Welcome to your first issue of LaunchPad™! Over the next 30 days, LaunchPad™ will be providing you with the information you need to build a fun and highly-profitable SFI business. Each day will cover a different "bite-sized" topic so that you do not have to absorb too much information at once. And at the end of 30 days, you'll have a great foundation to build your new business on.
Feel free, of course, to jump ahead if you want. Indeed, you can start generating commissions today. That's totally up to you. It's YOUR business.
By the way, you may want to print out each day's edition of LaunchPad and place them in a 3-ring binder for easy offline reading and review.
Now let's get started with today's LaunchPad lesson...
We believe that simplicity is very powerful. Hence, we've designed SFI around a very simple concept we call "VersaPoints."
In short, the more points you earn, the more money you'll earn with SFI. More points also means valuable perks and "power tools" to help you fully maximize your profits.
How do you earn points?
Again, very simple. On your SFI Homepage, we list for you all the actions you can take to earn points.
Each time you complete an action, you instantly earn the points attached to that action. Some actions are worth 20 points, some 30 points, some as much as 100 points, and so on. Then, at the end of the month, we'll add up all the points you've earned during the month and award you the benefits accorded by your point total. It's that simple!
To see what these benefits, perks, and payouts are, see your SFI Benefits Chart.
By the way, to maintain your SFI affiliateship, you'll need to have at least 500 points every 60 days or be an active EyeEarner.
We also use your points for our Power Rank program. Power Rank allows you to see how you stack up against your fellow SFI'ers. The more points you accumulate, the higher your rank can go.
We rank you in three ways:
A. Your overall Power Rank tells you where you rank amongst ALL active SFI affiliates worldwide. Set your goals to become a "Top 1,000 Affiliate," a "Top 100 Affilate" or even a "Top 10 Affiliate!"
B. Your Country Rank tells you where you rank amongst the active SFI affiliates in your country. Show your fellow citizens that you're an SFI superstar!
C. Your Class Rank tells you where you rank amongst the active SFI affiliates in your class (i.e. all SFI affiliates who joined SFI the same day you did). Work hard and you can be the #1 affiliate in your class!
And, of course, don't forget that as part of LaunchPad™ Rewards, you can win one $1 (US) for every point you score, too—up to $1,500! Learn more. Note: Drawing eligibility is limited to affiliates joining SFI after 3/31/09.
TIP: You can check your current points total and also your current overall Power Rank, Country Rank, and Class Rank anytime at your SFI Homepage.
Now that you understand how our points system works and all the ways it can benefit you, there's one more very important element you need to understand:
That is, earning lots of points means you'll gain access to powerful resources and you'll earn the maximum commissions on the revenues in your SFI organization. But where do the revenues come from? They come from sales and purchases made at TripleClicks.com by the members you REFER and the affiliates you SPONSOR. In other words, You CREATE revenue in your organization by referring and sponsoring...and then you MAXIMIZE the commissions you earn on that revenue by achieving the maximum number of VersaPoints you can each month. Therefore, by focusing on referring and sponsoring, you can both create AND maximize your earnings with SFI.
 | 1. Ready to start referring members to TripleClicks.com? Click HERE. 2. Ready to start sponsoring affiliates? Click HERE. |
TIP: You can earn UNLIMITED points for the two above activities.
That's it for today's LaunchPad™. Now finish up by answering your first LaunchPad™ quiz below. You'll earn 20 VersaPoints for correctly answering today's quiz and you'll have the opportunity to earn a grand total of 600 points for all 30 LaunchPad™ lessons!
See you tomorrow!
SUMMARY:
1. Score lots of points!
2. Become proficient at referring members and sponsoring affiliates.
It's been a couple of days since you enrolled as an SFI affiliate, and you're probably wondering, "Who are these guys?" and "Is this SFI thing the real deal?"
Great questions. And you're absolutely right to ask them! After all, you've been invited to involve yourself with a company, and you should definitely know who you're dealing with.
Not only that, but when it comes to finding a legitimate business opportunity on the Internet, it’s a "minefield" out there—heavily populated with questionable, often-illegal money games and here-today-gone-tomorrow schemes. Make a wrong step or choose the wrong company, and you could lose big.
Yet deep down, you've probably figured that amongst all the "junk" out there, there has to be a few jewels. After all, the Internet is a huge, multi-billion-dollar marketplace; there's got to be SOMEBODY who's developed a real opportunity for cashing in on it.
We'd like to start showing you right now that SFI is indeed one of those rare jewels.
SFI's corporate headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska
See more SFI photos
For starters, you should know that:
• SFI is now in its 12th successful year on the Internet. In that time, SFI has grown from just one product to multiple subdivisions and over 10,000 quality products and services.
• With over 8,000 new affiliates joining weekly, SFI is one of the fastest growing companies of its kind in the world. See the Global Growth Report to see just how fast!
• Since 1998, SFI has paid out MILLIONS of dollars in commissions to affiliates in over 190 countries. In other words, SFI is in virtually every country in the world! And in the process, SFI has become, truly, one of the Internet’s biggest success stories.
• SFI's parent company, Carson Services, Inc., is now in its 25th year of business and is a longtime member of the Better Business Bureau serving southern Nebraska.
• Working with SFI means having the peace of mind of working with a proven, debt-free company with a long, successful track record.
WHAT IS SFI'S SECRET?
WHY has SFI been so successful, while thousands of other would-be competitors have fallen by the wayside over the last 10 years? WHY has SFI become arguably the #1 affiliate program in the world?
We attribute it largely to the unique makeup of our affiliate program—a hybrid sales and marketing system exquisitely powered by the Internet. It probably also has a lot to do with the simple fact that SFI WORKS for so many thousands of people.
STILL NOT SURE?
Still not certain if SFI is a company with which you want to get active? Nothing wrong with that. Asking questions is smart. Tomorrow's LaunchPad asks a question of its own: "Are you on the 'Anti-Wealth' Plan?" which you're definitely going to want to check out. In the meantime, here are four more places for you to learn about SFI:
• Learn about SFI's history, company leadership, sub-divisions, and more.
• See what others are saying about SFI
Though painful to say, most people go through their entire lives on what we call the "Anti-Wealth" Plan. Others call it the "40/40/40 Plan." That is, work 40 hours a week for someone for 40 years and retire with $40 in the bank!
That's somewhat of an exaggeration, of course, but the U.S. Social Security Board, for example, has reported that 85 out of 100 Americans won't possess as much as $500 in savings by age 65. And only 2% will be self-sustaining; the rest will be dependent on family, church, or the government!
The main problem with a typical job is that when YOU stop, the money stops.
MAKE SURE you understand this: If you ever want to acquire real wealth, you're just not going to get there trading hours for money.
The world's wealthiest people have known for hundreds of years that if you want financial freedom, you MUST tap into at least one of the following:
1. RESIDUAL INCOME
2. LEVERAGED INCOME
Residual Income is income that keeps coming in month after month, year after year, from work you do just ONCE. It's like a royalty. An example would be writing a book or recording a song and getting paid forever on it. Wouldn't it be absolutely awesome to have that?! Well, with SFI you can!
Leveraged Income is earning money through other people's efforts. There are only 24 hours in a day. Hence, there's only so much you can earn through your own efforts. But with SFI, you can earn Leveraged Income (in the form of "override" commissions) when affiliates you've sponsored in SFI make sales.
Earn even more Leveraged Income when they sponsor other affiliates and refer TripleClicks members who make purchases...and when your affiliates’ affiliates sponsor affiliates and refer customers...and so on.
The fact is, by simply sponsoring a few good, active SFI affiliates, you can eventually have hundreds or even THOUSANDS of affiliates and customers putting money in your pocket from around the world...around the clock!
