Basically what happened was I thought I made a lot of money ($4,000) when I didn’t and it was actually the companies fault as far as I can tell for not updating a scraper that pulled stats from Ladbrokes.  I spent most of last night thoroughly enraged, but I will move on and let it go today.  You can see the full post here, along with the responses that followed.  One of my friends pointed out that they never really answered what happened, interesting.  Regardless problems that come up like this show the effectiveness of any operation and multiple problems are never a good sign.  It has always amazed me how the poker affiliate industry is so forgiving compared to offline business, these kind of things would not fly over and over in the face to face business world and I hope they know that.  Have a wicked weekend and don’t get shanked like I did.  If you are using the PAW Network, do not believe your stats even for ONE second until they have been hand audited by one of the team, because you will never know whether they are accurate or not……I know, it’s brutal.

Just wanted to write a quick news bulletin that my friend Brandon Berndt has finally started his own blog after 1 year of procrastination and utter laziness. For those of you that don’t know, Brandon is the director of Chan Poker and is thought of as one of the best affiliate and poker room managers in the industry. The blog is a mix of both personal and business stories and gives both affiliates and affiliate managers a good look at how to do things properly and develop your image within the industry. Anyways just thought you all should know, check it out when you get a chance!

Just doing isn’t good enough, you NEED TO INNOVATE! Although this is a simple statement that anyone (including myself) can bullshit, this is one of the most fundamental mistakes that people make when they enter an industry and create a business. In the present business climate, there is a product for almost any niche you can think of, so really dominating a market and becoming successful takes a tremendous amount of work, dedication and innovation. Below are some important questions you should ask yourself when starting a business to help you develop a winning strategy for attacking a market.

• How is my product or service different?
• How does my business improve the existing market?
• What value does it offer to the customers?
• Why will they choose me over the competition?

By honestly analyzing these areas you should start to understand your ideas better, which can help you determine how viable and likely they are to succeed. Remember, when starting a business if you really really want to make it, just doing isn’t enough.

This post is a little overdue but nonetheless I think it is worth writing about. Last week Jeremy Enke of Poker Affiliate Programs launched the first ever Poker Affiliate Radio show. Although the show is still in Beta and this was the trial broadcast, things went really well and there was quite a big turnout of both affiliates and people interested in the industry. The show covered topics from niche marketing to industry conferences and featured some really great guests including Randy Ridge and John Holloway, who are both predominant figures in the affiliate space.

I decided during the show that I was going to call in and despite not being answered the first time (I swear Jeremy has caller id) I did get a call back from the show a few minutes later. It was pretty cool to get to discuss some of the things I have been able to do in the industry such as attending the CAP conference in London this past January and I also got to ask some questions to both Jeremy and his friend Karl who co-hosted the show.

Overall, the experience was really positive and I expect that the show will be highly successful over the coming months and years. The broadcast is free, and for anyone thinking about getting into the affiliate market or who just wants to have a great time and learn something, I suggest you check out the broadcast which plays every Tuesday at 8:00pm CST.

You may have noticed that I just put a “Reading Music” section in the sidebar of the blog. Personally, I have found music to be an incredible motviator for accomplishing work and creating a positive attitude. I realize that all of you may not have my “exquisite” taste in hip hop music (lol) but this can be applied to any genre of music that you enjoy. I really think that listening to those songs that you really like and make you feel good can have a tremendous positive effect on your overall progress and motivation. Next time your feeling tired, un-motivated or just plain lazy, throw on a track that you absolutely love and start grinding it out!

I am planning to update the reading music section really often cause I am constantly finding new awesome songs I want to share. Also, if any of you like a soca/hip-hop/reggae mix I listen to Trini Radio all day while I’m working, it’s free and broadcasted live from Trinidad and Tobago, thanks to Greg from RRRMusic for the link to that.