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Fighting the Advertising Tax in Sacramento

Trish — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:00:30 +0000

I wish I could tell you that we had an incredibly productive day in Sacramento, educating numerous state senators personally about affiliate marketing. They all understood what we do and they all agree that adding language to tax bills that make affiliate partners consistute nexus for out-of-state merchants is not going to make the state any money and is a bad idea.

I wish I could tell you that.

Instead, I report back after going to Sacramento last Wednesday, May 12th, with some less-than-uplifting realities about our state government here in California. Late last week, the Performance Marketing Association learned that there was a meeting on the 13th in CA senate subcommittee 5 to discuss adding affiliate nexus language to one of their pending budget bills. It’s not yet back, officially, in the form of a bill in the CA senate or assembly, but just knowing that they’re discussing it is enough for us to try to go educate some lawmakers on what affiliate marketing is, why affiliates shouldn’t create tax nexus for merchants, and why the state won’t actually make the $1.7 million they think they will.

I was asked to join Lisa Picarille and up we went to the capitol, no appointments made due to the last-minute nature of the trip, with high hopes of talking to the three state senators sitting on the subcommittee and laying some education on them. We knew that other affiliates and fighters in this advertising tax battle had previously met with Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, the chair of the subcommittee and the state Budget and Finance committee, and had not had good luck in getting through to her, so we targeted her office first. She was booked solid in meetings, but we were given a time to check back to see if one of her staff members had a small window of time to talk.

So we went on to the office of Senator Robert Dutton, who we’d heard was on our side. We spoke with a nice staffer in his office who was very well versed on the affiliate nexus issue and assured us that Sen. Dutton opposed the language and that most the Republicans were probably on our side as well. It was very nice to meet with someone who actually knew what we were talking about and understood the issue. In the two previous times I’ve gone to Sacramento, we had uphill battles trying to explain affiliate marketing to blank-faced staffers, so his knowledge about the issue definitely allowed us to cut right to the chase. He suggested some other people we talk to, some influential to the budget committee and subcommittee, and some already on our side that might be able to help in other ways.

Lisa and I then set out for Senator Alex Padilla’s office as it wasn’t yet time to check back in to see if Sen. Ducheny’s staff could talk to us. We were unable to speak to the people Sen. Dutton’s office had recommended, but we spoke to the legislative director who was very interested in learning more and very interactive. He asked us a lot of questions to better understand the issue, and was very interested in the information about Rhode Island not realizing the projected revenue from their version of the advertising tax and their consideration of repeal. Rhode Island actually has a bill in play now, H 7071, set to repeal the “Amazon Tax” but it looks to be stalled and waiting for a proper hearing. So as not to lose time, we quickly had the information emailed to him as we went about to other offices.

That’s kind of where the magic ended. I have to say, I was feeling okay at that point that people were hearing us out. I didn’t feel that any overly appreciated us being there as private citizens just wanting to spread some education and counter some mis-information being spread by the opposition, but they seemed willing to listen and comprehend. We went to the budget committee office, and they weren’t that helpful. The person we were looking for wasn’t there, and the people who were there told us we were pretty much crazy to attempt to see anyone without an appointment at this time of year. What happened to PUBLIC SERVANTS making themselves available to the PUBLIC, hmm? This served as a harsh reality (to me anyway) that our system is generally broken. We took a break, and after refreshing ourselves with some lunch, we headed back to Sen. Ducheny’s office to check in.

We arrived earlier than the time we were asked to come back, but since we had no one else to see it was worth a shot. We were ushered into the office of a staffer who was, unarguably, the worst attitude and most combative of all the people we talked to that day. She made me very glad I do not live in Sen. Ducheny’s district (40th District). The staffer kept attacking affiliates for working with out-of-state retailers in the first place. I tried to explain to her that, California being just one of 50 states, the “Buy Californian” attitude wasn’t a viable business option, but I got the distinct impression that she didn’t care. She checked her cell phone multiple times while Lisa and I were trying to pleasantly and professional counter her unprofessional combative questions, which is just plain rude no matter what the situation is. She kept asking us what we proposed the state do instead to fix the budget. I wanted to tell her that it’s THEIR job to figure that out, not ours, but instead Lisa suggested some alternatives and tried to focus on the argument that the retailers will just drop CA affiliates, and the state won’t make this money they think they’re going to make.

