Ethics, Paid Reviews and Affiliate Programs
I have a problem. A moral dilemma sits gently on my shoulder nagging at me while I blithely pretend that it’s not whispering in my ear at all.
You see, I was asked to write a paid review – and I don’t feel good about it at all. The damned issue has been plaguing me for over two weeks now.
The Good Reviews
Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with writing paid reviews. Let’s get that clear from the start. Many writers and other people do earn a living through objective reviews because they take the time to examine the product or service. Compensation for that time is fair.
Keep in mind that these reviewers generally offer objective information and their opinion. They have no inherent bias. They get the product, they try the service and they write down what they think. Makes perfect sense.
I’ve used these reviews myself – for laptops, for speakers, for software, for applications. If a camera has a common glitch, I want to know that. If a laptop seems to have a power supply issue but the rest of it is worth the money, I want to know that too. I’ve made plenty of purchase decisions based on reviews.
Money is Tempting
While I do use reviews frequently to make informed decisions, I’ve also had to wade through junk reviews and a lot of crap to get the information I need. I’ve had to have the savvy to spot a non-objective review or a push to purchase because of a behind-the-scenes money-earning arrangement.
Plenty of reviews have the single purpose of padding someone’s pocket or making someone look good. This, I take issue with. These reviews aren’t objective. They’re meant to lure people into spending – it doesn’t matter how. Ethics don’t count.
Add the increasingly common affiliate programs associated with scam reviews, and the situation becomes a nice double-shot of the cash love. I can see how it would be hard to say no to temptation.
Are Affiliate Programs Bad?
Does this mean that affiliate programs linked to reviews are a bad thing? No. No, not at all.
The principle is a sound one – promote a product or service and be compensated by the person for your time and effort. The purchaser doesn’t pay more for what he or she buys after clicking an affiliate link. The price is the same whether it goes through an affiliate program or not. The buyer doesn’t pay for the arrangement in any way.
That is, if the product or service is worthy of money.
Too many people out there don’t care. They slap up biased reviews and toss in their affiliate link. The review practically glows with praise, and the “buy me!” flashes in red neon. The reviewer doesn’t give a damn who gets scammed, for how much or what happens after the money is in their account.
The Effects of Biased Reviews
If you’ve been asked to review a product or you’re about to dip into affiliate marketing, think hard about what you are going to do and how you want to do it:
- If you promote a product or service that isn’t good and someone buys it, they’re going to be very disappointed. They’ll remember you – and not in a good way. You just lost credibility.
- If you write a review that smacks of “buy me!” most people can spot it a mile away – and they won’t buy. Oh, yeah, and you lose credibility.
- If you continually offer glowing reviews but never trash anything, people start to connect the dots. And yes, you’ll lose credibility.
Trust and credibility are more important than a fast buck. Am I saying to never accept a paid review or use affiliate programs? Not at all.
But be careful. You’re dealing with real people, their money and their feelings. Treat them with respect. Try the product. Test it. Believe in it. Know the good stuff. Know the weaknesses. Then write about it.
The dilemma I mentioned at the beginning of this post? I was offered money to review a product that I’m skeptical about. It doesn’t seem to offer substantial value for its highly inflated price that comes with a handsome affiliate program.
My opinion, certainly. What bothers me is that I saw a slew of glowing reviews suddenly begin popping up around the Internet. And only one offers an objective view.
To that person, I salute you. Well done. I wish there were more people like you in the world.
42 Responses to “Ethics, Paid Reviews and Affiliate Programs”
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I think it’s short sightedness to do a review of something, and say it’s better than it is. It may be good for the short term, you get your percentage and all… But as you say, your credibility begins to sway, and then what are you left with?
Bamboo Forest’s last blog post..Be Embarrassed about Nothing
What have you decided? Is that not an important part of this post?
Nicole Price’s last blog post..Hair Care Products: Discounts and Deals
Hi James – I’ve never done paid reviews and I would only do one if I was able to be objective. Now and again, I’ll review products or services if I think they’re good and they’d be of benefit to readers and I will sometimes include affiliate links – but not all of the time.
Like you – I don’t believe affiliate programs ruin the internet but those phony reviews by people who would sell anything just to make a bit of cash does spoil things. And you find them for most Make Money online products.
