Allow me to get this thread back on topic with a hugely overdue post. More than a week has transpired since I received the reimbursement reward for being a super sponsor, which would seem to make me a complete take-the-money-and-run ingrate. But I had a lot of demons to sort through in this recent turn of events for super sponsors at this forum. I tried to post as requested in my Super Sponsor PayPal message, but just couldn't express what I wanted to say. (Nothing more pathetic than a writer who can't find the words, eh?)
My biggest dilemma in being among the super sponsors is the hypocrisy I feel. How can I successfully help others to succeed when I failed at helping myself to succeed. Then I saw the brand new requirements for remaining a super sponsor. I had missed the dramatic Super Sponsor webinar a week before Christmas, but I did watch the rerun a few days later. Really great to have those videos in the back office now, one of the 100 or so innovations that make APS the best damn affiliate program on the Internet, in my humble estimation.
This new addition to the SS terms really turned my crank: "The minimum requirements for remaining a Super Sponsor include the minimum requirements above, and the majority of your posts must reply to others' requests for help with the Acme People Search program. PLUS: You must create a reasonable number of topics containing original, relevant and substantive information intended to help affiliates succeed with their Acme People Search business." In other words, we all need to take a page from Brett Basinski's impressive book. Right-frigging-on, man!!!
Having to maintain that new standard will effectively eliminate my feelings of hypocrisy in the unlikely event that I do manage to retain the SS honors. Because how can I create "a reasonable number of topics containing original, relevant and substantive information" to help affiliates succeed unless I develop strategies that are ultimately going to help me succeed?
So this new stipulation puts the focus of helping others succeed in a much broader context which, thankfully, includes helping myself succeed. Not only that, but I can help other super sponsors succeed by telling them where I need help so that I can start succeeding. Because I've learned all too well that there ain't no money in trying to be the "Class Clown" if the class clown is all you're trying to be.
Under the old terms, I was always able to create a ruse, an excuse, for why I'm not succeeding. Well, I'd reassure myself, my focus is on helping others succeed. I'm putting others first, I'm helping others in lieu of helping myself. Well, what a crock of crap that is. And the revamping of the super sponsor guidelines is a stroke of brilliance because it no longer allows hypocrites like me the luxury of hiding behind the "putting others first" fabrication.
The fact is I don't believe it works. I mean deep down, in my twisted psyche, I doubt my own ability to make it work. It haunts me and it thwarts me. I pick up ideas in this forum and I go off and implement them and I get no results. I come back, I get new ideas, I go off and implement them and I get no results. I come back and I reply to people who are having trouble, or I correct erroneous information that others have posted because they seem to be more focused on their "post count" than ensuring that the information they are disseminating is accurate. (And may I say YAY for the dramatic revisions of Dec. 18!)
In helping others, I pay lip service to all the free and paid marketing methods discussed here because I know they work for a lot of people. It can't be more than lip service because I haven't yet proven that these same methods work for me. (Again, self-doubt stymies me.) I haven't worked hard enough or long enough or consistently enough to prove them to myself. Too busy juggling APS and Keyword Genius and Niche Revolution, trying to find something that starts generating an income before my time and money run out.
My two curses are Inconsistency and Staying Focused, which are two sides of the same coin, I guess. I need help and I need to get humble enough to ask for it instead of class-clowning and pretending all is well. Tissa has made it clear that super sponsors can't get by on bullship anymore. It's a new ship that's setting sail for APS in the new decade.
Let's head into it helping others succeed, helping each other succeed, and helping ourselves succeed!
Thank you Tissa, thank you Super Sponsors past and present, for making this a banner year for me. No, I'm not profitable yet but YES, I've learned (almost) everything I need to know to get there from here. APS and Affiliate Marketing Rock the Rafters!
Happy New Decade One and All!!!
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