Finding People to Support

This post is about mindset.  The home-based business industry typically has used the words recruit, enroll, sponsor, get sign-ups... to define the activity of business building.

I want to tweak this just a bit.  There is more to the proposition beyond the next silver ball being loaded - and then flung up to the top of the pin ball machine and left to bounce around - and then needing to be whacked to keep it in play.

When we "find people to support", the idea from the outset is that we need to understand how the person we are talking to.  Our orientation has to be how we can help someone.  In some cases, this will mean that we "turn down" people if we do not think they have a likelihood of success.

This comes down to our assessments of people as potential business partners.  Have they taken the time to understand what we do?  Do they have the ability to articulate our business philosophy of learning and teaching?  Have they, in some manner, stated that they "get" that their life will inherently change and - by definition - be different?  Are they willing to commit to this change?

These are the people we want to find to support.  You will know you have a solid, long-term business when you are able to discriminate between who is worth investing your time in, who you are willing to take a chance on, and helping those you do not think there is a good match - understand why that is.

We do not want to "recruit people and see who sticks".  You need to decide, as a business owner, that people are worthy of the investment of your time.  The people we support need to demonstrate growth and learning.  They need to communicate and be curious about "what's next"?  If you are truly in business with someone, you will have a relationship with them and help them to incrementally become more competent.  This takes regular contact and communication to build skills and habits.

So, BEFORE someone enrolls in this enterprise, you need to make some assessments.  Do all you can to get to know people and ask some relevant questions regarding their need for change and what they are willing to commit to - to make it happen.

Set the expectation early that you will be an accountability partner and that they understand that no business builds itself.  This is another way of saying that their effort is an expectation.  Don't allow people to sell themselves short by being paralyzed by not knowing what to do.  If they do not come up with things to do - tell them what to do, until they "get it".  They will get it when they see returns from their effort.

This is a serious, life-changing proposition.  Treat is as such.  Procrastination is not an option.

First Complement - Second Replace - Then Retire

In general, I hesitate in talking too extensively about money. Although any business success  is ultimately "measured" by profitability, the money is the end and not the means... and without the means - talking about the end is simply a pipe dream.  This having been said, there is a path to retirement with our business.  The intent here is to share what this looks like.

The first goal is the first sale.  It all begins here.  We need to attract just one person who is interested and believes in what we do.  This breaking-of-the-ice (and breaking even) is all important and will establish the first bit of conviction that what we do is viable and do-able - for you.

Being realistic, we then need to learn how to grow.  As you grow, you can reach more things higher and higher on the learning tree and make connections between people and concepts.  During this time, you complement your income.  At first, it feels like tidbits and the return is not worth the investment.  This is how it is for almost everyone. Things do not happen overnight for most people. You need to be prepared for this.

However, once you create momentum, compared to most businesses, replacing your income can happen relatively quickly.  As an example, to replace a $60,000 income requires earning $5,000 a month.  Given how our business leverages people and money, this requires a group of 28 people who are investing at $175 a month.  This does not mean you need to find 28 people personally, but your group needs to be at 28 or 29 people. Typically, this would mean that you personally support 8-12 people.

"Relatively quickly" will vary for everyone.  One a month will get you to 12 in a year.  There are many examples of people getting to this level much more quickly.  How quickly you grow really depends on your ability to help and develop your people.  We encourage you to "go to school" on this.  During the first year, look at $175 a month as a tuition payment as you learn to earn.  By any objective standard, the "potential" of being able to consider retirement within a year is sobering. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to decide if this makes sense to you, and then, make it happen.

What will you need to retire?  For most people at the most fundamental level, this means meeting all of your bills and covering your own health insurance and taxes,   Very obviously, this is different for everyone, but again you now know the metrics of what it takes to get to $60K.

We leverage money through leveraging human development..  It is a wealth-building strategy that embraces peoples' competence as the key driver of success.  We are community -  culturally defined - as learners and teachers who are committed to ensuring each other's success.

If you can come to understand and trust that at our core, this is what drives us, you can and will represent us with the pride in  knowing what we do is a socially redeemable enterprise.

