Today America celebrates Thanksgiving, the day when we count our blessings, allowing time and room for our hearts to fill with gratitude for them.
And while affiliate marketing has primarily been associated with the freedom it gives to those who are involved in it (either as affiliates, or as outsourced affiliate managers like myself), when I woke up this morning, and started thinking of the one thing that I’m most grateful for as a professional, it wasn’t the independence that I pinpointed in my mind.
Normally, outsiders don’t readily realize that with “the freedom” that this business gives us, there come great(er) risks and uncertainties. Yes, the rewards make it all worth it when those rewards do materialize, but unlike people who work for others, affiliates and OPMs don’t “go off work.” They/we breathe and bleed our work. We are always looking for opportunities to take our businesses to new levels, and, frankly, I cannot think of any other “industry” that offers such bountiful opportunities as affiliate marketing. Yes, this is my word of the day — opportunity.
Merriam-Webster’s entry for the word gives us two possible definitions:
op·por·tu·ni·ty
noun \ˌä-pər-ˈtü-nə-tē, -ˈtyü-\
1 : a favorable juncture of circumstances
2 : a good chance for advancement or progress
It is both of the above connotations that come to life in the context of affiliate marketing for me. And this is what I’m most thankful for today.
What about you? What are you most thankful for as an affiliate marketer?
that I can kiss my children all day every day for the next 10 years because i can work from home with my husband and our flexible schedules to spend time with our children every second we can.
Beautiful, Sarah. Beautiful and so true.
Why only “for the next 10 years” though? 🙂
Nice thought Geno. For me, Freedom is the greatest blessing – without it, everything is severely limited. Without the freedom to love, learn and labor where, when and how we choose, life would be very oppressive.