The TWO Secrets to Every Superaffiliates' Success (14)
Whenever I see posts from people about how difficult Facebook or Google is, or how even after copying everyone else's campaigns and angles and working really hard, they are still not able to make money, I realise that they do not understand that there are two secrets to success in this industry.
This idea is articulated very well by Michael Mauboussin, whose paper I have excerpted and edited here:
The TWO Secrets to Every Superaffiliates' Success
Jim Rutt, formerly both the chief executive officer of Network Solutions and chairman of the board at the Santa Fe Institute, recently gave a talk about his experience in business. He mentioned that he played a lot of poker when he was young, became pretty good at it, and made some money.
Rutt assumed that the best way to ensure continued success was to improve his skill, so he worked diligently at honing his game by learning the probabilities for each hand and studying other players for clues about the strength of their position. At that point, an uncle pulled him aside and doled out some advice. “Jim, I wouldn’t spend my time getting better,” he advised, “I’d spend my time finding weak games.”
Success has two aspects.
The first is skill, which requires you to be technically proficient.
The second aspect is the game in which you choose to compete.
Some games are highly competitive and others are not. You want to find games where your skill is greater than that of the other players. Your absolute skill is not what matters; it’s your relative skill.
Think about it this way. Say I invited you over to my house to play poker on Saturday night—and that you like to win. Your first question should be, “Who else will be there?” If I tell you that there will be some players that are as skilled as you and a couple of rich players who don’t play well, your response should be: “I’ll be right over.” Why? While you know the amount of money entering the house at the beginning of the evening and leaving at the end of the night is the same, you can see how your gain will come at the expense of the weaker players.
On the other hand, if I tell you that the players expected that evening have skill that is equivalent to yours, the response should be: “No thanks, I’m busy.” In this case, there’s no reason to believe that you will come out a winner because there is no mismatch in relative skill.
And if you find yourself in a game unsure of which players are weak or strong, learn a lesson from Warren Buffett: “If you’ve been in the game 30 minutes and you don't know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy.”
Great post!
Hahaha very relevant!
It is very true, I know some affiliates who know all there is in terms of offers, landers, ad copies, theories and different bidding strategies, but they don't reach close to their potential.
Why?
Because they are fishing in the wrong pools aka focusing on extremely competitive and limited scale sources.
I actually think picking the right game in which you chose to compete in is a lot more important than honing skills.
Great post man. I just finished Sam Walton's book about walmart and his thoughts were the same. Back around 70, kmart, woolco were doing about 300million in sales while walmart was around 15million, just to give you guys a idea of what he was dealing with.
He destroyed the competition by going to small towns where there wasn't alot of competition and basically took over. He took this approach until he was ready to fight the big boys. By that time, he had his systems to a science where he could predict exactly what's going to happen.
PS. He also cut out the middle man so he got better payouts.
Its a good read.
Originally Posted by Mr Green
One of the best post this year!
Every new-comer to AM should read this post!
Choose your battles wisely.
This is brilliant!
But it begs the question: what is the most effective way to find these less competitive games, except by just trial and error or just luck?
Originally Posted by Humbleaid
Networking with the right people can give you big advantages and save time from research/trial and error.
^ I agree, networking is a massive skill in affiliate marketing and thats why conferences are soo rad. Not even just attending the floors, but getting social at the parties and meetups. Heard countless stories of people meeting future partners and exploring their business, I am one of them too.
But again CM, great post man I love how simple you make it all
Originally Posted by stackman
That's why forums like STM and private events like the STM London Meetup can give you a MASSIVE advantage in this game.
Great post OP and Mr Green hit it right on the head!
Here is the orginal paper by Michael Mauboussin
http://analystreports.som.yale.edu/i...of%20Skill.pdf
uhhhh, i've been in aff marketing for more than 30min and i don't know who the patsy is..............
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