Brian Littleton of ShareASale made a blog post about a cat that he thinks exemplifies skills of a successful entrepreneur and affiliate… guts, ingenuity and initiative.
The post was a point and counterpoint sort of thing where he tagged me to take the opposing view.
That said, Brian, you ignorant mutt (for the kids, that’s an old Saturday Night Live reference).
Where Brian saw admirable affiliate qualities in this dopey cat, I saw the sort of affiliate beast that needs to be phased out by evolution.
According to Brian, who dubbed the cat as Chester…
The lesson from Chester: Be brave. This economy is not an obstacle that cannot be overcome. If you see an opportunity, go out there and go after it. If a cat can stick it’s head in a fountain of water just to get a drink…anything is possible. A further lesson from Chester here is to be brave while at the same time being smart. He could have jumped in a toilet, for example… but that wouldn’t have been as smart a move.
There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and this cat is not brave. He is a dolt repeating the same mistake over and over, despite what should be his instinct to get his head out of the water.
More from Brian…
The lesson from Chester: Adapt. If your water bowl were somehow taken away from you, would you be able to stick your head under a faucet – even if you were a cat! (Cats are notoriously afraid of water … for those non-cat lovers.)
There are some times when you need to adapt, and other times when you should evaluate your support network. If this cat were an affiliate, they’d be best served moving on to a new situation, rather than working with a “master” who is restricting their access to essentials.
If an affiliate were working with somebody who took away their computer and shot a video mocking them, that affiliate should hiss, scratch the face of the person with the camera, and dissolve all ties.
One last point from Brian…
The lesson from Chester: Persevere.
Again, Brian is wrong here with this cat. It’s not always wise to persevere. Sometimes you need to know when you’re on the wrong course. Be pragmatic and kill a failed effort. Start over from scratch and learn from your mistakes.
Now, I cannot fault Chester. It’s a cat after all. Successful affiliates should be alpha dogs. Woof.