But it wasn’t fun. Sure, being able to buy anything you want is a hoot, but it’s less fulfilling than one might think. And the risk has you worried all the time. Plus, the big losses were scary. My latest venture, being an advertiser of my own HCG product, was banned after spending a ton of money on it. It was at that point I decided, I am no longer happy living like this, and I wanted to find a good job doing what I do best.

Enter Instant Checkmate. I know the owner well, he’s a good friend and somebody I respect. He also has mutual respect for my skills based on my previous successes both as an affiliate and as a corporate SEO guy. So now, despite at one point claiming “I will never work for another man again,” I’m now consulting for them in a full time gig. Can you believe it?

My responsibilities currently are more simple.  Launch an Instant Checkmate Facebook Page, launch an Instant Checkmate Google + Profile, Create an Instant Checkmate Twitter Account, launch an Instant Checkmate MySpace Page (yes, people do still use it), beef up the  Instant Checkmate LinkedIn page etc.  But that’s just the get your feet wet grunt work.  The big picture, is big.  Most of it I cannot talk about, but what we will be rolling out in the next few months is nothing short of awesome.

So far, I’m loving it. Excited to make things happen, and excited that there are fewer roadblocks to becoming successful than you would see in the more conservative and typical corporate situation. They’re flexible, so I can continue spending lots of time with my family.

But most importantly, I’m loving the stability of having a full time job as opposed to being a “live by the sword, die by the sword” entrepreneur.  Don’t get me wrong, I am still entrepreneurial by nature, but there’s something to be said about a respectable job and knowing what’s coming next.  Money isn’t everything. It came to a point in my life, I needed to grow up and focus on the more important things. Family, home, friends, and more family. There will be plenty of room for professional growth in my new job, but for now, I am just happy to be more settled and stable.

I’m screwed.

But at least my session is the first one, on the first day, so the chances of me nursing a killer hangover and possibly missing my speaking gig will be reduced by AT LEAST 15% – give or take.

If you know me, you know I’ve been a pretty hardcore SEO for about a decade.  And if you know me well, you know that I’ve pretty much transitioned myself into full bore affiliate marketer recently.  I still have a couple cool clients, but it’s no longer my core focus.  At the time when I put in my request to speak at Pubcon,  I was still seeking clients aggressively.  And my strength to date has been corporate SEO.  And that’s what I’ll be speaking about.  How to build and in-house SEO team.

For my ex-competitors, you’ll get the sauce.  Might be worth a look eh?

The rest of the week, I’ll be chasing Lisa Barone around in hopes of getting a kiss on the cheek… or something.  I’ll hopefully be the proud winner of a personal assistant (brought to you by the same guys who inspired and caused DRINKBAIT) to help me build beer bongs and make people take shots.  And I will be buying shots for SURE for those people who supported my efforts in the Anthem Relay for Life.  Some awesome peeps like Jon Kelly, the bad asses saving the world through bioresins and what not over at ThomasNet, and one inspirational Raleigh SEO named Casey Yandle.

So get ready people.  This is gonna be the best year EVER  for PUBCON VEGAS!!

So from here on out, this blog can officially be declared a “dofollow” blog.  And on top of that, my Phoenix SEO blog is going dofollow as well.

If you participate, you deserve a little love.  It’s the least I can do.

Thanks for joining the discussion. Enjoy your little slice of link pop :-)

Some of the people in the industry that I pegged as pure BS artists are landing clients faster than those with the skills that SHOULD pay the bills.  And it is not by virtue of their ability to rank a site or run an advertising campaign, it’s their ability to BS clients that’s getting them the work.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect your hustle Mr. Snake Oil.  You make more calls, kiss more ass, go to more “networking” events, and hand out more business cards.  You work for yours.  But where are your clients’ sites when you’re done with them?

I’ve been on the frontlines recently.  Pushing out proposals like a madman, researching people’s sites, and checking out the work left behind by previous SEO firms.  What I see, quite frankly, embarasses me.  Mostly because I am getting lumped in with these guys.  Then I get the client’s sob story about their previous experience.  It usually sounds something like this:

“They were great.  We had bi-weekly phone meetings, we used this neat little tool to track our progress, I got reports with graphs in them, and I even rank number one for “Arizona Mortgage Refinancing Specialist Ahwatukee AZ”.  But I just can’t afford the 8k a month retainer anymore“.

Or worse, this:

“They were terrible.  I had a really bad experience with [insert well known company] who promised me rankings.  They charged my 8k a month, and even had the gall to send more invoices when I asked for even the smallest changes“.

My interpretation of both scenarios leads to the same conclusion.

Scenario 1 – You’re a  good bullshitter.  You made your client believe they were getting a value from your shoddy service, overcharged, and dried up the well.

Scenario 2 – You’re a good bullshitter. You made your client believe they were going to get a value for your shoddy service, overcharged, and scared a client from using a better company’s web marketing services down the road.

You’re Doing It Wrong

Either way, I am seeing shoddy work from previous firms and agencies. They’re leaving huge holes in their campaigns.  I’m proposing lower prices than companies were used to paying their old crappy vendors.  I’m seeing low hanging fruit and easy wins for my potential clients.  And I am still having to hustle way more than I ever thought I would have to, just to save a potential client back to the good side of the force.  The fish that normally would be jumping in the boat, are still on the edge.

In cases like these, where clients have been burned, it doesn’t matter that I have rankings and case studies to prove my ability.  It doesn’t matter that I have ringing endorsements from referrals.  It doesn’t matter that I have no problem contracting out clauses or adding performance clauses to mitigate cost risk.  People just have a harder time trusting SEO companies in general, because of the BS artists who left trash in their wake.

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em?

Part of me wishes I had a better line of BS. Maybe I should have gone to more events to glad hand realtors, lawyers, and loan sharks.  Or maybe worked on my fake smiles a little more.  Tried to kiss more ass…

But that part of me IS BS.  I’m actually happy with the being a “no bullshit” kind of guy, even if I am not getting as many clients as more polished sales persons with less skill.  It’s just a shame that the pool of potential clients out there has been tarnished by slicksters who are all style, and little substance.

Wish me luck, I am glued to analytics and my heart is pumping.  I hope this works!

It has to.  Failure is not an option.