But that's not even the best part. Each affiliate on your sales team has his or her own vested interest to build and KEEP ON building his or her business and income. This, of course, means YOUR income can continue and grow month after month–even when you want to take a vacation or decide to retire altogether.
Rest assured, there are few things greater than returning home from a nice vacation to find a commission check even bigger than the month before waiting in your mailbox!
Bottom line: With SFI, not only can you earn "do-it-once, get-paid-forever" residual-style income, you also can earn Leveraged Income on the sales of thousands of other affiliates! If building financial security is one of your goals, you've found the vehicle to do it with in SFI.
If you haven't got started yet, it's time to hit your SFI To-Do List. By completing the actions on your To-Do List, you can start building a foundation for residual and leveraged income today.
By now, you've probably got some idea about what kind of marketing you'll be doing with SFI, but we'd like to break it down a bit more because it's such an important element of your new business. Indeed, it's the marketing you'll be doing that's going to generate the money you'll be depositing in your bank account!
First, let's look at what we know. We know that:
A. You're going to want to refer TripleClicks (TC) members.
B. You're going to want to sponsor affiliates.
You can do these activities one at a time, or you can do both at the same time, but you'll ultimately want to become a "master marketer" in both.
Now, you might think that mastering something you probably know little about is pretty far-fetched, but it's really not. We have thousands of SFI affiliates of all ages and backgrounds who started just like you—people who didn't know the first thing about marketing but who now can generate enrollments and sales with two arms tied behind their backs, so to speak. YOU can become just as proficient. All you have to do is get started and keep working at it.
So how do you get started? Well, thanks to SFI's amazing system, you can actually be on your way with your first marketing campaign—indeed campaigns!—in less than 30 minutes!
Here's how:
1. Go to our "R" (Referral) Methods page HERE.
2. Note the methods highlighted with a yellow background. These are methods that are free and can be put into action within minutes.
3. Put one or more of the methods into action...right now!
4. Next, go to the "S" (Sponsoring) Methods page HERE.
5. Again, note the yellow highlighted methods.
6. Put one or more of these methods into action now.
Congratulations! You've just put marketing campaigns for both referring TC members and sponsoring SFI affiliates into action.
Now you can sit back and wait for the commissions to start rolling in, right?
Sorry, but nothing worthwhile is ever THAT easy! To start seeing serious income, you'll have to employ other marketing methods as well.
But let's not discount what you just did either! As covered in a previous issue of LaunchPad, getting started is the key. Once you've gotten started, you've overcome the "inertia" that keeps most people stuck in dead-end lives, and that's BIG.
Speaking of big, here's a good way to think about your marketing:
Just as a small fire produces little heat, small efforts will produce small results. So, give yourself a little reward for lighting the fire today. But tomorrow, make plans to move your marketing up to the next level.
There are SO many methods available to you—everything from X-Cards...to postcards...to banners...and more. Build a BIG fire, build a BIG income!
Did you know that by mid-2008, the worldwide number of Internet users had grown to more than 1.46 BILLION people, with the total amount spent online estimated to grow to $263 billion by 2010 from just $170 billion last year!?
And while the U.S leads the pack as of July '08 for the percentage of its population online (73.6%), the United States constitutes only 17% (and shrinking) of Web surfers worldwide.
Where the major growth is occurring is in the world's most populous countries, such as China, India, Brazil, Russia and Indonesia. In fact, the Asian continent ranks first worldwide for the number of Internet users—578 MILLION and growing. And they're just getting started!
Then there's Africa and the Middle East that since 2000 have witnessed what can only be described as a phenomenal increase of online users: a cumulative, eight-year 1,031% and 1,177% growth rate, respectively!
Why is all this important? Because in joining SFI, you've just joined the most global-minded business there is. Put another way, you're now positioned to profit from the largest market EVER. EVER!
The fact is, SFI was built, from the ground up, to go everywhere and anywhere the Internet goes. And "borderless" is beautiful.
Lots of businesses allow you to market in your own country and perhaps a few others countries, but only SFI with its EyeEarn and TripleClicks subdivisions puts you in over 190 countries and gives you instant access to a marketplace of BILLIONS of consumers.
But SFI gives you much more than just access. Unlike a few companies that have tried to copy us, SFI is actually working and generating income for people all over the world.
Check out our daily Global Growth Report. Look at today's enrollments and where they come from. Every day, hundreds of people from countries scattered across the globe become SFI affiliates and TripleClicks members!
Now look at the Top Sponsors/Referrer's list (located in the top right corner of the Global Growth Report). Affiliates from countries all over world dominate this top 10 list every day.
In huge populous countries like India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, and China, SFI is exploding with growth! And yet we've only begun to scratch the surface! And what a MASSIVE opportunity this is for you.
Think about the spectacular economic growth occurring in India and China right now. Imagine sponsoring just a handful of strong, motivated individuals in these countries and how many THOUSANDS of affiliates and members they could bring in with your help, and how many thousands of dollars in monthly override commissions could someday be yours!
It's a fact. When you go SFI, your opportunity is literally as big as the world.
As you become more familiar with your new SFI business, you'll see that a constant theme is our encouragement to take some form of action every day. Why? Because if you're doing this, you'll be moving your business forward, slowly but surely, gaining momentum, step by step. And this will, of course, eventually result in some very good things for you...such as a large commission check every month.
One of those "must-do-daily" items is visiting the SFI Affiliate Center (www.sfimg.com).
Visiting the Affiliate Center is, well...central to your success with SFI. By visiting every day, you'll get access to our valuable, personalized, step-by-step assistance; the latest news; timely tips; and training to build your new business, plus important alerts, notifications, and messages from SFI corporate and upline leaders. You'll also earn two VersaPoints for each visit (maximum 180 points).
The Affiliate Center is also where you'll find your individual account information, business reports, Glossary, Compensation Plan, FAQs, and literally hundreds of marketing aids, tools, and resources to power your business...and much more!
Because of all this, we STRONGLY recommend you bookmark www.sfimg.com now. BETTER YET, here's how to set the SFI Affiliate Center as your Web browser's homepage to really make it easy to visit daily.
And here's a little "homework assignment" for you:
When you have some time, go through each of the items on the main menu bar (the black bar that runs across the top of almost every page at the Affiliate Center). Click the "R&S," the "Training" and "Reference" links, and all the others, too. EACH of these links will take you to an index of many, many valuable and useful tools, aids, and resources. Familiarize yourself with these items so you know where they're available when you need them.
See you tomorrow!
Today we're going to talk about a special SFI bonus that you're currently eligible for called Co-Sponsorships.
In fact, during the last several days, you should have received e-mail notices of at least six Co-Sponsorships that have been assigned to you. There should be more to come, but we want to make sure that you are receiving these notices and you understand their value before it's too late.
The Co-Sponsorship program works like this:
For up to your first 30 days in SFI, SFI assigns you as the Co-Sponsor on a number of newly-joined SFI affiliates. See the Global Growth Report for a listing of these affiliates.
As an affiliate's Co-Sponsor, you can immediately begin earning up to 24% CV commissions on all their purchases (plus an additional 4% to 8% on all their sales)! This benefit can also continue monthly! For commission details, see the SFI Compensation Plan.
Why does SFI do this?
Very simply, we want to help you get off to a great start! We succeed ONLY if our affiliates succeed. By assigning you these affiliates, you have a nucleus for your new business that you can immediately begin profiting from, and a foundation that you can build upon.