That being our last meeting of the day, it did leave a bad taste in my mouth about Sacramento and state politics and government in general. I hope I can be of service throughout this fight until we’ve successfully killed the advertising tax, in all forms, here in California. Until then… anyone have a million bucks we can hire a full time lobbyist with?

Operation Shoebox in Orlando

Trish — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:30:23 +0000

When I heard that Dina Riccobono at MarketLeverage was participating in Operation Shoebox, I wanted to help. Being in California, I can’t really participate with her and her group, but I can tell you all about it in hopes that some of you are in the Orlando area and can help, or alternatively, would like to make donations for future package parties Dina plans to host.

Operation Shoebox puts together care packages year round for our active troops, and ships them out either on a one-time basis, or directly connects you with a troop (1 solider = a troop) to interact with for the duration of their tour. While Dina wanted to help as many troops as possible, she really didn’t have the budget to shop for 50 troops herself…so she enlisted the help of some friends. They sent letters, emails, tweets – all asking various companies to donate their products for the packages. They solicited non-perishable items from friends, family, dentists, and co-workers, put out ‘Op Boxes’ in their offices to collect supplies, and stocked monetary donations to assist with shipping costs (the most expensive item for Operation Shoebox by far).

So far, Dina and her group have been able to get donations from the following companies:

Xshot – 53 of them!
DoYouPoken.com – 108 Pokens!
Pingo.com (Brian Hawkins) – 200 International Calling Cards
Quaker Oats – 50 Gatorade Vouchers
GBL Public Relations for Pentel – Hundreds of Pens, Pencils, Hats, and t-shirts.
FujiFilm – 60 One-Time Use Cameras (SeeHere.com)
CharmFactory – 60 American Flag Pins
TheDistrictDish – Matchboxes
Burn Cream MD – Medical Supplies
Orlando Ichiban – Space for the Packaging Party with Discount Sushi and Drinks

It’s not just companies getting involved. Dina has been able to attract some individual sponsors as well:

Drew Bennett of BenSpark.com
Various members of the MarketLeverage team
Vanessa Swanepoel of PokenGirl.com

The packaging party – where they will organize all 50 shoeboxes and put the sponsors items and donations together for individual shipment to the troops – is TODAY in Orlando! If you’re near Orlando and want to help, Dina and her group are happy to have you!. Orlando Ichiban has been kind enough to donate space to use to put the boxes together, and also some discounts on food and drinks. They will potentially live stream this packaging party, and then Deb Schroeder and Dina will drive all the boxes to Operation Shoebox HQ the first week of December and hand deliver the packages. She’ll be filming that journey as well.

Please, if you’re in the Orlando area or know anyone who is, go help them out. It’s a great thing they’re doing. You can also organize something similar in your area. You can go to OperationShoebox.com to adopt your own troop. Dina hopes to do this quarterly if all goes well this time. If you’d like to sponsor any items or donate funds for shipping, you can reach out to Dina directly at dina-at-marketleverage.com.

Breathe Easier, California Affiliates!

Trish — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:00:31 +0000

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

They Say It’s MY Birthday!

Trish — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:32:14 +0000

Yes, I’m stepping closer and closer to the abyss.

Right now - at this VERY MOMENT OF 12:32pm PST – I just turned 28.

What? You didn’t hear anything? Well, just imagine muffled screams mixed with maniacal laughter and you’ll be close. I go back and forth between looking at some aspects of my life and wondering how I did so little by this age, but then I look at others and remember how hard I’ve worked to get that far so fast.

I’m takin’ the day off, so re-posting a meme type thing that Julie posted in her blog Julie’s Journal last month on her birthday.

