Ongoing Optimism

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity.
The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
– Winston Churchill

Not long ago, the State of California and its legislators figured to get a few more dollars from business by taxing goods, products and any items sold on the Internet that had a connection to California.  It didn’t hit me until I got an email from Amazon about my Amazon Associates account facing potential closure due to the fact that I live in the Golden State.  I was just catching my breath again when I received another email that said that it was a done deal.  The night before I had been an Amazon Associate with MP3 samples teasing reading on my blog and magazine images from Relevant and Outreach on the same hone page, linking my blog readers to an Amazon storefront- astore as they call them for their own viewing. 

No more, though.  That is over.  If I have not gotten over that, imagine my Christian dismay when my other affiliate program Christian Book shot me a casual email that said it was cutting ties with its California-based affiliates.  That just added to the barrage of additional junk that gets piled on in the midst of a budget crisis.

I was seeking out just how I planned to get some things done and fought with myself to see things clearly and optimistically.  I had been kicked here and as I turned the other cheek I was gracefully given another swift kick right there, too.  I was fed up as a freelancer who also gets a few coins here and there on my blogs and articles when people click on or through the affiliate ads for Amazon and Christian Book.  Luckily, I hadn’t heard from Google AdSense acting irrationally, too.

I assessed my situation.  Affiliate revenue did not even account for one-third of my total business revenue or a high percentage of my online income either.  My mainstay is the purchase of articles, poems and fillers that I write as a freelancer online.  I get a pretty good amount from Helium and Textbroker.  I am starting to get some real traffic on HubPages, too. 

What I am saying is that I don’t make a lot of fuss over what didn’t make a big difference in the bottom line or in any major category of life such as salvation, family and sanity.  Amazon only dropped me as an affiliate or “associate.” I am still listed as an author on the site.  I am stilled adding books and tweets on the site, too.  In fact, my publishing site is still working with me as I struggle to complete another book of poetry and a few sets of materials on Bible study and devotion.

I just added a new video to my author profile on Amazon so go and check it out.