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I want to tell you about the people who made the greatest impact on my experience at the Affiliate Summit. These people have been in the industry and are truly dedicated to affiliate marketing and are willing to share their knowledge and help in every way.

These are in no particular order because I just couldn’t possible put one above the rest.

1. Carolyn Tang - ShareASale.com. Carolyn is so sweet; she is very personable and so beautiful. I have never seen her without a smile on her face. She is such a positive person. She is everyone’s favorite affiliate manager. Carolyn not only represents ShareASale in a professional manner, she represents them in a personal manner. Which shows this company knows what it takes to build relationships with their customer and merchants. Carolyn has encouraged me in many ways and is what I consider a very good friend. She adds the personal touch to the business. Carolyn summed up “sweet, personable, happy, she also has a passion for the industry, she is willing to help in many ways rather it is business, or even giving encouragement on a personal level, she is a woman of ethics, and I believe she is the most optimistic person I have ever met, she is a “Strong Woman” in the industry”.

2. Jesse Bouman - 1and1.com. Talk about Charming, Jesse could make anyone feel like they are the most important person in the room as he is talking to you. He could sell me anything, but he wouldn’t do it, because he has ethics. If he doesn’t totally believe in something he would be the first to tell you. Jesse loves what he is doing; therefore selling it just comes natural. He takes his work seriously and would help anyone with any problems they have with their affiliate marketing, Jesse has given me several excellent tips on making my site better. Jesse summed up “fun, charming, happy, has a passion for the industry, willing to help, a man of ethics, and the life of the party.”

3. Sam Harrelson - Costpernews.com, geekcast.fm, SamHarrelson.com and many other sites. Sam is one of my favorite bloggers and twitterers ((or is it twitters)) (is that the correct form of the word, inquiring minds want to know). Sam is what I consider to be a deep thinker, yet a man with a sense of humor. Sam is a leader in the belief of social networking and its power in affiliate marketing. I have learned a lot by following Sam on his many sites and podcast. Sam is a teacher; he is willing to help others in the affiliate marketing industry. I can picture Sam’s face on the famous statue of “The Thinker”. Sam summed up: “He loves his family; he is educated; opinionated; stands up for what he believes in, yet he adds just the right touch of “sense of humor” that it makes, what he takes serious, a fun thing; willing to help; a man of ethics; someone everyone should get to know”.

4. Jim Kukral - Scratchback.com. Thedailyflip.com, JimKukral.com, and many other sites also. Jim is the man with the voice, such a strong emcee voice. Jim has made me laugh with his youtube videos on awesomemillion. Jim is a man I haven’t gotten to know very well, except for listening to him on geekcast.fm. Jim is innovative, very interesting, and a family man. Jim has a sense of humor, and is a man thinking outside of the box all the time. I have a feeling nobody tells Jim what to do. Jim summed up: “Very vocal, who couldn’t be with that awesome voice; he does what he loves; whether it is wearing man sandals or playing a ukulele; he loves videos, and knows they are the coming thing in the online marketing future; he is a teacher in the industry, sharing his knowledge; a family man first above all else; a man of ethics, and someone I want to get to know better”

5. Lisa Picarille - Lisa is the Editor of Revenuetoday.com, Revenue magazine an online and physically published magazine that I look forward to reading every time I receive it in the mail, or online. Lisa is a very lovely woman. Lisa is a woman I have total respect for (especially having to deal with Shawn, Jim, and Sam on the Geekcast.fm podcast, they really can give her a hard time sometimes, and she takes it in stride). Lisa is a woman who knows what she is talking about. Lisa has an excellent speaking presence, she speaks with authority, yet she has an open mind and is willing to listen to what anyone has to say, and she handles people with great tact. Lisa made me feel very comfortable and accepted at the Affiliate Summit and I appreciated that. Lisa summed up: “Intelligent, strong speaking voice, respected by everyone in the industry, opinionated, independent, yet open minded, friendly, willing to share her knowledge to those who are willing to learn, she is very ethical and someone I consider to be among the great “Strong Women” in the industry” “You go Girl”!

