GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 2 - October 2007

49 Kat | Continued from p.18 well as Sales and Management. All of these things, I think, have played an essential role in helping me develop some of the current relationships we hold with sponsors and help to keep the site running smoothly. You easily have one of the best and most recognizable avatars on the GPWA.Where did it come fromandwhat inspired it? Thank you! I found that one fairly recently somewhere on the net and had an excellent graphic artist fix it up forme. The names I am known by are: Kathryn, Katsmeownvista, Kat, Kitty, KitKat, Kitty, KatBrat. LOL! Kind of fitting, don’t you think? What doyour lovedones,friends and fam- ily think about your gaming business? I would say there are two groups, “those who do” and “those who don’t.” I have among the 100,000 top sites, and I never – I swear – spent one dime on advertising, never purchased traffic for it, never opened a PPC account, and never had to pay to have it included in any portal, directory or search engine; I wrote nearly 20,000 pages of original content to achieve that; believe it or not, but it works. The main virtue of any such site is that everything you do adds up. I am not against purchasing traffic or ads; any- thing that will make your business grow is valid but I think that before investing yet more money it makes sense to develop a website capable of attracting people just by its own virtues; then you can get into paid advertising because your money will simply give you a higher return and you won’t strangle your finances while you experiment. What about the industry interests you? Despite all the usual moral prejudices and fingers raised against the gambling indus- try everywhere, people working within it can be counted among the most profes- sional online; I have had prior experience in e-commerce and know that you have to be flexible and straightforward to work in anything related to gambling. We are do- ing business here, not life philosophy, and like in the case of other perceived taboos – for some at least – things prove to be quite different once you get to know the details. Then, offering gambling products as an affiliate is about seven times more lucrative than any other online activity. What do your friends and family think about your gaming business? They see me as “the proverbial work-at- home” guy. They find it difficult to believe at first but they never disagree or tell any- thing against it, not even when they learn that the cash comes from the online gam- bling industry and especially after I helped some of them with their financial woes us- ing that money. Here in Argentina people like gambling and betting, and succeeding in creative ways by beating the system is like a social point in your favor, actually. If you weren’t working in online gaming right now, what would you be doing? Attending my other site, writing even more content for it, and probably flying a crop duster plane; they don´t have the prestige of airliners but you can do some pretty cool aerobatics with those machines and it is a well-paid job. You are a systems administrator, a pilot and you run a portal. How do you bal- ance your different interests and still maintain a personal life? In reality these things are related. Once I saw an interview given by Fidel Castro´s daughter; she said that that her father knew how to put several things in motion at the same time with the effort normally assigned to just one. I don´t agree with Mr. Castro´s ideology but I think that such an attitude deserves imitation. I can´t say that it always works but it generally does and saves you a lot of time, and as Nietzsche said, if you find out how to do what you love in life you will not work a single day... so I actually have time to spare. What was your favorite subject in school? And why was it your favorite subject? In high school I had a subject that was called “Logic.” I fell in love with it because pretty soon I realized that it was possible to win any debate by using logical arguments, plus it was what Mr. Spock referred to every time he spoke with Captain Kirk onboard the Enterprise. a wonderful group of friends I have met through the gaming business; they are obviously the “dos.” Then I have my family and other friends who don’t gamble and would fall into the “don’ts.” LOL! What is currently the most difficult part of your work? And why? I would say most recently it is staying current with all the changes taking place in the industry. Almost none of the Affiliate Managers I deal with now are the same as when I began. Also, keeping the site constantly fresh and current and finding new ways to attract different, new players. How has the GPWA helped you as an affiliate? Well, let me first say I consider it such an honor to hold private membership at GPWA. There is so much experience and talent amongst the community and staff. There are so many webmasters who have been in the industry for longer than me and who have my complete respect. I feel honored just to be in their company and really came to GPWA to learn from them. What advice can you offer people who are just starting up in the industry? I guess I would say keep it simple initially. Stick to the basics. Research; educate yourself on the industry first. This is a tough time to start a site and I think to make it a success, a lot of patience is needed. How long did it take for you to start earning money? Well, I suppose it didn’t take too long to see “some” dividends; however, I suppose as is common, it took probably about 8-months to a year to really be self- supportive. With the industry changes recently we find that the income fluctuates pretty dramatically from one month to the next sometimes. What was your favorite subject in school? And why was it your favorite subject? I really was not a good student – not bad, just not good. I matured at a very early age and school bored me. I much more