Without a doubt – cash flow is important in this industry. It’s important to networks, so they can payout affiliates on time when the advertiser pays on a later schedule.
Cash flow is king for affiliates when it comes to scaling campaigns to increase profits. Without cash flow, even though a campaign is working, you can’t put anything else into it.

So you have a few options:
1.) Get paid faster
2.) Pause the campaign
3.) Create consistent cash flow.

Yes, you can see the cash flow coming after you’ve been building up a campaign for some time, have the relationship with the network to get paid weekly and are able to put cash back into your marketing efforts.

But what happens when you are just starting out?

How do you create cash flow from a zero budget?

1.) Sell what you know: You might not think you know anything that someone would buy – you’d be surprised. Someone somewhere doesn’t know what you know. This might not be related to affiliate marketing at all.
Here are some interesting ebook titles I’ve found:
How to Build Automatic Lawn Sprinklers
How to Overcome Snoring
How to get paid to watch TV
Inside the Minds of Winners

The point is, you know something that someone else will pay to learn.

2.) Create a report directing people to your affiliate link: Host a jump page to your affiliate link and market it via targeted articles your write for ezine submission sites, squidoo and possibly guest posts on blogs. Have a jump page in case you need to change out the offer or find one that converts higher.

3.) Teach what you know: Ever consider holding a webinar and charging for registrations? Find a webinar service, advertise your class and charge per entry.

Get creative. Challenge yourself to create money from nothing. Enjoy those profits!