By Jimi Barkway · Published 1 September 2026 · Part of the honest manual
The short version
Your first ten affiliates won't come from a directory. They're people who already know you: customers who refer unprompted, writers who've covered you, hosts who've had you on, communities you're already in. Invite them by name, expect most of them to do nothing, and treat the one who produces as the blueprint for the next fifty.
There's a fantasy version of launching an affiliate program where you flip it live and affiliates arrive. That happens to companies with serious traffic, years in. For everyone else, the program starts the way most good things start: you write to specific people, one at a time, and some of them say yes.
The good news is you already know who they are. In module 0 you named ten people who reach your buyers. This module is what to do with the list.
The five places your first ten are hiding
Customers who already refer. The best affiliates you'll ever have are already sending you customers for free. Look for the tells: "how did you hear about us" answers that name a person, customers who arrive in pairs from the same company or community, the person who's tagged you in a recommendation thread. A commission doesn't change what they do. It thanks them for it.
People who've written or filmed about you. Anyone who has ever reviewed your product, included you in a comparison post, or mentioned you in a video has already done the hard part in public. Their content is live right now, earning them nothing. An affiliate link retrofits an income onto work they've already published, which makes this the easiest yes on the list.
Hosts you've stood next to. Podcasts you've been on, newsletters that featured you, communities where you've done a talk or an AMA. The relationship exists and their audience already heard your name once.
Communities you're actually in. Not communities you could join to promote things, which is spam with extra steps. Places where you already have a name and a history. The move there is never a broadcast; it's noticing the individuals who keep answering the questions your product solves, and writing to them directly.
Your own list. If you have an email list or an audience of any size, one honest announcement belongs there. Some of the people most likely to promote you are already listening to you.
What about cold outreach?
It works, eventually, at volume, with follow-up, done by someone who enjoys it. At 40 customers it's usually the wrong use of your afternoon, because the warm list above converts at many times the rate for a fraction of the effort. Exhaust the warm list first. When you do go cold, go narrow: one specific creator whose audience is obviously your buyer, a message that proves you actually consumed their work, and a small ask. Ten of those beat a thousand from a spreadsheet.
Two messages that sound like a person
The template graveyard is full of "I hope this email finds you well" and "win-win partnership opportunity". Write like you'd write to someone you respect. Short, specific, no deck attached.
To a customer who already refers
Hey [name], you've now sent at least three people our way (thank you, genuinely). We've set up a partner program and I'd love you to be one of the first in it: [rate] on everyone you refer, for [duration]. You'd be earning on the recommendations you're already making. Two-minute setup, here's your link if you want it: [link]. Zero pressure either way.
To someone who's written about you
Hey [name], I'm the founder of [product]. Your piece on [specific thing, correctly remembered] keeps sending us thoughtful signups, so first, thanks. We've opened a partner program: [rate] for [duration], and it would apply to the links already in that piece, so it earns from day one with no new work. Want me to set you up? Happy to answer anything.
Notice what both messages do: they name the specific thing the person already did, make the money concrete, keep the effort near zero, and give them an easy out. That last part matters more than it looks. Nobody promotes well out of obligation.
Set your expectations before you send anything
Here's what the numbers say happens next, and you want to know it in advance so it doesn't feel like failure. In the median program, only around 15% of approved affiliates ever produce a single referral (from the largest published dataset in the category, 31.4 million referrals across 3,425 subscription programs, July 2026; figure re-checked 1 September 2026). Of your ten, expect several warm yeses that turn into nothing, a couple of link placements, and one or two people who actually produce.
That's not your program failing. That's the median program working. The goal of the first ten was never ten producers; it's finding the one who works, because that person tells you what the next fifty should look like. If the one who produces is a newsletter writer, go find more newsletter writers. The first ten is a search party, not a sales team.
Before you hit send
Have three things ready, so a yes can start moving the same day: their link, a portal where they can watch it work, and one plain paragraph about the offer they can steal for their own writing. If those aren't ready, module 5 is the afternoon that builds them. It's also the answer to the question you'll have two weeks from now: "they joined, why is nothing happening?"