A while ago, I wrote a less than flattering review of one of those products and the author blocked me from their site.
Cath Lawson’s last blog post..No More Bold Advice
Ah, reviews …
The best reviews are the ones that describe the good and the bad about the product. A “real” review will earn you more trust in the long run … and more affiliate sales for other products as well.
Honesty is everything.
Dave Navarro’s last blog post..Fighting Work-Life Balance Stress: Attack Of The 50-Ft. Goals
I’m also on the good review side. If a reviewer don’t mention any weak points at all I become skeptical. But don’t become so rambomatic as Zero Punctuation http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/ (Ok, the videos are funny, but I would never use them to buy a game.)
When I was doing Professional Organizing full time I was asked to do a series of organizing your car segments for a car company – paid. Since I saw it as a way up the ladder on expertness, I said yes, then hated the experience feeling like I was a shill because I had to mention the vehicles (of course) when I was talking about the organizing tips.
I decided that I would never do that again.
One of the reasons I have never monetized (yet) my blog is that I want to feel comfortable with the ads and since I’m not a consumerist and buy very little, I don’t feel comfortable asking others to buy solely to help me make money.
It’s one of the things I have to figure out when I redesign the blog with its new direction (btw, lots of work done on that yesterday – woo hoo!).
Cheers,
Alex
Alex Fayle’s last blog post..Get a Free eWorkshop
@ Alex – Hey! Good to see you here! Welcome, welcome… You go click on Better Design>Drive-By Shooting Sundays in our navigation. There’s plenty in there for you to read and learn from to have a really solid design going on.
I hear you on moving up the ladder. Had to do that a few times in the corporate world, and the dirty feeling sucks.
@ Brett Legree (and everyone else) – go check out Alex’s terrible design but very good content – this is right up your alley. The Someday Syndrome? Someday, I’ll play more guitar… someday, I’ll skate twice a week for an hour… someday, I’ll finish my novel…
@ Martin and Dave – Something ALWAYS had something wrong, downsides and cons. Even if it’s “I tried to break it and couldn’t.”
@ Nicole – I told the individual that we usually don’t do paid reviews but that I would give him my honest, objective opinion and that I’d send it to him via email before posting it anywhere. He said that he believed objective reviews were the best and wanted to compensate me for my time to test the product.
So the result is that I get to be myself and honest, and I don’t lose two hours worth of income to tell this guy if his product is crap or not. He gets the respect of hearing it in private first and choosing to request that I post it publicly or not.
If I do post it publicly, I will indicate that it is a paid review and that there is an affiliate link in the text.
I think all that put together makes the situation step over onto the side of “this is okay”. Your thoughts?
@ Cath – Hoo, really? You got booted? I’ve written plenty of “this is crap” posts. I think that people believe you more when you DO say something is good if it’s clear that you’re not afraid to call out the ugly.
@ Bamboo – I guess it’s the difference between where your personal values lie. Many people do value money a great deal, and that’s okay. I get that. Others value integrity. But you’re very right – where would your client base be if you just kept screwing people for money?
(hm. a hotel?)
James,
Ethics get lost here in Anonymousville. Maybe it’s the times, but I think its really the medium. Can’t see who you’re screwing, then a buck’s a buck, right? ICK.
I don’t come here for reviews, but I can’t see anything wrong with one done in the way you’ve laid it out to the person.
Reviews where your affiliation isn’t clear are shady at best, and they are all over the web, to the point where I usually skip reading the article on a day when there’s a review at a blog I like (and might have here, if it weren’t for this article, clever man).
Another hot topic. Zoom go the comments!
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..How You Can Be Remarkable: Write Your Own Story
I think an interesting review would be a review of the reviews. Make light of the practices in the reviews of a given product or service that do or don’t objectively report the truth or omit certain facts that are important and should be counted. I wouldn’t look for making any new friends this way though.
James, just Imagine someone who is searching for this product.
the two possibilities:
a) you did not write a review. So the searcher finds only all the scam reviews of the stuff, telling him ‘buy buy buy’ (which will turn him off if he is not stupid).
b) you did write an objective review, the searcher will find your review among those others, and will have better information about the stuff.
