Name: Ted McCune
Company: Service Home Buyers
Twitter: @tedmccune

What do you do for a living? How long have you been doing it?

I am a residential real estate redeveloper, broker, and I also buy long term real estate investments for myself and other investors. Also into commercial property investments and management as well. I have been doing this for 2 years now and really enjoy the people side of the business.

Where did you first hear about affiliate marketing? How long have you been interested in affiliate marketing?

I used to work at Microsoft and Monster.com and we had affiliate programs when the internet started taking off. I was in corporate for 16 years so all I knew about it was from a big company perspective we had affiliate marketing programs for certain products and services. I also heard about it by reading blogs and just spending time on the internet in the early 2000′s. I didn’t really understand the process and how sites were able to monetize their websites until speaking with Jeremy Palmer a few years ago when we were just catching up one day. Our conversations really opened up my eyes to the potential and opportunity the internet brings.

What websites, people, or other sources influenced you to learn more about affiliate marketing?

n the real estate investing side of business, affiliate marketing has really taken off. Mostly on the education side. Many gurus have their own investor blogs where they build a large email list and then market courses, bootcamps, and mastery coaching programs to them. This is the model I plan to follow but from a services standpoint and also more blog site based. Resources such as www.quityourdayjob.com to learn how to manage it myself have been helpful in getting up to speed on what works and doesn’t in todays environment.

Question: What factors convinced you to attend Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas?

I had heard about the affiliate summit in the past from other colleagues of mine as well as just seeing it pop up in internet searches, but had never thought about attending. Since my real estate investing firm has been taking off and growing, I realized that I need to learn to monetize the web traffic and blogging strategy that other real estate investors/teachers are taking advantage of. Thought the affiliate marketing summit was a great starting point to help get a lot of information to set my affiliate marketing business up.

Did you participate in the Affiliate Summit Newcomer Program?

No. I was not able to make it.

Were you able to attend any of the Keynote Presentations? If so, which one did you enjoy the most? Did you get any actionable information that you can use in your business? If so, what was it?

Yes, I attended all keynote presentations. I enjoyed Eric Thomas’s presentation as he made some great points on how to be different and be willing to change. I also really liked Jeremy Shoemakers point about taking chances and pushing the envelope. It really hit home that in all business and especially with ideas, you have to be willing to be different, create a niche, and do what others are not willing to do. Thats a point that hit home and that I have been striving to implement daily since the conference. How can I be different and what can I try that others are scared to try or are not doing?

Were you able to attend any of the Breakout Sessions? If so, what sessions did you enjoy the most? Did you get any actionable information that you can use in your business? If so, what was it?

I attended the breakout roundtables on the last day. Was really informative being able to mastermind at a table with small groups. I learned more about how lucrative and rewarding software affiliate marketing can be and also about small business consulting opportunities in affiliate marketing. My only complaint about the breakout sessions were that there just was not enough time to participate in all discussions and none of them were taped. So you had to choose one breakout when there were multiple ones that I really wanted to participate in.

Were you able to attend the Meet Market on Sunday? If so, did you make some new contacts that will be useful to your business?

No

Were you able to tour the Exhibit Hall? If so, did you make some new contacts that will be useful to your business?

Yes. Very much so. Met the entire Shareasale team and they are very helpful and knowledgeable and will definitely be using their services in the future. In general most of the booths and companies are very good at sales and reaching out.

Did you attend any of the Affiliate Summit parties? If so, which ones did you attend? Did you meet some new people you plan on following up with?

Yes, met some great contacts that were introduced to me at the Sunday night event at the nightclub Sharasale sponsored party at Paris Resort. Plan to followup with someone I met on how to brand your business as well as many networks who represent companies that I can blog about.

After being exposed to the world of Affiliate Marketing, do you think you will pursue your interest further? If so, explain what you are planning to do (provide a brief answer).

