This is the October ShoeMoney Recap. As always if you want to skip my normal F.R.A.T (f#ck reading all that) then just scroll to the bottom to see the posts from October.
If you have been following along you know that I have had a lot of changes since July. I Moved out of my downtown office back to my house. Raised money for the PAR Program and have A new joint ventured on a new company called Market Notify with the founders of one of the largest e-commerce marketplaces online and another party that built one of the largest self service email platforms out there. I really only bring up Market Notify cause its relevant to the end of this email.
Its been a very very very busy summer and early fall but all the pieces are falling into place.
Today I wanna talk to you about something that I really been thinking about lately.
Life after affiliate marketing.
Not that this is the affiliate marketing industry as a whole but its my thoughts and I think many others would concur quite a bit.
Lemme preface by saying of all the money I have made online, aside from my sale of my advertising network, 90% of it has come from the affiliate marketing industry. My prime years were from 2006-2010.
Affiliate Marketing gave me a huge nest egg and I tried to leave the roost to build a big company. I tried several things and while I made money it was nothing compared to the routine, although month to month SPIKEY, 7 figure annual income I had as an affiliate marketer.
I guess I thought since I was so good at selling other people’s products and taking a small commission through affiliate marketing, selling my own services would be that much sweeter.
But it didn’t like I thought it would. Actually didn’t go very well. Again I still profited, but honestly spent most of my time VERY frustrated with growth and managing employees.
Why was I so good at selling other people’s products and services but not that good with my own?
I came up with a couple key things.
The “what do I care its not my product”.
Ima be pretty honest here. As an affiliate I made a TON of money off of products I never purchased for myself or would recommend to anyone. I didn’t really even care what it was. I made money selling ringtone subscriptions, pharmaceuticals, diet stuff, teeth whitening, god you name it. Even frickin netflix. All of which I never even tried myself.
As an affiliate marketer you have to come up with a better way to sell a product than the company can to make money.
So you come up with unique angles. Fake blogs, *cough* semi misleading ads , review sites, and other creative gray area tactics.
The bottom line is you do what that company is not willing to do. Whether its morally, ethically, or even sometimes legally.
When its your own product or service now you are the big brand and I was not 10% as aggressive in tactics in selling my own product or service as I had been as an affiliate. I knew I had to deal with returns if people were mislead. Damage to my brand from sketchy marketing tactics and other random customer service issues that could come from that.
Immediate gratification.
In the affiliate marketing industry no matter which side your on (publisher/advertiser) you are used to immediate results. You spend a grand and in literally minutes you know if what you are doing is making money and tweak from there and go balls out or move on to the next thing. You get your money owed to you very fast and you never have to worry about refunds (in most cases).
When its your own product or service it takes a lot of time. And often that means running at a loss when you start. You can’t just jump ship and move on to something else…. although I have done that with a few things. I don’t have many regrets but I have built a couple amazing services that I abandoned pretty quickly after investing hundreds of thousands of dollars when I got to frustrated with the speed at which they were growing.
Doing everything myself.
The most successful affiliate marketers I know are guys that can do everything themselves. Sometimes its a couple guys and sometimes one. I know how to program, do graphics, write copy, you name it. I can get a lander up and running or a custom app or whatever in hours at the most. I had a great partner in David Dellanave who was as obsessive as I was in busting stuff out where I needed help programing wise and the biggest reason why AuctionAds was so successful. What we did together in that company in such short of time was amazing.
Side note: David and I parted ways in 2010 and he went on to follow his passion in physical fitness. He is now one of the most respected people in the space running his Movement Minneapolis gym and services.
When you run a company you hit a lot of wheel spin. This is by far for me the most frustrating part. Waiting 3 days for a graphic or some basic programing or whatever when I wanna get this shit done in the next hour. DRIVES ME INSANE. Often times I jump in and just do it. Cause I want it done now. Then 3 days later they send it to me and I am like never mind I already did it. Ya I know… Not the way to run a company.
Customer pipeline and lag time.