See, just a few month ago I was searching the internet for information about a certain high priced product, and all I did find was glowing reviews, but all read like ‘he did not really test it, he just wrote was the product page said’. Still the product seemed good, so I was nearly ready to spend a lot of cash on it.
Among all those, I found a single review hidden somewhere, from someone who really tested this thing, and he wrote “all the manufacturer claims is true, but there is this one flaw about the product”, describing the flaw.
And I was really really grateful for this one objective review, since it saved me about 600 wasted bucks!
So, do you rather keep silent, so people will not be warned, or do you want to add some truth to the pile that is called internet?
just my 2 cent,
Sam
@ Sam – Ahhh, now that’s a very, very good point. That’s often my frustration searching for reviews – most aren’t objective and getting the truth from people is like pulling teeth, it seems.
This is one reason why I did choose to accept to review the product, based on the client’s willingness for objectivity.
I think that your solution is a good one. The product owner gets an objective opinion privately and then decides whether it should be published.
I’ve done paid reviews, but only when I felt good about the product AND I always disclose that what I am writing is a paid review.
To me, disclosure is very important. (You’d be surprised how many companies get VERY upset when you let them know that you will be disclosing the fact that it is a paid review.)
I’ve turned a lot of requests for paid reviews down, but I don’t have a problem reviewing a product or service that I have tried for pay. Sometimes I’ve even been impressed enough to post an unpaid review of something that I like.
Laura Spencer’s last blog post..FAQ: Do You Accept Rush Jobs?
I don’t see anything wrong with doing paid reviews, as long as it’s clear that I will say what I think. I turn down more products than I accept, and I’ve only done two or three paid reviews on my blog since it’s been running, because I only review products that I think might be useful to my readers. I also use the products before reviewing them, otherwise what’s the point?
I think your solution of being paid for your time and having the product owner decide on whether to use the review or not is a good one which allows a principled approach to paid reviewing.
Sharon Hurley Hall’s last blog post..When Last Did You Pay Yourself?
I think we probably got hit up by the same guy.
I found the product… pretty basic and not especially useful. I told the guy I’d do a review, but not a paid one. He encouraged an honest and unbiased review, but I think he’d have been extremely disappointed if I’d done it.
Strangely enough, I’d been planning a post today reviewing several products. It reall just sort of dovetailed with what you’ve written here.
I appreciate the high degree of integrity you boys bring to the niche. There are too many people recommending way too many shit products.
For the record, I don’t mind paid reviews; they have their place. I just personally don’t do them, at least not on The Writing Journey.
Bob Younce at the Writing Journey’s last blog post..Tools of the Trade
I concur. I search for reviews on just about everything before I make a purchase and am frequently surprised at how difficult it is to find a review that isn’t just an affiliate sales pitch for the product or a paid review. Very frustrating! I write reviews myself every now and then but I always try my best to offer an unbiased, truthful opinion.
Hope Wilbanks’s last blog post..Write In Bursts
Hi James,
Wow, with all these moral questions you keep wrestling with and posting about, how do you sleep at night?
Two points. First, let’s pretend in this case that your review would be an endorsement, since essentially that’s what the client is looking for. You can take the Bill Cosby approach and only endorse the products you believe in. You still get paid, but you also keep credibility because you are only advertising a product or service you would actually use.
However, as you said at the end of your post, you didn’t really like the product to start with. But if you did, I think you would have a much easier time accepting the project. (I guess I can’t speak for you — I know I would have an easier time though…)
Second, there was recently a similar situation floating around the blogosphere this past spring. One writer had seemingly approached other bloggers to promote a service through their blog posts, and many of which did. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this per se, but I did feel a vague sense of uneasiness when I read the same message over and over at different blogs. Not to mention the fact that it smacked of “Man Behind the Curtain” syndrome. They weren’t really direct endorsements either, just sort of a “check out what’s going on over here…” kind of thing.
One or two bloggers disclosed the fact that it was an advertisement of sorts, which I thought was good. However it was nothing I would have been comfortable doing, either as the asker or the askee.
Full disclosure: I was never approached, and perhaps would have considered the possibility — especially given the stature of this person — had I been given the chance. But with 20/20 hindsight, I’m glad I wasn’t part of it. Again, I don’t condemn it or think it was anything “wrong”, it just would not have been for me.
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post..Do Blogs Work?
