Yesterday I turned 24, it was also the day that I got some great news, wrote a controversial blog post and had my most productive day in months. I’ve taken several steps to becoming more focused, but as we all know these things don’t happen over night.
I want to thank everyone that wished me a Happy Birthday. I got a phone call from a friend that I hadn’t spoken to in years along with a whole host of Birthday wishes from friends and gambling affiliates.
I’d like everyone to know that I have seen the Birthday wishes on PAL, I thought it would be a bit rude to snob those wishing me a Happy Birthday.
It is a bit ironic that a thread was started, after I left PAL. But in all seriousness, I have met some great friends through affiliate forums and I’m thankful people found the time to wish me a great day. I did have a great day, so thanks 
I’d like to make a few comments to follow up from yesterday’s post about the sheep dynamic at PAL. My Skype was burning hot all afternoon and night, it was still burning when I woke up.
Upon reflection, I think the general consensus is that I’ve been too harsh on Brandon, not harsh enough on Greg and didn’t explain myself well enough in terms of Jeremy.
Brandon Berndt Revisited
Like I said in the original post, Brandon has always been good to me and I think he’s a good guy. When I think more about the Chan situation and the role he played there, I think I was too harsh. He was just a normal affiliate manager and was looking to cut his break in the industry.
My argument was that people wasted a lot of time and money because they were following him, but at the same time Johnny Chan is a big name in poker and it would have attracted this kind of publicity anyway. Brandon has always been the non-marketer type and has leveraged his contacts (in a good way), to get where he is.
That being said, the Aced program is a completely different can of worms. He was in charge of the affiliate operation, and must have known full well that the program sucked. Affiliates were telling their players 6 months in advance not to play there and if affiliates were not biased towards Brandon it would never have received that much publicity.
It’s not Brandon’s fault that he’s a popular guy, but at the same time this situation has been dealt with poorly. Affiliates are sick of getting shafted, the manager pissing off until it all settles down and returning with a new program.
The point that I have been trying to make for a long time now, and one that should be perfectly clear now is that gambling affiliates need to make rational decisions. It isn’t rational to assume because Brandon is in charge that it is going to be a success. It isn’t rational to think that if you promote the BB & GP programs that you will be rolling in cash.
If Brandon and Greg want to take all of the free publicity and herd sheep to their new programs, than they must take some responsibility for the outcome.
It really is that simple. They are heralded as gambling messiahs and everyone follows them around, but when something goes wrong, where are they? Where is the transparency?
Greg Powell Revisited
I’ve only been in this industry for a few months over 2 years. That is why Greg scored a 0/2, with a 0/3 in the works. Since that post I’ve found out that Powell’s record is more like 0/7 or 0/8.
The difference between Brandon and Greg is that Brandon doesn’t get involved in the marketing hype much. So I guess it was unfair to put him in that category. I do apologise to Brandon for that.
In Powell’s case though, marketing hype is his domain. I don’t particularly want to harp on about this, because honestly I don’t have too many positive things to say other than he’s done well to make a lot of money.
Greg has always been fair to me on the few times we have talked. He has tried to contact me, but I’m not overly interested in talking to the people involved. This is not an attack on Greg, but allowing everyone to see the facts that should be readily available.
The Point Reiterated
Let me reiterate the point. It is that gambling affiliates shouldn’t follow GP and BB like lost puppies. With records like 0/2 and a possible 0/7 or 0/8, affiliates need to make rational decisions. Not based on the BEST AFFILIATE PROGRAM EVER!!!! hype.
Jeremy Enke Revisited
Jeremy is a guy that I have a lot of respect for and we have always got along well. He is also one of the most diplomatic characters you’ll ever see.
The way the system is set up, the hype can be geared and targeted in whatever manner he pleases. It also gives him the option of throwing up his hands and saying it has nothing to do with him and the forum is in the hands of the users.
We all have friends in this industry, but a certain level of accountability and transparency has to occur in situations like these, IMO. Berdnt and Powell need to be treated like any other affiliate manager. Not given a free reign with no accountability. Other affiliate managers are held accountable for their actions, why aren’t they?
Focus Manifesto
Moving on from the negative energy, I’ve found a great site written by Zen Habits author Leo Babuta. Focus Manifesto has opened my eyes up to a lot of things.
In the past few weeks I have been disconnecting from Facebook more and more. I deleted almost all gambling affiliates from my account. I don’t need to be hearing about work in my private life and vice-versa. The problem I had was that I have 3 different kinds of audiences; friends, family and work colleagues. I found it hard to keep these three separate so I deleted work from it and have found it works a lot better for me.
I’ve also been spending a lot more time outside and enjoying life. I’m writing this post on my back verandah so I can enjoy the day as well as the sun.
Programs to Help you Focus
There are a few tools I have found that are great with helping me to focus. The first one is Stay Focusd. It is a Chrome add-on so you can limit your time on certain websites. It is automatically set to ten minutes, but you can change that.
I have a word processor for my PC and one for my Macbook. The PC one is use is Q10 , which is a full screen word processor. There are others that look the same but have green writing, Matrix style.
The Mac word processor I use is OmmWriter. It is in Beta version so you have to sign up to get it. It is full screen, but the difference is the music and background. It has a serene background and plays zen-like music to help you concentrate. This is great if you don’t need to be on the Internet to write your article.
One of the keys to my change in focus has been my ability to rely less on the Internet. If you can copy the information you need into the word processor before you start, then you can focus on the task at hand. The constant flicking between tabs, websites and info can break concentration easily.
When you are in the zone you can tune into what you are writing and start to create articles and content that you are proud of, content your visitors will love, and add great value to your website.
The last thing that I have done is make this blog even more minimalist, and taking off the ability to comment. This makes the blog simple and I don’t have to worry about replying to every comment.
Thanks for the overwhelming support I received about the article yesterday and again to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday!
Disconnect from your distractions and make today a winner.
