Hi ,

Heads up! Biz Template Babe planner and calendar templates are available now before they go into the membership program only. (That's an aff link.)

For ten years or more after I started The Confident Marketer clients and people who read my e-mails, and people on social, too, would ask me, "Sue, what do you use for XXXX?" Usually, I would answer with something I myself was using (or had used in the past). Sometimes I would research and ask around, and then get back to the person who asked.

I finally got smart and realized that these recommendations could be a small source of income for me. And that's when I started getting interested in affiliate marketing. Over the years I've learned a lot of tricks of the trade.

For instance, there are some people who won't pay you the affiliate fee they owe you unless you have $100 or more due to you. That's not a good thing because that tells me they are gunning for a big volume in sales, and they have a habit of just keeping the affiliate commissions due to a small fry like me. So here's the deal - no matter what kind of business venture or deal you get into, watch your back.

• Affiliate commissions can be nice, but many of the ones I promote give me less than ten bucks due to their pricing. So I'd have to make sure my readers would buy at least 10 of them, or I would never even get the money due me. So that's a hard no, I won't promote.
• Some companies, I learned the hard way, won't pay commissions until you go look up what they owe you and then present them with an invoice for that amount! That's crazy to me, but that's the deal. I use one product every single day, but their affiliate terms are $250 minimum payout, 90 day wait, and you have to present an invoice. No way. I'm too busy for all that mess and I don't trust it, either.

It's our job to watch our back in business. Don't do a deal without some written understanding, even if it's just a follow-up email. Do business with people you know and trust. If something sounds too good to be true it probably is! Put on your CEO hat and be businesslike. Just be smart and on top of your business practices and where your money comes from, right?

Lately I have been getting questions about "where do I buy my domain names." Well, I use Namecheap (that's an affiliate link) and I have for years. They have good customer service and they don't screw you on their prices, either. (You know that is a totally fine business term, right? :-)

I also get questions lately about what hosting service I use. Hands down, after several changes over the years, I use Name Hero (not associated with Namecheap.) I run multiple sites on Name Hero hosting and believe me when I say we have had no problems. Like zero. Ever. My web team member recommended Name Hero after we had problems with web security a time or two back and we switched and have never looked back. I also like that usually at the end of the calendar year they run a special for a few days - you can pre-pay a year of hosting and get a match from them for additional months. By doing this I have cut my web hosting fees by half.

When you do deals, whether it's for your business backend or a collaboration with someone, make sure to watch your back. By that I mean, know what you are signing on for. That's smart, CEO-style business.

To your sweet success,

Sue Painter