Interview: Eskil Nordhaug

Eskil Nordhaug is an affiliate marketer, online entrepreneur, and the guy behind Profitapolis.com. He is also known as a long time member and contributor on WickedFire under the name ImagesAndWords. Eskil’s posts often focus on in-depth advice and strategies in affiliate marketing, and you can follow him on Twitter @ImagesAndWords.

Tell us a little background info about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? How long have you been working in this industry?
I’m 36 years old and was born and raised in Norway, where I currently live with my wife and two kids. Prior to moving back here, I lived in the U.S. for almost 6 years where I went to college and worked as a contractor for Microsoft. I’ve been involved in the industry as an affiliate for more than three years now.

What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?
Starting a hosting company from the ground up and reaching some 3000+ customers (some of them large clients) within a 3 year period, all on my own with no prior experience.

When did you first realize the full potential in affiliate marketing? When did you first “hit the big time?”
It became clear to me early on that affiliate marketing has some seriously massive potential. I mean, there really is no other legal business where one can scale up profits and ROI to such an extent. The potential is really limitless. And we’re only held back by our own efforts – and the hours we can work each day. People’s definition of the “big time” varies greatly. Personally I made my first profits some years ago but went for a while with unstable income month to month. My next big goals now change from year to year of course, as business expands.

What have been your biggest failures and frustrations?
I would say my biggest mistake starting a business by myself was not having an accountant, and thinking I could do all the business taxes by myself. For a while, I ended up in serious trouble owing way more taxes than I had imagined – and this really screwed me – hindering the growth of my business further. So kids – get your business taxes straight ad hire an accountant asap!

Is there anything that you don’t like to do, that you just hate working on?
I love and enjoy most of the work that goes into the daily tasks as an affiliate marketer, but there are of course things that get more annoying than others. One source of frustration has been dealing with unreliable support at certain traffic sources. I hate having to nag and argue with the reps of a traffic source where either the support is terrible, terms of service vague and double-edged, or rejection/approval policies are too random and unpredictable. As marketers, we shouldn’t have to deal with stuff like that.

What’s the best advice you could give to someone starting out in Internet marketing? Any pro tips you feel like disclosing?
Yes: Never, EVER give up. No matter how dark some days can be in the beginning – keep in mind that they are just small bumps on the road to your inevitable success. Of course, success only comes if you put your heart and persistence into it. But if you want it, it will be yours.

What is the future of marketing?
The future is bright, believe me. Some skeptics think the affiliate marketing industry is slowly coming to an end based on things like the FTC drama and traffic network policy regulation we have seen more of in the past year. But really – this is all just the market adjusting itself to certain saturation. It’s all just action and reaction – all the while opening up new avenues and opportunities that are gonna be bigger than anything we have seen. The internet really is still in its infancy. It is growing by a staggering 14 million NEW users every month. The demographics are growing on all fronts. The age span is getting wider (with younger AND older people also getting on). It’s constantly becoming more affordable and available to new masses of people and cultures. Adapt and win. Or don’t – and fail.

How has your education prepared you for your career?
Well, I pursued a Bachelor and Master’s degree in computer science. Even though today, I can’t really apply most of the course material to how I run a business, it still gave me a lot more hunger for knowledge in the field. I was already very interested in computers since the age of 13 (lol, that was back in 1986), and going the computer science route in college felt natural as a stepping stone. You learn to study topics better and adapt thought processes to whatever task needs to be done. For instance, I took classes in systems planning and project management – which gave me the right mindset I needed later when I structure and plan campaigns and upcoming endeavours.

What are your greatest strengths?
I would say my creative side is the strongest. My mind is always at work with new ideas and ways to approach things. Before I worked online I focused my inspiration musically or visually through drawing or recording. I still love the process of creating something artistically, but with a business and a family – time somewhat limits what I can do with that now. So all my creativity goes into my business.

What are your greatest weaknesses?
I think I’m too much of a workaholic sometimes. That CAN be good when stuff just has to get done. But – sometimes enough is enough, and I need to tell myself to take a damn break. I’ve discovered that less is sometimes more. Working 12 hour days with breaks in between can often be MUCH more productive than working 18 hour days with hardly any breaks. I need to get better at that.