Of course, we can't just give away such valuable assets to just anyone. Hence, to secure your Co-Sponsorships, we require that you generate at least 1500 points by the end of your 15th day in SFI. This shows us that you are serious about success with SFI. It tells us that you're a "go-getter"...and we LOVE rewarding our go-getters!
Once you have secured your assigned co-sponsorship affiliates, they will immediately appear on your Genealogy (color-coded green). Your Genealogy also contains contact information so that you may begin communicating with them if you'd like.
Will it take a little effort to generate those 1500 points? Yes, of course, but it's very doable and no purchase is required. Plus, you'll at the same time be positioning yourself for a top tier Power Ranking which can win you up to $1500 (US) in the LaunchPad Rewards Cash Drawing! See LaunchPad Rewards for more information.
By the way, to make sure you don't miss your deadline for your Co-Sponsorships, you've probably noticed the countdown clock located in the sidebar and also at the SFI Affiliate Center. Be sure to keep an eye on this clock and don't wait too long to start producing the points you need. Once the 15-day deadline has passed, this bonus is permanently forfeited!
For more information on Co-Sponsorships, see Frequently Asked Questions HERE.
For a complete listing of the actions you can do to earn the points you need to secure your Co-Sponsorships, see your To-Do List on your SFI Homepage.
Meet TripleClicks.
Actually, we're sure you've already met the newest division of SFI, but there's much about TripleClicks (TC) you need to know, which we'll discuss today.
For starters, you may not be aware that TC launched on January 5th, 2009. You may also not be aware that your SFI affiliateship automatically includes a TC membership!
And we're just getting started with the products and offerings. We launched TC with more than 6,000 products, but that was just the beginning. We've now grown to more than 20,000 products on sale and expect to have tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of products in place within one to two years. Plus, thanks to member listings and the ECA (E-Commerce Associates) Program (more on this in a moment), new products are being added daily, including collectibles, and hard-to-find items available nowhere else.
You'll also be interested to know that because of how we built TC, virtually any type of product or service can be added, including downloadable software and media (e.g. music, audio, or video). The sky's the limit!
Tip: You may have to log in when you visit TC (use your SFI affiliate ID and password) so that all the special affiliate features we've built in to TC are displayed to you. Check the top right corner of the screen at TC to confirm you are logged in.
TC is a state-of-the-art Internet store site featuring numerous amenities including:
• Express Checkout
• WishLists
• Online order/shipment tracking
• An exclusive, money-saving daily deal ("Deal Of The Day")
• Advanced search features
• Special weekly/monthly sales
• Standing Orders (your members can set up orders to have consumable products shipped to them monthly automatically, meaning monthly commissions for you)
• One-click sitewide currency conversions for 17 major world currencies.
• 35 major language translations
• More than 50 payment options
• and much more!
With all these powerful features, TC provides SFI affiliates with a world-class instrument for generating Internet income.
Here's how to get started making sales:
First, it is important to first determine whether you are ready for beginner or more advanced marketing techniques.
For most SFI affiliates, we recommend you start with beginner strategies. With these strategies, you'll focus on simply building a member list and not on promoting any individual products or groups of products. The idea is to build a list of members and let those members discover the products they wish to purchase.
This is substantially easier than trying to directly sell products. Plus, we have a wide variety of methods and marketing aids available for you for building member lists that you can put into action immediately. Click HERE to browse these methods and marketing aids.
Note: If you have the experience to sell products (or promote product departments) directly and are ready to jump into advanced techniques now, go HERE.
The TC Member Listings Program
Another component of TC you need to know about is the TC Private Seller Program, which allows you to sell your stuff right alongside TC's other products and services.
With the Private Seller Program you can quickly, easily, and cheaply convert stuff you no longer want...into stuff you do! List your stuff at TC, and sell for cash....or for any product in the store. You can even earn SFI Executive benefits status each month selling unwanted items around your house! Use TC as your online garage sale to clean out your closets, attics, and garages! List and sell dozens or even hundreds of miscellaneous items easily.
To get started, simply log in at TripleClicks (using your SFI ID and password) and click on the "Member Center" button.
The TC Free Listing Program
People are always looking for easy ways to put some money in their pocket. And people also usually have items they no longer need or want. Children outgrow perfectly good toys. Teenagers outgrow perfectly good clothes. Adults outgrow perfectly good golf clubs. :-) Indeed, millions of perfectly good products of all kinds are outgrown, abandoned, and retired every day!
These items almost always wind up in closets, attics, and garages, taking up valuable space while (usually) fading in value as they sit. But with the TC Private Seller Program, this "clutter" can be converted into cash–quickly...simply...easily.
And the timing couldn't be better. With the huge downturn in the global economy, especially in the United States, demand for this type of service is skyrocketing. Indeed, We've learned that pawn shops are doing record business right now. Now YOU can tap into this same vein and earn great commissions.
Here's how: We've created a special program that allows you to give away free sample listings at TC. And we've made it incredibly easy to participate. We've got X-Cards, E-Cards, Postcards, text ads, tabbed fliers, and over 40 awesome banners for you to use, all offering a free, complementary listing at TC!
All you have to do is get these cards, fliers, banners, etc. in front of people using the methods listed HERE.
The Free Listing Program allows you to give out free sample listings at TC. There's no need to learn details about any specific TC products. No need to sweat over which product or products to promote. We've made building a member list as easy as handing out X-Cards, putting up fliers, or running free classified ads!
Once your prospect has entered their free listing, you've just locked them in as one of your personally referred members. And once they see how easy it is to list and sell their unwanted items, well, guess what? They're going to want to buy credits and list lots of other items they want to sell for cash or other products. And, of course, for every credit they buy, you earn Customer Commissions and VersaPoints!
In fact, you can earn executive affiliate (EA) status for yourself if your members buy just 10 single credits... or five 12-packs of credits...or just two 50-pack of credits.
But that's not all. Many of your members may become frequent shoppers and buyers at TC. And when they buy products, you'll earn VersaPoints and Customer Commissions just the same as if it were a standard customer sale.
To order your TC Free Listing X-Cards, postcards, etc., just log in at TripleClicks (using your SFI ID and password) and go to the "Business" department. Or, you can get hooked up with other great Free Listing promotional methods and marketing aids HERE.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In conjunction with the Free Listing Program, we're making FREE credits available to you to give away to your prospects. You heard right: We'll even provide the credits for FREE that you can give away to attract members! However, please make sure you read these RULES FOR PARTICIPATION.
You may also like to read the TC FAQs we've posted HERE which covers many other details and aspects of TripleClicks.
One last thing: Our ECA Program allows commercial sellers and companies of all kinds, from around the world, to market their products and services side-by-side with our own products and services at TripleClicks.com. And we've made it very easy for companies to plug in their products and services. Indeed, the ECA theme is "Plug into a world of new customers!" There's no cost for ECAs to list their products and services and they can immediately begin taking advantage of the exposure and growing worldwide traffic of TripleClicks.com. It's a "slam dunk" for them, a total win/win. Get more information HERE.
Add up all the above and you can see why TC represents one of the biggest opportunities ever made available for e-commerce profits!
If you want to build a successful business with SFI, you'll definitely want to consider participating in EyeEarn.
What is it? EyeEarn is SFI's international advertising co-op. And what it does is help you refer TripleClicks members and sponsor SFI affiliates.
EyeEarn's basic concept is for you to become part of our "personal advertising network," and get paid for advertising while just going about your day—driving your car, walking your dog, wearing T-shirts, or even just drinking coffee! Get seen–get paid!
Getting started with EyeEarn is super-easy: Just purchase a $20 EyeEarn Starter Kit. The kit includes three EyeEarn banners for your car(s), one bumper sticker, an EyeEarn T-shirt, 100 EyeEarn X-Cards, and 20 EyeEarn mini-stickers (plus complete directions and a Getting Started Guide).
