Originally Posted by Shap

I've been in this industry for 14 years now. There is one thing that I've learned that has held true throughout and I think it's a piece of advice that some people here can benefit from.
Worry about what is best for YOU and YOUR business!

I've learned this time and time again. Over the years the gfy mob has gotten worse and worse. The reality is people spend their time posting here and trying to create something but at the end of the day very little ever happens. Nobody on here has your back. Every single person is out for themselves. This is a BUSINESS! Worry about YOUR BUSINESS and do what is BEST for YOUR BUSINESS!

I learned this first hand when iBill went down. People were losing their minds with good reason. Instead of attacking iBill and trying to call them out or get them to answer me on GFY I worked a different angle. I had established very solid relationships there and I worked on those relationships. What was the result? The majority of webmasters lost ALL their money and their entire members database. What did I get? I got a small wire (I think this was a little thank you for sticking up for them) and my entire database. To my knowledge I was the only person to get their database without it written in their contract. That was what was best for my BUSINESS! I lost a month of revenue but I kept all my members. The people that do business with me benefited from that. My members, affiliates, vendors, hosting, landlord everyone benefited from my determination to get my database.

I've been on both sides of the fence. I started out like most every other webmaster. I had no money, I was in university and just looking to make a few extra bucks. I worked hard and didn't take short cuts which meant the money came in much slower than it did for a lot of other people. Naturally I was jealous and very vocal on the boards. It pissed me off that other people were making more than I was by cutting corners. I hated the little clique of big guys that always got together and made guys like me feel like a small piece of shit. I tried to be vocal and tried be the guy that got things to change by getting the mob behind him. Nothing ever happened. Nothing ever changed. Everybody I challenged or campaigned against continued to make more and more money while I was making the same or less because I was spending my time and energy on boards instead of worrying about my business. I think things changed when I went from just running free sites to running TwistysCash. I realized other people's livelihood was in my hands and I had to be responsible and make decisions based on what was best for my BUSINESS and not for my own personal/moral issues.

Worry about what is best for YOU and YOUR business!