Sorry for the lack of updates to the blog this week. I have been having a great vacation and some much needed rest and relaxation. We spent 2 days in Disneyland and a day in Laguna Beach so far. Today I am at the office for meetings, while the wife and kids are going to Huntington Beach. Then tomorrow we are heading to the San Diego Zoo.

Taking this time off with my family has been so nice. Once I get back into the office next week, I will be fully recharged and ready to go.

In the meantime, Warren was telling me about a buddy of his that he was partying with in Las Vegas last weekend. As an entrepreneur myself, this is the level I want to be operating on. Screw thinking in six figures or even low seven figures. Instead of bottles having bottles of corona in the fridge and hardwood in my foyer, I want King Louis Cognac and Italian Marble.

Gurbaksh Chahal = Baller

Jeremy Enke goes to DisneyLand on an American Airlines 757.

Gurbaksh Chahal goes to Dubai in a Gulfstream V.

I think he wins the title of “Certified Balller”

Sorry I wasn’t able to get a motivational message posted this morning. We were up early and had to leave the house before I was able to get online. Next week will be back to normal though. After traveling half way across the country with 2 kids and a wife who hates flying, one famous movie quote came to mind today.

Clark W. Griswold:
I think you’re all fu**ed in the head. We’re ten hours from the fu**ing fun park, and you wanna bail out! Well, I’ll tell you something, this is no longer a vacation . . . it’s a quest! It’s a quest for fun! I’m gonna have fun, and you’re gonna have fun! We’re all gonna have so much fu**ing fun we’ll need plastic surgery to remove our Goddamn smiles! You’ll be whistling Zip-a-dee-doo-da out of your a**holes! I’ve got to be crazy! I’m on a pilgrimage to see a moose! Praise Marty Moose!

It all started out when we were in the largest airport in the world (Ohare) standing in the United line in Terminal 1 with a ton of luggage, car seats, and 2 kids.

Karen: How come the Expedia print out says Departure: American Flight 313 and we’re in the United Terminal?

Jeremy: How come you told me we were flying United while pulling into the airport 20 minutes ago?

Karen: Oops….

Needless to say we had to haul luggage, ride a shuttle, and go to the other side of the airport to get into the right terminal. All in all though, I suppose if thats the worst thing that happens on the trip we will look back and laugh about it. I mean hell, it could be worse, I could have owned stock in Bear Sterns this week! Oh Snap. No matter how you cut it though, traveling with young kids through airports and across country is always a challenging experience.

Tomorrow we are heading to Disneyland which everyone is pretty excited about. I have wanted to take my wife and kids here for a long time. So I suppose if I can offer up any motivation today, it is as follows.

7 years ago I was an EMT making less than $30K a year. I had a dream that I wanted to be successful running my own internet business. I failed at first, I beat my head against the wall several times. And believe me, there were plenty of haters that loved seeing me fail.

But I stuck with it and learned from my mistakes. I worked my regular 9-5 job while building an internet business. Now here I am in 2008 sitting in a suite in Anaheim California getting ready to take my kids on their dream vacation. I didn’t come from money and never had anything handed to me. This whole journey I have been on over the last 7 years however is proof that if you work hard and have goals, anything is possible.

If your office doesn’t have a dry erase white board, I strongly suggest you get one. This is the easiest way to keep your most important goals and initiatives right in front of you all day. Without my white board I would be lost. (that and the BetUs.com bikini calendar hanging next to it) I constantly add new tasks and X out completed ones there.

For me, staying organized and knowing what the important goals of the day are revolve around this board. Plus it’s so much easier and “in front of you” than putting your tasks in outlook. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but that is my tip of the day, and what works for me.

Anyhow, in our industry, lately affiliate managers have really taken a beating. I think this sucks because most of the AM’s are great people and several are friends of mine. For the record, this is not about one or two rooms……. it’s about all the people that service us on a daily basis.

Throughout the years I have seen a lot of affiliates that want to be affiliate managers. But let me tell you, it’s not the best job in the world. Our A.M.’s in the industry have to deal with tons of bullshit on a daily basis. Imagine getting 5 emails every day from affiliates promising 100’s of players if they can just host (1) $200 freeroll. Or having to deal with the multiple CPA scammers complaining about their payments. Most affiliate managers have to deal with all this type of stuff on a daily basis.

Yet the good ones in our industry have still found a way to service us and provide us with everything we need. We really do have a nice handful of affiliate managers that still take great care of us. I want to do something special for these guys.

I am in a unique position that I can actually do something like this, so I am going to take advantage of it. I am going to declare a certain day (not yet decided) as “Affiliate Manager Appreciation Day”. I will allocate $1000 to this day to somehow show affiliate managers our appreciation for them. Maybe we have freeroll just for AM’s with money added, or perhaps we award an A.M. a spa package and VIP day at spring break. I am not sure yet the best way to do this yet. This is where I need you guy’s help.

It’s a great idea, and there should be a day that we all email our top A.M.’s and tell them what a great job they are doing. Being an affiliate manager can be a thankless job at times.

So give me some suggesstions on what we should do as a promotion with a $1000 budget, if I pick your idea I will ship you $100. It’s easy money, plus our great AM’s in the industry deserve some recognition.

Everyone knows that winter in Chicago has been terrible this year. It’s been bitter cold, and there has been more snow this season than ever before. It really has been quite miserable. So I made a last minute executive decision.

Next week I have to travel to California for meetings at the Affiliate Programs offices. I decided to do the Clark Griswold thing and book flights for the entire family and spend a week in Southern California. I told my wife that we are all going whether she likes it or not. Good news though, she was thrilled about the idea. Actually I think I may have scored a few points in the 2008 Husband of The Year race.

I got us a suite in Anaheim next door to Disneyland. I have been working a lot of hours lately, so this will be a nice break. The plans are to spend a couple days at Disney, then maybe a day at the beach. We are also going to hit the San Diego Zoo on that Saturday with GPowell and his wife Tandra. I’ll be at the office a couple times during the week, but my plans are to work in the mornings and evenings while in Cali.

My kids are super excited, and I think my wife is thrilled to be able to get away as well. Although I do have to laugh at myself for a second. When I booked the flights I was not paying attention and noticed the flights back on Sunday were a better deal than Saturday or Monday…..sweet. After I booked everything I realized we are flying back on Easter Sunday. Oooops!

Anyhow, if anybody wants to do some guest posts here on this blog while I am in California, you are more than welcome to. You can write about anything you want. If you read this blog regularly, then you know pretty much anything goes. Your post can have anything to do with business, humor, motivation, affiliate stuff, whatever. Have fun.

We don’t leave until this coming Monday, but I figured I would give the heads up now for the procrastinators who would do a post but need a 1 week advanced notice. Just email your posts over to my jeremy AT pap address.