WP Engine retooled their affiliate program a few months ago, so I signed up. I can’t remember what the payouts were before, but they switched it to paying $250 for every signup – which is a pretty generous offer.

I knew part of WP Engine’s strategy was to attend and sponsor WordCamps, so I figured I’d piggy back off that and advertise on Facebook geo-targeting the location of the WordCamp and run the ad 2 days prior to the event through the start of the event.

The reason I ran the ad prior was because I knew WP Engine ‘comped’ or gave away free basic plans at the camp and I figured if I ‘cookied’ the attendees prior to them knowing about the upcoming comp, my cookie would take precedence and I’d get credit for the referral.

Last week, I found out because the accounts were comped, my commissions wouldn’t be honored – which kinda sucks. I tried to cheat the system and got bit.

Lessons learned: 

1) Carefully read Terms of Service and Affiliate Agreements
2) Go easy on ad spend until after your first payday, then pedal to the medal.
3) Getting a lot of impressions by advertising internationally on Facebook is “cheap.” But conversion rates are abysmal.
4) Facebook gives you a big CPM discount by sending traffic to a fan page and not offsite to an external landing page.
5) There is no easy way to make money, despite what info-marketing charlatans tell you.

Read this article.

Suspend the argument of gay marriage for a moment, let’s consider the larger issue at hand.

Should an elected official be able to deny building permits because of personal disagreement? Is this constitutional and should it be?

If so, how do we decide which views should be “right” one?

This weekend I helped a friend pack up a house to move. In the throwaway stack was a bunch of old magazines. It’s fascinating to look at these old covers and headlines and remember the old stories that were “news of the day.” Sometimes the news that seemed so perilous then, is a shoulder shrug and laugh now.

“The Silicon Valley Saints” was the cover of Christianity Today’s August 2001 edition. This was post “dot com” bubble and Silicon Valley had mud on its face from the crash of the NASDAQ.

An interview with Paulina Borsook, a former contributer to Wired, seemed eerily prescient of how technology and the mindset it creates, affects (and would affect) our culture. There are so many gems in this cover article that need to be shared.

Remember, this is pre-Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress. Google was still a private, 3-year old company and Amazon’s homepage looked like this. And this magazine’s cover said “AOL Keyword: Christianity Today.”

Could you describe the tenets of the “religion” espoused by the high-tech community?

The beliefs include things like “Technology is the solution to all human problems,” “The market is the true test of everything,” “Money is the highest good,” and “All government and regulation is bad.”

There is also an overreliance on the spreadsheet way of knowledge, which says that if it can’t be quantified, then it has no value. In the high-tech world, the intuitive and subjective is bad. If you can’t count it, it doesn’t exist. So I ask, How do you quantify social services or art? Do these things have no value because they are nonquantifiable?

Are we seeing an attitude change now that the days of easy money seem to be behind us?

I don’t know yet; it’s a little early to tell. I have to wonder, with the Nasdaq sinking and dot-coms dying, what are people going to fall back on? If they’ve been taught that money is the only and best good and the market is the best test, what are they left with? I wonder about the people who felt that money was the only thing worth having, that the wealth somehow proved you were a hip, evolved, wise person, but now what? Are you not as evolved?

With all this real dot-com kookiness gone away, perhaps there’s going to be a resurgence of craft over wealth, people attracted to stuff only because they like it instead of wanting to get rick quick from it.

Has technology impeded people in this industry from fostering true human connections?

We crave intimacy and we fear it. The Net can give you a marvelous feeling of pseudointimacy, but I would never tell people that what they’re experiencing online isn’t real. Particularly in high tech, where work is the only thing in your life, the online avenue may be the only way to have a connection that’s human. But although technology has value, it’s not a replacement for the real thing. It is good for some things, but not the same thing as having neighbors and friends.

Do we have anything to fear as a culture from technology’s presence in our everyday life?

Since the late ’60s, we’ve become increasingly media-saturated, and that to me is problematic. It blows my mind that people will go hiking and bring their cell phones with them. Or go hiking and bring their laptops but not enough water! We live in such mediated environments now, and we need to make efforts not to be bombarded all the time.

I was just about to write one of those posts flaming XYZ company about how they treat customers.

You know the ones. That’s what Twitter and Facebook was created for, right?

“Someone isn’t treating me like the royalty! Don’t they know how important I am!”

The truth is, the other person on the line is probably a lot like you. And when THEY call into customer support for their cell phone bill or whatever, they are probably a little more understanding of how frustrating it must feel to be the other person on the line.

So I forgot my MileagePlus (frequent flyer) pin number for United and when I went to reset it, this happened:

I HATE it when this happens. There is nothing more frustrating to try and fix my own problem and be unable to do so because the company has stupid recursive loops on their help pages.

So of course I call into customer support. Pissed.

And the lady, Judy in South Dakota, couldn’t be nicer.

She promptly helps me, violates some kind of protocol because her computer couldn’t verify my security questions, saying, “I trust you. You sound like a nice guy.”

After we resolved the forgotten pin she says, “By the way, did you know you have the same birthday as John Wayne? And happy birthday.”

No I did not know that. Yes, John Wayne is a total badass. And I realized Judy is a real person, a lot like me, and I probably would’ve forgotten that if I would’ve acted the normal pompous ass that I am.

This is what investors mean when referring to an “unfair advantage.”

So you have to figure out what your own aptitudes are. If you play games where other people have the aptitudes and you don’t, you’re going to lose. And that’s as close to certain as any prediction that you can make. You have to figure out where you’ve got an edge. And you’ve got to play within your own circle of competence.

- Charlie Munger

In order of best to worst:

• Skype/Gchat
• Text message – (678) 665-2753
• @ Twitter message – @taylorbrooks
• Facebook/LinkedIn message
• Email – tbrooks at gmail dot com
• Call/voicemail

Over the years I’ve owner some pretty killer shades.  I, however, suck at keeping a pair of sunglasses for any respectable length of time.  I’m a brand snob, so I never buy the cheap convenience store ones like I should.  This summer is no exception.  I’ll buy another expensive pair from Sunglass Hut and likely lose them in no time.

Here are the different models I’ve owned in the past:

1.  Oakley Frogskins – $59 – left at the beach

2.  Oakley M Frame Sweep – $120 – stolen by brother

3.  Oakley Sub Zero 0.6 – $89 – left on back of car

4.  Maui Jim Wailea – $259 – lost in the lake

5.  Spy Optic Zoe – $100 – sat on them

6.  Ray Ban RB4057 – $170 – left them in a golf cart

Nothing says “urban assault vehicle” like a flat black SUV. These things are tough.

Some days I just feel like doing GOB’s chicken dance when people are talking to me.

Staff Infection — Season 1 (Performed by GOB)
Amigos — Season 2 (Performed by GOB)
Switch Hitter — Season 2 (Performed by GOB)
Burning Love — Season 2 (Performed by GOB)
Ready, Aim, Marry Me — Season 2 (Performed by GOB and Lindsay)
Spring Breakout — Season 2 (Performed by Lucille)
For British Eyes Only — Season 3 (Performed by Lucille, Lindsay and George Sr.)

I just got this email from Andrew Warner of Mixergy.com:

Looks like a normal email announcing some new interview he’s doing right? Wrong.

I haven’t clicked on any of these links, but I know this is a survey in disguise.

People don’t fill out surveys. And when they do, they are not honest.

If I sent you an email, would you rather get a survey that said, “when you choose a freelancer, do you:”

1. look for freelancers that have repeat clients?
2. look for freelancers with proven experience?
3. look for freelancers that you can pay on milestone basis?
4. ask freelancers to sign an NDA?