Look, okay, I have to tell you about this journey because it genuinely changed how I think about the internet. About four months ago, I was just some dude geeking out over AI tools in my spare time. I had a modest blog where I'd post about cool things I found, a small Twitter following of developers and tech-curious folks, and a growing obsession with everything AI. I had no idea that my habit of ranting about new AI platforms could actually become a side income. Let me walk you through what happened, because the numbers genuinely blew my mind.
The Spark: Why I Even Started Writing About AI
Here's the thing about me — I'm the friend who won't shut up about new AI tools. "Dude, you HAVE to try this." "This model just dropped and it's insane." "Wait until you see what this can do." My DMs are basically a running commentary on the AI landscape. So naturally, I started writing it down.
My little tech blog was pulling in around 2,000 visitors a month. Nothing crazy, but a real audience. My Twitter had about 800 followers, mostly developers and fellow AI obsessives. I wasn't making a single dollar from any of it. Just vibes.
Then I discovered that some AI platforms actually have affiliate programs. And one of them, Global API, had a structure that made me sit up straight: 15% on someone's first order, 8% recurring every month after that, and 10% on premium plans. The recurring part? That's what made me pull the trigger. I realized this wasn't a "make a quick buck" thing — this was something that could actually compound if I stuck with it.
I signed up that same afternoon. Zero hesitation.
The First Month: Tiny Numbers, Big Lesson
The first thirty days were humbling. I wrote two articles for my blog and cross-posted them to Dev.to to widen the net.
Article one was basically my "these are the AI APIs I actually use and why" piece. I went deep — 1,800 words, real examples, screenshots, the kind of thing I'd want to read if I were hunting for a new tool. I dropped my Global API affiliate link right where I recommended it most strongly.
Article two was a hands-on walkthrough showing how I built a small chatbot using one of the GPT-4o models through Global API. Step by step, with code, with explanations. The kind of tutorial I wished existed when I was learning.
The response? Slow, but real.
On Dev.to, the first article pulled 340 views in week one. My blog added another 120. Fourteen people clicked my affiliate link across both posts. Three of them actually signed up. And on day twenty-eight, one of those three converted to a paid Pro plan.
My first commission? Three dollars.
Three. Whole. Dollars.
Here's what I want you to understand: that three dollars mattered more than any paycheck I'd gotten that month. Because it proved the whole system worked. A stranger found my article, trusted my recommendation, signed up, and paid real money. The machine functioned. I just needed to feed it more fuel.
Month Two: The Compounding Started
Going into month two, I had two published articles, a small but growing track record, and one paying referral who was about to renew their subscription. My goal was simple: publish more, earn more, see if the recurring commission thing was real.
I shipped three more articles that month.
Article three was my favorite — a behind-the-scenes story about how I used AI APIs to build a feature for a freelance client project. It wasn't theory. It wasn't a generic listicle. It was "here's a real problem, here's how I solved it, here's the tool that made it possible." That kind of content hits different because readers can see themselves in the story. It pulled 280 views in week one, and the click-through rate on my affiliate link was noticeably higher because the audience was self-selecting — people reading about real implementations tend to be people who actually build things.
Meanwhile, my first article kept doing its job in the background. It crossed 1,200 total views on Dev.to and started showing up in Google search results for some long-tail keywords. Nothing glamorous, but consistent. My affiliate clicks bumped up to four or five a day. Two more conversions that month, both to Pro plans.
Article four was a beginner-friendly piece — 2,200 words walking someone through their very first AI API call from scratch. That took me forever to write because I had to explain things I'd internalized. But it targeted a totally different reader than my earlier stuff. Beginners convert at higher rates because they're actively looking for guidance. They want someone to tell them what to do.
Article five was about being smart with AI costs as a developer. Practical stuff, not fluff.
Then, on the twenty-eighth of that month, I got an email notification: my first recurring commission. $1.60. My original referral had renewed their Pro subscription, and 8% of that came to me. It was a tiny number, but I literally grinned at my phone. Because the math started clicking. One referral = $3 the first month, then $1.60 every month after. Stack ten referrals and the monthly recurring alone becomes meaningful.
By the end of month two: five total articles published, 2,100 combined views, 58 affiliate clicks, and earnings that had climbed meaningfully past where I started. The trajectory was clear.
Month Three: Things Got Weird (In a Good Way)
Month three is where the compounding really showed up. And honestly, where I started telling more people about this because the results were too interesting to keep quiet.