Simply verify with SFI that you've outfitted your car with a banner. You'll then begin receiving a share of the fruits of the entire, worldwide EyeEarn advertising network!
EyeEarn is one of the largest global advertising co-ops ever created. Already, thousands of people are participating all over the world (check out our gallery HERE). In time, we expect MILLIONS to join the network! In other words, as an EyeEarn participant you benefit not only from your own, personal promotions but also from the efforts of EVERYONE ELSE in the network—from EVERY EyeEarner in the world!
How do I make money?
Once you've activated your EyeEarn account, you'll begin receiving three valuable benefits:
1. TRIPLECLICKS.COM MEMBERS
In return for helping us tell the world about TripleClicks (via EyeEarn), you'll be credited as the Referrer on a portion of new, incoming TripleClicks members. For this, you'll earn 20% to 72% Customer Commissions on every purchase made by your referred members...for life!**
2. "EYEEARNERS"
EyeEarners are people like you who've checked out the EyeEarn opportunity and have chosen to sign up to promote EyeEarn. As an EyeEarner yourself, you'll be credited as the Sponsor on a portion of new, incoming EyeEarners. For this, you'll earn up to 40% Affiliate Overrides on every purchase made by your EyeEarners—for life!—and also have the opportunity to turn on several other income streams! (For complete compensation plan details, click here.)
3. "TCREDITS"
Every month, we'll also issue you one free TripleClicks "TCredit." That's an annual value of $23.88! TCredits can be used to list items for sale at TripleClicks (meaning you can actually turn your TCredits into hundreds of dollars!). And, soon, TCredits can also be used for free music downloads and other valuable services!
Additionally, your enrollments won't be coming just from the personal advertising of EyeEarn members. All enrollments from ClickBucks also flow into the EyeEarn Co-op.
And as an active* member of EyeEarn, you will receive a share of ALL these enrollments every month. And your only out-of-pocket cost is the ONE-TIME $20 Starter Kit cost!
GUARANTEED RESULTS!
Every month that you're active with EyeEarn, you're GUARANTEED to be credited as the referrer on one or more new TripleClicks Members and/or as the Sponsor on one or more new EyeEarners. You're also GUARANTEED to receive one free TCredit. And if somehow none of the above generates income for you, you'll automatically receive a share of our EyeEarners Cash Pool. ALL OF THIS is GUARANTEED each and every month you are an active EyeEarner!
EXTRA SHARES PROGRAM
So what could be better than receiving a share of EyeEarn every month? How about two shares? Or three...or even more?! We've made it easy for everyone to earn more than just one share. Click HERE to learn how you can increase your EyeEarn enrollments and earnings further with free extra shares.
EYEEARN DIRECT
You've seen how the EyeEarn Co-op works. Now here's how EyeEarn can be a powerful DIRECT recruiting system for you as well.
As noted earlier, the EyeEarn Starter Kit comes with 100 EyeEarn X-Cards (and you can order extras HERE). X-Cards are one of the best recruiting tools because they can be used in so many different ways. Click HERE for a list of ideas.
In addition to X-Cards, you have many other EyeEarn Direct tools to recruit with, too, including:
1. Your EyeEarn Gateway Website
2. EyeEarn E-Cards.
3. A variety of EyeEarn banners and text ads you can use on the Web.
4. EyeEarn postcards for direct mail campaigns.
5. Printer-ready EyeEarn flyers.
All of above items use your SFI ID number so you can directly enroll any signups you generate. Go HERE for more information and/or to order.
Also available at www.cafepress.com/eyeearn are a wide variety of EyeEarn hats, mugs, buttons, mousepads, and other gear you can use as conversation starters (use these items to generate inquiries, then "close the sale" by handing the prospect an EyeEarn X-Card stamped with your SFI ID number).
CUSTOM DOMAIN PROGRAM
For those who'd like to get really serious about recruiting with EyeEarn, you can get a custom EyeEarn domain featuring your name or other keyword(s). The EyeEarn Custom Domain program opens the door to a wide variety of other marketing/advertising options.
You can have your custom domain printed on thousands of differerent promotional items (pens, keychains, magnets, calendars, mugs, mousepads, etc.) that you can use as free giveaways. You can get customized, magnetic car signs, full-color postcards, X-Cards, fliers, posters, and more. Generate massive exposure with a billboard; sponsor sporting events and concerts; or outfit local sports teams with customized EyeEarn uniforms. The possibilities are endless! See Custom Domain Program (pdf) for complete details.
To get started, order your EyeEarn Starter Kit HERE.
For more details on EyeEarn, please read the FAQ page HERE.
* Initial qualification for shares of EyeEarn requires purchasing the EyeEarn Starter Kit and uploading or sending us a photo (digital or hardcopy) of you with your car outfitted with an EyeEarn car banner. To continue to receive shares, you must log in at the SFI Affiliate Center monthly and complete an EyeEarn Reactivation Form. The Reactivation Form consists of a short questionnaire, 1-3 brief marketing surveys, a confirmation of your active participation in EyeEarn, and your commitment to doing your online shopping through TripleClicks.com (no purchases required). One or more miscellaneous additional activities may also appear on the Reactivation Form each month. You should be able to easily complete everything on the Reactivation Form each month in less than 15 minutes.
**Exact commission percentage is based on your monthly VersaPoints total. See Compensation Plan for details.
Over the past 10 days, we've been throwing a lot of topics at you. You've learned about TripleClicks, EyeEarn, and the importance of referring members and sponsoring affiliates. Hopefully, we've done a good job in presenting these topics to you and you've got a good understanding of everything so far.
But if you're like most affiliates, you probably still have a few, or maybe even a lot of, specific questions about various aspects of SFI, such as:
• How much money can I make?
• What are the costs involved in starting and operating an SFI business?
• How does SFI compare to similar businesses?
• What kind of products does SFI have?
For this, we've created a number of "FAQ" (Frequently Asked Questions) lists. Here are some of the key FAQs we encourage you to review at this time:
Getting Started FAQs
Commissions/Getting Paid FAQs
TripleClicks FAQs
EyeEarn FAQs
If you've tackled these above topics and are ready for even more FAQs, you can see our entire FAQ index HERE.
Today we're going to talk about having big goals...but REALISTIC goals. SFI holds tremendous potential for those who will apply themselves, but it's not going to 
happen overnight or without work. As the old saying goes, "the only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary."
We often hear from affiliates asking why they're not seeing a big commission check yet. But more times than not, the person asking hasn’t even been an affiliate for more than a few weeks and is only really beginning to even understand how the whole SFI system works. And frankly, even if the number was six months, it’s still much too early to be expecting a significant income stream to have developed.
We always say that if you’re not willing to give a business at least a year, don’t even bother getting involved. You must understand: It takes time to get to know all the nuances of a business. It takes time to get to know the products. It takes time to develop a game plan. It takes time to figure out what marketing activities will work best for you.
The fact is, anything worthwhile takes sustained effort. If that were not true, we'd all be the perfect weight, we'd all have perfect relationships, etc. It's the same thing with your own business. If you're thinking money's going to start pouring into your lap next month, you’ve set yourself up for failure.
But let’s look at some real examples and see if we can put some perspective on this. Let's start with SFI's own president and founder, Gery Carson. Gery explains:
"My success as a entrepreneur and business leader is widely known today. Yet what most people don’t know is that I LOST money my first two years. I only broke even in my third year. And it was only when I got to my fourth year did I finally start seeing profits. Oh, how I wish someone had invented an SFI for me back in the mid-80's when I was starting out! ; - )
So was all that effort worth it? ABSOLUTELY! Because I persisted, today I live a dream life, I have my dream home, drive my dream car, and I get to lead one of the most exciting Internet companies in the world. Yes, because I stuck with it, I am today truly blessed beyond my wildest dreams."
