Yesterday, the keynote speaker at Affiliate Summit stated that online advertising sales passed print sales in the last year. That’s an interesting statistic and a strong reason why government is so interested in regulating the industry.
It really has little to do with the corruption that’s in the industry, but the ability to attach to the profits of affiliate marketers and create even more government bureaucracies.
Affiliate marketers are coming into the light of the real world and are facing a frustrating issue that many entrepreneurial businesses have faced over the years. What will be more interesting as marketers discover this, will be their shift in how they think about the political process as practically any politician has little clue what it takes to operate a business.
I have to say that I’ll be extremely surprised if the governor of Illinois refuses to sign the bill directly affecting affiliate marketing. There’s not a tax that Illinois doesn’t like and I don’t see that changing anytime in the future.
Sure, it’s going to take out many affiliate marketers in the state, but the politicians assume that a few affiliate marketers are better than no affiliate marketers. They never see the indirect cause of their actions such as jobs that have yet to be created and future discretionary cash being spent on items produced and sold in states like Illinois. These politicians simply see the numbers on spread sheets of what they can attach to and that’s all they care about.
If you’re serious about keeping taxation out of the affiliate marketing industry, you need to connect with your local and federal politicians. Get involved so that they know who you are. Action is what they are looking for and you can provide influence if you are able to become a go to person on particular subjects.
It’s not that hard to connect with your elected officials, especially if you don’t have a present agenda when first coming to them. They appreciate people who show interest without having an immediate personal agenda. That way, when you do have an agenda, they listen and you get better results.
Find out who represents you and show up at events. Find out who works directly for them and make sure they know who you are.