I'll give you a quick introduction. Basically, you have these companies and corporations that say to affiliate programs, "Hey, we want more visitors to our site. We want more customers. We want to sell products." They give some money to the affiliate programs. The affiliate programs hire people like you and me to get those visitors and customers to their site. And in turn, they give us some of the money that the companies and corporations gave them. In one sentence: These companies want you to bring them customers who will buy their products and when the customers buy their products, the companies give you a commission for sending that customer to them.
An affiliate is leverage by the owner. He uses you whether your a good affiliate or bad for an exchange of the profits. If your bad at making his business profits you will make no profits, if your good at it you will make profits. Remember that if your an affiliate the owners make the rules, not you, it can be risky like owning. (so many bad owners out there, and affiliates too, be cautious). P.S. I personally have never been scammed
In an affiliate program which you sign in to work as an Affiliate, you are going to promote the Affiliate Programs offerings/products etc. You will be rewarded by the company to bring in Customers or Leads. Almost every time the reward is in terms of Money. Consider an affiliate like a middle man who doesn't have his own product or offering. He work as a bridge between customer and the company.
You might want to start as a partner. Find customers for someone and earn a commission. Later when you understand the game, you might want to be a provider so that others can find customers for you and you give them share of your earnings.
Great idea smile633. The multi-tiered partner/affiliate programs really give a great boost to affiliate income