Again my lack of patients will show here. With the PAR Program often times on sales calls I get frustrated with how many times we have to have calls. In my head I am like JUST FUCKING SIGN LETS GO. But thats not how it works with a publicly traded company that is about to sign a contract for 5 figures a month. Thats a many months of calls to have a chance to sign them. And it drives me insane. I have actually told numerous people after several calls that our services are just not for them. “We have the case studies, we have gone over this X many times. We are the best. Period. If you are still on the fence then go sign with some piker service and we will see you in 6 months when you realized you totally wasted your money”.
Yes I have actually said that. And in several cases they do come back to us. But again very frustrating for me coming from that affiliate mindset.
So how do I get away from the definition of insanity (keep doing the same thing over expecting a different result).
I really had to think about this long and hard. I REALLY don’t want to go back to the swings of affiliate marketing although I would be stupid to not leverage all my experience from that.
My biggest success as a “company” was the AuctionAds Advertising network but we also teamed up with a great CEO that ran the day to day operations.
So in my perfect world… I would partner up with a proven CEO to manage day to day operations (and employees), a CTO to manage developers and a great overall marketer.
I would be left to do what I am really good at and find unique angles to really grow the new company rapidly.
And after a lot of searching and ALMOST merging with several companies I found the right group of guys. We are only a few months into it and transitioning is going well but the PAR Program revenue has almost doubled since we got together and the Market Notify platform is rocking development wise and should be letting in beta users shortly.
If you want to make sure you have beta access get your email in at MarketNotify.com
And now I give you the October ShoeMoney Recap! Have a great November and be safe over the holidays!
P.S. I know I’ve been a little lapsed in writing but been traveling and grinding with this new venture. I have a lot of great content I will be posting soon.
Sep-04 09:00:38 – First Guest of The ShoeMoney Show Revealed @benhuh (6 comments) In case you missed the announcement, The ShoeMoney Show is back after a five-year hiatus! I?m super excited about the show returning and to announce the first guest, Ben Huh. Ben?…[more]
Sep-05 08:46:22 – @bookoo Lets You Share Books With Your Neighbors – ShoeMoney FSF (9 comments) This weeks Free Shirt Friday comes from Bookoo. Bookoo is a neat site that lets you share books with your neighbors. They already have over a million members. If I read books I use this for sure! You can check them out her…[more]
Sep-08 09:49:39 – Don’t miss tomorrow: the first ShoeMoney Show in five years! @Benhuh (9 comments) Where will you be tomorrow (Tuesday, September 9th) at 4 p.m. CST? I know where you should be: With me (in a way) as I kick off The ShoeMoney Show with guest Ben Huh! The show has been on pause for five years and we?re excited to revamp it. We?ve g…[more]
Sep-10 10:41:16 – Affiliate Marketing 101 For Affiliates and Product Owners (14 comments) I have been meaning to write a general guide to Affiliate Marketing but with some real life examples from my experiences for about hmm 4 years now. This is by no means a holy grail but I wanted to put something out. When I started in making …[more]
Sep-11 09:05:26 – Second Guest on The ShoeMoney Show Announced @bartlorang (9 comments) In case you didn?t hear, The ShoeMoney Show is back in full throttle, broadcasting live from WebmasterRadio.FM. Our first guest was Ben Huh and you can catch the replay here: …[more]
Sep-12 08:25:45 – Carbon Ads – Free Shirt Friday (10 comments) Today’s Free Shirt Friday comes from Carbon Ads Advertising network. They operate an invite only network. So if you want to use it… you can’t. …[more]
Sep-15 09:47:11 – Don’t miss Bart Lorang on the ShoeMoney Show @bartlorang (5 comments) We?ve brought back The ShoeMoney Show with full-on energy and quality after its five-year hiatus. Tomorrow at 4p.m CST Episode TWO will be airing with guest Bart Lorang, CEO of Full Contact, on …[more]
