130 You Have a Book in You Create Partnerships and A昀케liates My friend Rick Dearr is an Internet marketing expert and the author of three best- selling books. Rick’s description of a昀케liate marketing is clear and to the point: “‘A昀케liate’ is just another word for ‘commissioned salesperson.’” If you had a computer store and employed someone to go out and sell computers to businesses, you might pay them a commission. An army of a昀케liates is the same thing. As a marketer, you may worry about people you per- ceive as competitors. You may think those people can’t be of help to you, but the truth is, you should reach out to everyone! 吀栀ose you see as competitors could turn out to be very good friends. After all, they’re in the same mar- ket as you. 吀栀ey understand what you’re going through because they’re trying to do the same things. You may 昀椀nd that the market is big enough for both of you, or even a dozen of you. So don’t worry about your market being so competitive that you can’t approach everyone. True, some people will feel that you’re their competition and won’t want to help. 吀栀at’s OK. But others will see the big picture. 吀栀ey’re going to help you because they’re going to bene昀椀t as well. 吀栀e basic idea of a昀케liate marketing is this: you part- ner with a trusted source who then campaigns for you