Famous people who share my birthday

Tom Brokaw, 1940 – Newscaster, NBC News
Bob Marley, 1945 – Singer
Babe Ruth, 1895 – Baseball Player, New York Yankees
Axl Rose, 1962 – Singer, Guns N’ Roses
Ronald Reagan, 1911 – Actor, 40th US President
Rip Torn, 1933 – Actor
Natalie Cole, 1950 – Singer, Daughter of Nat King Cole

Famous Events that happened on January 3rd:

1865- Robert E Lee appointed Confederate General in Chief
1918- Britain grants women (30 & over) vote
1933- 20th Amendment goes into effect: Pres term begins in Jan not March
1935- “Monopoly” board game goes on sale for 1st time
1974- US House of Reps begins determining grounds for impeachment of Nixon
1981- Beatles McCartney, Starr & Harrison record a tribute to John Lennon (OK, “Brady Brides” also debuted on TV the same day, but the tribute seemed more important)

Famous Capricorns

Fredrico Fellini – Director
Geena Davis – Actress
John Belushi – Actor
Wolfgang Mozart – Composer
Opra Winfrey – TV Host
Charles Lindbergh – Pilot
Carl Berstein – Journalist

Who would you donate $5000 to?

Trish — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:28:57 +0000

I’ve been asking this question of myself for a long while tonight, after reading about the contest that John Chow is having, sponsored by tiny url service XR.com. In his contest, he’s giving the winner $6000 – $5000 will be donated to the charity of the winner’s choice and $1000 will be given to the winner directly to do with as they wish.

XR.com is a great service that allows you to shorten a URL and create a custom extension. For example, if I wanted to shorten the URL of this post I can enter it in at XR.com and create http://xr.com/donate5000. The beauty of signing up for a free account with XR is that you can keep track of all these redirected tiny URLS so you can use them repeatedly. That URL went from 62 characters to 17! It’s perfect when you’re not allowed a lot of characters to work with, like on Twitter.

The $1000 isn’t that easy either. My gut immediately says that I want to buy Guitar Hero World Tour & use the rest of the money for the Bahamian cruise I’m taking with friends in February. But then there are bills that could be paid off. Hand-me-down furniture that could be replaced. But since I’ve already committed to this trip, I believe I’ll use it for the cruise bills. That way I don’t have to put too much on my credit card.

Back to the donation to charity. A few worthy causes come to mind immediately – The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Fund, American Diabetes Association, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Make a Wish, the list goes on. These are charities that I believe in and believe that they could do a lot of good things with $5000. But, maybe I should stick with something closer to home? Make my community a better place, eh? So I did some Googlin’ for local charities, and I wasn’t overly impressed by anything. It also occurred to me that deciding to donate to charity based on a quick read of a mission statement isn’t very responsible.

So I’ve decided to donate the money as a way to give back to a non-profit organization that did so much for me in my youth – The San Francisco Bay Girl Scout Council. Specifically, I will donate the money to a fund that helped me continue my membership for 12 years, go to summer camp in the sierras of California, and attend many other trips and activities that provided vast opportunities for me to learn new things and grow into a confident young woman.

The Opportunity Fund provides financial assistance that helps girls go to camp, covers their Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. membership, and allows them to participate in Girl Scout activities regardless of their families’ financial resources.

I can’t think of a better way to give back to an organization that gave me so much. This donation will give young girls the opportunities to expand their horizons, built their internal strength, and learn how to be better citizens in this global community.

That’s what I’d do… so I’m hoping that I win so I can fulfill that desire to give back.

Who would you donate $5000 to?

Now Published! Affiliate Manager Communication Strategies

Trish — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:33:58 +0000

Issue 2 of FeedFront Magazine is hitting mailboxes as we speak, and will be distributed at Affiliate Summit East next week. I’m happy to say that an article I wrote has been published! Now you can read all about a great strategy to keep in contact with your affiliates as a manager. Check out my article on page 12 of the magazine.

If you can’t wait for your hard copy (as I couldn’t) you can download just my article here. Or, if you actually want to read the whole issue, you can get it here. There are a lot of other great articles this time around, including a look at ABestWeb.com founder Haiko de Poel Jr, coupon code woes, and avoiding NY state tax nexus.

