Page 199 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

with but also expecting more from the affiliate.
For years I’ve paid a 51 percent commission to affiliates in my business under

the principle that they should earn more than I do for promoting my work. At the
same time, I make it clear that they’ll need to do more than just slap up a link
somewhere. If they want to be successful, they’ll need to create a closer
connection between their readers and my business. They can do that by using the
products themselves, writing reviews, and offering some kind of bonus to the
referrals they make. If you structure your affiliate program in a similar manner,
you’ll attract higher-quality partners.

Partnerships and outsourcing can be a good way to build some businesses, but
relying on someone else doesn’t always work out as planned. Let’s look at a
(very) small business that did not benefit from a contract arrangement.

The Rise and Fall of Copley Trash Services

Spencer and Hannah Copley, ages twelve and ten, lived with their parents on
board a hospital ship deployed to West Africa. Four hundred other adults (some
with children) also lived on the ship, which spent six months at a time bringing
surgeons and medical teams to countries such as Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Living on a ship in West Africa presented a number of challenges. What might
be small concerns at home quickly became real issues on an old ship deployed to
a poor country. Particular to our story, everyone was responsible for taking out
their own garbage, but it wasn’t always an easy task. A large dumpster was
located at the edge of the dock, requiring a long walk under the hot sun. Often
the dumpster was full, and everyone had to keep their garbage in their small
cabins until dumpster use became available again, sometimes several days later.

An entrepreneur in the making, twelve-year-old Spencer hit on an idea: What
if he started a garbage collection service? The price was a steal. For just $1 a
week, you could leave your garbage in the hall on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the
tag team duo of Spencer and Hannah would be responsible for hauling it out to
the dumpster. Spencer made a poster advertising the offer and tacked it to the
bulletin board by the snack bar. The offer was an immediate hit: Ten customers
signed up right away, and another fifteen in the next few weeks.

Having acquired a strong customer base, Spencer and Hannah made sure to
keep their clients regularly informed with important updates. One day the