My Story
The question I get asked most is how I got into being an affiliate and how it all works. So I guess this is going to be a pretty long post.
2 years ago or so I was playing 100nl on iPoker with limited success. The pattern was I’d grind $1k up into $5k or so then bust it, get my rakeback payment and do it all again. I made a bit of money, actually bought a semi-decent car with the proceeds and I guess lived off it to an extent but, looking back on it now I was never going to crush like some of my players were. Ironically, I think I’m too money oriented and couldn’t take the swings.
I was playing with a semi-decent deal on Chili Poker – I’d say it was probably 5% under market rate for what I was raking and deifnaltey not as prompt payment wise as other deals which is a pain when you’re busto. Anyway, I was chatting to someone playing on another skin and he put me in touch with the head of the skin and the rest is history…
From there I gave the competitive offer to friends and they recieved it pretty well.
So I figured why not advertise it to a few people and earn a commission from them. It was really slow at first and I don’t really why I took it so seriously – I guess I had to do something that gave me hope of making good money early in my life (which I’ve always really wanted to do – no idea why) and this was the only thing I really had.
Before this I had an ebay business and several ventures which failed or came to an end for various reasons and this was all I really had.
I punted the offer on 2+2, networked with some decent players and again I’d say I got 1 or 2 lucky breaks. Not necessarilly in players who referred me to all their friends but, decent well respected members of the community who I could at least say I worked with and they could vouch for my professionalism, enthusiasm and reliability.
A few months down the line things were going along nicely and I really believed in the potential. At this stage I was making a little under $1k a month. I remember a night out at one of my mate’s birthdays telling a few ppl how I thought I could really make like $5k a month doing this and was met (fairly) with skepticism. I had, had so many ideas and mini-ventures I don’t blame them but, I guess one of them was going to become moderatley successful at some point.
Looking back I’m not sure if there was any real breaking point – its just a complete numbers game and as I got more customers, there were more referrals. With this came a better reputation which in turn again helped me get more players on board.
If I had to pick something that really gave my business a boost it was networking with other affiliates or recruiting players who were in a similar posistion to me as affiliates.
There are 2 kinds of deals I strike with other affiliates;
1. Players who have friends / who would like a nice side income and want to learn about becoming an affiliate
2. Established affiliates whose deals have fallen through or are in need of a better deal.
The players who are affiliates are the ones I’m proudest of really becuase they’ve gone down the same path as me and we’ve kinda learned about the business together and made some pretty decent money while at it. I can’t really remember how any of the deals ever happend but, I just kinda threw the concept out there, answered a few questions and have always tried to be there as we went along and most of them have taken to it like a duck to water. At the end of the day they’re another pair of hands and can focus on different ways to recruit players. Some of them were already well recognised names on 2+2 so got to players I couldn’t get to.
Established affiliates are satisfying to get on board however, I’m not involved in the day to day running of their business and just hand them over to the site in question. This is definatley the easiest money out there and I often question whether I deserve it. These deals just come about when I speak to other affiliates and basically compare deals and service.
Anyway, in late ’09 I was beginnng to hit 5 figure monthly earnings and to be perfectly honest I don’t think this felt as good as the excitement I experienced in the months where I was earning $1k or whatever. All I want to do is grow bigger and more robust and in an unbelievable way its really as much about becoming the best affiliate out there as it is about how much I earn.
Obviously becoming the best is a pretty broad statement but, I want to become much more robust, offer more services and hopefully become the biggest player on the iPoker network and then move onto something else.
At the end of the day I really believe players are better off with me than they are with anyone else and really want them to be successful. If they keep on winning, they’ll keep on playing and I’ll keep on earning !
The reason I’m at a slight dead end now is becuase I’ve kind of lost that magical feeling that something huge is going to happen. That’s the best thing in the world – when you’re on the brink of something amazing happening and your just working away for it. Even if online poker goes dead tommorow I will have always had this experience and journey and although pretty short its really been worth it in so many ways.
Hope this was a decent read.
Later.
