At international academy of design and technology. Talking to a web design class about how the industry works….with my boy Joe Patti.

I decided to finally take advantage of self employment and remote office from my folks’ condo in beautiful South Padre Island, Texas. More information, photos, etc, are forthcoming but as I sit here, surrounded by sun and sand, drinking a Dos Equis and responding to e-mails, I wanted to get a few thoughts out.

First, this is awesome. I woke up this morning, had a great breakfast and sat down to work. On the beach. I’ve been working for myself for a year or so and this is my first crack at really enjoying the lifestyle it affords. Shame on me for not doing it sooner!

Second, there is nothing more delicious than eating a fish you just caught a few moments earlier.

Third, some love for the local businesses:

Captain Mark Guillot from Parrot-Eyes Fishing Charters showed us a great time yesterday and put us on the sea trout you see in the pic above. Thanks a bunch Captain Mark! If you are ever charter fishing in South Padre Island, look him up.

Jesse from Jesse’s Cantina runs a hell of a restaurant and bar and is an all around good guy. If you ever find yourself in South Padre, head for Jesse’s Cantina! Sadly, he doesn’t have a web site yet, but here’s the address info:

2700 Padre Blvd, South Padre Island, TX 78597
(956) 761-4500

Matthew Inman is a goddamned genius. For those of you not familiar, he is the guy behind The Oatmeal. I found The Oatmeal just a few months ago. It is now one of my favorite sites. Inman is hilarious, plain and simple.

He’s also an internet marketing stud, having taken The Oatmeal from concept to 30 million views per month in just under 2 years.

Here’s an article I just came across in which Matthew Inman talks about branding and some essentials for viral content.

You can read the totally awesome article I am referring to by clicking on this really really really really long link.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/03/everprivate.shtm

I just saw this settlement come through. If you work in the payday loan space, you’re no doubt familiar with FTC vs. Swish Marketing and Jerry Klein, a.k.a. the “prechecked opt in buried in the footer” case.

Not much to say to the above, other than “ow.” One of the defendants is going to have to pay $350k up front and another $450k in 10 annual installments.

Ow.

Have I mentioned how important it is to work with good compliance counsel, such as my buddy Bill Rothbard from FTC Ad Law?

If you’re marketing online and haven’t had him (or someone like him) review your ads, landers, and processes for compliance, you are doing yourself a huge disservice.

Anyone who has ever worked with SellingSource or PartnerWeekly knows Corey Owens. He initially came out to Las Vegas to work at PW while I was president, tasked with bridging the business development side of the business with technology and operations. He was quickly promoted to VP of Operations, and today runs SellingSource’s entire consumer acquisition division.

I was really happy when Corey moved to Las Vegas – not just because I was going to have a fantastic operations guy and technologist keeping things humming, but also because Corey and I played in a band for 4 years while in Chicago. Our plan was to invade Sin City and kick some internet marketing ass while rocking out.

(Tangent: Mission accomplished.)

I’ve harassed Corey for a number of years about blogging. It seems to make sense that an online marketing heavyweight should blog about his random thoughts, observations, or some other whimsical shit so we can all laugh, cry, and learn together, right?

Wrong.

I attribute Corey’s lack of a blog to several factors:

1. He has a very short attention span.
2. He has more important shit to do.
3. He never learned to read.

Ok, just kidding about #3.

Anyway, he sent me an IM today and let me know that FINALLY he has a blog up. Woo ha! On behalf of the interwebz, welcome to blogging, buddy. Have a great time.

He’s just getting started so bookmark this mofo and check back frequently.

Corey Owens Blog

Source: Angel D. at Revenews.com

Oh, Illinois – when will you learn? In addition to recently passing a corporate tax bill making it one of the least favorable places to do business in the industrialized world, Illinois – who I would think is begging for companies to come within their borders – is working on chasing online marketers straight the hell out of the state.

(Hang on. Let’s reread that and make sure it sinks in. Illinois, upon passing their recent corporate tax hike, has become the least favorable place to operate a business in the industrialized world. Please remember this fact as you read the rest of this article.)

Back to the issue at hand: For those of you unfamiliar with the “Amazon Tax,” it’s a piece of legislation enacted by a number of states (including CO, NY) to address online-only retailers’ ability to operate without collecting state income tax. Ordinarily a retailer needs to have a tax nexus (brick and mortar location) within a state in order to be subject to sales tax. Amazon Tax legislation, although slightly different from state to state, defines not only a retailer’s brick and mortar presence, but also the presence of any online affiliates promoting their products, as a tax nexus.

In the case of IL, this is being done in the name of “fairness” because other retailers with brick and mortar presences in the state (eg Sears, Wal-Mart) have to charge sales tax on items purchased on their websites. They have a tax nexus so they pay sales tax.

I join the rest of the online marketing community in calling horseshit, for three reasons:

1. The Fairness Deception: Gov. Quinn’s people said that the tax was being passed out of “fairness.” While this move is anti-business on Illinois’ part, they’re a pretty anti-business state. Thus, passing the Amazon Tax didn’t surprise me. What does surprise the heck out of me is this “fairness” label.