6. Amy Rodriguez - Amy is who I consider to be the quite one of the Affiliate Summit, she is the one that works behind the scenes to make sure the whole Affiliate Summit works as it should. Amy is a hard worker, and a wonderful mother. I loved hearing her talk about her little boy and how she missed him, and how her older daughter was helping take care of him while she was away, and sent her updates, with messages and pictures of her son. She always has a smile on her face. One of the new attendees who is from overseas said that Amy helped him in his process of getting his Visa or Passport, and was truly grateful to her for her assistance. Amy Summed up ” Sweet, hard working, grounded, a great person who loves her family above all else, she is a very ethical person and is someone who I believe needs a standing ovation for her hard work, Amy is a very “Strong Woman” in the affiliate marketing industry”.

7. Ian Fernando - ianfernando.com, and many other sites. Ian is an up and coming blogger and marketer that is taking the affiliate marketing world by storm. Ian is intelligent, young, innovative and willing to help. Man is he willing to help! Ian mentored 3 different new attendees officially, and many others, Ian was a speaker at the Summit; he had just gotten home from “Top Affiliate Challenge”, and then arranged a dinner for like-minded entrepreneurs. I know Ian had to be exhausted after the Summit, but he is one who loves what he does. He is experimenting in every area of affiliate marketing, and is definitely going to be a success. Ian summed up: “energetic, innovative, young, entrepreneur, willing to try anything new in the industry, he is passionate about what he is doing, willing to teach, friendly, an organizer with new ideas, and an ethical person who is doing it the right way” I predict he will be a Giant Success!

8. Kim Rowley - kimarketing.com, workinmypajamas.com, houseofkim.com and many others. Kim is my inspiration; she makes me realize “I Can Do It”. She is always happy, and very friendly. I can tell Kim loves to have a good time. The first time I met her was at Affiliate Summit 2007 West in Las Vegas. I felt like I already knew her because of the article that Lisa Picarille had put in Revenue Magazine about Kim. Kim was so friendly and I would have loved to have stayed and visited with her the very first time I met her, but I had to go take care of some personal stuff happening with my daughter at home, (my daugher had got her car broken into and I had to make some phone calls during the summit to businesses and the police dept. etc) Kim is a single mother of 4 children and makes a very successful living at affiliate marketing. She actually lives in a small town just like mine in the middle of nowhere. I am proud of Kim for making a success of herself and supporting her kids. Kim was the 1^st to include me in things this time at the Summit always saying “Come sit with us” etc. Thank you Kim, you made me feel welcome. Kim summed up: “A survivor, she loves her family, she is beautiful, she has a good attitude and loves to have fun, she encourages people (like me), she loves what she does, and does a Great job at it, I admire Kim enormously, she is also a very ethical person and I consider her another of the “Strong Women” of the industry”. Thank You Kim!!!

9. Shawn Collins - AffiliateSummit.com , Affiliatetip.com and many many more websites. Shawn is the cofounder of Affiliate Summit. Shawn is the backbone of the whole thing; he is a very energetic man, who has an enormous passion for what he does. The most down to earth person, who is so easy to approach, he gives many chances to those of us who want to learn. I admire Shawn so much; he has helped me more than anybody. I think one day I made a Tweet on Twitter, about giving up on this affiliate stuff, I felt like I was going nowhere. It was only seconds before I got a tweet back encouraging me not to give up. Shawn went out of his way to find someway for me to stay involved. If there is anyone that I owe for any success that might come from this, it would be Shawn. Shawn summed up: “My hero, my mentor, a man who truly loves what he does, approachable, down to earth, open minded, friendly, up for suggestions, a family man, a GIANT leader in the industry, energetic, amazing, has a great sense of humor, very willing to help everyone stay involved, he believes in this industry, Shawn is a very ethical man and isn’t afraid to speak up about his opinions, he is for the small affiliate and will fight for each of us” Thank You Shawn!!!

