What Have I Been Up To?

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve rarely been present here in the past few months it seems like. Posting has gone down a lot, I’ve been posting a lot less on UberCamp, and I just feel like I’ve been “absent” for a while. This is due to a number of reasons in which I will explain in what will probably turn out to be a lengthy post; but it seems like some of you guys care so I’ll talk about it. For those who will comment and say “nobody cares what you’re up to”, I always think to myself if you care so little, then why waste the time to post something? Anywho, onto the reasons for the absence :

Spending time working on my own projects.

This is probably the biggest reason, I certainly don’t make my living off the revenue I make from this blog. The projects and campaigns I wanted to work on just kept piling up, and spending an hour or 2 blogging every day was certainly slowing down my progress a lot. As I started spending more time on the projects, the priority of the blog dropped a lot. It’s just how it turned out, it doesn’t mean I don’t want to help people like I did before, that’s why I spent months creating the UberCamp tutorials and released them completely free.

Hired my first employee.

I finally stepped up and hired my first employee to work for me. He’s a really smart guy and I’ve been training him nonstop, teaching him all the ins-and-outs of affiliate marketing. In a couple of months he should be knowledgeable to manage all of my campaigns and work on building new ones out with me. He reads this blog as well so what’s up Matt ;). For those curious, he’s a college student and I’m paying him hourly for the first few months as I train him and he gets used to it. Eventually I want to give him a percentage of the company to keep him working with me and not wanting to go off on his own. Perhaps as I get more experienced in being an employer, I can start blogging about keeping your employees happy etc. and with you. My guy is getting a 100x better job with higher pay, more flexibility, and a fun job. Why doesn’t he just quit and do it on his own? Because he’s happy and has a secure job. Affiliate managers know all the campaigns that make money and can see all the referrers…why do you think almost all of them stay with the networks instead of going off and doing it on their own?

So yeah, training him and getting all of the paperwork (payroll) taken care of is taking a while.

I HAD a puppy.

Little story here. My friends are foster parents for puppies all the time. In this case, the mother died right after giving birth and they got the black lab puppy at 2 days old. I spent time with it since then all the way up until he was 8 weeks old, which is when I took him to my house. I spent hours a day with him for almost a month, trying to train him into being a good dog. Unfortunately there was something wrong with his personality/behavior, and he had some problem with aggression and learning not to bite. NOTHING that I tried worked, he simply didn’t listen and wouldn’t stop biting. I seriously tried everything for 3 weeks, and I’ve had 6 dogs so I know what raising them is like and I knew something was wrong with this guy. So I was the foster dad and took him into the SPCA and told him I couldn’t adopt him, I had spent hours a day away from my job trying to train him and nothing was working; so I wanted him to go to another family. They called me the next day and told me he was inbred, had serious problems, and had to be put to sleep. It did suck because I had spent the first 12 weeks of this dogs life with him, but it was taking up a ton of time and wasn’t going anywhere positive.

Being a homeowner kinda sucks…

Owning a house is a SERIOUS time-killer. I can’t even begin to explain the investment of both time and money I’ve put in. Getting a fence put in, getting landscaping put in, maintaining the landscaping, growing a yard, maintaining the yard, appliances, cleaning the house…I can’t even begin to list all of the things that need to be done. Oh, and having a dog for a month made it all about 20x harder.

Lack of ideas to blog about.

Hence my post the other day asking what I should blog about. Blogging every day for so long about affiliate marketing tips that I could reveal left me kind of empty-handed after a while. I felt like I had blogged about almost all that I could without giving information that would seriously compromise any of my businesses. You have to realize that this blog is completely free of charge, I don’t have any monetary motivation to write ANYTHING. I have all the contacts I’ll ever need, and I’m not out to prove anything to anybody. This blog is out here solely for the purpose of helping other affiliates.

Feeling kinda disappointed.

