My Second Home, Affiliate Program Update, Escape from Cubicle Nation in PDX
Hey everyone, business has been good and I’ve bought a second home. You can see it here on Google Maps.
It’s a shared home – my part is usually located in the arrivals side just before security. The only problem is that someone keeps sitting on my couch when I get up to get coffee. I know, I should put up a sign or something.
Today I’m en route to La Guardia via Dallas for a couple of days of meetings in New York. To keep things simple, I’m combining multiple updates and announcement into today’s post, so that we can save the week for the articles.
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NYC Meetup Reminder
If you live in the city or nearby, come and say hi on Tuesday night, Disiac Lounge on 402 West 54th Street, 7:30-9:00 p.m. It sounds like we’ll have a good-sized group in attendance, and the word on the street is that Disiac serves good sangria.
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Affiliate Program (it’s still low-key, but lots of people are asking)
I’m really busy these days and haven’t been able to upgrade the Unconventional Guide affiliate program as much as I’d like to.
For now, the way I think about affiliate programs is as follows:
1) Most affiliate programs suck. They are not usually a good way to make money.
2) For an affiliate program to NOT suck, both the merchant/publisher and the affiliate have to be willing to change the rules of the game.
3) In effect, the merchant has to pay a decent commission (I pay 51%, on the principle that affiliates should make more than I do), and the affiliate has to provide some kind of value-add to stand out.
I want to improve this even further in the future, but it probably won’t be in the next 30 days since I’ll be traveling so much. In the meantime, if you want to join the program, feel free to email me and let me know how you’ll promote the guides. For the time being, I’m mostly looking for established web sites that have some experience in doing these things.
(This is not because I’m a snob; it’s because I want everyone in the program to actually be successful. I assure you that in the world of affiliate promotion, widespread success is unusual.)
I can’t promise much hand-holding at this point, but I’m happy to send out money on the first of every month like I do for 20 other active affiliates so far.
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Pamela Slim in Portland, Friday the 26th
Lastly, my friend and book mentor Pamela Slim is coming to town later this week, right after I get back from the East Coast. Among other things, she’s doing a one-day workshop to help people plan their escape from traditional employment.
If you’re in Portland, this is definitely worth coming to. Check out all the details here:
Escape from Cubicle Nation – PDX Workshop
This is for all of you guys here in my city working in cubicle land and trying to escape. I give Pam’s work 4-stars, and if we’ve ever met, you’ll be happy to know that she is much better than me at explaining how to make the transition from corporate prisoner to free agent. Also, I’ll be there for the first half of the workshop, so if you’re coming, be sure and let me know so we can meet up too.
She’s even given me a deal for you guys – use the discount code “Chris” and you’ll get $30 off, the same as the early-bird price which has already expired. (In case you’re wondering, I don’t get paid to shill for Pam. I’d probably pay her if she asked, which would be an interesting business model.)
Wrap-Up
That’s it for me. Hope to see you NYC folks on Tuesday night, a few PDX folks on Friday, and then I’ll be off to see the rest of the world a week from today.
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PDX-NYC Image by Mmm…Fiber
