It is always easy to write a blog post complaining about something, pointing out a problem, spouting off on nebulous ideas, and stuff like that but since tomorrow is Thanksgiving I decided to sit back and think of some of the reasons I am thankful to be in the industry I am in so I decided to to a cheesy “This is why I am thankful for…” type post. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for being thankful and appreciating every blessing we receive. But for the most part it always can come across a bit disingenuous. Hopefully this post won’t come across that way and I hope you believe me when I say I am truly thankful for these 7 things (plus many, many more).
7. Only have to justify a project to myself – I talk to friends in the corporate world and they almost always have to check with their bosses when they want to do something or if they have an idea they need approval from a bunch of different people, need to get the funding, and jump through a bunch of other loopholes before they can get going. If I get an idea for a project and I do my research and think it will work I only need to convince myself. And sometimes I can have a site up, running, and making money in just a few hours. If I had to wait weeks for approval I would lose interest.
6. There is no “right” way – Obviously there are some overall moral and ethical principles that apply but there isn’t necessarily a “right” way to be an affiliate. I just look at my list of friends in this industry and I can see dozens of different people that all do it “right” but none of their business models or processes look the same. People always are asking me “how can I make money online?” and it is a very tough question to answer since there are so many ways to do it the “right” way. And that sort of creativity and all those options make this an exciting industry for me.
5. Free Schedule – I really don’t like being on other people’s schedules. I like doing things when I want to do them and one of the biggest reasons I am thankful to be in this industry is I have as open of a schedule as I want. If I want to sleep until noon I have that option. If I want to work at 2 in the morning I can do that. If I need to take a long lunch I have that freedom. If a friend needs me to give them a hand moving or something like that I can just take off and do it. Generally speaking I have no real deadlines and nothing that ever really “needs” to be done (although there is always an endless supply of stuff I can do). Gotta love the freedom.
4. Unlimited Potential – Well, it isn’t technically “unlimited” but the celing is extremely high. For the most part I am only limited by how hard I want to work. Unfortunatly I usually don’t like working too hard and the bottom line can suffer but it is nice knowing that the money is always out there and the harder I work the more I make. I am not limited by a 40 hr work week or quotas or budgets. The more I want the more I can get and that makes me very thankful.
3. I get to work with my family – As you many or many not know I am partners in my company with my dad and brother. We all have different projects we work on and different stuff we do but most of the time I wouldn’t want to work with anyone else. Of course we have disagreements and there are some tough times. Many people will tell you to never work with family and in many cases that would be good advice but not in my case.
2. Flexibility – One of the things I like most about this industry and that makes me very thankful is the flexibility. There are so many niches out there I can work with, so many different merchants, and so many different methods of promoting those merchants. This job never really gets boring. If I want to spend a day writing blog posts I can do that. If I want to build a datafeed site I can do that. If I want to spend a few hours doing some PPC stuff I can do that. And stuff like that really helps my short attention span.
1. The People – If I had to pick my favorite thing about this industry and the one that makes me the most thankful it is the people. For the most part I only see my friends in this industry 2 or 3 times a year. But when I do see them it is like we have been neighbors for years. We can sit and talk, go out and have a great time, talk business, talk life, go golfing, or whatever. Of course there are some dorks in this business like anywhere else but without taking time to sit and list everyone I can probably think of 50 or so people in this industry I would consider friends. How many other industries can you say that about? If you aren’t a jerk or an idiot this is one of the most friendly and helpful groups of people I have ever been around. Whether it is other affiliates, affiliate managers, people from the networks, or other industry people they are all awesome people to be around.
I am not gonna list all of them here because if they are reading this they probably know who they are. But to all my friends out there in the affiliate industry: THANK YOU!!!
So what makes you thankful about this business? Why do you like it so much? Leave a comment and let me know.
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