Sep-17 16:37:14 – Perception – Not the Product is EVERYTHING (3 comments) Watching Apple’s latest keynote/product launch, the marketer in me, couldn’t help but be amazed at the amount of work they do in presenting the product. Its nothing new for Apple but I think its the reason for their success. The iPhone & the …[more]
Sep-18 11:02:03 – Cash in easy money with the iPhone launch tomorrow (16 comments) Every time a new iPhone comes out I have raked in a few easy thousand bucks. Step 1) Get a bunch of cash out of the bank. Step 2) Get some kids you know and trust to goto phone stores where they have lines and camp out at midnight t…[more]
Sep-19 10:08:32 – @SensorTower tracks traffic, success of apps – ShoeMoney FSF (9 comments) This week’s Free Shirt Friday comes at you from Sensor Tower. Companies with apps use Sensor Tower to acquire more traffic on their apps. Sensor Tower tracks popular keywords and looks at companies’ competitors to see what their clients can do to stay a…[more]
Sep-22 10:24:02 – Battle of the Minds with Neil Patel on the ShoeMoney Show @neilpatel (5 comments) Guess who?s coming to The ShoeMoney Show (the live-broadcast audio show between myself, Jeremy Schoemaker, and a special guest, back after a five year hiatus). The answer is Neil Patel, of his self-…[more]
Sep-23 10:12:41 – The time has come @Neilpatel (4 comments) Don?t forget?the third ShoeMoney Show is TODAY and we want you to join us for the conversation. At 4 p.m. CST, Neil Patel will be at the mic to talk about his sel…[more]
Sep-25 08:20:43 – The New Pioneering Launch Process (6 comments) The old product launches that used to crush it worked like this: Video 1 – The Intro “Vision” and introduction to the “guru”. Video 2 – The pain point you’re going through (why you need the product) Video 3 – The potentia…[more]
Sep-26 09:00:44 – @carsforsale…sells cars and buys cars! ShoeMoney FSF (6 comments) Need a car? Cars For Sale is like the encyclopedia for car shoppers. Narrow your search results in every way imaginable while shopping for a car on CarsForSale.com. Next time maybe if I need to sell my wife’s car …[more]
Sep-29 09:57:02 – Brent Pourciau on tomorrow’s ShoeMoney Show – @TopVelocity (1 comments) Another announcement of another guest on The ShoeMoney Show: Brent Pourciau?also known as Coach Brent, CEO of Top Velocity and entrepreneur and instructor for…[more]
Sep-30 13:34:11 – Don’t miss this catch with Brent Pourciau @TopVelocity (3 comments) The ShoeMoney Show has been rolling out major guest after major guest so far. The show will not be live today due to some technical difficulties but you will be able to catch it on replay at WebmasterRadio.FM later today and it will also air later this we…[more]
Oct-01 14:43:34 – Annoying questions and disapointment – ShoeMoney Sept Recap (5 comments) Everyday I get asked the same question. “How do I get started making money online”. I usually ignore it or am nice about it but it annoys the shit out of me. Why you ask? Well here is the thing. They are asking me for advice because they have re…[more]
Oct-03 00:01:11 – @BigCommerce builds businesses with endless eCommerce tools – ShoeMoney FSF (2 comments) Free Shirt Friday! This week’s shirt is from Big Commerce. Big Commerce builds business’s websites and much more. They offer businesses the whole eCommerce package: websites, domain names, payment gateways, email accounts, built-in marketing and more. …[more]
Oct-06 09:08:00 – Tune in Tomorrow for Conversation with CEO Ryan Urban @BounceExchange (1 comments) Here?s what you should do tomorrow, Oct. 7 at 2pm PST/ 5pm EST: Tune in to WebMasterRadio.FM and listen to the live conversation between myself CEO of …[more]
Oct-07 09:02:15 – Learn how to not let your traffic bounce today at 2:00 PM PST with Ryan @BounceExchange (4 comments) What is Bounce Exchange and what does it mean? It?s a company, and for them, it means transforming ?bounced? website traffic into revenue. And by ?them,? I very much am referring to Bounce Exchange CEO, Ryan Urban, though Ryan?…[more]
