I was so excited yesterday about the Internet Marketing Center Advanced Mentor Team that I forgot to double check to see whether or not it would be a conflict of interest with my company.

Earlier this morning, I had the opportunity to speak with the director of my department during one of his scheduled office hours. I was a bit nervous while anticipating what he was going to say about the subject.

I basically told him that I will be taking a course in Internet Marketing, and briefly explained that in this industry, credibility is an essential factor. I asked him straight up if it would be OK to leverage my expertise in Google AdWords for the purpose of increasing credibility to promote, for example, an affiliate product.

To my surprise, not only was he supportive of my taking on a new course, but he also encouraged me to apply for the company’s tuition program! I don’t think that I will be doing so, but it’s nice to know that my company has such gracious values and is often looking at the best interest in terms of personal and professional developments of its employees.

Now, my director did add that it obviously wouldn’t be OK to provide, say, a Google AdWords consultation service on the side. This would clearly be a conflict of interest, and I’m very well aware of that. I simply told him that if I were to use my credentials as an AdWords expert, I would simply provide, at no cost, non-confidential and publicly available information featured on the Google website and shared on forums, and marked as advertiser-friendly information.

He was on board! As long as I’m not sharing any trade secrets and am not profiting on the side with a service, I am free to distribute public information to my website visitors. And if I do decide that I eventually want to make a profit, the only way to monetize would be to promote an affiliate program (subject to my manager’s approval).

With this understanding, I can now proceed with this venture knowing that I will not be in violation of any of the company’s policies. I can focus my attention on improving my Internet Marketing skills and seeing what opportunities lie ahead…