These two songs resonated with me during a time when no business metric, no achievement, award, accolade, or paycheck was enough.

There is a scene in the original “Death Wish” (1974) movie starring Charles Bronson as a one-man vigilante squad named Paul Kersey that I always liked.

This all ties together. I promise.

At one point, one of Paul Kersey’s colleagues commented, “Somebody once said, I forget who… that he never looked back because something might be gaining on him. What’s gaining on you, Paul?”

So ultimately, what was gaining on me was chasing approval from my father, who passed away a year before Affiliate Summit was founded.

He worked for the federal government and as I worked for various start-ups in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he would give me crap for being a workaholic. It didn’t make sense to him that I felt a compulsion to work evenings and weekends, and that I was anxious for Monday to come to get back at it.

The irony was that I wanted him to see me succeed, but working so much didn’t look like success to him. When he was alive, I was starting to build a name for myself writing a marketing column, speaking at conferences, and getting consistent raises and better jobs.

In the spring of 2001, I was really proud to have my first book (“Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants”) published by Que, a division of Macmillan at the time. It was 352 pages of affiliate marketing information that sold well in the blossoming industry.

I gave him a copy and he never cracked it open. It sat on his coffee table. It hurt me that he didn’t have an interest in what was a huge achievement to me. A year later, he was gone.

He was in a medically induced coma for weeks. In his last days, a nurse asked me what he did for work and I was petty and angry that he never read my book, and I said he wrote boring stat reports for the government.

I regretted that for a long time and hoped he didn’t hear me. I was impressed by the work he did and the reverence he received for it.

When we cremated him, my brother and I included some things that had meaning to us to be with him from then on:

• Sheet music for the piano for “See You Later, Alligator”
• Autographed baseball from David Wells
• Yankees World Series 1998 baseball cap
• 2002 Yankees media guide (he wanted it for Father’s Day and he was gone before I could give it to him)
• A copy of my book

He was going to be stuck with my book for eternity. We sprinkled his ashes in places that were special to him: Yankee Stadium, the beaches of Wildwood, NJ, and the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania.

My chance to impress him and show him I could be a success had ended. I felt like I was a failure in my dad’s eyes.

It didn’t help many years later when his sister told me he was very worried about me after I graduated college because I was sort of rudderless for a while. I didn’t know what I wanted to do and spent some time as a front desk guy at a hotel and as an assistant manager at a Blockbuster in my hometown.

It was no coincidence that Affiliate Summit began in 2003 – less than a year after he left us. I went about working on that, as well as my full-time job in NYC, and a bunch of consulting, projects, and websites on the side.

As my star continued to rise, I continued to work hard. It was my identity and my pride, but it was never enough. At some point, I remembered the song “Unsatisfied” by the Replacements. I had it on vinyl from my high school days from their album, “Let It Be.”

I found myself playing it over and over on an old record player I’d gathered from my dad’s house. It was just how I felt and it wasn’t something I felt comfortable sharing with anybody…

Look me in the eye, then tell me that I’m satisfied
Was you satisfied?
Look me in the eye, then tell me that I’m satisfied
Hey, are you satisfied?

I wasn’t satisfied. Not by a longshot. By 2008, when I’d stopped working my corporate job and closed out my consulting work, I was focusing solely on Affiliate Summit.

I worked more than when I had multiple jobs. I knew I could never make such a fluid thing perfect, but that didn’t stop me from always trying to perfect it.

In 2010, I moved to Austin and found a life/work balance that I hadn’t bothered to pursue before. It felt better. I was more settled, but not relaxed. I’d see people just chill all of the time and I didn’t understand it. I couldn’t do that, because there was always more to do.

The Dead Milkmen came out with an album called “The King in Yellow” in 2011, and deep into the tracks (15 out of 17) was a song called “Can’t Relax.” It was silly and it was my truth.

Four letter words can have two meanings,
Love, Bleep, and Bleep to name a few,
Sometimes it’s something that you’re feeling,
Other times, it’s something that you do.

Sometimes life is like a puzzle,
With all the pieces on the floor,
And they don’t seem to fit together,
But then the pieces become a door.

I can’t relax, so don’t tell me to relax,
I can’t sit still, so don’t tell me to sit still,
I can’t relax if you tell me to relax,
I can’t relax.

It all comes down to electrons,
Conveying meaning with a spark,
The yin and yang, the ones and zeros,
The push the pull, the light and dark.

In the World of Rod McKuen,
Heat is sound and love is food,
Take life slowly and with feeling,
To gain a winning attitude.

In 2017, we sold Affiliate Summit, and with that, I felt satisfied. I discovered how to relax.