Oct-08 09:18:02 – Industry Trained – A Girlfriends Guide to Affiliate Management a 3 Part Series (6 comments) Part 1 – Are you Industry Trained? I started in affiliate management in 2003 and I feel that was part of the wild west of the affiliate industry. Those beginning years for me were extraordinary times. Traffic was less restricted, email actually …[more]
Oct-10 00:01:00 – @ClickFunnels gives companies marketing funnels – ShoeMoney FSF (2 comments) This week’s free shirt on Free Shirt Friday is from Click Funnels. It’s a pretty sick shirt. Click Funnels offers “professionally designed marketing funnels” for your website, in order to save you time and money. They must be doing things right because th…[more]
Oct-13 10:04:07 – Next ShoeMoney Show guest revealed @eHygienics (1 comments) Who dat? James Carner, the next guest on the ShoeMoney Show. James has a rich background in Internet marketing and the like. Tune in to the chat with James tomorrow, October 14th at 2 p.m., PST/ 5 p.m. EST to see what he?s got to say about being an…[more]
Oct-14 09:16:02 – Learn how to clean your list today at 2pm PST/ 5 pm EST with James Carner – @eHygienics (3 comments) Hey! Don?t forget to tune in to the ShoeMoney Show today on WebmasterRadio.FM at 2 pm PST/ 5 pm EST .! Stream it live here or use t…[more]
Oct-17 00:01:10 – @DIYRV is the RV lover’s virtual home – ShoeMoney FSF (11 comments) Calling all RV lovers. Free Shirt Friday this week is hosted by Do It Yourself RV. Their website shows people everything RV-related — from building them to fixing floors to interior design. Check them out here…[more]
Oct-20 09:28:28 – Tune in to learn about SEO and website publishing @aaronwall (5 comments) The comeback of the ShoeMoney Show could not be better. TOMORROW, October 21 marks our seventh episode in a row this year. The guest is Aaron Wall. In 2003, Aaron and colleagues launched one of the first SEO sites that still stand toda…[more]
Oct-21 09:24:10 – Catch SEO Book, Aaron Wall today on the ShoeMoney Show @aaronwall (7 comments) TODAY, at 2 p.m., PST/ 5 p.m., EST, please tune in to the ShoeMoney Show with special guest, Aaron Wall! Aaron is another well-established person in the Internet marketing wo…[more]
Oct-22 09:00:11 – Industry Trained – Part 2 Ground Rules (8 comments) A Girlfriends Guide to Affiliate Management – Part 2 Let?s Get Trained – The Ground Rules Well, let?s dive right in. Two weeks ago I gave you an overview of the …[more]
Oct-24 00:02:55 – @WhatRunsWhere runs online advertising campaigns – ShoeMoney FSF (4 comments) This week on Free Shirt Friday is the company What Runs Where. This company tracks their clients’ advertisements and figures out which ones are doing best and which ones are not. They also look at the companies’ competitors to keep up with what their clie…[more]
Oct-27 11:35:12 – Learn from the best CEO! @mikesprouse (5 comments) Listeners, Readers, Internet Enthusiasts, Announcing our next guest on the ShoeMoney Show tomorrow at 2:00 pm PST/ 5:00 pm EST on WebMasterRadio.FM : Mike Sprouse…[more]
Oct-28 09:19:56 – Learn from the best CEO @mikesprouse (2 comments) In case you missed the announcement, know that Mike Sprouse is our special guest for Episode 8 of the ShoeMoney Show TODAY at 2p.m. PST/ 5p.m. EST. Tune in because Mike has a lot of experience, stories and success th…[more]
Oct-29 09:00:21 – Tricks & Treats for Halloween sales! (9 comments) Trick or treat? Treat! Offer your customers a discount or other special offer via email this month. You can do this even if you can?t find a way to connect Halloween to your business. Here are some tips for how: Word play: Can?t go wron…[more]
Oct-31 00:02:28 – @ApptAid makes appointments easy – ShoeMoney FSF (2 comments) Happy Halloween! This week’s free shirt on Free Shirt Friday is from Appointment Aid. They make appointments easy to make and remember for both the company and the company’s client. Check them out here. …[more]
Nov-03 09:09:50 – Join us tomorrow with “I’m John Chow Bitch” @JohnChow (3 comments) John Chow. A blogger who went from doing it for free to turning his website into a multi-million dollar business. John Chow dot com is one of the biggest blogs on the internet and has 250,000 active…[more]
