Originally Posted by jayeff

Only if you have trouble delegating and/or hiring the right people.

Running an affiliate program has obvious appeal. This is a cheap-assed business, so if you have decent quality traffic it is far better to market to it yourself than simply sell it. Unfortunately becoming an affiliate opens its own can of worms and I think what aggravates me most about being an affiliate is how many people I'm supposed to take seriously (or at least should be able to take seriously) that in other circumstances I wouldn't hire to make the tea.

Opening your own site doesn't have to mean trying to run a huge business, but it is still going to force several roles on you and leave you with less freedom than the average affiliate as to how you spend your time. Also and although it will vary from site to site, you may have to start handing off work at a relatively low income level. That isn't something everyone wants to do or is necessarily good at dealing with.