Jen Goode is likely the nicest person I’ve met in the last year.  She’s bubbly, kind, generous plus smart, fun and just and overall great girl.  We met in Denver in November and she gave me a button with her signature Penguin artwork.  I put it on my Timbuk2 canvas bag and it’s been there since.  Everytime I look at it I smile because it reminds me of Jen and her infectious positive energy.

She also is responsible for telling me about Affiliate Summit. Jen told me I should consider going to the conference and learning more about the opportunities to earn passive income via affiliate programs.  She never mentioned she was a six figure earner but she did say that she lead the mentor program at Affiliate Summit and that I should look into it.  I was luke warm to the idea at the time but she was SO nice and she’d caught my interest.  I wanted more information.  I needed to know whether working mothers could make money from affiliate marketing opportunities.  I researched the conference and kept talking to Jen via facebook and twitter.  She was so encouraging and fun to talk to.  Jen was a huge reason that I decided to attend.  So, isn’t it amazing what positive energy alone can spread in the world?  Jen alone opened my eyes to alternative income possibilities that I’m still learning about.

If you love penguins, you just have to check out her artwork.  She also creates lots of other fun, upbeat characters, so check out her work at www.jgoodedesigns.com or www.jgoode.com.

Jen, Thanks for being a great role model for working mothers and thanks for being you!

People always ask me this question when I go to Social Media events.  I don’t think I’m a Mommy Blogger but maybe I’m wrong.  I’m not sure what the definition really is.  In actuality it doesn’t really matter.  I’m not a person who likes to put people into boxes or to be classified myself (unless that it, is you want to call me things like Successful, Six Figure Mom, Millionaire, Independent, Entrepreneur, Working Mother

I’ve even had people say to me that I SHOULD be sure to classify myself as a Mommy Blogger because there is so much sponsorship money to be made in the mommy space.  That bugs me.  It’s contrary to my philosophy that you must first be who you really are.  Follow your passion.  Then align the money to your passion.  I know many people don’t believe in this line of reasoning but I hear top personal branding people talk about this all the time.  Most recently I heard Jay Berkowitz.  Jay was an amazing speaker at Affiliate Summit.  You can get a taste of his presentation by reviewing the twitter notes here.

I guess the main thing I really don’t like about being classified as a Mommy Blogger is that people automatically stop talking to me about anything that’s unrelated to Mommy stuff.  Yep, I’m a mom for sure.  But I was many other things before I had my daughter and I still am many other things.  I love my daughter and being a mother is a big part of who I am but other than managing work-life balance, it’s not really a very big part of my career.

Why would someone automatically assume that I want to talk to them about their baby-related clients?  I spent my 22 months with diapers.  That was truly enough time for me.

Now, let me recant a moment. One of the main mantras for Six Figure Moms Club is Nonjudgment of others.  I’m totally good with the choices that everyone else makes.  So, if you want to spend your life working in the baby industry, that’s cool!  What I’m taking exception to is stereotypes.

Six Figure Moms, what do you guys think?

What about you MommyBlogger? Thoughts?

Check out the links above and read more about Kim at her oh-so-cool blog I Work in My Pajamas. Her blog has great information about how affiliate marketing works and also fits right in with our Six Figure Moms Club mantra, “Where Women Meet to Create Their Best Lives”.  I’m hoping she’ll join us when our social network launches in the next few weeks.  How about it Kim?

Next week, when you’re working on your vision boards at our January 22 event (or virtually from home), consider putting an affiliate marketing shoe selling strategy in one of your corners.  Getting free shoes sure does sound like a nice fringe benefit to me!

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!