Meet the Owner

I absolutely love working in the energy industry, but I am getting older now so my plan going forward, as I get closer to retirement (yes I'm that old!), is to scale things up in my affiliate marketing business, in order to replace my energy income entirely. Much like I did before in full time internet marketing days.

Now that I have many years behind me (18+) in the internet marketing world, I am very confident that I can make that happen. I have always had a love for the internet marketing community, it's like one huge family to me. I have been on some of the affiliate marketing forums for around 15 years.

What I love the most about the affiliate marketing world is that I don't have to have my own products or deal with merchant accounts. I also enjoy the amazing community of great people I encounter on some of the online forums. Much like the energy industry, it's a very small world. In the oilfield they have a saying: "it's a very small patch." Meaning, you could work on the other side of the country and run into someone at the rig from your home town. It happens all the time. I've even worked out of the country and run into people unexpectedly from my home town. The affiliate marketing world is the same way. Being actively involved in the internet marketing communities out there, you'll get to know most of the major players rather quickly. It's pretty nuts really.

By the way, feel free to look me up on social. My personal accounts are easy to find and I would love it if you followed me there as well as our Rockbit Media business pages, on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and others. I also hope that you will join me right here on Rockbit Media, as I share my experiences with the tools and platforms that I use in the affiliate marketing industry. Don't worry, I won't be trying to sell you any courses.

I'm not going to tell you I'm in an internet marketing "guru", nor will you see me flashing Lambos. And although, I have started 7 figure businesses but I just hate the term "guru" because it has been cheapened by all the garbage out there on the internet. I am however, a real person with over 20 years of successful affiliate marketing experience. Guess, I will be aging myself after this read, and if you say that I am old, you wouldn't be wrong.

Here is a summary of my experience in direct marketing and internet marketing:

Let's go to the beginning...

1980s

As a teenager I developed an info product (wrote a book) which I sold through classified ads in a national magazine. I did quite well, at least for being a teenager.

1990s

In my twenties and early thirties I worked full time with my team of over ten employees in my first 7 figure business selling info products by mail marketed through print media. Our products were books which taught people how to run various home based businesses. Print media was dying though. It was time to change and the internet was very new.

In 1995 I started a retail video game store which is still in business today! I sold the store a few years after starting it because I found very little enjoyment in it plus my info marketing revenues were consistently 10xing the retail game sales.

2000

With the internet evolving as well as my knowledge of the gaming industry, I started my second 7 figure business. This time it was selling video game products online. I really felt that this was what I was meant to do. I am glad I did because this is specifically when I learned about affiliate marketing.

I created an affiliate marketing program for our video game website where people could promote our video game products and get paid a portion of sales. It worked out so well, we ended up having problems with our merchant provider. In the 2007 Christmas season we ended up going 5x above our maximum revenue agreement.

For those who are unaware, when you agree to accept credit cards as a business, you have to estimate your monthly volume. If you go above that, you have to readjust your contract. Unfortunately, I did not know that second part. As a result, it felt like I was being punished for doing well in business. Live and learn.

We had 50K/month agreement and we did over $270K in sales. As much as I tried to explain, to the merchant provider that the high sales were simply because it was the holidays season coupled with additional sales from our affiliate program, monthly sales would likely go way back down, they insisted on holding our funds for 180 days! Ouch!!

2008

Because of the headaches with the merchant provider and since we had a growing family I decided to do the "responsible thing" and get a job. It was a good time to make the switch because the entire internet marketing landscape was going through major changes and evolving to what it is today. I got actively involved With affiliate marketing after getting my job because I am a serial entrepreneur and because I loved that, I did not have to deal with merchant providers. I did not have to deal with shipping, inventory, customs or suppliers either. It seemed like the perfect business.

Has it been easy? Not at all. Like any business, it involves work. The good news is that free and low cost resources are abundant today. Often times the resources you need to get started are absolutely free. One of the methods I used back in the early days that works still works today and that is the method I recommend the most. It works better than ever.

You may have guessed it already but in case you haven't I will just let you know that I am talking about email marketing. In my opinion, in the land of affiliate marketing, without an email subscriber list, you really don't have a "real" business. Your List IS Your business. I will go more into this in the email group should you decide to join our free affiliate marketing newsletter.

Thanks for reading this and again, feel free to look up my personal profiles on social. Unlike the "gurus" out there, I do not hide behind my screen using fake social media personas or fake names. You can also shoot me an email if you wish, through the contact form. I will actually reply to you! Please be patient though, I get quite a lot of email and I cannot answer instantaneously, but I will answer.


Take care and be safe,
Kent Hopkins
Owner | RockBit Media, LLC

Thanks for visiting my site Rockbit Media. My name is Kent Hopkins and I live in Wyoming with my wife and kiddos. I think it's safe to assume that since you're reading this, you are interested in affiliate marketing so I will start off by letting you know what my qualifications are to speak on the subject.

I started and operated two 7 figure businesses, one being Ecommerce, and the other one was an old fashioned direct marketing / mail order business selling informational how to books. This period of my life was from the mid nineties through 2008.

I took a break from it all in 2008 for an opportunity to work in the energy sector. Although I stopped doing it full time, I have never stopped doing internet marketing entirely, but instead have been utilizing it to supplement my income even through the present time.