automation w/o a human touch point is just wasting money. Patience and tweaks will get ya there, just gotta keep grinding.
Let's be real here, lost money and no wins is just part of the game. Most folks get caught up chasing shiny tactics and forget that sometimes the biggest win is just surviving long enough to refine your LPs and offers. Building a team is step one, but if your core offer or audience isn't solid, no amount of manpower will save you.
Ah yes, the classic rite of passage in this game, losing money while trying to build something that might someday actually pay off if you don't burn out first IYKYK, but hey at least you're in good company, everyone starts there before they figure out what works or what doesn't, just keep your eyes on the prize and remember direct linking always outperforms pre-landers if you do it right, no magic button, just sweat and data.
Been there, lost more than I care to admit before figuring out that most "wins" are just a mirage in this game. Building a team without a clear game plan is like throwing shit at the wall hoping something sticks. Usually, it's just a matter of patience and sticking to what works, even if it feels dead at the moment. Most "case studies" are just bragging with cherry-picked data, so don't get too hyped over the shiny new tactics. Read the logs, tweak, repeat. Nothing beats steady grinding and fixing leaks. If it was easy, everyone would be rich by now.
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