I hope to write another article for FeedFront soon, I just need to rack my brain for some ideas . If you’ll be going to Affiliate Summit East, we’re sure to have a blast. Remember to take lots of pictures – the gang at FeedFront is holding a contest and YOUR picture (or mine!) can win the coveted cover position for the 3rd issue of FeedFront. Not only does the winner get the bragging rights of having their photo on the cover of the magazine, but you also win a full conference pass to Affiliate Summit West 2009 happening in Las Vegas January 11th – 13th.

Ball: Dropped Stress: High

Trish — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:45:43 +0000

I have good news, and I have bad news. Hopefully this will explain why I’ve been asleep at the wheel here.

First, the good!

TrishaLyn.com is now available as a mobile compatible site! Just point your smartphone browser to www.trishalyn.com! Thanks to Shawn Collins & the Geek Cast crew for mentioning this nifty plugin in the last episode and Shawn specifically for sending me the link.
Speaking of Geek Cast, I was mentioned two weeks running. Apparently Scott Jangro and I will be the only audience members for their Geek Cast Live show from Affiliate Summit, and Lisa’s counting on me to help keep the boys in line. Ah, good times will be had I can FEEL it!
Affiliate Summit East 2008 is SOLD OUT and takes place in a little over a week. I’m excited to be hitting Boston again and finally meeting some of these people I’ve been networkin’ with online since the last summit.
Affiliate Classroom Live! is also in about a week, so I really REALLY need to get my act together and formulate some talking points for the roundtable discussion I’ll be leading.

Now, the not so great.

I’m sad to say that after almost 2 years my beloved supervisor is leaving our company. I’m going to miss her tremendously as she’s been a complete pleasure and joy to work for! To be honest, I’m taking the change harder than I should because of….
I’m moving! Just from one city here in the East San Francisco Bay Area to another, nothing major. It’s just that I absolutely detest packing and moving. Luckily my husband acknowledges that I’m a weaking and useless in the actual heavy lifting, so I’m on packing and unpacking duty.
With the change in my supervisor leaving, my job responsibilites are changing as well. I don’t think I can say much right now, but involves some shifting in terms of my focused projects within the marketing department.

Obviously the combined changes of job responsibilities, moving, taking a long weekend vacation to celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary, and taking off for several days to attend Affiliate Summit East are all a bit overwhelming. I hope to be rejuvinated after my vacation and be able to jump back into the swing of things with some excellent coverage of Affiliate Summit!

If you’re giving away stress balls at the summit, save one for me!!

Win Fabulous Prizes!

Trish — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:00:21 +0000

Announcing a momentous occasion – the first ever contest from TrishaLyn.com! In an amazing feat of social media at it’s best, prizes have been graciously donated by a number of sponsors, mostly through Twitter! Now you have a chance to win, and let me tell you, I wish I could keep some of these!

Prizes:

First Prize – Six month subscription to Trackur.
Second Prize – Creative Vado Pocket Video Camera.
Third Prize – Six month 125×125 ad spot on FreshySEO.com.
Random Entry “Door” Prizes – 50 custom printed business cards from PsPrint, a Secrettweet.com Logo T-shirt, Create Your Own Reality: The Ancient Wisdom book by Sharyn Abbott, and a fantastic free sticker selection from StickerGiant.com,

To Enter:

All you have to do to win is write a blog post telling your readers why you read TrishaLyn.com and link to both the main URL TrishaLyn.com and to your favorite post. Simple, right? Well for our first contest we’re going low-key. To submit your entry, post a comment with a link to the post. You must submit your entry via comment – e-mail entries will not be accepted! Winners will be determined by the quality of content – because that’s the name of the game!

And, for the random entry prizes, I’ll put all the names in a hat and draw some for the random entry “door prizes”. This will be fun!

Deadline:

I want to give a decent amount of time for contestants for formulate and post their entries, so the deadline for this bad boy is Sunday, June 15th. Two solid weeks should be enough time to get the post refined and posted.

