The $50 Smoothie

Last week, I went to LA (Las Angelos) on a business trip. 

While it was my first time there, 

It all felt familiar because of the 100s of hours I have spent on Grand Theft Auto V.

But I did all of the usual LA stuff: 

Hollywood sign, Rodeo Drive, Muscle Beach in Malibu. 

But there’s one stop that stood out: Erewhon. 

If you haven’t heard of it, Erewhon is this ultra-bougie grocery store. 

This is where the Real House Wives of LA send their nannies to go grocery shopping. 

Anyway, Erewhon is known for many things, but they are also famous for their smoothies. 

These smoothies are legendary for two reasons, their taste and their insane price tags. 

It probably won’t be a shock to you that two of these freaking things set me back $55

I felt like the dad in The Wolf of Wall Street yelling, “$55 for a smoothies? Do they cure cancer?!”

But here’s the thing: it wasn’t about the taste. I mean, it was a good smoothie, sure, but it wasn’t $55 good. 

The magic wasn’t in the flavor, it was in the name. 

I ordered the Hailey Bieber smoothie. 

If you don’t know her, she’s a model and married to Justin Bieber, one of the biggest popstars of this generation. 

She’s also one of the most influential people for young women, especially in LA. 

It immediately clicked. 

This was Affiliation in action. 

The Power of Affiliation

Affiliation is simple: it’s when one person or brand with influence over a certain audience partners with another product or service to reach that audience. 

The goal? Mutual benefit. 

The influencer gets a boost in status or cash, and the business taps into an already loyal fanbase.

It works because, let’s face it, we’re all looking for some level of social proof. 

We trust what other people endorse, especially if those people are famous or popular in our circles. 

And that’s exactly why everyone at Erewhon is lining up for a smoothie named after Hailey Bieber. 

They want to feel connected to someone they admire.

I’m not just talking theory here. 

This principle skyrocketed my own businesses. 

I started out with a single affiliate and grew it into a multi-million-dollar empire before I ever paid for an ad. 

Here’s how it all began:

My First Affiliate Deal

I cold-DM’d a blogger who had a site that ranked well on Google for my target keywords. 

His content was great: informative and helpful. But he wasn’t pushing traffic to any products. 

After a few weeks of relentless follow-up (because persistence is key), he finally responded.

I offered him a deal: He put links to my site at the bottom of the blogs he already wrote, he’d get a commission on every sale his clicks generated. 

I got free traffic and only paid if there was a sale, and he generated more money for blogs he already spent time writing. 

Win-Win.

We used ShareASale to track everything, and his links went live in August 2022.

That one partnership took my monthly sales from $42K to $124K in just one month.

Scaling with Affiliates

That’s when I realized there were massive opportunities all around me.

I focused on Google and Youtube for one reason: search intent. 

When someone types a keyword into Google or searched for a video on Youtube, they’re already closer to making a purchase than if they just stumbled on your brand through social media.

So I kept going.

My next affiliate was a YouTuber whose videos ranked #1 and #2 for my keywords.

I found him on Instagram and spent three months messaging him once a week until he finally replied. (Seeing a pattern here yet?)

We hopped on a call, and soon, he was making videos about my products. 

These weren’t just casual shout-outs—his videos were deep dives, super technical. We ended up using them as reference material for our own customers.

This strategy worked because, again, people searching on YouTube or Google are already interested. 

By the time they clicked through to my site, they were ready to buy.

Dominating Google’s Top Spots

Over time, I built up a handful of affiliates that all ranked high on Google. 

I didn’t realize the full impact until one day, a customer told me, “Everywhere I searched, I saw your brand.” 

Turns out, the first four organic results for my products were either my website or affiliate sites that linked back to me. 

This is huge, because the first 3 results on Google get the majority of all traffic. According to a study by Backlinko (graph below)

So, people would search for my product, click on one affiliate, then another, and eventually end up on my site. 

This created massive brand authority—it made us look like we were the biggest player in the game, even though we weren’t. Not yet, anyway.

And guess what? 

This allowed us to charge 15-30% more than our competitors who weren’t focusing on building their brand through affiliates.

We Became the Hailey Bieber Smoothie of Our Industry

By positioning ourselves everywhere our potential customers were searching, we became the trusted brand. And that trust? It’s why people are willing to pay a premium. 

It’s why a simple smoothie can cost your left nut if it’s named after the right person. 

We were able to generate over $11M in revenue before we even touched a single paid ad. That’s the power of affiliation.

Why Affiliates Work

Here’s the beauty of affiliate deals: you only pay based on results. It’s a win-win. They send traffic; you get sales. 

And the best part? 

It builds brand authority faster than any other strategy I’ve tried.

So next time you’re sipping a $55 smoothie (or something a little more reasonable), think about the power of affiliation and how it can transform your business.

Till next time,  

-Vessal