Friday I’m off to Las Vegas for Affiliate Summit West.  This is my first trip to this conference and my first venture into Affiliate Marketing.  I’m excited to start learning about this new area.  I signed up to cover this event on a press pass representing Six Figure Moms Club.  I really think there might be some opportunities for reengineering your careers in this area so I want to learn more and pass it along to you guys.

The industry has its own magazine, FeedFront, and the cover feature story is, “The Women of Affiliate Marketing”.  The conference has a mentor program.  Because I’m so new to this industry, I signed up for a mentor.  My mentor just happens to be, Lisa Picarille, editor of Revenue magazine and so far she’s been terrificly helpful and teaching me about the Affiliate Marketing conference.  I’m looking forward to meeting her face-to-face this weekend.  We introduced ourselves via phonecall earlier this week.

Lisa told me a handfull of stories of six figure moms who had left their corporate careers to pursue successful careers in affiliate marketing positions.  Many of these career changes were forced due to a family health situation but the end result seems to always be a happier mom with a more cohesive family unit.  I’m hoping to meet some of these women in person this weekend and to interview them so that I can share their stories with you.

Likely the most interesting thing that Lisa talked to me about is the personality of the Affiliate Marketers and this conference.  She said, “This weekend is not about explaining your business to people and striking deals.  It’s about hanging out, getting to know people and forming relationships.  People in this industry want to know you and they do business with people they like and feel a connection with.  Business deals will likely happen after the conference.”  How refreshing is that?  It is the classic Know, Like and Trust, but a whole room full of 3,000 that actually GET that is going to be amazing. 

Some of the big players in social media are already in Las Vegas for CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and will be staying around for Affiliate Summit.  I read yesterday that Chris Brogran, Warren Whitlock and Dave Taylor all attended Social Media Jungle.  Sorry to be repetitive, but Gary Vaynerchuk (@Garyvee) is the keynote speaker at Affiliate Summit and you know I can’t wait to hear him speak again!

What is Affiliate Marketing you ask?  Here’s a link to a great site with the Top 10 Affiliate Marketing programs which also has some interesting articles which tells you more about the Affiliate Marketing industry.  If you have a specific question about Affiliate Marketing this weekend, send me a message on Twitter @aaswartz or email me and I’ll do my best to find out!