[Leader]

Recently a poll asked people how much time they spend working in this business. I found some of the answers rather surprising and it brought to mind this question:

Just what do you consider to be "work", in relation to this business?

(I know that more than one thing may count as work to you but if I grouped them up it would mean "assuming" that certain things count.)

[affiliatemakeover]

I say all of them. Need that option.

[Rik]

I second that, all of the above.

http://abw.infopop.cc/newicons/icon6.gif

-----------------------------------------------------------
Website Tools (http://www.ground-z.org) | Webmaster Resources (http://www.ground-z.org) | Website Articles (http://www.ground-z.org)

[kara1]

All of them. My ranking in terms of time I spend on various tasks:

1. Researching New Merchants
2. Updating Old Pages
3. Checking Stats
4. Making New Pages
5. Talking on ABW

All the best,
Karl

Free Webmaster Resources (http://kresch.com/resources/)

[popdawg]

As a fairly new person to this, I too would have to say all of the above.
-Chatting let's me stay motivated,
-Stats let me know whats working,
-Researching merchants so I am not wasting my time and energy on non performers
-Updating old pages to fix the muck ups I made when I knew even less than I do now
-Making new pages to make sure my wife can have the life she wants even though she can no longer work, my kids will have what I didn't and I don't have to take the crud that sent me to the hospital several times for stress.

....

Ok maybe there is a slight (infinitely so) edge to making new pages so I will vote for that. I actually plan my days to allow my time to be broken up doing all of the above.

I am a stat addict.
Acknowledging the addiction is the first step.

[Jakpot]

I am grateful that I have the ability to do it and find it a lot of fun.
The less than fun part is going thru the extensive
expiring links list.
I wish the merchant would place all of his/her
expiring links in one CJ email.

[icicle]

>Just what do you consider to be "work", in relation to this business?

My first thought was "explaining things to merchants". So its that, and all of the above.


I

[Cedric]

All of the above.

-------
Dawn is nature's way of telling you to go to bed.

[markymark]

Aw, c'mon, you can't really consider spending time on this board to be work, can you ?

My definition of work is anything I have to do but don't enjoy doing - so that covers accounts, bookkeeping, PPC campaigns, meeting with New Media companies, cleaning out the cat litter trays, putting together proposals for companies who refuse to give any indication of budget...you get the idea.

Search Engine Positioning (http://www.1design4life.co.uk) - 1 Design 4 Life

[Rik]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Aw, c'mon, you can't really consider spending time on this board to be work, can you?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I kind of do, it's like grouping it under research.

http://abw.infopop.cc/newicons/icon6.gif

-----------------------------------------------------------
Website Tools (http://www.ground-z.org) | Webmaster Resources (http://www.ground-z.org) | Website Articles (http://www.ground-z.org)

[Cedric]

C'mon, give me a break, I didn't list "killing bad guys on a playstation game" -- though I was sorely tempted.

-------
Dawn is nature's way of telling you to go to bed.

[eaglefire]

Same here. Work is anything that I don't like that I've got to do. Since I love all of this and am having a load of fun, I'd have to say anything that takes me away from the above is work. Things like eating and sleeping.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> cleaning out the cat litter trays <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You need one of these:

Littermaid Self-Cleaning Litter Box (http://tjspetshop.com/littermaid.htm).

{

"Laziness, Impatience, Hubris. Pick any three" ~ YAPC 19100

[icicle]

Heh.

I like the little tent thing you can get for over the top of it. For shy pussycats, I guess.



I

[Cedric]

>>Littermaid Self-Cleaning Litter Box.

Contrary to any marketing spin, you still have to clean the d@mn things and not all cats manage to get their "business" directly in the sand.

However, if you have a multiple cat house and one of those cats REFUSES to use the litter box (which is categorically NOT the same as refusing to urinate and/or defecate) when one of the others cats has visited, those litter boxes can be considered a smelly lifesaver.

That would be the prissy kitty's life they saved.

(Sorry, Leader.)

-------
Dawn is nature's way of telling you to go to bed.

[eaglefire]

oh me oh my, I had NO idea we had such strong feelings about this LOL.

I've got a friend with four cats in a townhouse. You would never know it. She's got one of these in a closet, with a pet door embedded in the closet door so the cats can get in and out to use the pan. All the cats use it except for the male who only occasionally refuses to use it.

{ (dog owner)

"Laziness, Impatience, Hubris. Pick any three" ~ YAPC 19100

[Packy]

ROTFLMAO! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Ya gotta love it! Where else can we go besides ABW where a post starts out with a thread about what do we consider work and ends up in the Kitty Litter Box. Jeeeeshhh! /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif /infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

I love it.

I also say all the above. Stats covers too many other stats besides just the good stats which are the transaction stats.

Affiliate Programs That Kick Major Butt (http://home.twcny.rr.com/esm/webmasters)

[WorkerBee]

What about the opposite scenario? What if you have a cat that enjoys spending too much time in the litter box? After 10 minutes, poor kitty is raked and sealed into the airtight container, never to be heard from again! Hey wait a minute, that's not such a bad idea....where's my CC? /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif


The Difference Between Cats and Dogs

A dog looks at you and thinks "This being feeds me, houses me, plays with me and pets me. This being must be a God!"

A cat looks at you and thinks "This being feeds me, houses me, plays with me and pets me. I must be a God!

