I am not sure if P.T. Barnum was right about "a sucker being born every minute," but I can tell you that there is at least one sucker re-born every minute.  That sucker is me.

I have over 20 years as a successful senior leader and entrepreneur in health care.  I pride myself on being  an engaging leader who strives to create and value transparency, positive emotional energy, and trust in both working and personal relationships.  I treat everyone the same regardless of...just regardless.  So as I have dipped my toes and subsequently fallen into the world of affiliate marketing, I feel a bit icky.  

Affiliate marketing is a world where everyone is a salesperson.  Large companies dangle a percentage of the sale in front of all of us hoping to get us to turn the wheel of the treadmill one more time to seal a deal.  If we are lucky, we squeeze a few pennies into our accounts.

There seems to be an entire cottage industry based on the repackaging of how-to-make-a-living-sitting-in-front-of-your-computer-monitor-in-your-underwear.  These folks assume the role of successor and tout the easy steps of affiliate marketing.  At first, I believed them.  That was the beginning of my multiple re-births.

I created a blog focused on a niche, leadership.  I wrote what I thought was quality information.  I added back links to develop my web.  I joined social media sites and shared my writings and links, I guest blogged, I commented, I created mailing lists (very few people sign up), and on and on and on.  Rebirths occurred with each learning experience or ah-ha moment.

I was a purest.  I wanted to maintain a quality offering, yet I thought about scalability.  You know the theory, once you get something that works, just do it over and over and over.  I was born yet again.  I only need to find that one thing that works, because as of yet, I haven't found it.

As time past, I began to blend my pure side into the underworld of affiliate marketing.  My e-mail inbox  swells with people's names that tell me "how to collect my $3,465.07." (I continue to be born everyday on that one, as I think there is actually a check from some forgotten affiliate waiting for me rather than another one-click sales site.)  

My website is a mix of articles on varied topics now (all of which I like), so I am happy for the outlet.  I believe and have been told that I have written some quality pieces.  I was even asked to be the judge of a national writing contest based on my posts.  

On Saturday, I wrote a piece on, "Affiliate Marketing: Passive Money Machine, Are You For Real?" that I published on StreetArticles.  It was a fair piece, but maybe not my best.  That article has, in two days time, become my most read and highest ranked article.  I now am faced with a dilemma: Do I write about what I love, leadership?  Or do I sell out a bit and do the scalable thing and write about affiliate marketing which seems to be in high demand? (It is about driving traffic I hear.) I am not sure really what to do, but I will simply end by asking you, the reader, this:  Was I just born, or was it you?

Thanks for reading.