I work in sales at my “9-5″ job, so I can usually smell a sales pitch a mile away. And as soon as I know that someone’s trying to sell me something, I tune out completely. They’re not here to help – they want a commission check.
I experience this with some of my co-workers. They only care about sales and will lie to the customer in order to get the commission. That drives me crazy! I hate that defeated look on the customer’s face — they look like they’ve been bullied into a purchase that they’re not happy with. They’ve purchased out of desperation.
I know that if I ever do a paid review, it’s going to be a helpful one. I don’t want that same desperate customer to get bullied by internet sales pitches — it’s just…not right.
r.l.david02 – TKD Happiness’s last blog post..Why can’t I gain belt rank? (part 2)
One of my favorite sayings comes to mind for this:
The picture for this post says it all.
Michael Martine’s last blog post..How to Add Video to a WordPress Blog Post the Easy Way
You guys are on fire lately with your posts! I just feel so compelled to throw my two cents in yet again…
I read. A lot. And I’ve started getting books from authors and publishers for free in exchange for reviewing them on my blog. I think it’s pretty similar to your situation, only I’m getting goods as opposed to cash.
I’ve seen a lot of bloggers who never give books a bad review (or the bad reviews are sooo few and far between that I’m skeptical that they’re reading that many awesome books) and I question their honesty. I told myself after doing a review that was less than honest that I would be honest in the future, no matter what.
Apparently, honesty comes with a price. And that price is usually the defensiveness of the author.
After I posted the review where I detailed why I didn’t like the book but ended with the caveat that I also didn’t like another wildly popular book so readers should take my opinion with a grain of salt, the author left a very defensive comment that I found very putting off. Unfortunately, I think I’ll be one of the few bloggers who will be willing to give bad reviews to books that have been given to me by authors or publishers, but at least I can sleep at night knowing that I stayed true to myself.
I’m just glad I’m not the only blogger who has to deal with being in the minority as far as honesty about a product.
I KNEW I liked you guys for some reason.
trish’s last blog post..Doomsday – Booking Through Thursday
@Trish – interesting point. What occurred to me is that some people might just not review a particular book rather than give a “bad” review.
A month or two ago, I was going to review a TV commercial that I thought was particularly badly done from a marketing standpoint. I got halfway through the “review” and thought: “Why am I publishing something negative about these people?” Yes, you can learn a lot from what people have done badly before, but I think you can learn more by studying what people have done right.
My point is, there may be people who give good reviews only because they are following the adage “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” It sounds like this is much different in your case, and indeed book reviewers in general. And I don’t know which reviewers you are referring to, so of course you know better than I in that department. But I can see myself profiling or “reviewing” a service that I like (in fact I’ve done that on my own blog) rather than tearing down something else.
(Of course, coincidentally, my current blog post is the one exception to the rule… go figure.)
It sucks though that you have to put up with defensiveness. I must say, as a writer myself, I can understand how an author would be quick to be defensive. Writers have a fragile ego as it is: anything less than “that’s absolutely great” nurtures suspicions and self-doubt. But on the other hand, why do you have to deal with his or her insecurities?
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post..The Writing Tip I Learned from Paris Hilton (True Story)
I think there is good and bad in everything. Nothing can be 100% good all the time. Nothing can be 100% bad all the time. Even manure is a good thing.
I think that a review that puts the good AND the bad forward is a well-written one. It’s objective. It lets people choose. Maybe pink isn’t good for me, but maybe Harry likes pink just fine. It informs and treats people with respect and intelligence. It warns people of what to expect.
And if people have false expectations because of a biased review, they won’t refer, recommend or buy twice. If they have an informed expectation that INCLUDES the bad, they will be more forgiving, find workarounds, suggest improvements AND be satisfied with the purchase they made DESPITE some cons.
Unless the product really is manure…
@ Graham – I think you have a couple of good points. I’d never thought about people not doing reviews if they didn’t like the book. That’s something I’ll have to think about for myself. I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me before.
And I totally understand about writers’ egos…I’ve written a couple of short stories for fun and I showed one to my (now) husband and even the very teeny tiny criticisms were hard to take. It’s like criticizing someone’s child.
