As a follow up to my blog post yesterday, this was sent to me from one of the regular readers.  I think it’s a pretty good analogy of the socialistic approach that is being proposed by Barack Obama.  For the record I am not voting for Mcain either.  I don’t really like either candidate, maybe I’ll vote Libertarian or for Ron Paul just to make a point.

Who knows though, perhaps I will end up voting for Obama.  Regardless, it will be nice when this election is over so whoever gets elected can start being accountable for their promises and actually try to fix this country.

Catching Wild Pigs

A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, “Do you know how to catch wild pigs?”

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.

When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.

Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he see’s happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs,  - not to mention the bailout of greedy Wall Street Brokerages etc.

While we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time , one should always remember:  there is no such thing as a free lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.”

Thomas Jefferson

Until a few years ago I used to follow politics very closely, and I always had a clear vision on who I was going to vote for.  This year however I guess you could pool me into that group of people you always hear about, “undecided voters”.

Over the past few years I have become more and more disgusted with our government.  If ANY publicly traded company ran their business and managed their shareholders money the way the U.S. government manages ours, every executive would be in jail, and that is a fact.

So here is my dilemma.  I do feel John Mcain would do exponentially better protecting our country and managing our foreign affairs.  Yet, at the same time I think the war in Iraq is bullshit and we need to break out of there.  Saddam is gone, they have a $80 Billion dollar surplus, and our soldiers keep dying for nothing.  I am a big fan of Obama when he says that we are not making progress in Iraq, and that we need to get out.  Likewise I agree with the fact that we need change.

Here is what is really holding me back from casting my vote for Barack Obama though.  His idea of “redistribution of wealth” is the most idiotic and socialistic principal in the world.  All the other issues I can get past, but this one is just stupid.

Sure, it makes sense if you make $25K a year.  But for people that have busted their asses for years and worked their way up to EARN a high income deserve to keep their income.  As I understand it, with the Obama plan 40% of U.S. citizens will not even pay income taxes, in fact they will be getting checks back!  Where is all that free money going to come from?  Simple, directly from the top EARNERS.  No offense, but if someone who makes 10 times less than me wants to get on an even playing field with me, I have a suggesstion.

Go to college and take out thousands in student loans like I did.  Then work in low paying jobs while being an entrepreneur and working your way up like I did.  Increase your income on your own merits, not by taking it directly from the higher earning Americans.

I’m sure this makes me sound greedy, but I’m not.  I have no problem donating to underprivileged people or charities like the Make A Wish Foundation.  But I do have a real problem with giving even more of my hard earned money to a corrupt organization like the U.S. Government to distribute at will.  In other words, I am also not a big fan of funding $500K AIG parties and Bank Executives 7 figure bonuses.

At the end of the day I am an entrepreneur and I don’t plan my business decisions around what tax rate the governement decides to stick me for each year. But the whole principal of the U.S. government controlling my income by redistributing my wealth disgusts me.

Ideally I would be voting for Ron Paul, and I still may.  But I also realize this is a wasted vote.  So I end this with the question, who do I vote for?  Feel free to sell me on why I should vote for either of these idiots, or why redistribution of wealth is such a great principal.  Oh, enjoy the pic as well.

As many of you know, I absolutely love doing radio shows.  To me, radio is much more exciting than writing content all day, although lately I seem to be doing a lot of that as well.  Since leaving PAP, many affiliates have contacted me and expressed how disappointed they were that I would no longer be doing Poker Affiliate Radio.

To be honest this is one of things I knew I would miss the most when I left PAP.  I told you all that I was not going to disappear, and I meant it.  Over the last few weeks while I’ve been working on new projects, I was approached by my long time friend in the industry Brandon Berndt about doing a new show together.  It took me about 30 seconds to say,” that’s awesome let’s do it.”  I realize PAP is continuing on with their radio show on Tuesdays and I will be a regular listener and fan!  I encourage you all to continue listening to PAP Radio as well.  With Randy as the host, there will be some GREAT knowledge there.