But let’s go farther. Let’s look at some of the actual home business superstars we've interviewed and featured on our Website in the past:
Note that amounts listed reflect declared earnings at the time their interview was published.
ROBERT BLACKMAN now earns as much as $85,000 per month. Yet it took Robert two years to see his first four-figure check ($1,000 or more), and it took him five years to see his first five-figure check ($10,000 or more).
CHARLES LESLIE’s monthly income exceeds $12,000 a month. It took Charles five months to see his first $1,000 check, and three and a half years to see his first $10,000 check.
TRACY DIETERICH earns $36,000+ monthly. But it took six months to hit that first $1,000, and a year to get to $10,000.
DALE CALVERT makes so much more than $100,000 a year that he won’t even divulge the amount. Yet Dale worked four months before seeing that first four-figure commission check...and two full years before hitting five figures.
DR. JOE RUBINO now cruises at over $62,000 each month. But that first $1,000 check took two months, the first $10,000 check, one year.
ROBERT BUTWIN drops $80,000 or more into his bank account each month. But would you believe that first $1,000 check took two years to reach, and a full FIVE years for Robert to reach the first $10,000 check? It’s true!
DAVID A. NELSON clears $40,000 in a month. But reaching that first $1,000 check took 18 months. Reaching the five-figure check took two years.
TONY KENT has exceeded $90,000 in monthly earnings. But exceeding $1,000 took Tony one year...and a year and a half to exceed $10,000.
In other words, even the most dynamic, highest-earning entrepreneurs took MONTHS to begin seeing an income of any real significance. And the real wealth, the $100,000+ income we all strive for, took an average of almost THREE YEARS to achieve!
Do you think ANY of these gentlemen don’t think the ends justified the means? Do you think for an instant that the months and years invested hasn’t been rewarded a thousand times over at least? You don't even have to think about it, do you?
If we told you that after two to three years of following our system, you could be making more in a month than you now make in a year, could you handle that? This is a genuine and realistic goal. But when you say you want to quit your job in six months and live off the income from your new business, well, that's just not realistic.
Not what you wanted to hear, right? But is what we're suggesting so tough to swallow? Of course not.
Can you think of any other endeavor where you could invest just five to 10 hours a week for a couple years and at the end of that time have that turned into a $3,000 to $10,000 residual monthly income stream? Money that keeps coming in month after month, year after year. Money that keeps coming in whether you work 10 hours a day or two. A commission check waiting for you in your mailbox when you return from yet another vacation. Money that when you’ve left this planet continues to provide for your spouse, children, or grandchildren.
Sounds extremely nice, doesn’t it? But again, these are likely not things you’re going to see in your first year. It's just not going to happen. Some of you—the go-getters—you WILL see it happen in your second year. For most of you, however, you need to be thinking two to five years. And you know what? When you get there, we guarantee you, you’ll say it was nothing!
BOTTOM LINE: We reap what we sow, but the harvest is never in the same season as the planting! Today you are planting...and will be at least for the next several months. Your harvest will come in time. Be persistent. Be patient. Work the Web using our proven SFI system. Think long term. Take action every day, (no matter how small) to build your business. And always remember, THE ONLY WAY TO FAIL IS TO QUIT.
Setting up a new business is a time-consuming task—we know! With so much to think about and learn, it's easy to overlook some of the odd items here and there that are, nonetheless, vital to getting started right. (After all, that's why we've created this LaunchPad series for you!)
One easy task you DON'T want to overlook is completing your SFI AFFILIATE PROFILE. This brief questionnaire is absolutely necessary to create a personalized SFI Affiliate Center experience specifically suited to YOU, your experience, goals, support needs, and much more.
Our system will use your profile answers to personalize the SFI Affiliate Center for you.
With your permission, we'll also add your profile answers to a special Affiliate Manager page so your sponsor can learn about you and how best to help you achieve your goals.
Take a moment RIGHT NOW and complete this important step toward setting up your SFI business. It will only take a few minutes to complete and will help you get the most from SFI:
COMPLETE YOUR AFFILIATE PROFILE HERE
IMPORTANT: Remember, all information you provide in your Affiliate Profile is kept 100% private. We will NEVER share SFI affiliate information with ANY third parties. Should you wish to share your profile information with your SFI Sponsor (via the Affiliate Manager page mentioned above) and/or other upline members, select those options on the last two questions of your affiliate profile.
SFI is known for many things–innovation, a generous compensation plan, and world-class marketing tools–to name a few. But we also take great pride in supporting our affiliates.
That is, when you need help, SFI is at your service…in multiple ways:
1. Affiliate Support Line
For general questions, this is where we recommend you go first.
2. Live Chat
During our regular business hours, you can chat live with members of our Affiliate Support Team.
3. Help Desk
At our SFI Help Desk, you'll find a variety of help and support resources.
4. SFI Forum
At the SFI Forum you can get questions answered 24-hours a day by forum moderators, other SFI affiliates, and even SFI president Gery Carson himself (see the "Ask Gery" forum).
5. a2a
Exchange messages with your fellow SFI affiliates worldwide; identify affiliates in your own country, state/province, or even city; search by gender, age, join date, common goals, and more.
In addition to the above resources, we also facilitate help and support from your SFI sponsor and other upline Team Leaders:
• You can contact your SFI sponsor HERE.
• You can contact upline Team Leaders HERE.
Tip: If for some reason you're having difficulty connecting with your sponsor or upline Team Leaders via e-mail, try our in-house "Team Mail." Team Mail uses SFI's internal messaging system so that the next time your sponsor or other upline members log in at the SFI Affiliate Center (www.sfimg.com), they'll be alerted to your message and can read it and respond right from the Affiliate Center! To send a Team Mail, just click on the small blue icon (
) beside the name of the person you wish to contact.
You may not have really thought about it yet, but as one of our affiliates, you and we are partners. Therefore, you need to think of SFI products as YOUR products. And you need to think of TripleClicks.com as YOUR store.
Because it is your store, there are some rules you'll want to start following. Number one, when you buy products and services for yourself or others, you always want to shop your own store (TripleClicks) first.
If you owned a bakery, you wouldn't be buying cinnamon rolls from the bakery down the street. If you owned an office supplies store, you wouldn't drive to a competitor's store to buy a stapler or paperclips.
It's the exact same thing as an SFI affiliate, especially when it comes to products you're ALREADY buying. Your store (TripleClicks.com) probably carries many products and/or services that you ALREADY purchase from a local store or other service provider. Why not transfer those purchases...to YOUR store?
Remember, we're not talking about spending extra money, just changing from where you're buying.
So what's in it for you? What benefit do you get out of buying from your own store? For starters, your purchases at TripleClicks earn you valuable VersaPoints, which you can parlay into numerous benefits and increased earnings.
But it's goes much further than that. The fact is, SFI's success—and your success as an SFI affiliate—is tied directly to the success of TripleClicks (TC). The more successful TC is, the more successful SFI's affiliates will be.
A popular and successful TC means:
And if all of the above wasn't enough, we also have our TC Booster Club. By becoming a member of the TC Booster club, you also get:
Becoming a TC Booster Club member is quick and easy too. Just agree to four simple pledges and you're in! Join TC Booster Club HERE.
One of the really cool things about SFI is our profit-sharing programs. And when you're one of the fastest growing companies of its kind in the world–as SFI is–profit sharing can be very exciting.