Honestly, some of the motivation has died off in general with all things “uber” after the re-launch of UberCamp. I spent literally MONTHS writing content for the tutorials that I was planning on launching with another huge guy in the industry, and I ended up just giving them away completely free. I can’t even count the hours I spent writing those things and I guess I was just let down by the response. It seems like not that many people even know they exist, nobody has really blogged about them or mentioned them anywhere. Fo real guys, it’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up successful PPC campaigns…it’s what most of you guys have been asking for. Anywho, time to wipe the tears away.

I do have a life.

You would think that all the above points (without even blogging) would leave me with zero time for my personal life, but believe it or not I do have friends, a girlfriend, and a family. I try and make a lot of time for all 3 of those, so if my 2 hours at night comes down to spending the time blogging or going out with my friends…which one would you choose?

All right that was a long post as expected, but I just felt like I needed to update you guys with what was going on with me. Certainly don’t take this post as “hey guys, I’m not going to blog anymore and here’s why”, because I definitely am going to do my best. I just wanted to let you know that I’m not neglecting the blog just because I’m sick of it and would rather sit on Xbox, I’m just insanely insanely busy.

Aight, take it easy.


36 Comments

  1. Patrick
    September 24, 2008

    As you’re learning, sometimes it’s easier to just remain a super affiliate under the radar and just keep making the big bucks on your own. Being a “guru” is not all it’s cracked up to be. On one hand, selling stuff to newbie Internet marketers can obviously be profitable, but there are plenty of other things that are just as profitable, and equally as important, a lot more fun than dealing with a bunch of crybaby wannabees and losers. Keep it real dude.

  2. September 24, 2008

    Completely understandable Paul. Like you said, this blog isn’t your big money maker so of course you aren’t going to spend more time on it then something that actually does make you money.

    While a lot of people probably read your blog wanting to find out how to make money in PPC I think a few personal posts like this one don’t hurt every now and then. It gives people a sense that you are an actual person and not just some robot banging out campaigns all day long.

  3. September 24, 2008

    Interesting post, I’m surprised you haven’t hired a gardener,cleaner and handyman. God knows I would do if I had the money.

  4. September 24, 2008

    Oops. I completely missed these tutorials. I’ve learned a few things already! Sorry.

  5. September 25, 2008

    hmmm dude, i love the part about the puppy..lol he really was giving you a hard time. lol

  6. Andrew
    September 25, 2008

    So sorry to hear about your dog Paul, I’ve been there… :(

    I landed on this blog the day you made UberCamp free. It really gave me a lot of value and your forum is doing great imho. Listen bro, apoligizing for being absent and for being dissapointed is just another failure of yours. You have nothing to be sorry about and you should be seriously proud of yourself for what you tried to do.

    There is only one value system that is important in this world, creating health, protecting yourself and your family and making yourself and your family happy. Anything else is in the realm of people who do not have that value system.

    This includes the people who post on forums with anything less than positive constructive critism.

    In this online tribal world, where people are socially conditioned and manipulated even more efficiently than the real world, you have to keep that real guidance system in mind, otherwise you become just like them. Soulless vampires who gain pleasure in another’s failure…

    snap out of it bro… the real goal is invulnerability to negativity and pure good vibes…

  7. September 25, 2008

    Your guide is good man. Im surprised people havent taken to it.

  8. September 25, 2008

    Living your dream is about moving in sync with your own reality and reality is we should all have a life and be present in the offline world as well. Congratulations on your many recent accomplishments and new developments. The time off is indeed much deserved and I am sure they will bring you new and different perspective.

    cheers.

    http://www.teenentrepreneurblog.com

  9. Tip Jar
    September 25, 2008

    I’m in the same boat and I don’t even have a house, puppy, blog, etc. I’m sorry to hear about the puppy, but you did all you could. I can’t even imagine the time you must put into everything. The key is time management. The Ubercamp tutorials were really good btw, but they do need more exposure, maybe include them in your Affiliate Marketing Guide or something…because just by looking at the homepage of uberaffiliate.com, you can’t see them anywhere. Maybe some of the reason people don’t share them is because they don’t want to give away their business. I think people are reading them and using them as a tool for marketing for themselves and tend not to talk about them. Truth is, some of the best things in the world aren’t talked about. Also, if you ever feel like you need another (honest) employee, let me know.