Last time I checked, we live in a constitutional republic. We are allowed to transact over state lines, and have been doing so for many many many years. You used to be able to buy your home from a catalog, for God’s sake. And if the sale does not occur in-state, you don’t pay sales tax.

For something to be fair it needs to go both ways. Is Sears refunded the portion of their state taxes based on revenue generated when products are shipped out of state? If we’re being fair, does the Amazon Tax also apply to mail order sales, since a consumer’s phone could also be considered a tax nexus?

No and no. This is just a budget balancing cash grab on the backs of small business owners and workers. (Tangent: Where are the protesters?)

(Another tangent: Illinois isn’t “fair” with respect to the 2nd Amendment – I can’t bring my NV legal semi-auto pistols or AR-15 anywhere near Cook County. Yet all of the sudden we’re worried about interstate “fairness.” Pat Quinn is a liar. More on that later.)

2. Net Neutrality: Not sure why this isn’t being discussed, but the Amazon Tax is a huge net neutrality issue. Taxation is a great way to regulate control of the internet, ain’t it? The Amazon Tax starts us down a slippery slope that invites further regulation, taxation, and limitation of access by state and federal legislatures.

3. Governor Pat Quinn is a Liar:
Take a look-see at his campaign promises related to job growth. The Amazon Tax is a huge “encouraging small business” fail. It is also a “keep and grow jobs in Illinois” fail, and finally a “fosters more new businesses” fail. Apparently, Governor Quinn wants the workers of Illinois to remain low-tech, because he has no problem whatsoever doling out loads of Illinois cash for capital projects – $31 billion for “Illinois Jobs Now” – but God Forbid he would allow online businesses to flourish in his state. I think Illinois Jobs Now is a great initiative. Repairing roads is really important. After all, the Illinois freeway system is very soon going to find itself overstressed by all the businesses leaving their borders.

Speaking of which…

My Invitation

I’m a proud small business owner in the pro-business state of NV. I am a member of the Amazon affiliate program. I’m a former resident of Illinois, and I want my fellow affiliate marketers to succeed. That said, if IL-based affiliates would like to come work for my company for a very aggressive revenue share, as an “outsourced SEO/SEM/Content person,” I have positions available.

Wrapping it up, I’d challenge my fellow online marketers to give Illinois a Cartman-like “Screw you guys, I’m out of here” and head for the border. If you head for NV I’ll buy your first beer.

Like lots of folks working online, I have a tough time explaining to my family exactly what I do for a living. As a few family events approach (party in Chicago/reunion in Indianapolis, golf trip in Indiana), I can almost hear my Dad’s typical reaction of “I don’t friggin’ know – ask him.”

It can be tough to explain our business to folks outside the industry – jargon is widely used and many of our terms are only understood in the context of other jargon, so I understand the confusion. For example, if I told a fellow online marketer that I specialize in e-mail traffic (which I don’t), conversation over. For an outsider, I have to follow up with the qualification that a) no, I’m not a spammer, b) yeah, really I’m not a spammer, and c) respond to “well how do you make money doing THAAAT?” and explain affiliate marketing, which is yet another complicated discussion. Typically they leave the conversation more confused than when it started.

I’ve also found the more general responses to be inadequate. “I work with teh Googlez” makes you sound dismissive. I’m trying to come up with a more concise elevator pitch and thus far it’s a swing and a miss.

Would love feedback from other industry folks as to how you answer this question….

My buddy Billy Kay is a successful online marketer, Las Vegan, musician, and now – music video star!

Billy’s doing what he loves: Making music and sharing it. Granted, he probably has a bit more disposable income for these projects than most guitar pickers, but still, you gotta give the guy a hand for going after it.

Billy Kay’s latest video is in post at the moment and will feature a very very sexy lady who is also a big time public figure. (I’m not going to disclose who since I’m not sure if it’s a secret.)

Anyway, check out his music at Billy Kay Music. It’s a bright, poppy, country-influenced singer songwriter sound.

And learn a lesson from Billy Kay: Use the internet to pay the bills but don’t forget to spend some time (and money) following your dreams!

At the risk of sounding smug (no – me?), life is pretty freakin’ good right now. Work is going great. Deciding to start my own company is one of the best things I’ve ever done. Family life is awesome. My weight is back to an acceptable range. I’m really thankful for all of this and as a result I’m not making any of the usual NY resolutions this year.

That said, there are a few things that I would like to prioritize in 2011:

1. Write music more consistently – I’ve set a goal to write at least 2 songs a month. While this might not sound like a lot, I tend to go through songwriting dry spells that last months or years. I am going to try and work through these dry spells by committing to writing one song every other week, even if I don’t feel like it. I will be posting at least one of those songs here.

2. Give more – I’m not sure if my giving will be of time or $$$ but I think 2011 is the year I start giving back to the Las Vegas community. Things have been great for my family these last few years. Time to start contributing to the community.

3. Slow down – I’ve been working at a frenzied pace for the last 5 years or so. In 2011 I want to re-teach myself how to slow down a bit. Walk a dog. Meditate. Read a book.