Our show however is going to be called Affiliate Life Radio.  Of course we will discuss all the various topics and strategy related to poker affiliate marketing, but we will also be adding the twist of discussing the overall affiliate lifestyle.  Let’s face it, none of our buddies actually live or work the way we affiliates do!  Both Brandon and I are extremely excited about this new show.  I believe internet radio is truly still in its infancy and I can’t wait to build and grow this new brand.

Being independent once again in the poker affiliate industry will allow myself and Brandon to cover a wide variety of topics with an unbiased approach.  And if you know Brandon and I, then you can probably imagine how much fun we are going to have actually doing the show as well.  I envision Affiliate Life Radio being the “Maxim Magazine” of radio shows in our industry!  Aside from affiliate discussions and guests, there’s really no telling what to expect!

Throughout the last five years in this industry, I have made so many friends, and learned so much from many of you.  In fact, I don’t think as an affiliate that you can ever stop learning.  Nothing brings me more satisfaction than being able to share some of that knowledge through articles, blog posts, and now our new radio show.

I’d like to personally invite each and every one of you to listen and join in on the fun of our new radio show this Thursday afternoon.  We will be hosting this show every Thursday at 3:00 CST / 21:00 GMT.  You can find the show at Affiliate Life Radio.  The call-in number will be (347) 945-6340. Don’t forget to “favorite” us or leave a comment at BTR!

Although it’s just Brandon and I right now, we would love to bring in any additional hosts that may be interested.  Any Canadian or UK volunteers?  See you all on the airwaves this Thursday!

As many of you know I recently left the PAP forums, as well as the parent company, AP.  As much as I loved the forums and my former business partners, it was just that time for me.  I can’t quite yet speak about all the projects I am currently working on, but when I can, I imagine it will make more sense to many of you.  Needless to say I haven’t been this busy in a few years, and I love it.

One thing is for sure though; I have never been more excited to be an entrepreneur as I am right now.  With the global economy being in a downswing, many people are tightening up and taking fewer risks.  This is where I differ, I am going to loosen up and take more risks!

Although this may seem reckless, it isn’t.  Over the past 10 years I have always been one to get in and out of businesses and situations at the exact right time.  And in respect to the economy, I don’t know any serial entrepreneurs that are letting this recent downswing halt their dreams.  Even if the stock market tanks and we are in a full blown depression, there will still be a select amount of people that will make more money in the next few years than they ever have before in their life.  This needs to be YOU! Remember, opportunity is recession proof!

With that, here are the top 5 things I (Jeremy Enke) love about being an entrepreneur:

1. Freedom - Some people can work for a boss their entire life, not me.  I love having the freedom to make my own business decisions, hire my own people, and be responsible for every aspect of my business.  My theory is, “Why work for the man when you can be the man”

2. Money - Financial Freedom - I can’t imagine knowing I am only going to make X amount of dollars next year.  Like almost every other entrepreneur out there, I have been broke before.  I never want to go back there.  I love money and love having financial freedom to take vacations and provide a great life for my family.

3. Time - Although I easily work more than 40 hours a week, (probably 60+) I do it on my time.  Too many companies in the U.S. have the dumbest policies about time and schedules for their producers.  I literally have buddies that produce 20 times their wage, and work overtime hours for free, yet if they show up at 8:05 versus 8:00 two days in a row, they are in deep shit.  I am happy to say at 8:00 I am checking emails on my couch drinking coffee…. I love working my own hours.

4. Opportunity - After you have become a successful entrepreneur and have established yourself, it is amazing how many opportunities get presented to you on a monthly basis.  Over the last few months I have actually had to turn opportunities down that I knew were profitable simply because I did not have time.  Nonetheless, entrepreneurs look for opportunities and will always find them sooner than people hoping to be in the right place at the right time.

5. FUN - I have fun every day in both business and life.  I love my job, I love what I do, I love being my own boss.  Whether you want to be an entrepreneur or not,  if you’re not having fun in life, make some changes.  Life is too short to be miserable or not happy.

Make it a great week everyone!

Jeremy