How fast? Here are the latest stats from our Global Growth Report:
• Yesterday's enrollments: 993
• Month-to-date enrollments: 2795
• Today's enrollments: Click HERE for up-to-the-minute stats for today
And here's the best news. Starting right now, THIS month, you can be tapping into our growth...in up to THREE different ways:
1. Achieve a minimum of 1,500 VersaPoints in your first 15 days in SFI and you'll be awarded a valuable allotment of Co-Sponsorship Affiliates (see the "Pending" enrollments in the Global Growth Report). As an affiliate's Co-Sponsor, you can immediately begin earning up to 24% CV commissions on all their purchases (plus an additional 4% to 8% on all their sales)! This benefit can also continue monthly! Learn more here.
2. Hundreds of additional Co-Sponsorship Affiliates are awarded each month to the top 300 VersaPoints scorers. Just make the top 300 and you'll automatically receive a portion! Plus, you'll also be entered in our monthly drawing to win thousands of dollars in cash and prizes (receive one entry for every 100 VersaPoints you score)! Learn more here.
3. Every day, SFI's EyeEarn program generates HUNDREDS of new SFI affiliates and TripleClicks members and awards them to participating affiliates. To begin receiving a share of these valuable, business-boosting signups every month, just order an EyeEarn Starter Kit and activate your EyeEarn account. Learn more here.
As you become more and more proficient at attracting and sponsoring new affiliates, it's important that you understand this:
It's a numbers game.
What do we mean by that? Think of your SFI business as a big funnel. In the big end of the funnel you're putting in new affiliates that you've sponsored.
Many will, unfortunately, turn out to be "tire-kickers" or people looking for something for nothing. That's OK! There are millions of them in the world and if you're out there advertising, you're going to attract your share. Just accept that and don't let it bother you.
What comes out of the small end of your funnel, however, are the people that "get" SFI, that see the big picture and want to participate seriously.
These are your future leaders and it is through these "go-getters" that you can earn significant income. This is, of course, because SFI pays hefty overrides (Leveraged Income) to you on the activity of those affiliates you have personally sponsored.
But what's REALLY amazing is how few of these go-getters you actually need! Check this out:
Can you personally develop just ONE new Executive Affiliate (EA) a week and teach JUST TWO OTHERS to do the same? (Remember, there are DOZENS of methods to sponsor affiliates). If you can, after just one year you could be earning at least $600 a month ($7,200 a year). And after just two years, you could be earning over $1,200 a month ($14,400 a year).
Even if you can develop only ONE new EA a month and have just 10 others in your group doing the same, you can build a nice part-time income of over $200 per month after just a year.
Of course, you can earn MUCH, MUCH MORE, as the above numbers don't even include any Customer Commissions or other bonuses you can earn. And, of course, you and/or the affiliates in your group may be capable of developing many more EAs.
But that's the beauty of your new SFI business. There are no ceilings. You can earn a little spending cash or you can earn the kind of money that would make your doctor or dentist envious.
Best of all, you can do it completely from home, working only the hours you want. No commute. No suit. And YOU are the boss.
In your 3rd LaunchPad, we discussed Leveraged Income, and how it is one of the secrets of building wealth.
Well, here's a secret about that secret! Leveraged Income is a whole lot easier to build if you have open and easy communication channels.
Why? For starters, communication from you to your affiliates is a big part of how you duplicate yourself. In case you're not clear about this term yet, here's what we mean by duplication:
It doesn’t matter how intelligent, rich, energetic, or dynamic you are—we are all limited to the same 24 hours a day. By sponsoring other affiliates, however, you can overcome this limitation. By sponsoring, you can essentially clone yourself and have dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people all working indirectly on your behalf on their time—and receive a percentage of everything they earn!
Sponsoring affiliates also builds security for your business. Why? In most traditional businesses, what happens if you become ill or disabled and are unable to service your customers? Or perhaps you just want to take a vacation. Whatever the case, you could lose most, if not all, of your income overnight because it relies on your being there. That’s not owning your own life, and that’s certainly not financial freedom!
Through the process of sponsoring affiliates, however, you can create total financial freedom for yourself. When you've sponsored your own team of independent business people, you no longer have all your eggs in one basket. On the contrary, because each person on your team has a vested interest in continuing and building his or her own businesses, you create an income that is not dependent upon you—an income that can continue, even grow, indefinitely, with or WITHOUT you!
So what's all this have to do with COMMUNICATION?
It's simple. It's through communication that you can teach your affiliates how to succeed in SFI (i.e. duplication). And it's through communication that you'll build relationships with your affiliates—which is very, very important.
Think about it. Do YOU want to make money for someone who offers no support or assistance? Of course not. It's the same thing with the affiliates you sponsor. If they feel you do not care about them, they will not want to build their businesses because they will not want to see their hard work benefiting some stranger they never hear from.
Now, you may be new to business. You may feel you have nothing to offer in the way of training. That's OK, you can learn and grow into the leader role over time. And, after all, all the training your affiliates need is at the SFI Affiliate Center.
But what you must never do is allow your affiliates to think their sponsor (you) is uncaring. If you do that, if you do not communicate with your affiliates, success will be a hundred times harder to attain.
OK, so HOW do you communicate with your affiliates? How do you make sure they know you are out there and available to assist them?
Very easily.
First of all, you need to set up a Greeting for your affiliates HERE:
Once you've set this up, all of your new affiliates, upon logging in at the SFI Affiliate Center for the first time, will see an alert that you've left them a message. By clicking on this alert, they'll then be able to read your message. This is an easy, automatic way to get off to a great start in building relationships with your affiliates.
Next, you'll want to develop some form of regular outgoing communications. We recommend a weekly or bi-weekly e-mail. For much more on this, refer to this special column by SFI founder, Gery Carson.
And we've made doing group mailings very easy. Provided you accumulate a minimum of 1,500 VersaPoints monthly, you can send e-mails to your entire group with just a couple clicks...and completely free of cost. You don't have to maintain any mailing lists or worry about bad e-mail addresses or anything. You just select the group from your Genealogy you want your message to go to, enter your message, and click on "send." It's that easy.
You can also go to the PSA Mailer Web page, enter your message and hit submit to send a message to all of your PSAs (personally sponsored affiliates). Plus, provided you haven't already earned it for the week, you'll also earn 30 VersaPoints! There's no need to go to the genealogy or select a segment of your group. And there's no need to worry about messages going to bad e-mail addresses or opted-out affiliates as these are automatically filtered out for you. Messages are sent to both the PSA's registered e-mail address AND to the PSA's "Team Mail" inbox at the SFI Affiliate Center. There's also no rank or points requirements to use the PSA Mailer.
Now, the above are all PROACTIVE communications. But you also need to make sure you're being responsive when your affiliates contact you. Various e-mails that we send to your affiliates, as well as several places at the SFI Affiliate Center, all refer your affiliates to you, their sponsor. When they contact you, be sure you respond in a timely manner.
Tip: You may get asked questions you don't know the answer to. Don't sweat it. Just be honest. Tell them you don't know the answer. but you will try to help them find it; then do it. Whatever you do, don't just tell them to go to the Affiliate Center and find it themselves. That's a guaranteed way to destroy the relationship.
One last tip: Most SFI Sponsors and Team Leaders LOVE to hear from their affiliates. It lets them know who's active. Don't wait until you have a question...send them a message today and introduce yourself. Let them know what your goals are for your business. You might be pleasantly surprised by what comes back!
There's a LOT to love about doing business over the Internet. It's fast, global, inexpensive, and very efficient. But one of the big negatives is that it's also highly impersonal.