"The trouble with normal is it always gets worse"

[eaglefire]

ROTFLMAO! ... except my dog, who can't make up her mind if she's a cat or a bird.

That was cute Workerbee. Poor Leader, we hijacked her thread.

OK - work = walking the dog, doing the dishes, going to the post office, dealing with the few clients I've kept. Heck I don't even consider those to be work anymore because I can do them on my own schedule. Well except walking Lena, but one of these days she WILL learn to fly ... she just knows she will.

{

"Laziness, Impatience, Hubris. Pick any three" ~ YAPC 19100

[buckworks]

I consider everything on Leader's list as "work" in the sense that it's productive, but not "work" in the sense that it's onerous or unpleasant.

I was camping on the weekend, and it was not much of a holiday. When you find yourself gazing into the campfire with CSS problems rattling inside your head, you might as well be home in front of the computer. What's really bad is when I catch myself looking at customized licence plates on cars and thinking, "That would make a catchy domain name. I wonder if it's available?"

[Leader]

It's very interesting to see how many counted "Talking on ABW" and "Checking Stats" as work!!

When people ask me how much w*rk I do at this business, I never counted the time spent doing those things--but I do them constantly! But those are Fun activities to me and also not directly producing anything which is why I don't call them w*rk.

My personal definition of w*rk is like MarkyMark's--"anything I have to do but don't enjoy doing"--but for this poll I didn't pre-define the word "work" because then it could have skewed the response and I wanted to see just what people were calling "work" according to their OWN definitions of the word.

Also there are only 5 slots for choices when making a poll so I couldn't put "all of the above" without ditching one of the choices.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Stats covers too many other stats besides just the good stats which are the transaction stats.~DaPackster<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I forgot about the non-transaction stats. Could be because I hardly ever look at 'em! When I say I'm "checking my stats all the time" I mean the Transaction Report. The other stats just don't get the attention from me that the Bottom Line does.


As for the cats, when I had cats they would all use a litter box (or try to--it's amazing how many cats think a litter box is used by standing in the litter and hanging their rears off the side [thereby dumping the fertilizer onto the floor])! But it was much less w*rk to just have them go outdoors to do that stuff. Cat ca-ca will degrade rather readily and there's no need to clean it from out there...just watch where you step in the garden, the soil has a funny shape in some places for a REASON! /infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

There is no knowledge that is not power.~~Ralph Waldo Emerson

[This message was edited by Leader on September 17, 2002 at 02:53 AM.]

[tmd5]

I chose making new pages 'cos it usually involves updating old pages (changing links) and researching new merchants.

"Can I sell the sh*t and will the merchant pay?" ~ Leader

[7-days]

Yes, all of them. And although ABW is the more enjoyable part of it, I still consider it part of the job, as I have learned more here in the last few months that I ever learned in the first year of affiliate marketing.

Ron
7 Days A Week Marketing

"Keep your hands out of my cookie jar!"

[Cedric]

Well, I define "work" a little bit differently and it has nothing to do with the pleasure-pain continuum.

For me, "work" is anything that I do that I would not do if I wasn't getting paid. Which means the litter box, while a wretched chore, is not part of Work -- I have yet to receive the first dime for doing it, lo these many years, and yet I plod on.

When I was in the corporate world, it was part of my responsibility to "keep up" with industry developments, trends, and news. Not some BS portion of my job, but a *critical* portion of my job. I sure as heck didn't do that deadly dull reading on MY time.

I consider ABW much the same. Sure, there's litter box chitty-chat, but there's also "Walmart's shipping charges are unreasonable" -- do you know how much time, energy, and potential bucks that one little comment may have saved me?

Do I enjoy coming here? Sure. But no matter how much I enjoy being here, if I wasn't getting paid (by improved sales and time/energy saved), I wouldn't be here, pure and simple.

Which makes the ABW Board "work" -- and just about my favorite part of my job.

-------
Dawn is nature's way of telling you to go to bed.

[webmarm]

Pretty much what Cedric said. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

If I hadn't shown up at the CJU boards, I'd be back at some horrible underpaid, underappreciated lab j*b. So this is part of my "work", since I learn to earn on the boards. Okay, I spend more time here than I should, but without it I'd be broke.

I'm with the all of the above crowd.

If work were anything I didn't enjoy doing, I'd be in trouble with my kids. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif Of course, at least they eventually potty train and I can get rid of the kiddy litter diapers.

Physically, work is defined as the product of a force times a displacement. It is a process, a method of transfering energy. That I am able to make a living sitting at the computer is a wonderful form of work. /infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

- - - - -
42. Yup, the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

[microdot]

What I try to do is take my total monthly earnings and divide it by the total number of hours spent on anything affiliate related to give me an hourly rate. I then use this as a basic yard-stick of my success / failure. So, In that respect, all-of-the-above.

Abestweb is the place I come to relax a little at the end of coding sessions, but is still a very valuable part of the hours I spend at my PC. It's also a place where I can converse with, learn from and advise those people whom I consider my peers and who are experiencing the same stuff I am, so it helps to lift my spirits when things aren't going so well.

Once I've worked out my hourly rate, or income if you will, I then consider not the financial cost but the true cost of those hours in front of the screen - time I'm not spending with my wife and 9 month old daughter, time not spent renovating my home so we all have a nice place to live.

So long as I'm convinced that the income is worthwhile when balanced against this true cost I'll keep doing it.

-----------
JoKe-ZoNe (http://www.joke-zone.co.uk)
-----------