Nothing was gaining on me anymore. I am sure if my dad was still alive that my first book would still be unread by him, as well as the books that came after. And the reality is that they are pretty boring subject matter for anybody not living and breathing it.

But he would have been proud to tell my story to anybody who listened.

Sorry about the book thing, dad.

The post What’s Gaining on You? appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

That was the first year of fifteen straight for affiliate marketers to converge on Vegas shortly after the new year.

We jumped around a lot of hotels in Las Vegas over those fifteen years – Bally’s to the Rio to the Wynn to Caesar’s Palace and then a long residence at Paris.

While the scenery changed from time to time, one thing was consistent and that was the great people who would come from all over the world.

We smiled, we learned, we drank, we laughed, we sang, and we built deeper relationships with each other that have lasted all of these years.

Along the way, we also lost some friends way too early, but we have such rich memories that will last forever.

We started these events with a couple of hundreds of attendees and as we reached the end those numbers were seven-thousand-something. As more and more unfamiliar faces joined in with us, we all made new friends, too. People from about 80 countries getting together for shop talk and fun.

It was very fitting that we wound up Affiliate Summit West 2020 at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill – a beautiful going away party drinking bubbles with all of these true, important friends. That night with the people there is something I will always cherish.

We had some great times, didn’t we?

This year marks an end to those experiences and memories with our people… well, at last for our annual get-togethers in Las Vegas in January/February.

We’ll just have to make other plans in the future to catch up and laugh and cry and have a blast.

I think Jim Morrison said it best about our shared end of an era…

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.”

The post I Miss Affiliate Summit West at This Time of Year appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

The memories are all still fresh of toilet paper, meats, Lysol, masks, and other items disappearing from shelves the last time around.

It’s a good idea to be ready this time in case you’re stuck at home for an extended period of time on a lockdown.

Start now for those essentials that may be out of reach in the very near future. Here is a cheat sheet of things to consider:

Medicine
I am not talking about medicine to treat COVID-19 symptoms but in general. Think about what you need for the seasonal flu, stomach bugs, head colds, migraines, pink eye, and other maladies. Get the medicines you usually have to run to the store for, so you won’t have to go to a lockdown.

Meals and Ingredients
If you are stuck at home the last thing you want to do is consume unhealthy frozen or packaged foods. You want to build up your immunity, not compromise it. You’re better off having ingredients to meal prep and store in your freezer. If you are tight on freezer space, you can get a chest freezer now before they disappear again, too.

Stock Your Pantry
In addition to meal prepping, you should also build up a stock of non-perishable foods you can stock in your pantry. Of course, not all canned goods are healthy, so you need to focus on shelf-stable foods that are nutritious and versatile. Canned meats like tuna or salmon are flexible and can be used in a variety of ways.

Baking Ingredients
People made a run for flour and other baking ingredients the last time around. If you like to bake, get those staples now. Consider whole wheat flour over regular flour to have the benefit of protein and extra fiber.

Laundry and Dish Detergent
I don’t know about your stores, but mine were light on all sorts of detergents the last time. I ran out of laundry detergent and had to search a half dozen stores or more. Get it now and be clean later.

A Bunch of Other Stuff
While you are stuck at home there is a chance you could lose power – be ready. Have batteries on hand, as well as a flashlight, candles, and cell phone chargers, Also, grab an emergency radio that has features such as light and cell phone charger built-in.

Butt Wait… There’s More
Toilet paper is flying off the shelves again. It’s good to have back-ups on hand, but also consider getting a bidet, so you are less reliant on toilet paper.

Are you prepared for another shutdown? Don’t be stressed, be ready.

The post Are You Prepared if There is Another COVID-19 Shutdown? appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

When I first flew after things were locked down I was pretty nervous – in addition to the mask, I was wearing a face shield and gloves with long sleeves and long pants. I wiped down every surface anywhere close to me with Clorox wipes.

The airports were ghost towns with virtually nothing open, sections of terminals closed off, and few flights. It was tough getting an Uber, too, since so few people were requesting them that many stopped working airports.

After landing, I washed the clothes I flew in right away and showered.

Things have gotten more back to normal over time, but we’re still a long way to go.

One nice thing about the lesser crowds on the flights is that I get free upgrades to first more often, and many airlines are carrying over status through 2021.

A couple of times I’ve gotten the fancy pod seats on United that lay flat. I am in no rush for the flights to end with those seats.

I primarily fly United and most of their lounges aren’t open still, including Austin (grrrrr!).

There is a big one in Newark that is open, but the food selection has changed a lot – now it’s all packaged and pretty uninspired, unless you like Uncrustables.

