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Originally Posted by Shap
Good post I agree with almost all of it. The one thing I disagree with is I don't feel we ever had a shake down. I think the guys who made big money early left. They didn't get shook down in most cases they hit a level of $$$ they were happy with left and moved on to bigger things. A lot of those guys were REALLY smart and it's a shame they aren't around today. The guys who came in after them have been able to survive until the last 18 months. Now the shakedown is going to start happening and happening more than ever. In a year from now I think the list of WHERE ARE THEY NOW programs/sites/webmasters will be much bigger than it is today. Probably double.
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I can tell you there was a good bit of people that I remember talking to back in 2003/04 that was telling me " damn, i should have saved some of my money while it lasted" etc. There were a lot of people who made it, blew it, and then it was gone and they were out.
I guess today's big guys, were at least smart enough to not blow it all and reinvested into their own membership sites and other revenue generating ventures that have been dropping like a rock the last couple years. There is two ways you make money in this industry and in any really: you cheat or your bust your ass. Either way you have to be good at what you do, it is just a lot easier to make a lot of money if you are a good cheater vs being a good business person.
The "cheater" bangs credit cards, and installs spyware on people's pcs to make 100's of signups. The good business man has to be better than his competition, be innovative, and has to bust his ass working hard.
The good business men, who have continued to work hard, innovative, and beat the competition are doing fine today. They may be making less than they did in the past but they are still moving right along.
The good business men, who made "ok" money in the past because they took the weekends off, didn't always have the best ideas, etc... they are hurting now and in trouble.
I think the big guys you referring to who are the people who resorted to cheating when the dumb easy money was gone. They continue to try to find the easy way to make money. For example, instead of offering a great product and developing your own traffic, they just make a couple deals and buy cross sales. If cross sales go away then they fucked until they try to find another easy way to make money. Those people will run out of luck sooner or later, if that isn't happening already. I hope the ones who are actually doing illegal shit end up in jail. I could have made 10x more money if I went the shitty route, but I rather be able to sleep at night and know my ass wont be in jail.