Yes. Already started. I have a list of ideas on what I am passionate about and have begun discussions with programmers to help make my wordpress sites a reality. I am not a programmer by trade, so I have to source the coding out. However I am learning wordpress over time and plan to update my blogs and sites where I can. My goal in 2012 is to have 2 affiliate sites and blogs up and running and bringing in some money. One will be focused on Customer Service/Loyalty and another for software/IT solutions with a focus on review type blogs of products and technology I use in business and have used in the past.

Do you plan to attend Affiliate Summit in the future? Why or why not?

Yes, my plan is to continue my education and networking and this is the premier event from what I know for meeting and learning about the affiliate marketing industry.

What was your favorite aspect of the conference?

My favorite aspect of the conference is the amount of networking and time/environments offered for networking. The working rooms and breakouts are a genius idea. I also thought the different sessions and various topics offered were great as well. The fact I can go and watch the videos online for the ones I missed is also great.

What one thing would you do to improve the conference?

Move it towards the end of the week so people can enjoy the weekend in vegas after a long few days of networking and open up all sessions for Gold Pass Holders.

After I’ve had a few days to recover, I typically write an Affiliate Summit recap post on my blog. This year I wanted to do something a little different. My perspective is old and tired. I wanted you to see the conference from the eyes of first time attendees.

So I partnered up with three new people from this year’s Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas, to provide you some fresh coverage of the event. This is the first of three posts in the series. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did! Continue reading →

Let me start with a disclaimer – I’m not a black hat marketer. I don’t condone unethical, or illegal internet marketing practices – in any form. I’m not writing this post to show you how to “game the system”, I simply want to challenge the way you think about your marketing plan.

Pushing Limits – Taking Risks to Reap Rewards

Successful people aren’t very good at coloring inside the lines. They rip pages out of the playbook, add new ones, or modify existing plays to achieve better results. Sometimes they throw out the playbook altogether and write their own.

Changing the playbook has inherent risks. The new plays might not work. The plays could piss somebody off. You may even be penalized for running the new plays.

But if the plays do work, you get an advantage over the competition, and achieve results that weren’t possible before. Continue reading →

I don’t rally behind too many political causes, but I’m fervently opposed to censorship: http://americancensorship.org/. Don’t let the US become China. Call or email your congress person today!

Save Thousands on Affiliate Summit West When You Book by 10/20/2011

Cashflow is king. Spending money to attend an industry conference may be hard for a new affiliate to justify. Time away from work, coupled with the expense of traveling, may make it cost prohibitive for you to attend Affiliate Summit.

The good news is that you can do Affiliate Summit, for a lot less than you think. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to get the full value of attending the industry’s leading conference. In fact, you can do it for less than a thousand dollars. Let me show you how… Continue reading →

If you’ve been thinking about going to Affiliate Summit, stop thinking and just book it!

There are 3 important reasons you need to take action today:

1. Affiliate Summit’s Early Bird pricing ends on October 21. Prices go up nearly 100% after this date.

2. Southwest just announced their 72 hour sale. I just booked a round trip flight from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas for less than $100. Flights are only $35-125 each way (your price is determined by distance).

3. I have an exclusive coupon for 10% off any Affiliate Summit pass. Contact me – affiliatesummit (at) quityourdayjob (dot) com to get your coupon code.

Need I say more?

Sign up for Affiliate Summit Right Now!

P.S. Read my preview and follow up review of the last Affiliate Summit in NYC.

I just wrapped up four days at the largest affiliate marketing conference on record – Affiliate Summit East. This was my 11th time at the conference since 2006. I’ve only missed the event once since I started going.

For me it’s one of the few events on my calendar I can’t afford to miss. Every time I come home I return with a thick stack of business cards (from new and existing partners), a notebook filled with knowledge and ideas, and new motivation to elevate my business. Continue reading →

Affiliate Summit East is just around the corner. At the current rate, Shawn Collins expects the show to be sold out by Monday August 8. If you’ve been sitting on the fence, wondering if you should go – the answer is YES! Continue reading →