When you're dealing with people halfway across the world, via computers, there's not a lot that can be done to make it overly personal, but there are a few things that you can and should do:
1. In yesterday's LaunchPad, we talked about how important regular communication with your affiliates is. Allow us to add today that the more personalized you can make those communications, the better. Nothing beats one-to-one communication. And don't limit yourself to just e-mails. Get on the phone or Skype, too, if you can. You can also try instant messaging (IM contact information is available by clicking on the small yellow "bubble" located in the far right column of your Genealogy report). You might be amazed with the positive impact a little personal interaction can have on duplication in your group.
2. Over on the right there's an image. Is it your smiling face or is it just a placeholder that says "No Photo Available?"
If it's your photo, you are to be commended for getting your photo in place already.
But if it's the dreaded placeholder, you definitely have an item on your to-do list to take care of. That is, you need to get a photo of yourself uploaded...as soon as possible! We'll even award you 30 VersaPoints for doing so! NOTE: For helpful tips on uploading your photo, see this article.
Why? Adding your photo is one of the easiest and simplest ways to add personalization and let your affiliates know their sponsor is a real, live person, not just a name and number on a computer screen.
You remember that Affiliate Greeting we told you how to set up in yesterday's LaunchPad? Well, when your new affiliates go to view your greeting, if you have your photo uploaded, it will accompany your greeting.
Surely, you can see how a personal greeting, accompanied by your smiling face, can make a great impression.
There are also other places at the Affiliate Center where photos are included, such as on leaderboards and whenever you use Team Mail to send messages to your upline or downline members. In all cases, having your photo in place adds professionalism and personalization…which will help you maximize your SFI income.
If you haven't already done so…
"How much can I make?" This is a common question when someone joins SFI, and a fair question as well. After all, you wouldn't take a job without first finding out how much you'd be paid, right?
So how much CAN you make as an SFI affiliate?
According to Entrepreneur magazine, the average home-based business household earns $50,250 a year. And about 20% of all home-business households earn in excess of $75,000 a year. And in some countries (such as the United States) there are the tax benefits, too; even if your home business isn’t generating a profit yet, it can put $5,000 or more into your pocket through tax write-offs (check with your accountant).
Speaking of entrepreneurs, this is an area where you truly must think like an entrepreneur and not like an employee.
In short, you’ll get out of SFI what you put into it. It works...if you do. But that’s the beauty of it, too; you are in control – it’s up to you how far you take it. And don’t forget, SFI offers the opportunity to earn residual income. This basically means that for the work you do today, you have the potential to earn money not only for today but also for years to come.
Do you know what happens when you double a penny (one cent) every day for a month? At the 15-day mark, it’s grown to only $163.84. But by the 30th day, it’s mushroomed to OVER 5 MILLION dollars!
As we've discussed in previous editions of LaunchPad, this “leveraging” or duplication effect is one of the most exciting ingredients of SFI. Indeed, its power cannot be underestimated.
Imagine that you’ve just sponsored an SFI affiliate in the United States by the name of John. John sponsors a friend in Brazil by the name of Maria. Maria soon sponsors Gustava from Sweden. Through Gustava's efforts, a Korean, Hae-Won, joins SFI.
By just sponsoring one person, you’ve set into motion a chain of events that now has affiliates working indirectly on your behalf across the globe! And every person (John, Maria, Gustava, and Hae-Won) can add to your commission check!
This is just one very small example of duplication and global networking in action. And it's happening every hour of every day at SFI. Study our Global Growth Report and you'll see this exactly.
So...do you think you could find one good person each month to join SFI? Just one person a month who might be interested in financial freedom, more leisure time, more security, and more happiness?
Do you think you can teach that one person a month to do what you do? If you can, you can become wildly successful in SFI!
Note: For some specific earnings examples, see LaunchPad 16.
We're 20 days in now and we've covered a lot of great information for how to get your SFI business off to a successful and profitable start.
Today, we want to tell you about two more SFI sites you're going to want to be visiting regularly (if you're not already).
1. SFI NEWS
This vital SFI site is updated nearly every day. It features the latest SFI news, announcements, and special alerts you need to stay on top of.
SFI NEWS is located at: http://news.sfimg.com
You may want to bookmark this page. Better yet, go to SFI NEWS and subscribe to the RSS feed so you automatically receive each new news entry. We strongly recommend this!
Other great features of SFI NEWS include:
- You can comment directly on any news item and receive timely feedback from SFI staff.
- You can rate articles and even pull up the highest rated articles (see Stats in sidebar).
- All articles are categorized. Example: Want to read all the news about EyeEarn? Just click on the EyeEarn category and you'll be presented with just the EyeEarn news.
- All news is automatically archived so that you can easily review past news articles.
- A search feature allows you to quickly and easily search all articles containing just the keywords you're looking for.
- Language translation for 41 languages.
By the way, another way to automatically get alerted of SFI news is by following SFI on Twitter, and you'll even earn 30 VersaPoints for doing so! Learn more HERE.
2. SFI POWER TIPS
SFI Power Tips features business-building tips and ideas, exclusive articles and training, Q&As, and more to help you maximize your income in SFI.
Like SFI NEWS, we are continually publishing valuable tips and training information to ensure your business success. If you're not checking out SFI Power Tips at least every other day, you're operating with one arm (or more) tied behind your back!
The best way to receive Power Tips is to subscribe to the RSS feed so you automatically receive each new entry as they are published.
SFI Power Tips is located at: http://tips.sfimg.com/
And, yes, all six of the features (comments, archives, searching, etc.) mentioned above for SFI NEWS also apply to Power Tips!
Special note: To help ensure you don't miss them, the five latest news entries and the five latest Power Tips are also featured on your Alerts Page when you log in at the SFI Affiliate Center.
At SFI, we strongly believe in making sure our affiliates have the training and information needed to build profitable businesses—after all, we succeed only when you do!
That's why we've packed the Training Library at the SFI Affiliate Center with tons of helpful articles, tutorials, and how-tos covering a wide variety of business topics. To access the Training Library, go to:
www.sfimg.com/Training/showIndex.sfi
Here, you'll find links to exclusive, in-depth advice, tips, tutorials, and more for every aspect of your SFI business. We've also collected for you expert articles and reports from around the Internet...and much more!
Of course, there's too much information in the Training Library to try and tackle in one or two days. That's why pacing yourself in the "getting started" phase of your business is SO important. Just make a commitment to read one or two articles a day. Within a month, you'll be an SFI expert! And always remember this: Readers are leaders!
Speaking of becoming a leader, one of the real gems in our Training Library is our exclusive INTERNET INCOME COURSE.
When you're new to operating an Internet business, it's natural to take one look at the Web and become overwhelmed. So many sites! So many options! Do you go for pay-per-click advertising? Online classified ad sites? Banner exchanges? Should you get a Website of your own? How? Where? The questions are endless—and it's easy to understand how new SFI affiliates can become paralyzed by "information overload."
This is where SFI's INTERNET INCOME COURSE comes in. Designed specifically for the Internet business novice, this ongoing training series by George Little will take you—step by step—through the complex world of online marketing in plain language that's easy to understand.
You can access the entire series of lessons at:
www.sfimg.com/Training/InternetIncome.sfi
Note! Take your time going through the lessons! The Internet Income Course has been written over several years and there is a substantial amount of information here to digest. We recommend you bookmark the page now, and set a goal to read just one or two lessons a day. By the way, a new course is posted each month or so, so check back regularly.
By now, you probably know that Gery is Gery Carson, the president and founder of SFI.
From 1985 to 1998, Gery was a top marketer and record-breaking distributor for several direct sales companies and a successful business magazine publisher. Known for his innovation, Gery has been a pioneering force in the direct mail and Internet marketing industries for nearly 25 years.