What is the best advice you’ve been given and try to apply to your life?
Good question. Always – ALWAYS follow your inner goals and passions whatever they might be. Long term and short term. Anything in life is possible if you want it bad enough. You have the power to do anything and have anything you like, and you are the only person stopping yourself from getting there.

Do you have any role models or people that you look up to?
My parents, for being the most amazing parents I could have asked for as a kid. My wife Amy, for being simply the greatest and for having had the patience and faith to support me when I had ups and downs. And lastly, a band named Dream Theater and their music for being food for my soul, a massive source of inspiration, and emotional ‘medicine’ in my life.

Who has impacted you most in your career, and how?
It’s hard to name one person, but I will definitely say that a lot of the good people over at Wickedfire certainly made a difference early on in my internet marketing ventures. All boob/fail/drama posts there aside, you will be hard pressed to find a better forum with as many awesome industry people, and with such a wealth of golden information.

Do you try to keep current with the latest Internet marketing news at all? What or who are your main sources?
Yes, I set aside a few minutes every day to read up on the blogs I follow in my reader (yours included) Nowadays, Twitter has become a good source of industry news too. Of course, watch who you follow and take word from, but there’s just so much great info out there if you keep an eye out for it. Not a day goes by without me picking up some golden nuggets there that I “favourite” for future reference.

What are some of your long-term goals? How much is enough? If money was no object, what would you be doing?
Hard to say when enough is enough. But realistically, I wanna get to the point where I have secured passive income large enough to live the lifestyle I want for me and my family for a lifetime, and then some. Eventually, this would mean retiring more from much of the work and enjoy life to the fullest supported by income from various online or offline assets.

I also have an idea for an invention that I know could greatly help a lot of people worldwide. So I may get in on applying for a patent some day, but it still won’t happen anytime soon. Things are too hectic at the moment.

I would love some day to take on movie projects and do directing/producing. Making movies just for the fun of it (not for the sake of having to make a profit from them) would be terrific.

What are your typical hours like? When do you just chill back? Do you have a usual day off?
I’m big on work discipline and work as many hours a day as I can. Of course, having a family with two young kids I’m a bit more limited than a lot of the single affiliate marketers, or the married ones like you with no kids out there. Weekend evenings are usually all off to spend time with family and friends. Friday nights are dedicated to xbox/movie night with my closest buddies in my home theater. Everyone needs to chill and clear our minds on a regular basis. If you work nonstop with hardly any breaks, your work efficiency and thinking will eventually suffer. Never underestimate taking breaks from your work. You will kick so much more ass when you’re rejuvenated and get back to work later!

How do you like to spend your free time? What does work-life balance mean to you?
As mentioned above, balancing time to spend off-work is just as important as time working. I really enjoy chilling with my Xbox or playing guitar. In the summer, I love going out for picnics or fishing trips with the kids and family. I hate winter, so I’m not much outdoors in the 5 months we have winter here, Lol. Waay too cold.

If you could go back to being 18, what different career choices would you make?
I was 18 in 1991, and was introduced to the internet the year after, at the College of Engineering in Gjøvik, Norway. This was before browsers like Netscape started coming around, but I already saw the potential of the internet back then, and I remember telling all my friends and family about this cool new thing I wish they could see for themselves (back then, only college campuses had this new “fancy” internet, and home access was unheard of). I just knew and felt this was gonna be massive but sadly – I didn’t take action, and went along with the sheep pursuing my college years like planned, still aiming for a career ladder some day. All those years I just used the internet like everyone else, for email and goofing around. Nothing serious. So if there is one major choice I could go back in time and change – it would be for me to tell myself to screw the career, and focus all my energy into taking advantage of that new mass-market tool called the internet.

If you Kindergarten teacher saw you now, what would surprise him/her about how you turned out?
That something actually came out of that kid there “was no hope for”. She thought for sure I would turn out to be the biggest loser of all, because I never paid much attention or cared about school at the time. I actually met her again about a year ago, and could tell her I now run my own business – not thanks to her.

What is your greatest achievement outside of work? What are some of your unfulfilled dreams?
I’m extremely proud of my family. I have so far in life accomplished all goals I have set myself one after another, and I plan on continuing that way. For natural reasons, some things have had to wait but I know some day I will do them. Things like traveling to see much more of the world, and the stuff I mentioned earlier. Life is too short to waste away on the little things. Dream big!