Prize Details

First prize is a six month subscription to Trackur, a great aggregation service produced by Andy Beal to help monitor your online reputation. Track keywords, brand names, branded terms, etc all from one super easy to use platform. I’m already a Trackur evangelist having blogged about it long ago, and that’s only after a 14 day free trial. The six month subscription donated by creator Andy Beal is valued at $108 for the Standard service and is an invaluable asset in monitoring your brand online.

Second prize is the techie talk of the town – the Creative Vado pocket video camera. A direct competitor to the Flip Camera, the Vado is lighter, smaller, and being talked about as the next best thing in internet video. This prize has been graciously donated by James Seligman of JamesSeligman.net. On his blog, James addresses the challenges of running various forums and his dabbling in affiliate marketing. The winner of this prize (valued at $100) has their choice of Pink or Silver for the camera – and should, of course, send me their first video with it to share!

Third prize was donated by Eric J. Odom from FreshySEO.com. The 125×125 ad spot on FreshySEO.com’s homepage, valued at $100, is located above the fold on the right hand side of the page. FreshySEO.com gets an average of 900 unique visitors per week. The blog covers many topics important for SEO professionals and amateurs alike, with frequent updates and helpful information. The winner will have to provide their own banner and the URL for the ad, which will be live for six months on the website, putting your ad in front of over 21,000 potential leads! So make it alluring!

Random Entry “Door Prize” Details

A sweet logo tee donated by Kevin Smith of SecretTweet.com. Secret Tweet allows anyone to post an anonymous tweets through the @secrettweet Twitter name. The shirt (pictured right) is valued at $25 and is available in an adult size requested.

Everyone can use some help achieving their goals, so author Sharyn Abbott has graciously donated a copy of her book Create Your Own Reality: The Ancient Wisdom (retail value $24.95). Create Your Own Reality is a different kind of self-help book, with tips and resources on how to make all the money you want, lose all the weight you want, and be as happy as you want. The book is 208 pages and includes over $99 worth of free bonuses. More details about the book can be found at www.CreateYours2.com.

For a customized door prize, PsPrint is donating an order of 50 full-color 1 sided business cards. Winner will have a free account created for them at PsPrint.com and an order placed into their account. The winner will be responsible for designing and submitting the cards, either using their own design or one from the Design It! online tool. Help can be provided if necessary. For some generic fun, John Fischer from StickerGiant.com has donated a selection of stickers. Stickers will be randomly selected from their free stickers stash.

Squished Boobs Save Lives

Trish — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:45:52 +0000

Periodically we’re reminded that Affiliate Marketing isn’t entirely about making money. There are good things that can be done with the passive income that we make (or wish we made). Regardless, this is something that affects everyone – even men have mothers, girlfriends, wives, sisters, and daughters.

Missy Ward has started the campaign & many affiliate marketers have joined her. They are raising funds for donation & participation in the Seattle 2008 60-Mile Breast Cancer 3-day walk in September. Along with Missy will be Jen Goode, Tiffany & Irene Spaulding, Anne Fognano & Tammy Carney, Heather Paulson & Jen Campbell, Karen Garcia, Laura Przybek, Angel Djambazov, & Lisa Riolo.

As they say there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and with Missy & Co’s forethought there’s more than one way to donate to the cause. Of course there’s the straight donation, which can be made at 60-MileWalk.com, where the team has already raised $2,312.00 of their $20,000.00 goal as of Friday evening. Your donation is deductible as a charitable contribution as allowed by law. According to the website, donations of $250 or more will be acknowledged in writing.

Or, if you’d rather donate AND support all at once, you can do what I did and make a purchase from their CafePress store. Deck yourself out with all kinds of swag under the sun and not only support the cause but spread the message.

So take time out from your day and spread the word and help the cause. Let’s help them reach their goal. I’ll be with you in spirit ladies! Make this baby VIRAL!

FeedBurner FAIL

Trish — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:26:43 +0000

Something wonky happened a few days ago and I didn’t notice… sorry feed readers!

Here’s the posts you may have missed…