His achievements as an entrepreneur have been spotlighted in "Money Maker's Monthly," "Upline," "Opportunity World Magazine," and in numerous books and videos. National recognition has also included being named to 1992's Outstanding Young Men of America list and 1997's Who's Who in the Media and Communications.
And since 1998, Gery has, of course, been leading SFI's rise to becoming one of the fastest growing companies of its kind in the world today.
That's a LOT of years of success and experience! Luckily for SFI affiliates, Gery is one of the most accessible company presidents you'll ever find. Gery is always actively communicating and interacting with the field. He is also continually sharing his substantial knowledge of marketing and business.
Some of Gery's most valuable advice has been compiled for you in our "Ask Gery" section of the SFI Training Library. Some of the topics include:
• Where to advertise for good results
• Can I get a new Sponsor?
• How to write e-mails that create EAs
• What's better...selling lots of SFI products or recruiting lots of affiliates?
For the complete Ask Gery index, go HERE.
The SFI Forum also has its own "Ask Gery" forum which allows you to post questions and get answers directly from Gery, oftentimes within hours. Check out "Ask Gery" at the SFI Forum HERE.
You'll also be interested to know that Gery personally reads every suggestion submitted through the official SFI Suggestion Box.
Says Gery: "LISTENING to the field is a HUGE reason for SFI's success and continual innovation and progress. No matter how long you've been in business, you never have ALL the answers. Our affiliates provide new and fresh perspectives that allow them to offer excellent solutions and ideas. And we are VERY aggressive in implementing the suggestions we receive. We have undoubtably incorporated hundreds and hundreds of suggestions we've received from the field over the years, and will continue to use this enormously valuable asset for everyone's mutual benefit."
In other words, if you have ideas for improving SFI, you have a direct line to Gery via the SFI Suggestion Box and we STRONGLY encourage you to use it.
Today, we want to introduce you to yet another powerful resource available to you as an SFI affiliate–the SFI Forum.
The SFI Forum, located at the Affiliate Center (www.sfimg.com/forum.sfi), was developed especially for SFI affiliates who want to take responsibility for their businesses and want to learn and share with others in a positive, empowering manner.
With more than 10,000 members, the SFI Forum can be described as a virtual classroom with thousands of teachers and students.
At the Forum you can:
- Brainstorm with your fellow SFI affiliates.
- Get your questions answered 24-hours a day.
- Discuss business strategies and ideas.
- Find a mentor.
- Help other affiliates.
- Share concerns.
- Contribute feedback.
- Learn about exciting new corporate developments.
- Search, using keywords, to find information on almost anything related to SFI.
The forum is staffed by experienced affiliates who have volunteered to share their time and knowledge by serving as moderators. SFI corporate staff also personally stop by the forum regularly to add our perspectives and clarifications to the discussions.
The SFI Forum is currently divided into several individual sub-forums covering everything from the compensation plan to marketing methods to personal Website development. As mentioned in yesterday's LaunchPad, there's also an "Ask Gery" forum which allows you to post questions directly to SFI president and founder, Gery Carson. There's also an "Inspiration/Testimonials" forum, exclusively for sharing inspiring messages and testimonials.
All together, there is a forum for just about any topic an affiliate would want to discuss!
It's true that success does not happen overnight but GRADUALLY through persistence and education. The SFI Forum is a perfect place to get that education, encouragement, and inspiration to help you make your SFI business into whatever you want it to become.
Be sure to stop by the SFI Forum frequently. You can access the forum via Hot Spots in the main menu bar at the Affiliate Center. Or, just bookmark the forum for your convenience:
Through a2a, you can search, browse, and exchange messages with ANY SFI affiliate! Messages are sent through SFI's internal mail servers and are accessed at the SFI Affiliate Center when you log in.
a2a allows you to identify SFI affiliates in your own country, state/province, or city; or search by gender, age, join date, common goals, and more...or any combination!
You can also create "buddy lists," brainstorm, share tips, discuss SFI news, and more.
One of the most valuable attributes of a2a is what it provides in LOCALIZED assistance. For example, by contacting other SFI affiliates in your area, you can learn about the best marketing methods and strategies for your region of the world.
Here's another great way to use a2a: Contact local affiliates in your area and form local SFI support groups and organize local get-togethers.
But don't stop there. With a2a's powerful search capabilities, you can find affiliates just like you to interact with. For example, let's say you're a 35-year-old female who lives in London, England. Let's also say you joined SFI three months ago. With a few clicks and a quick search, you can locate other SFI affiliates of your same age, gender, and location who started in SFI the same time as you did! Very cool!
To get started, simply register as an a2a member at www.sfimg.com/a2a/a2aHome.sfi. Once you're registered, you can immediately start browsing the a2a roster, exchanging messages, and more. You'll also receive 50 VersaPoints for registering!
By the way, the more a2a members we have, the more valuable a2a becomes, so be sure to encourage all your affiliates to get registered with a2a.
Today we want to go over one of SFI's coolest little marketing tools...E-CARDS.
SFI's E-Cards are:
- 100% FREE!
- Simple and easy to use!
- You can get almost immediate results!
Basically, E-Cards is a program for sending full-color digital postcards to friends and family. There are many designs to choose from. There are cards promoting the SFI business opportunity and there are cards promoting various SFI products.
After choosing a design, you can then add your own personal message. It will also automatically insert a link to the appropriate SFI Gateway Website (so that you are credited with the referral). Click send, and your postcard is sent!
By the way, if you're not sure what would be effective for your personal message...we have provided sample messages from which you can get ideas or simply copy into your E-Card.
Using E-Cards also means that SFI will do the "heavy lifting" (the selling) for you. There's no need to know every little detail about SFI or the product you're letting your recipients know about. Simply choose a card, add a short friendly little message, and send it. The full-color card and the Gateway URL included with it can take it from there!
Now, we realize that many people shy away from promoting SFI to their friends and family. Some people are simply uncomfortable presenting a business opportunity to a friend or family member. Others may not know what to say...or fear being rejected.
But here's how you need to look at it: If you found a gold mine that contained more gold than you could ever use yourself, who would you tell about it? We're betting that it would be your closest friends and family members. Same thing with SFI. SFI is just like that goldmine, and possibly with even greater potential.
Not only that but we also specifically designed E-Cards with "just the right touch" for friends and family.
For starters, we've "kept it light." That is, the cards that promote the SFI business opportunity are very friendly and/or use a bit of humor. And if you'd rather not promote the business opportunity at all, we've got you covered there, too, with a variety of cards that focus totally on products.
Here's another cool component of E-Cards: When there is an exciting new development in SFI, we'll make a new E-Card available. And each time you can send out a new round of friendly little announcement cards to your list. No need to twist arms or get in anyone's face with "high pressure." You're simply letting them know about the latest development pertaining to your business with a brief and friendly electronic postcard.
And always remember, a huge component of successful prospecting is TIMING. For example, maybe the SFI business opportunity isn't right for your friend or family member today, but people's lives are constantly changing. In three months, or six months, or a year, they may be more than open to hearing about the opportunity—especially if you've sent them an E-Card several months in a row, which has quietly provided evidence that SFI is a real opportunity.
Just grab the e-mail addresses of your friends and family and start sending out E-Cards. It's simple. It's easy. It's free. And ANYONE can do it! You can start sending out E-Cards now at:
http://www.sfimg.com/MarketingAids/E-Cards.sfi
Please note that E-Cards may be sent ONLY to friends and family members. To prevent abuse, there is also a limit of 10 E-Cards that can be sent per day.