10. Missy Ward - Last but not least!! Missy’s site is missyward.com , Affiliatesummit.com and other sites. Missy is cofounder of Affiliate Summit. Missy is an amazing woman, she is beautiful, she adds sex appeal to the Summit, along with an approachable charm, she always has a big smile on her face, and she likes to have fun. She is a mother and a wife who loves her family. She is an advocate for “Affiliate Marketers Give Back” and participates in the walk for life against breast cancer. A very giving person, I admire Missy so much, I cannot imagine the preparation that goes into putting on an event like the Summit, but she does it with grace and charm. I listened to a podcast that her and Shawn did before the summit and I could tell she is a very sweet person. Missy does some awesome and sometimes humorous videos. She is also very open to suggestions to make an already perfect event even better. Missy summed up: “Energetic, charming, happy, loves family, very sweet, charismatic, giving, open for suggestion, loves the industry, willing to share her knowledge and help others, loves to have fun, a great organizer, a very ethical and an all around great person, I consider her to be a very “Strong Woman” in the industry also. Thank You Missy”!

These are only a few of the Great People that I got to meet, I cannot mention how many other people at the Summit made a great impact on me. I will save that for future posts. There are so many giving, ethical people who love the industry. The ones I mentioned above made the greatest impact on me and my experience at the Summit.

Thank you all for letting me be a part of it.

disclaimer: The above comments are totally my opinion, I hope I didn’t offend anyone and I hope I didn’t leave any awesome character trait, of these people, out of my post. I am still in the process of getting to really know these people. Like I said these are in NO particular order, they are all awesome people.

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The Affiliate Summit was great!  I met so many great people, such as Ian Fernando, who was one of the “Super Mentors” who actually took on 3 people to mentor.  Ian was also on a panel at the Summit, and he hosted a dinner for Affiliate Marketers.  Such a busy person, yet he was so willing to help new attendees have a good experience.  Thank you Ian.

Now that I have returned I have made a list of things I need to do:

1.  Take care of family and personal business, get my daughter ready for college, pay bills.  I am also brainstorming as I do this, jotting down new ideas and connecting in my mind all the information I obtained at the Affiliate Summit.

2.  Thank all of the wonderful people from the Affiliate Summit with a special “Thank You” they won’t forget.  I have something really cool in mind.

3.  Blog about the whole “Affiliate Summit Mentor Program”, how much of a success it was and how I feel I could improve different aspects of how I did it.  

4.  Spread the word about Affiliate Summit.  Post Blogs, make videos, and get on the social media sites like twitter, facebook, etc. and sing the praises of Affiliate Summit.  A good experience is the best testimonial.

5.  Ask for feedback from all participants in the “Affiliate Summit Mentor Program”. 

6.  Make contact with all new attendees, that were in the mentor program.  I didn’t get to actually meet everybody like I intended to.

7.  Encourage people as I was encouraged.  I take a look back at where I was last year at this time.  I felt at times like I was standing still and not moving forward in my efforts.  It would have been easy to give up, but when I thought about it I was given opportunities to stay involved.  After the Affiliate Summit I realize how far I have come and how important it is to make contacts.

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I have been helping Affiliate Summit organize the Mentor program. I appreciate Shawn and Missy giving me the opportunity. I have met some really great people through this process. There are so many people excited about the program and so many who are awesome about volunteering to be a Mentor. There have been several of these Mentors make post on their sites about the program. Thanks to each of you for the mention. Here are just a few of the posts.

Lisa Picarille from Revenue Magazine: Mentoring at Affiliate Summit

Carsten Cumbrowski from ReveNews: Practical Tips for First Time Conference Attendees

Shawn Collins Affiliate Summit blog: Guide To Networking at Affiliate Summit 2008 East

Ian Fernando at IanFernando.com: Speaking/Mentoring at Affiliate Summit East 2008

The Geekcast episode 25: With Sam Harrelson, Shawn Collins, Lisa Picarille, and Jim Kukral

Google Affiliate Network Mania

NETexponent by Kris Cramer: Mentors Needed for Affiliate Summit

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