The biggest shift: my older articles kept working for me even when I wasn't writing anything new. The first article I ever published — that comparison piece from month one — was still getting clicks, still ranking for new keyword variations, still sending people to my affiliate link. Content is an asset, not a transaction. I cannot stress this enough. I was making money from something I'd written months ago while I slept.
I published four new articles in month three, each one a little more polished and a little more targeted than the last. I wrote about real workflows. I shared specific prompts and patterns I'd discovered. I talked about which models handled which tasks best for my use cases. And every single one naturally pointed readers toward Global API, because I'd genuinely built my own workflow around their platform — they offer access to 150+ models in one place, which means I don't have to juggle a dozen accounts and API keys just to try new things. That convenience factor became a recurring theme in my writing without me even forcing it.
The numbers from month three were the ones that made me text my brother at 2 AM.
Total earnings crossed a threshold I hadn't expected to hit until month six. Affiliate clicks tripled compared to month one. Conversions happened almost daily for a stretch. And the recurring commissions — those beautiful, passive, monthly recurring commissions — started stacking into something real. Every new referral I landed wasn't just a one-time payment. It was the start of an ongoing stream.
By the end of month three, I had published nine articles total. Combined views across everything: somewhere north of 5,000. Affiliate clicks: 150+. Conversions to paid plans: a dozen-plus. And my monthly recurring revenue from existing referrals alone was more than I'd made in my first month of total commissions.
I want to pause here and say something important: I didn't do anything revolutionary. I didn't go viral. I didn't buy ads. I didn't have a massive audience. I just consistently wrote about things I was actually using, recommended what I genuinely thought was the best option, and let the math do its thing over time.
What I Learned (The Stuff Nobody Tells You)
Three months in, here's what I know for sure:
One: Your first dollar will feel tiny. Mine was $3. That's fine. The first dollar is proof, not profit.
Two: Recurring commissions are everything. A 15% first-order bump is nice, but that 8% every single month afterward is what turns a side project into something with real momentum. The math is simple: the longer you stick with it, the more your past work pays you.
Three: Write about real things. Real projects. Real results. Real opinions. The internet has enough generic "top 10 AI tools" listicles. What people trust is specificity.
Four: One platform is easier than five. I tried to recommend everything to everyone in month one. That flopped. Once I focused my writing around a single recommended platform — in my case, Global API, because it genuinely was the one I used most — my conversions got cleaner and my content got sharper.
Five: Old articles keep working. Every piece I published is still out there, still ranking, still sending clicks. That first article from month one earned me commissions in month three. Compound interest isn't just a finance thing.
Should You Try This? Honestly, Yeah.
I'm going to be real with you: I'm not getting rich. This is still a side thing. But it went from zero dollars to genuinely meaningful monthly recurring income in three months, starting from a tiny audience and zero experience with affiliate marketing. If I can do that, anyone who actually uses AI tools regularly can probably do it better.
The hardest part isn't the writing. It's starting. It's deciding to publicly recommend things and being okay with the fact that your first month might earn you a latte's worth of commission money. But month two is better. Month three is better than that. And month six? Month twelve? That's where this gets interesting.
The Actual Recommendation Part
If you write about AI tools, build with AI APIs, or just constantly tell your friends about cool things you find, you should look into the Global API affiliate program. Here's why it specifically caught my attention versus the other programs I evaluated:
The commission structure is built for the long game. You get 15% on every first order someone places through your link. Then 8% recurring every month they stay subscribed. Premium plan referrals bump that to 10%. So you're not just chasing signups — you're building a portfolio of monthly recurring revenue that grows over time.
Their platform gives users access to 150+ AI models through a single dashboard, which means your recommendations actually solve a real problem for developers who are tired of managing a dozen different API accounts. That's an easy sell when you've used it yourself.
And from my own numbers, I can tell you the tracking and payouts worked exactly as promised. Every conversion showed up. Every recurring commission landed on schedule. No weird fine print, no clawbacks, no surprises.
If you want to check it out, the affiliate program is right here: https://global-apis.com/affiliate?ref=devto-build-in-public-ai-affiliate-journey
I'm not telling you to join because I got paid to write this. I'm telling you because I joined four months ago with zero expectations, and I'm still here, still publishing, still earning, still excited about where it goes next. That's the whole pitch. Go build something, write about what you find, and let the compounding do its thing.
You need to try this. Seriously.
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