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I was flying home from Affiliate Summit 2008 West last night when “Boss of Me” by They Might Be Giants came on and I started thinking about the keynote from Jason Calacanis.
“Let’s talk about the brutal truth here. The truth is, you guys, I am talking to thin affiliate people. I am assuming nobody in here is a thin affiliate. OK, good.
You guys really think small. Holding up a six figure check is frankly pathetic. It’s desperate. The industry I’m in, like the Internet industry, like Web 2.0 industry elitist, you know. Kevin Rose, whatever.
They would laugh at that. It’s sad. It’s embarrassing.
Jason included pictures of ShoeMoney and Zac Johnson holding up six-figure commission checks.
I think there are some important distinctions to be made here. First, Jason states that he is addressing thin affiliates, not all affiliates.
And second, I’d like to know how Jason determined that Jeremy and Zac are thin affiliates? For anybody not familiar with the term, it’s essentially an affiliate site that offers no unique value proposition.
Anyhow, back to the “Boss of Me” angle. I get that Jason made bank in the past, and there is all sorts of money to be had in the Valley. But not everybody wants to live that life.
I know I sure don’t.
As a bookend to the conference, we wound it up with an “un-keynote” where attendees could step up to the microphone and share their opinions about the industry.
Zac took this opportunity to give a rebuttal of sorts to Jason, where he talked about how he’s quite happy bringing in the meager six-figure checks and living a fun, flexible lifestyle where he plays basketball and does whatever he wants for a good part of the day.
That is the affiliate way to me. Work hard, play hard, make your own rules, and smile.
I’m sure I could earn more if I were to play the game of flying around and wearing suits. I’d rather be a non-thin affiliate, working out of my house with my family and dog around. Wearing shorts and a t-shirt as my uniform and having Jerry Springer on in the background.
Maybe that sounds close to torture to Jason, but I love it. The high flying, suit wearing, fancy restaurant life isn’t in my DNA.
Why Invite Jason Calacanis as the Keynote?
I had a lot of people ask me that question for months leading up to Affiliate Summit and over the past few days. There were two reasons I wanted to have Jason there:
- He can teach us.
- We can teach him.
The reality is that I agreed with pretty much everything Jason had to say. We, as affiliate marketers, do need to clean up our own backyard.
While there are a great many people with virtue and integrity in this space, there are also scumbags that exploit it.
That’s something we don’t talk about enough, but now it’s happening. It shouldn’t have been necessary, but I think Jason’s talk may have served as a catalyst for change and internal policing in affiliate marketing.
And then there is the part of it where we can teach Jason. He is an outsider and he shared his impression of affiliate marketing.
Instead of castigating him, we should further engage him. I’ve noticed that he’s interacting on a number of blogs over the past few days about his keynote.
Understand that Jason is a smart and influential guy, and he has this view of our space. He is certainly not alone.
One snippet from his talk that I haven’t seen quoted much by those who are lashing out at him was this one: “The other truth is that SEO and affiliate people I’ve met are some of the smartest frickin’ people I’ve ever met. They’re really brilliant.”
He wasn’t slamming all of affiliate marketing, just the parts that reflect poorly on us from the outside.
Boss of Me
Life is a test, and I confess
I like this mess I’ve made so far
Grade on a curve and you’ll observe
I’m right below the horizonYes, no, maybe, I don’t know
Can you repeat the question?You’re not the boss of me now
You’re not the boss of me now
You’re not the boss of me now, and you’re not so big
You’re not the boss of me now
You’re not the boss of me now
You’re not the boss of me now, and you’re not so big
So go create unique and valuable content, live the affiliate life (without a boss), and let’s figure out a way to throw out the garbage.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Royal Radande // Feb 28, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I listened to the speech on webmaster radio i do agree with some of the things that Jason had to say. It is true to some affiliates are out there creating junk, just for the sake of making a few bucks. It is also true that some affiliates will do anything to get a quick buck, even if it means duping others.
He didn’t have to call out Zac and Jeremy just because he was able to sell his blog network to Aol for $25 mil.
2 Gary Lee // Feb 28, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Good point that we should engage Jason more. He’s a smart guy, but his only problem is that with all the money he has, he can’t buy class and character.
