I started in the e-commerce business several years ago. At first, using the Internet was a hobby for me, simply a way to keep my mind busy. I was a "victim of Corporate America Downsizing"; in other words health issues forced me to retire early.

The thing about retiring your body is that your mind is not always in agreement with retiring.

So I had a choice; with this unusual heart ailment, did I want to sit all day and read or watch soap operas at home, or did I want to be productive and make some kind of contribution.

I decided my best to be productive. I started a cartoon; which actually was a project I had had on the back-burner for almost two decades. I had no idea of the outcome of it, I just knew it would take my mind off of me, and that would be a good deed in itself. People who fall ill, and cannot work their regular 9-5 job, have a tendency to put the "SP" in self-pity. And boy could I ever get that if I didn't stay busy.

Surprisingly, after eight years, my cartoon became well-known worldwide. It was happening when I didn't even know it. I thought my site was still getting a few hundred hits per day. It was receiving 4-5 thousand per hour (or 7.7 million since Jan 2005). In my ninth year I teamed with a manufacturer to sell products, and even formed an affiliate program with high payouts at a superstore which sells products with our cartoons on them such as tee shirts, clocks, water bottles, key chains, etc.

But I don't want you to join it, at least, most probably not. If you are the type of person who would prefer other people run things, don't have Internet ambitions of your own, etc. mine, or any affiliate program might be perfect for you. All you have to do is post links to products you like on our site and every time someone buys one you get paid. Not a bad deal, but certainly not one in which you will grow rich. I'm just being honest.

There are folks who simply don't want to go to the trouble. But you see, going "to the trouble" is how money is made. People who will go to the trouble, often make money, more money, than people who will *not* go to the trouble. If you are reading about Internet marketing or making money on the Internet, chances are you are an "idea person" but just don't have a blueprint of what to do. There's the rub. There is no blueprint. We are all still pioneers in this cyberworld. You create your own blueprint.

Will you make mistakes. I pray you do. If you don't I doubt you'll learn a lot. I've learned a thousand times more from my mistakes than from my triumphs. But triumphs happen, for some reason, more often, after you've "gone to the trouble" and worked hard. There is a direct correlation. Whereas when I started, I had come to expect failures and disappointments, now it is more rare that they happen. Sure, they still happen, but more positive outcomes are the norm

Am I looking out for you? We report, you decide.

Why would I have the gumption, after all I went through to get where I got, to tell you not to join my affiliate program. It is a good one, has lifetime residuals, and pays a nice 10% on each sale which is relatively high in the gift and novelty business; is very highly-rated by both Netcraft and Alexa so a link to your site is valuable.

The thing is, you can make a lot more money minding your own store with your own affiliate program.

Odd?

Well sure. Not many affiliate owners are going to tell you the best way to make money. Every affiliate owner has their ego tied into their hard work, including me. But to be honest, I make enough with the sales on my various sites so that if you don't sign up, I'm ok. Would you make money joining? Well of course. Would you make more not joining and starting your own? Eventually so.

I am not saying "run from my affiliate program, and run fast". It is a good one. All I am saying is that before you join my program (or any program), do a self-evaluation. Do you have an idea for a terrific website offering a great service or product? If so, you will do better with your own affiliate program, not mine, not Amazon's not anyone else's. The owner of the program makes more money than you do. So get your own.

I was always accused of being "too brutally honest", but there is more to it than that. I may not make money from you now (or ever), but, ten, maybe twenty years down the road, after you are rich beyond your dreams (with your own program), you might look back at me and say "Hey, thanks" for telling me like it is. And who knows, you might even buy a product or two from the website. Now whose really watching out for you?