  10. September 25, 2008

    I like your post. I’ve asked you to post more about your life in general, other then affiliate marketing. People should understand that a blogger is (most times) a person with family, friends and off-line problems or obligations like anybody else.
    Sorry to hear about your dog, but I think you did your best for the little guy.

  11. September 25, 2008

    “I HAD a puppy.” lol

  12. September 25, 2008

    DUDE! Keep up the good and generous work, i know i couldn’t have written all the tutorials from Uber camp, which by the way is 61 pages of awesomeness! Bummer about the puppy, time to move on.

  13. September 25, 2008

    Yea I understand how life can be so busy… It’s been difficult for me to blog recently too.

  14. September 25, 2008

    I am also a bit buys these days with exams thinking to hire someone.. Congrats for 1st employee

  15. September 25, 2008

    Good Stuff Man, keep up the good work. Your readers are always here when more content comes rolling in :), blogging is extremely difficult, i don’t know how people like john chow post several times a day every-day.

  16. Jason
    September 25, 2008

    No worried man and don’t feel bad for posting less. I too have had a lack of motivation this summer, and wasn’t really sure why. I think I just work better in the winter maybe. But keep your head up and you’ll get the motivation back soon.

  17. Gee
    September 25, 2008

    “don’t know how people like john chow post several times a day every-day.”

    Because that’s what they all do. I can’t find time to post on my blog. I started my blog in hopes to make updates once every week. Now, i only find to make 2 posts a month. Even with few posts I have…readers on my blog are telling me they made their first successful campaign and $100 using my blog tutorials. It feels great to hear that.

    btw good post Paul. I liked this one better than all the previous ones you had lately.

    niche-affiliate-marketing.com

  18. nathant
    September 25, 2008

    Just wanted to say I really appreciate the effort you put into this blog. It has given me great ideas and motivation and it is the first place I send people I know who want to get into affiliate marketing. Your tutorials rock!

  19. September 26, 2008

    hmm, but your blog is sucking a bit than before!

  20. September 26, 2008

    I still enjoy reading your posts but yeah, not much really going on lately..

  21. September 26, 2008

    Hey man,

    I don’t have a blog up, but let me tell you, the tutorials on UberCamp are AWESOME. I’m glad people aren’t blogging about it cause then it would be too public!

    –Dan

  22. Tip Jar
    September 26, 2008

    Agreed.

  23. September 29, 2008

    I am sure Its gonna be back with a bang after he is a bit free :D

  24. September 30, 2008

    Wait, what do you mean you would choose family over your blog? How dare you?

    Just playin’, keep up the good work – was good seein’ you in Boston.

  25. October 1, 2008

    Damn, your own employee? Lucky man… well, not in the beginning with all the training lol… but it’ll be smooth sailing soon enough for you.

    Jay

  26. October 1, 2008

    I didn’t think you needed to make this recent post, none of us blog 24-7 and you have alot of fans. Maybe you should of mentioned that people can subscribe to your RSS Feed for updates.

  27. October 1, 2008

    Ur business must be getting kinda big then
    I haven’t seen UberCamp yet, but am going to check it out now :)

  28. Chad
    October 2, 2008

    Have you ever actually read john chow, after you do I think you’ll get an idea ;-). hahahaha.

  29. October 3, 2008

    sad, hearing about your dog. then again, it can be really difficult when you’ve tried a number of things, but they don’t seem to get the dog under control.

    good luck with your other projects.

  30. October 4, 2008

    Looks like Matt is getting a really cool deal. All that free training and he gets paid as well?

  31. October 11, 2008

    we all know your busy doing affiliate marketing ubercamp is great way to learn new stuff and adapt to the ever changing affiliate world

  32. October 12, 2008

    haha

  33. October 12, 2008

    HAD, past tense! :)

  34. October 19, 2008

    A posts like this where you update your readers with all kinds of information is always a good idea. It lets people know that you are on the same page as them, and give them understanding as to why you are not producing for them at this time.

  35. November 22, 2008

    congrats on working on building your business! Hope the new employee gets even better than you :D

  36. November 28, 2008

    You need to come back with a bang man :)

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