Warning: This post contains nothing but personal issues, if you are here to find my latest poker affiliate industry rant, tips, etc. Click away now. If you read on, don’t say I didn’t warn you. I almost decided not to even post this, but I know other affiliates have had to to deal with this same issue and decision. Most of this post is just me rambling about concerns and options.
So I think I am at the point in my affiliate career where I am seriously thinking about losing my safety net and going full time into internet marketing. I say internet marketing and no “poker affiliating” because I have some great non gaming websites as well. I don’t restrict myself to being just a poker affiliate.
As you may or may not know, I have been in the internet marketing business for at least 3 solid years. At the same time I have still been working for a very large US corporation that has treated me very well. I have great insurance, an annual bonus, a fat salary, and a kick ass office. I do legal affairs and general compliance. Sounds boring but its really not. I’ve done the same type work for the past 10 years either working for someone else or working for myself.
I live in a very small town in the heart of the Ozark Mountains, jobs like the one are very rare and leaving this job scares my wife, and scares me. This job which only accounts for 40% of my income at the moment. My sites could all get nuked tomorrow and I would still live well. I think that is one of the scary parts, thinking that google could nuke my rankings tomorrow makes me very uncomfortable no matter how unlikely it is. I own 30 websites and get income from them all, but most of my online income comes from two websites, Felt Poker and LooseChangePoker. The chances of both of them being nuked is slim. There is nothing shady about those sites, so not much to worry about.
Now obviously if I was a single guy, the choice would be an easy one. I would be a self employed internet marketer. As it is, I have 6 kids and a great wife who married me when I was flat broke. She is worried about our future if leave this company, and I share her anxiety about it. 2009 has been a great year for us as a family and financially. Leaving my job could be the biggest mistake of my life.
On the flip side, my internet income has been growing each month of 2009, with each month better than the last. I’m 31 years old, and work from 6am to 12am at least most every night of the week and sometimes into the weekend. I do this because I know that is what it takes to make things happen. I have to out work the other guy if I want to get ahead, while the other guys are out enjoying themselves, I stay home and work. I do it because I love it, and I love the satisfaction of watching something I built become useful to other people. I try to provide some of value on the internet, this concept has seem to been lost with most websites built now, especially in the gaming niche.
Right now I essentially work three jobs, two full time and one part time. I work for my company which is me being on call 24/7 and on site 60+ hours a week, I work and have an investment in Simian Play Corporation which owns Rakeupdate, RakeReduction, and several other large websites. Officially I am the head of marketing Marketing for Simian Play. Also, I have 30+ websites of my own which need constant TLC.
My wife finally quit her job with the State to help with our websites, but she needed to make some money of her own to feel like she was “Contributing” so she now writes content for several large websites and has been little help to me in months. Although we had a chat and she is pushing back her writing to help me more before I collapse. Anyway, I work all the time, I’m tired all the time, and I’m not sure I can continue to work three jobs.
Crossroads
This is such a cross roads for me, I was a high school drop out and I now make more a year than anyone I know personally, Coaches, Teachers, Executives, etc. I am so lucky it is sic! By all accounts I should have ended up either in jail or at some factory working for minimum wage. Not considering quitting a job most people would LOVE to have. Especially with our crazy economy and a President which insists on “spreading the wealth”. Yet the other part of me hates working a 9-5 knowing my potential income is pretty restricted. I know I do not want to work for corporate America until I hit 70 or w/e. I just cannot do it.
My theory is that if I could work full time on my sites and growing the income of “Simian Play” where I get a % of profits as well as a salary, I could make double what I make now. Probably even triple. Of course there is always the chance that I fail miserably and then I will put my family in an awful position and probably never find a decent job around here again.
So, once again I am at a crossroads in my life. I know this decision will be a defining moment in my life which will affect me and my family for the rest of our lives. I can choose to leave my security net, or I can stay with it and wonder “what if” forever. Of course I can also try and continue to do what I have been doing and hope I don’t die of exhaustion. This is a great example where I have to balance what I want to do, with what is right for me to do. I know that no matter what is decided, my wife will support my decision 100%.
Anyway, I’m goign to be seeking for wisdom of some of my most trusted friends, some of who have faced this decision before. I will also welcome any input anyone reading this has.
On