This is for everyone: isn’t the old adage that ANY publicity is GOOD publicity? I can’t imagine that Oprah inviting James Frey back on her show to rip him a new one about his book, A Million Little Pieces, hindered any sales. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if sales went up again after that. Comments?
trish’s last blog post..Doomsday – Booking Through Thursday
@Trish – Oh fer sure his book sales went up.
I didn’t see that show (don’t watch too much Oprah, to tell you the truth) but from what I heard about it, the reason Oprah brough him back on was for her to regain some of her own credibility. And surely he knew that would be the case, so I would think he made the conscious decision to face the fire, probably knowing it would sell more books.
That being said, it is not quite the same as a bad review. You want the New York Times to give you a good review — otherwise you will certainly lose sales. But paradoxically, getting publically criticized by a talk show host seems to have the opposite effect.
I don’t understand it all. But that’s why the world needs publicists I guess…
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post..The Writing Tip I Learned from Paris Hilton (True Story)
This has something that has been on my mind a lot recently. Only in the last month have I added ads to my blog as I change its focus, but that alone isn’t much to the amount of money possible from affiliate / review types of deals. However, that leads me to believe there may be trust issues with readers and thats the last thing I want to create.
I may do something similar to CopyBlogger and set-up a side course or I may offer private consulting of sorts.
Glen Allsopp’s last blog post..Organise your Internet Business for Maximum Efficiency
I have two affiliate banners on my site, for two products that I have used for many years and that I love (in fact, I credit both of them for having improved my life). I also have amazon links and although I haven’t read every single book that I link to on Amazon (I have read a surprising number of them), I research the books and the reviews that they’ve received carefully before adding it to my site.
I’d feel horrible knowing I gave a bad product a good review because I was paid, and that people bought it based on my review. At the end of the day you have to provide value in everything that you do, and if you don’t, it will eventually come back and haunt you.
Marelisa’s last blog post..Create a Long List of Ways for You to Feel Good
Morning,
You know, it never even bounced into my mind to do paid reviews. If I like something, I write about it. I’m thrilled to use an affiliate link of course when available, but reviews, to me….are just reviews.
Gosh that has to be one of the most profound sentences I’ve written this year. Chalk it up to my usual 2:30am wakeup time.
The thing about reviews, paid or otherwise, is everyone puts value on different aspects. For example, some people think that paying $97 for 50 pages of content is ridiculous, but embed those 50 pages in a 200 page ebook, and voila – all of a sudden satisfaction is obtained. However, to folks who expect ‘quantity’ to define ‘quality – a 10 page product, even if it delivers on the promise, will still be viewed as unsatisfactory.
Another challenge regarding reviews is the technical savvyness (sp) of the customer. A reviewer might swoon over a membership site creator…but if a newbie individual buys on that recommendation, unhappiness will probably abound (because the technical skills are not possessed by said newbie).
I’ve found forums to be useful when searching out product reactions; generally affiliate links are NOT used there so you have a better chance of more accurate opinions.
Data points,
Barbara
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach’s last blog post..The #1 tip you NEED for newsletter and autoresponder success
Not having had to think much about this yet it is nice to read this and hear all the opinions. I don’t mind reviews on a site that I read if I trust the writer.
James, I think you summed up everything perfectly with trust and credibilty being the main factors in whether I am going to even bother caring one way or another. But that goes for everything on a person’s site, not just ads.
Wendi Kelly’s last blog post..What is a Warrior
Journalists have traditionally addressed this problem by refusing to write promotional copy. That job goes to the “flacks” in PR and marketing departments. The journalist is also protected from indirect influences from his or her own publication’s ad sales department. These boundaries can blur depending on the situation, but the culture is strong enough to protect against most abuses.
Blogging of course is a different animal. There is no firewall between the writer and ad sales. But maybe over time some industry standards will develop that bloggers can opt into. Something along the lines of a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for bloggers who review products and run affiliate programs.
Those who meet the standards would be easily identifiable by blog readers. Then, if someone does accept payment for a review, people can still feel confident about that blogger as a trusted source of information.
Bill K.’s last blog post..Blogging about blogging blogs and the blogs that blog about them
James, I would like to shake your hands and say, “Good Show!”, as the Brits would say.
