I had the pleasure and pain of driving up to Sacramento yesterday to sit in on the hearing for AB 178, which I’ve talked about before putting California affiliates in jeopardy.  Lisa Picarille and I hopped into my car and made the drive up, and about 10 minutes away from our destination, we get the news that the hearing had been postponed.  The bill has been changed to a two year bill.  What does this mean, exactly?

Believe it or not, I couldn’t find a sufficient actual definition for what a two year bill is online, so I can only pass on what I was told in basic layman’s terms, which may be better anyway.  Basically what this means is that the hearing has been postponed until January, when it will be up again to be heard in hearings.  We were told by several seasoned lobbyists that if it’s not heard in January, this bill in this current incarnation will be dead.  However, the issue won’t necessarily go away.  We will need to keep an eye out for other bills to make sure language isn’t shoehorned into other bills that could affect affiliate livelihood and tax nexus, and we also have to pay attention in June when budgeting starts to make sure no strange budget items that could affect nexus show up.

This is a small victory and California affiliates can certainly breath easier for awhile, but it’s not over yet.  We’ve won the battle but the war rages on.  Of course, there’s a lot of blog coverage on the happenings of yesterday, so check out their points of view as well:

• Mr. Lewis Goes to Sacramento – David Lewis
• Calif. AB 178 on Hold for Now – Lisa Picarille
• California Hearing Postponed – that’s a good thing! – Rebecca Madigan
• No Hearing for California AB 178 – Shawn Collins
• Commission Junction’s Internet Retail Tax News

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1. Get laid off from your current employer.
2. Email everyone you know within your industry.  Let them know that you’re on the market and ask that if they see any opportunities, to pass them along.
3. Don’t wait for answers; reach out to everyone and look at other jobs in the meantime.
4. Don’t change your routine too much to stay upbeat.
5. One of those connections pays off in the form of a new job.
6. Start new job.

So, yeah.  I make it sound easy.  To be honest, it kind of was.  So, this serves as a semi-official announcement via my blog here that I’m now an Affiliate Manager for Paulson Management Group, one of the most recognized and respectable outsourced program management firms in the Affiliate Marketing industry.  I’m excited to join Heather Paulson and the team and keep on truckin’ doing what I do best!

I’m also going to step up onto a soap box for a moment and remind everyone how important it is to network within your industry!  If I hadn’t made a fairly decent name for myself within the affiliate world, I’d probably still be waiting for a call back from some entry level marketing job here in the Bay Area.  It helps to introduce yourself to people.  Don’t forget that at the next industry event you attend; it doesn’t matter what your industry is, it’s important to network.  Okay, end soap box.

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I am! This will be my first ad:tech and I’m excited!  I’ve got all my sessions picked out on the schedule and logged into trusty TripIt.  Want to know where I’ll be?  Check it out here.  I plan on working the expo hall and sessions to the best of my advantage to pick up some helpful tools and meet some helpful people!  Unfortunately I’m still without a permanent position, though I’ve had some promising conversations with a few people.  Is it too much to hope that I’ll have a permanent job by then?  It’s just a week away… so scoop me up while you can!

Some of the sessions I’m planning on attending look like great opportunities to learn more about spaces that I’m not too familiar with, Danny Sullivan’s SMX @ ad:tech sessions teaching the basics of search marketing.  I’m still green on the intricacies of search marketing, although I know the basic concept.  I need to get in there and dive into the deep end of the pool to really get a better grasp.  Hopefully after this session I’ll feel a bit more comfortable to dive in and do some experimentation myself.  There’s also one session sponsored by Media Trust on performance marketing, and a lot of the other session descriptions sound like they’ll be touching on various aspects of performance based marketing.  So I can’t wait!

Speaking of conferences, I do have more notes to share with you from the Web 2.0 Expo, I’ve just been a tad slow to get them all banged out.  Look for that coming up soon!

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