Sure AM is great but............

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I'm only going into my senior year of high school at the moment, but I think my involvement in affiliate marketing thus far has shown me that business is what I love. I went through phases before when I wanted to be an engineer - and that still comes back to me sometimes - but a) I'm not good enough at math to be the best in my field (why start out with a limit?) and b) I would be best at computer science, and...come on. Fuck that, may as well be doing AM.

Now I'm about to apply to colleges...I'll go to one, get an economics degree, work 2-3 years in NYC, and get my MBA. :) I know that sounds like hell to most of you but education has always been a large part of my life. I think I like the structure it provides, so long as it's not a shitty education.
 


I'm going the entirely opposite way as most in here who seem to be leaving pursuing their dream to start affiliate marketing. I've done AM off and on for the last 10 years or so, and full time a few times in that mix (including the past year)

This September I start pre-med with the goal of becoming a Doctor, which is what I've "always wanted to be when I grow up"

It's never too late to do whatever you want. I know this though, I don't want to be worrying about Google slaps at 45 with kids and a family to think about.
 
justo_tx said:
Dude you have equity in the business right? You can't get your partners to buy you out so you have some money to live on while you cut your teeth?
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Excellent question. I started down that route about a year ago.

We have a buy/sell agreement. This is pretty normal when you have partners in an S-Corp. Ours basically says that if a person quits the business is valued by an independent outsider (paid for by the person leaving). Then the person is paid 1/2 of 1/3 of the business (ie, 1/6th). The logic here is the business is less valuable if a partner leaves. That money is paid out 20% up front. Then the interest on the rest is paid over 5 years with a balloon payment of the remainder at the end.

That was drafted and signed a LONG time ago and there's no way it's getting changed. When I tried to investigate leaving the first time it quickly got stupid (read that as 3 lawyers involved quickly) and basically I got a cash offer for $200,000.

Given our revenue is $3,000,000 I thought that was crap and didn't take it. And they can't force me out without lots of problems either.

So - what I want to do is this - get AM going (while saving money on the side) and then come up with $500,000 cash between money I save and loans. I will take that to one partner and say "You can have this now in cash or I will accept the same from you.".

If I was to become majority owner I'd outsource the management of that company in a flash and show up once a week for meetings.

The company itself is very stale right now. I can't get my partners to set goals on ANYTHING - EVER. My goal last night of building a Wordpress site for my dad to sell his antiques was a larger business plan than we've had for anything in the past 5 years.

Sorry, apparently I started venting. :)
 
Rage9 said:
Was a huge artist through high school and college (nothing like me ever came out of my small city) but alas, wasn't willing to pay 20k+ a year to go to the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. I got in (and they only take 600 some odd student a year, and expect half of them to drop out after the first year).
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This sounds like my situation. I was all state linebacker in highschool in my state. I was unchallenged in my skills....yet the first day I showed up with my shinny full scholarship at Oklahoma University, the other 50 guys that were just as talented as I was, taught me that that my high school achievements were bullshit.
 
popeye said:
This sounds like my situation. I was all state linebacker in highschool in my state. I was unchallenged in my skills....yet the first day I showed up with my shinny full scholarship at Oklahoma University, the other 50 guys that were just as talented as I was, taught me that that my high school achievements were bullshit.
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You were a linebacker on the Sooners?
 
chatmasta said:
You were a linebacker on the Sooners?
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Yea, If you watched Sooner football early in the decade, then you saw me put the hurt on some fools.
I have been able to use my name and my affiliation with OU here locally in Oklahoma to open several successul businesses. Okies love their football players!
 
popeye said:
This sounds like my situation. I was all state linebacker in highschool in my state. I was unchallenged in my skills....yet the first day I showed up with my shinny full scholarship at Oklahoma University, the other 50 guys that were just as talented as I was, taught me that that my high school achievements were bullshit.
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Same here. I was always unchallenged in my soccer skills, but when I started playing club, I realized I would have to train long and hard to become anything but "average".
 
Currently playing Junior A hockey, 19 years old...If I REALLY REALLY try I could be in the nhl by 26...my problem is have to train for the next 6 years and to maybe make the NHL is too much of a gamble...
 
popeye said:
Yea, If you watched Sooner football early in the decade, then you saw me put the hurt on some fools.
I have been able to use my name and my affiliation with OU here locally in Oklahoma to open several successul businesses. Okies love their football players!
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Haha that's fucking awesome dude, thats one of the best programs in the country. In terms of sports, my thing is track/cross country (1500,3000 in track)...I'm good enough to run low D1 or Ivies but definitely not any really big programs. Sometimes I wish I was good at a higher profile sport. But sadly the only other sport I played since an early age was Baseball and I never got to be recruitably good at that.

roclafamilia said:
Currently playing Junior A hockey, 19 years old...If I REALLY REALLY try I could be in the nhl by 26...my problem is have to train for the next 6 years and to maybe make the NHL is too much of a gamble...
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That's cool...a kid in my dorm (prep school) is a sick hockey player and playing juniors next year. Not sure which team. We had another kid on the team who's being looked at by NHL scouts and has a decent chance of being drafted.
 
Sharksfan said:
Excellent question. I started down that route about a year ago.

We have a buy/sell agreement. This is pretty normal when you have partners in an S-Corp. Ours basically says that if a person quits the business is valued by an independent outsider (paid for by the person leaving). Then the person is paid 1/2 of 1/3 of the business (ie, 1/6th). The logic here is the business is less valuable if a partner leaves. That money is paid out 20% up front. Then the interest on the rest is paid over 5 years with a balloon payment of the remainder at the end.

That was drafted and signed a LONG time ago and there's no way it's getting changed. When I tried to investigate leaving the first time it quickly got stupid (read that as 3 lawyers involved quickly) and basically I got a cash offer for $200,000.

Given our revenue is $3,000,000 I thought that was crap and didn't take it. And they can't force me out without lots of problems either.
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Dude that totally blows. So in essence all three of you are probably totally apathetic about the business at this point and just punching the clock because you're fucked if you try and leave. Bad situation.

It's too late to help you know but you should still pick up a copy of [ame="http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Rich-Greatest-Entrepreneurs/dp/1591842719/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245475926&sr=8-1"]How To Get Rich[/ame] by Felix Dennis (the guy who founded Maxim magazine among others). Its got great advice in there in general and really isnt a "how to" guide, more like annecdotal, here's how I did it. One of the themes he hammers home is fighting tooth and nail to retain every single percentage point of equity that you can so you can avoid crap like this. It's a good business read in general.


Edit: Just noticed the WF forum molested my amazon link (not an aff link, just a plain ol link). The book I linked to is titled "How To Get Rich".
 
popeye said:
Yea, If you watched Sooner football early in the decade, then you saw me put the hurt on some fools.
I have been able to use my name and my affiliation with OU here locally in Oklahoma to open several successul businesses. Okies love their football players!
Click to expand...


That's awesome man! I play(ed) linebacker to. Didn't make it to a d1 program like yourself (I didn't have the grades or size) but did go the juco route in attempt to eventually make it there. Unfortunately I hurt my knee, etc. ..

Congrats on the achievement popeye.
 
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