Nicole Price’s last blog post..Hair Care Products: Discounts and Deals
Trish, there is one significant fact that needs to be kept in mind. Your own reputation. If a lot of your readers go by what your review, and spend money to buy books, surely, you are expected to provide an honest opinion. Why be defensive about it? If anything, I would expect exactly the opposite!
Nicole Price’s last blog post..Hair Care Products: Discounts and Deals
Great recommendations are important. They allow you to provide value to your readers and enable them to do what they do even better.
Assuming you already have your reader’s best interests in mind, I think the real question is what are your objectives? For example, if you’re running a business, then providing excellent recommendations that can help your readers is a great way to provide value to them and keep your business running at the same time.
Of course not everyone has goal that in mind. Some people simply enjoy discussing and sharing their ideas with a great community. In that case, I can understand how doing reviews might make some people feel.
In the end, it all depends on what you feel comfortable with.
This reminds me of all those shows on the Food Network where people like Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri take a bite, put on a fakey smile, and tell the camera how delicious it is. If you say “Yumm-o!” every time you taste something, I’m gonna start getting suspicious.
Just once I want to see Alton brown bite into something, spit it out, and exclaim, “That tastes like sh*t!”
lornadoone’s last blog post..Will Working on Holidays Tear the Berry-Brewer Team Apart?
While promoting the product or writing about the reviews the writer must be aware of the ethical and moral issues. Firstly, he himself must be aware about the product and must believe in that. Money is not everything. Responsibility, a social one is the matter of prime importance.
Jane’s last blog post..Making Money With Article Writing
As long as YOU are objective, I don’t see an ethical problem. Image is another thing entirely. If you don’t want to be associated with the product, stay away.
John Hewitt’s last blog post..A Career in Technical Writing: Workaround
As Sam said, reviews are so valuable when you are trying to weigh up a hefty purchase. There are so many courses and information products out there and it is sometimes easy to get sucked into the “your business will fail unless you buy this product.”
So I appreciate when respected writers / blogs (like the Pen Men) review these things and get some balanced views out there.
When you have built such a trust with your readers though, it can weigh heavily. When I see ‘sales pitch’ posts it makes me think twice about the writer and I always go looking elsewhere to see what others are saying. Maybe the product really is fantastic.
Personally if I had a group of trusting and loyal readers and I steered them into spending big on something I didn’t believe in so I could make some dollars, well I can’t imagine feeling anything but bad. And really aren’t you shooting yourself in the foot in the longer term?
Ok James, I really liked this post. This is something that has plagued me for a long time and I couldn’t agree with you more. You put your face, your brand, and your company’s credibility on the line when making reviews and sponsoring a program or product through affiliate links.
I’ve finally added an affiliate link to my blog which can start earning me enough money to buy a Starbucks once every few months (if that LOL).
I wanted to choose how to monetize my blog carefully as I didn’t want to just slap up any old thing to start generating some money. I wanted it to be something I know would provide value to my readers.
So I joined Amazon.com’s affiliate network and display a few books I have read and give my stamp of approval on. I’m thinking of also adding a review page where I explain in detail what I liked and disliked about the books.
Hey now that I think about it, I suppose that’s what you guys do! But I’ll still be a jerk and tell everyone I thought of it first
On another note and just thinking in an opposite direction, maybe for those people who write bad reviews (i.e. good reviews for bad products) – maybe they continue to write reviews and get paid because word gets out in the community that “That person there will write you a good review. Just pay him.”
John Hoff – eVentureBiz’s last blog post..50+ WordPress Plugins & Hacks Candy Store
@ James (and everyone else) – Yes, I’m working hard on the new design. Thanks for the pointer for the tips. I’ll take a look at it tomorrow afternoon.
I hope to reveal the new design in a few weeks (with a slightly new direction but with the same theme of getting rid of the Somedays in your life).
Thanks for the link love James!
Alex Fayle’s last blog post..Summer Hours
My wife and I got tired of all the Internet scammers stealing money from us and others. We knew that a fraction of the Internet home business opportunities were really legitimate, but we just didn’t know which ones. So we started talking to people and reviewing a lot (a whole lot) of business systems on the internet. We had many late nights up on the computer. Hard work paid off and we find a dozen or so that seem to work very well with everyday people. So we made a web career blog. Needless to say my wife and I now work from home full time.