Whenever I’m talking about affiliate marketing I always tell people I “eat sleep and breathe” my work and am totally passionate about it. I genuinely didn’t realise how much this was the case until these past few weeks. I’ve been living on a building site since the start of February and all the noise, mess, dust and general intrusion into my work and personal space has had a huge impact upon my effectiveness and concentration.
Concentration? Sorry? Eh? Now, What Was I Saying…..
When I work it’s like I’m immersed in a rather fabulous underwater world. I spend my workday submerged in a sea of information, ideas, and concepts which captivate me utterly. Once I’m “under” the day vanishes in what seems like seconds and I’m left at close of play feeling content and empowered.
I’ve always suffered from dreadful concentration so I’ve just spent 10 excruciating weeks floating at the surface amongst all the chaos and noise of our building project watching the faint and indistinct lines of all the things that usually fill my working day whizzing past without so much as stopping to say “G’day” before vanishing into the distance in a blur. As I watch all the things I should be involved in slipping away I feel vague, hopeless and cut off – yet helpless to do anything about it.
Get Out Of My House!
I’m now at the stage where I’ve decided enough is enough. I’m suffering from terrible insomnia, I’m very stressed out, and I don’t feel like I’m in control of what’s going on with my business any more. Affiliate marketing is like oxygen for me, and without it I feel completely suffocated. So I’ve called a halt to the building job for now (which was mostly finished inside the house anyhow) and am really looking forward to things getting back to normal. I’ll be letting the builder return in a few weeks to do some finishing off on the house exterior once I’ve had some time to myself. We will have a plasterer in next week, but he’s a very quiet worker so I’ve decided to let him finish his work 
It’s About More Than The Money
As I was lying wide awake last night (yet again) I started wondering if the way I’m feeling, although perhaps extreme, is an indicator of why very few people who do well at affiliate marketing are in it purely because they saw a way to make money and set out to exploit it in a formulaic way.
I love the creative processes involved in identifying new things to market, trying to get inside the minds of the people likely to buy them, designing landing pages that will appeal to them, and working out ways to scale and increase traffic and conversions. I’m not ashamed to admit that I still get a little excited every time I wake up in the morning and realise it’s time to go back to work. I arrive at my desk within minutes of waking, clutching that first cuppa of the day and keen to hook up to the oxygen supply to breathe in more of what the affiliate world has on offer.
Does this border on the obsessive? Probably. Do I care? Not a damned jot!
See You All Back In The Water Next Week…
Now that those noisy buggers are about to be evicted from my space I’ll see y’all back in the deep end on Monday 
April 16th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Kirsty, you are living the dream, making a great living doing what you love. It must be a great situation to be in. You are a big inspiration to us part-time affiliates.
Tony
April 16th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
I can’t imagine a better thing to be doing in the world… I’m incredibly lucky to have found a job I love so much
April 17th, 2010 at 2:06 am
Kirsty, I know *exactly* what you mean
I don’t do this because it gives me a living, I don’t do this because it means I work from home so the whole ‘kid’ thing is 1000% less stressful – well, I suppose both of those are true, of course, but… – I do the long hours I do because I *love* what I do
I can’t imagine doing anything else this happily.
Now if I can just work out how to describe to people what I do… Hmmm…
April 18th, 2010 at 8:17 am
couldn’t have described it better myself, as I sit here with my cup of ‘detox’ tea, getting my first ‘fix’ of the day
April 19th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Breathing the same air as fellow affiliate people who feel the same way always helps with my enthusiasm levels too.
April 19th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Not to throw a spanner in the works but could the noise have been an ‘excuse’ to procrastinate?
I only ask because I think I’ve done that in the past. At the time I tell myself it’s because I don’t have my desk setup yet, or we’re moving into our new house, or some other reason that seems to make sense at the time.
Really, when I look back, although I would never admit it properly to myself, I think that these distractions can sometimes get blown out of proportion as we procrastinate over 10 new content pieces that need to be written or 5 new backlinks that need to be won…
Come to think of it, why am I posting this comment – I should be link building!
April 19th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Thanks for the responses everyone, there can be very few occupations that have as many very happy participants! Good to have a couple of responses from ladies as well.
Musketeer – there are no excuses one can apply for an entire 10 weeks! I’ll post some before and after pics once we’ve gotten the place painted, I think you’ll see why I couldn’t concentrate.
This has been a full re-structure of our floorplan, including the removal of an internal ceiling, several walls and installation of no less than 3 supporting beams. Earsplitting does not even begin to cover it. That, combined with being called in by the builders to make decisions on how things should progress several times a day has meant I’ve not been able to hear myself think.
I know what you mean mind you, it’s an easy trap to fall into!! I’ve done it in the past, but now have several prevention mechanisms – including just allowing myself some days to sit and do “whatever”.
Now get back to your link building
April 21st, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Hi Kirsty,
I loved your article, great work. For me, affiliate marketing is about building professional relationships and constantly communicating with new people, both things I love and I am so happy to do this for a living.
I am just writing to let you know that MyCityDeal, the company I do affiliate marketing for, has just launched on Awin and offers a great kick-off promotion. Please visit: https://www.awin1.com/signup.php?merchant=2891 to see what we offer.
Kind regards,
John Stefanidis
Marketing @ MyCityDeal.co.uk