Over the past few weeks I think I have come a long way in terms of being myself in private and public conversations. For the bulk of my time I have spent it keeping out of the politics and generally avoiding conflict topics and discussions.

For anyone that knows me well you will find that hard to believe because I am one of the most opinionated people you will ever meet. I have my own views on almost every subject that is hotly debated and I am generally pretty clued on in most cases. The time has come though to stop shying away from public opinion and possible scrutiny.

There are many things that go on in this industry that are wrong and are allowed to happen because people don’t question why. They see that everyone else is doing it and that is a great reason to jump on board. It could be jumping in to a program to promote that they know nothing about to later trying to work out how they lost so much money when it closes down. Perhaps it could be an investment or an SEO strategy. People are basing their decisions on someone else’s decisions. This is setting yourself up for failure IMO.

Randy Ray made a blog post about a similar topic recently as well. His post made me wake up a little bit to the fact that to a certain point I was doing what I described above. It is smart to base SEO decisions around a successful SEO to a certain point. After that though you are just copying, not learning anything and living in someone elses shadow.

One of the best things about writing this blog is that it allows my voice to be heard. I can write my thoughts on any topic that I want without fear. While there shouldn’t be fear by posting your own thoughts publicly, I do get sick of the constant bickering and defensiveness. It gets to a point where you won’t even discuss any hot topic because people can’t hand straight forward truth.

I guess this is one of my biggest regrets since I have been in this industry – not being outspoken enough. I am far from a yes man and is really not what I’m about.

I do have a question for readers though; how do you handle yourself publicly and privately? Are you of the opinion that we should act professionally so we should keep out of trouble so we don’t affect business relations? Or are you more the type to act yourself and tell it how it is?

Would like to get some feedback on this to see if there are varying degrees or if this is a black and white question. One thing is for sure though; you will be getting straight answers from me if you like it or not.

So this is my first post that hasn’t been about how my day has been going. It is more to do with the morals and ethics of working as an affiliate marketer. Let me bring you up to speed with what got me thinking about this subject.

I had been following this domain for a few days because it was about to be dropped. It was going to cost me $69 to back order it and I wasn’t sure if I should do it. I eventually opted not to because I have been buying far too many domains. I went to look for it again and it wasn’t listed there anymore. So I checked if it was available and sure enough it was. All I had to do was pay the normal registration fee.

I had no plans of developing this domain because it would take a fair bit of money to get it ranking in this niche. I’m trying to stay focused on my current projects. So if I bought the domain it would be purely to sell it on.

So this is where the dilemma is. I am business minded and always have been. But at the same time I have always had strong friendship values and think of myself as a very honest person.

I know someone that would very much like this domain. I have talked to him a few times and have a done a little bit of business with him. I wouldn’t say that I know him well but I do know enough to think he’s a good bloke.

So what do you do? I’m not sure what everyone else would do in this situation but all I could think about was doing this guy a favour. I know he would put it to much better use than me so why not help a fellow affiliate out where I can?

Many affiliates right now are probably thinking that I am not business oriented or am not cut throat enough to make it in this industry. While I could probably have made $2-400 (really have no idea how much it’s worth) I am a strong believer that what goes around comes around. I honestly don’t expect anything in return from this guy (honestly), but I do believe that people that do nice things will have nice things happen to them.

While it might seem like a naive attitude to some and maybe even silly with the low income I have, I haven’t swayed in my opinion on this. For instance if someone picked up a domain that they knew I would want and then tried to sell it to me with no other intention. I would think they are an arse hole. Maybe that is how business works, but that’s just not the Aussie way!

Now I have worked in some pretty killer environments in my time and I know for sure I am no pushover. I have run sales teams of 13 people and run divisions and all that good stuff. I’m talking about direct sales too, so I know my way around. As I alluded to earlier, friends help each other out. I consider the affiliates I talk to as friends. I may not have met you but in my books you are a mate.

There are so many people that have helped me over the past 12 months that have saved me a lot of time. There are still a lot of affiliates that take time out of their day to give me a hand with something. Now I may not repay that favour soon and maybe they are losing out by doing this. But I know they are a good person and if a situation arises where I can help out then I will.

The same goes the other way as well though. There are people that I help out all the time that don’t necessarily give me a favour back. Do I expect them too? No, not really. Not in the terms of – hey dude I did you a favour, you owe me one. But I would like it if they thought I was a good bloke and WANTED to help me out.

At the end of the day there is always the argument that you have to look after #1. Well I do agree with this but I also think there is another way to do things that is a lot more rewarding for everyone involved. Maybe I’m just sweet and innocent, but I really don’t think that’s the case. I moved out of home at 16. Now while that might not make me mature simply because of that, I certainly have seen some less than desriable things in life. I have always done things my own way so I don’t think the way I approach affiliate ethics is leaving me vulnerable

I do have some more opinions on this topic but would love to hear some varying opinions from everyone else. I will probably make a follow up post to delve a little bit deeper into this topic. Leave a comment and tell me if you agree with me or yell at me for being stupid and naive.