The lounge bars are cleared of the tables and chairs and there are plastic guards between the travelers and bartenders.

The planes board rear to front, rather than by groups, and that’s probably a more logical method anyway. As each person boards, they receive a sanitized wipe to clean their area and people have been compliant on my flights with keeping their masks on.

I feel safe flying with all of the precautions and it makes it that much easier to avoid crowds having CLEAR and TSA Pre.

The post Have You Flown Since the Pandemic Days Started? appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

In the pre-COVID-19 days, I would go to the gym a few days a week. It wasn’t making a big difference, but it was helping to preserve the status quo.

After we were locked down, I was going a little crazy being homebound and the only thing I could do outside the house for a while was exercise, so I started doing it every day.

At first, it was a half-hour or so a day to get my blood pumping. Then it morphed into 5 miles a day – either walking or intervals of walking and running.

In addition to enjoying the fresh air and change of scenery, I had read that vitamin D was helpful in staying resistant, so being out in the sun each day was a plus.

I also began taking 1,000 mg vitamin C each morning and one gallon of water per day with a motivational water bottle that had times you should drink the water by.

Since I wanted to track my progress along the way I also got a Withings watch, which tracks steps, heartbeat, sleep, etc. It has some similar functionality to an Apple watch, but it looks like a real watch.

I like the Withings brand and have used one of their WiFi-enabled scales for years to track weight loss and gain. This information syncs into their own app and others.

I didn’t stop at exercise and water consumption – I also focused on low-carb foods in the Atkins Diet.

Since I started my COVID-19 exercise plan I have lost around 20 pounds and I am feeling a lot better.

If there is any silver lining from this global pandemic, it’s that it got me to get more healthy and build my immunity to avoid becoming a statistic.

The post You Can Be Healthy During COVID-19 appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

That’s inevitable in any city, so it’s a good idea to take some steps to improve your home security and minimize your risk of becoming a police statistic.

While you can’t guarantee you won’t be a victim in the future, you can take precautions to make your home less attractive to burglars.

Here are some steps I’ve taken at my house…

• Shine a light: I have a couple of motion-activated lights, as well as keeping my front porch light on at night, so there are less dark places for people to creep around.
• Sound the alarm: I got wired up with a security company and planted the signs and stickers around to let prospective burglars know breaking into my place will be met with an ear-piercing siren and automatic call to the police.
• Reinforce your doors: a security bar can help fortify the doors to the outside and garage. If somebody is trying to get in, make it as difficult as you can by getting an adjustable door security bar.
• Locking the gate door: I put a simple padlock on my gate door so entry into the yard is more of a hassle than it’s worth.
• Big Brother is watching: I have a Ring doorbell, as well as a handful of Google Nest cameras to cover outside areas and let any passersby know they are on camera. I have them inside, too, and there is an option to tie to your phone so the internal cameras can be shut off automatically when your phone is home.
• Locks your doors: My parents were from a big city, and even with growing up in the suburbs I learned from a young age that you lock the door whenever you come and go. Some people think that’s paranoid. I think it’s a good way to keep uninvited guests from entering my home.
• Take away their view: I have a camera in my garage and I get notifications when movement is detected. One time I got that notification because a stranger was peeking in my garage door windows to see what I had. Right away I went online and ordered some frosted window film to keep prying eyes off my things.
• Wag the dog: a barking dog can be a nuisance, but that furry face and noisy snout can also get criminals to think twice about trying to get into your home. My dog ate through some blinds in my front room to show her face more – I was not pleased about the destruction, but happy she likes to show her pretty face to anybody casing the house.

Think about taking these steps to keep your home and family safe and make the burglars know you’re not an easy target.

The post Take Steps to Make Your Home Safer appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

I use VIPRE antivirus on my computers and they provide comprehensive email and endpoint security, along with real-time threat intelligence that delivers layered protection.

When I was looking at the various antivirus options I was impressed by the features and pricing for VIPRE antivirus.

It was simple to install and they’ve got free support, but I have not had a reason to use them so far.

I am embarrassed to admit that I worked without antivirus for many years and that changed fast when my company was nearly destroyed by ransomware several years ago.

All of us worked remotely and shared files with Dropbox. One day a well-designed phishing email disguised as a message from FedEx got clicked and the next thing we knew was that everybody’s files on Dropbox had been locked down.

We received a message that the files would be destroyed if we didn’t pay a ransom with Bitcoin within 24 hours.

It was a scary time. The whole company was on those files. If they could not be recovered it could be the end of the company. But we didn’t want to pay these cyber-terrorists and encourage their behavior.

