Ohhhhhh Yea! I’m on a much needed vacation form work, although I got several emails from our Corporate Lawyers this morning, which they seem to think is urgent and need my attention. I disagree and told them I would review everything next week. 
For those that don’t know me well, I am a Poker Affiliate and I handle “Legal Affairs and General Liability” at my corporate job.
I’m in a great position because I have one of the best and most secure jobs in the country (people are always suing us) and I make a great income in the Poker/Gaming market. If I lost either one, I would still be ok. I realize how fortunate I am, and I don’t take a bit of it for granted! I know several people that have been by the recession, and lost jobs, lots cars, and really are not sure what is going to happen. It’s tough out there and while I know some people cannot help their situation, I see plenty of others that love playing the victim in this economy.
There is a great parrallel between the real world and the microcosim of the Poker Affiliate World. Now bear with me while I explain this, and keep in mind this is only my humble opinion and take it for what its worth.
I see posts daily on the PAL forum with new and old affiliates looking to find excuses as to why they are not making money, traffic is down, Google is being stupid (happens a lot), or traffic is not converting. These people are playing the “victim” If you are spending hours a day looking at Stats, SERP’s, or your competitors then you are screwing yourself worse than any other webmaster could possibly do.
Granted researching is vital to your online business, not it is not something that should consume your time. Instead you should be focusing on what YOU can do and not what google does, or your competator who has decided to go after your niche. It reminds me of the “serenity prayer” :
“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the Wisdom to know the difference”
There are so many things you can do to affect your future, you should make sure you have every separated. If I decide to go after your super secret keywords, you better have a plan to be better than me. If you decide to go after my super secret KW’s, c’mon let’s fight it out. But DON”T sit around moaning that I’m being unfair, because competition should motivate you, and if you are prepared, then you will enjoy the challenge.
So, don’t play the victim and take control of your future because your future stars now! It won’t wait on you, each day you relax someone like me is working on their “vacation” and loving every minute of it.
PS: If you are an affiliate looking for some sick Affiliate Rakeback Deals to Offer, please hit me up ASAP.
Entrepreneur. Husband and Father. SEO Geek. Aspiring Blogger. Founder, Felt Media. Avid MMA Fan
It’s funny how some people look at successful affiliates and then look at themselves like “how come im not that successful?” and the first thing they start doing is pointing the finger.
If some people would just get off their egos and realize that maybe, just maybe, it’s them and not google, their friends, a spy, whatever, then maybe they can start working on a solution verses just feeling sorry for themselves.
Great post Randy.
Have you thought about writing a post where you describe how much work you do in a 1 day/week?
I know you work harder than most, and I think a schedule of your work hours and what you spend them doing could be really motivating for a lot of people and would make a nice follow up to this (excellent) post.
Thanks for the kind words guys, it took me a long time to find a good balance between work and play. A lesson I’m still learning, but seeing the results of the work is motivation itself.
My hope is that my posts will help others realize what I have, that this is the best business int he world but it takes work. Its def. not a get rich quick scheme. I owe my success to other affiliates that motivated me like Randy Ray, Roger, Kaus, Jeremy, etc. A big long list.
Amen to this post, I sometimes get too caught up in the stats crap myself, thanks for a kick in the nuts.
You make a great argument in this post. People should just go for it and stop making it a negative.