3 David Quiec // Feb 28, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Good post. I wanted to congratulate you on a Summit well done Shawn. You’ve done it again, and I hope you keep it up.
And thanks for the connections you’ve passed along.
4 jgoode // Feb 28, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Thank you Shawn - your ability to simplify the conversation and get to the nuts and bolt point of the message is fantastic. I absolutely agree that there needs to be some kind of a change, and as much as I’ve struggled to determine my like of dislike of Jason’s approach to the topic - I have to agree there is slime that needs to be mopped up and it is going to happen by fairy dust.
I didn’t like his tactics. The whole “you all” or “affiliates do…” generalizing was a bit over the top. I personally don’t like being lumped in with the bad when I work so hard to do good… but that’s what happens when there is mold on the same loaf of bread — doesn’t matter which slice you are.
And as I’ve said before: Honesty in business is a major key to continued success - especially the affiliate industry. it’s karma baby
I think the first step to fixing the problem is to talk about it… the second step is to brainstorm solutions… so who has a suggestion?
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6 Patrick Ryall // Feb 29, 2008 at 8:27 am
Gary Lee Is that the best come back you have - One of the first people to have the balls and influence to put 95% of affiliate scum in their place and you come back with a simplistic comment like that. Yawn how the hell can you say that shows you are a superficial guy with little talent.
Harsh maybe but one thing the really does my goat is tall poppy cutting, when there are so little people in this superficial world willing to put their balls on the line to try and make the greater community do better.
Grow up and think about your shallowness.
Now flame away
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8 Jason // Mar 1, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Just catching up on all the blog posts and message board threads about the keynote…. ummm…. wow!
Let me make a couple of things clear here:
1. Thank you for having me.
2. I’ve learned an awful lot since the keynote, and that was exactly why I took the two days out of my schedule to come to the event: to learn.
3. My goal wasn’t to create drama, but to create discussion. Of course, the most intense the discussion the great chance of drama.
4. I have nothing against any of the people in affiliate marketing, I have someething against certain behaviors in the affiliate marketing and SEO worlds. Thinks like deceptive marketing, pollution of the web with low quality sites, and the wasting of resources.
5. While I can understand that some folks don’t agree with what I had to say, I’m kind of shocked that folks are choosing to leave out the parts of my talk where I said “I’m painting with a wide brush here and we all know there is a range of affiliate marketers from honest to blackhat” and “affiliate marketers are some of the most intelligent and hardest working people i know.” Some folks are really taking the talk out of context… but I guess if your one of the folks polluting the web you would do this to try and negate the parts of the talk that threaten your existence.
Anyway, at the end of the day I have nothing at stake in the affiliate space. If anything, the more black hat behavior that occurs the more valuable my current product becomes to users. If the web is filled with more and more crap, curated services are going to become more and more important.
all the best,
Jason
http://www.mahalo.com/member/jasoncalacanis
9 Shawn Collins // Mar 1, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Thanks for your comments, Jason.
My hope was that your talk with result in a dialogue among affiliate marketers, and that has certainly happened.
While I don’t think being King of the Valley is an aspiration for most affiliate marketers - it’s more about the long tail and passion - I did agree with much of what you said otherwise.
Some folks would have preferred a cheerleader as keynote, but that would only foster stasis within affiliate marketing IMHO.
I am personally embarrassed by the dirty sides of affiliate marketing and hope this results in the legitimate affiliates, merchants, and networks combining to drive the bums out of the business.
And I think it’s pretty lame when people pull parts of quotes to frame their points, especially when they didn’t hear the talk firsthand.
I’ve seen lots of people rage about the opening lines… “Affiliate marketing is bullshit. Thank you.”
But they neglect to include what followed, “That’s what you all expect me to do. I’m not going to do that.”
For anybody who wasn’t there, I’d urge yo to listen to the keynote on WebmasterRadio.fm to hear what Jason had to say first hand.
10 Jason // Mar 1, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Exactly! people are taking the jokes and making them into serious lines!!! talk about intellectually dishonest.
i specifically said i don’t think Affiliate marketing is BS… i think the people doing it are brilliant and that a small group of folks are pissing the well and making it hard for everyone.
anyway, if you do something as honest as we did you’re going to get folks who are threatened by it (i.e. blackhats).
thanks for including me… it was fun, and the discussion going on now is even more fun!
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