At the time I had just flown to the east coast and I realized I had used my desktop in Austin the day before and turned it off before I left.

So all of those files that had been torched were still intact on my machine.

When I returned home I turned off the WiFi, booted up, and was able to reclaim all of the files (except anything created in the past 24 hours). We were lucky this time, but went and got locked down with VIPRE Antivirus after this nearly devastating experience.

I will never go without antivirus again.

For those of you who like to know more details on how VIPRE Antivirus will keep your business safe, here are the ways it can protect for you…

Endpoint Protection
Powerful endpoint security delivering protection against today’s most sophisticated online threats

Email Protection
Unparalleled protection from advanced email threats delivered from the convenience of a cloud-based architecture

Network Protection
Real-time threat intelligence and the industry’s premier sandbox for next-gen malware analysis

User & Data Protection
Solutions that protect users, their actions and sensitive business information from costly attacks and data breaches

Are you safe? If not, get VIPRE Antivirus now.

The post Keep Your Business Safe with VIPRE Antivirus appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

The night before, there was a beautiful sendoff at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill with so many friends who became family in the time since Missy Ward and I started Affiliate Summit in 2003. My heart was full from that night, but there was a feeling of sadness as I thought about how some of these people wouldn’t be in NYC for Affiliate Summit East 2020.

It hit me that I may well never see some of these people again. But I found solace in knowing I would still see a bunch of others.

Well, that plan got COVID-19’d, didn’t it?

That expected closure after this 17-year journey wasn’t meant to be, and I still have a lot of unspent hugs to give out at some future time and location.

In the meantime, I smile about all of the shared struggles and successes and experiences across 50 Affiliate Summit events on three continents. The late nights and early mornings. I never did come down with “conference crud” like so many of you, unless it was just a really bad hangover all of this time.

Building Affiliate Summit with Missy and all of you was the best thing I’ve ever done. All of you! We certainly didn’t get here alone. We never could have. From the very start, there were great people helping us stuff bags, carry boxes, and spread the word.

So many people spoke and wrote words, shared ideas, stood with us, and supported us through all of these times. When competitors came after us; the Great Recession hit; people were needed to speak out against legislation that would harm the industry… you were there. You always were. A great big, dysfunctional, beautiful family.

I wish I were going to see that family this July in New York City. There are so many little things that add up to a rich experience there each time.

I’ll miss stocking up on my Diet Dr. Peppers at Duane Reade, serendipitously meeting people in the Marriott Marquis smoking area, having drinks in the Broadway Lounge and the Playwright Celtic Pub around the corner, hanging out with people for the first time in a while, the hotel decked out with Affiliate Summit signs and banners and check-in booths, walking through the Meet Market before it opens and getting butterflies, confusing which side to go to for an up or down escalator, heading to the Copacabana for Affiliate Ball, late-night street meat, looking out the window from my room to Times Square, seeing all of the people excitedly doing business together, catching a Yankees game, and then the goodbyes.

So, I guess this is my goodbye. Actually, no. Let’s make this my “until I see you again.”

This anonymous quote really resonates with me right now… “At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went outside to play together for the last time, and nobody knew it.”

I miss y’all.

The post The Long Goodbye from Home appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

Affiliate Summit Europe 2020: Remote is taking place from June 30 to July 2 and it will be completely digital.

Speakers at Affiliate Summit Europe: REMOTE will be sharing how they’ve survived and thrived during the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the strategies that they’re implementing to navigate tomorrow. But the content goes way deeper than that like at any Affiliate Summit.

There will be sessions, keynotes, roundtables, meetups, drop-in clinics, virtual matchmaking, and, of course, plenty of networking.

Get more details and register for free at the Affiliate Summit site.

The post Affiliate Summit Goes Remote for the First Time appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

The first report came out in the spring of 2003 and I gave a presentation on it at the Affiliate Force conference, which took place April 24-28, 2003 aboard the Carnival Imagination cruise ship.

At the time I was the ClubMom.com Affiliate Manager, as well as the President of the US chapter of the Internet Affiliate Marketing Association.

It was during this cruise conference that Missy Ward and I presented together in a session for the first time.

It was also the time the two of us became disenfranchised with Affiliate Force and the work we were doing to build it up. So we made plans to launch our own conference, which could have easily faded away as nonsense we spouted off about at one of the cruise bars.

But we got on the phone a couple of weeks later and AffiliateSummit.com was registered on May 19, 2003.

Less than six months later we had our first event, and there was never another Affiliate Force.

Over the years AffStat was folded into Affiliate Summit.

The post Early Affiliate Marketing Statistics with AffStat appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.