Money is a By-Product of Service and Value

Having been in or around the online money-making industry since the beginning of the internet, I have seen things come and go.  I am or have been on the email lists of many, many "gurus" who have marketed the latest and greatest systems, strategies and formulas.

I have been exposed to and evaluated "money-making opportunities" that are every color of the rainbow, at investment levels from 5 cents to $52,000.  Systems that use phone broadcasting, to postcards, to auto-posting to social media, local guerilla marketing, email autoresponders and capture pages.  And this is just the tip of the possibilities  Frankly, all of these have their place (and) are a fit for some but not for others - based on your background and experience.

To put it like my father would have said it, there are more ways to make money than "you can shake a stick at".  The corollary to this is that there is an equal number of people willing to impart advice on how to go about it.  Frankly, I am just one of these people.

The common theme of all successful internet entrepreneurs / digital marketers is a point that I make in many other posts on this blog.  Money is a By-Product of Service and Value.  What this means is practical terms is that "success/money" is driven by supporting peoples' learning curves to competence.  It follows that you need to have the knowledge and skills to impart.

The amount of money you will earn will grow incrementally with the level of service and value you provide.  This is a direct correlation.  This is an irrefutable "law" of online marketing. No skills and no value - beget no money.  Therefore, your "job" is to increase your skills and value so you can be of higher and higher levels of service to those you directly support and the internet marketing community in general.

This is the reality, and how it should be. I hope you appreciate the candor.

The Seven Social Sins

At the end of the day, among all the ways we define ourselves, we are a social business. When I came across The Seven Social Sins, it was an "ah-ha" moment because these encapsulate so much of the Working Poor No More philosophy and what we strive to communicate to people in the process of evaluating whether to join us.

The Seven Social Sins are:

• Wealth without work.

• Pleasure without conscience.

• Knowledge without character.

• Commerce without morality.

• Science without humanity.

• Worship without sacrifice.

• Politics without principle.

These represent our core values in regard to wealth, knowledge and commerce.  Of course, the rest are all good ponder fodder.  If you delve at any depth into this blog, you will find that wealth requires work, especially when like most of us, we start from nothing and incrementally build a business and better life.

Commerce without morality is a key differentiator in our marketing community.  You will find that truth and honesty drive every conversation to the point of discouraging people to join us if they can not commit to the change required in regard to fundamental lifestyle choices.

Hours need to be invested to build a business.  People having the ability to negotiate the transition from old habits to new habits will succeed.  Those who have the inability to focus and commit, less so.  And, although not a sin, the 8th might be:  "Success without change"... is simply an enduring principle that needs to be understood and embraced.  You will not and can not be the same person if you create success with us.  You need to understand this principle.  Your life need and ought to be different in terms of the choices of how you utilize and invest minutes and hours of your day(s),

Moral Authority

Isn't it interesting that a topic like Moral Authority is relevant in today's business environment, especially in the "home business" arena?  I have thought about this topic for quite some time and reflected on my life experience to illustrate something that I hope will be beneficial.

When my kids were in Junior High, I started asking the same question in a couple of different ways. The first was, "How are you going to distinguish yourself as you get older?"  The second was, "What makes you exceptional?"

I was trying to impress upon them that they need to stand for something.  I wanted to convey that someone trusting you - implicitly -  is the highest compliment and honor you can ever receive.  There is a great deal more that I tried to do in helping (them) form their character, but you get the idea... So, this is a nice tidbit of family nostalgia... but what does it have to do with business and the subject of Moral Authority?

Moral Authority has everything to do with perceptions we create.  We are in the business of managing perceptions and (to a degree) need to control what conclusions people draw about what we say and do.  This is accomplished pretty easily if we simply choose to not over-inflate nor over-simplify.  Moral authority is earned based upon consistent truthfulness and how we posture what we do.

This is why we lead with statements like, "Not everyone can do this... and, not everyone will be successful."  We talk about needing to learn things and how difficult it is to integrate change into your life.  We talk about competence and being worthy of being followed.

As such,  the people we attract to our business need to know that our motives are genuine and we have their best interest at heart.  When we say "we help people" they need to feel it, not just hear the words.  We need to demonstrate through the investment of time - teaching and helping people - that our actions align with our words.

In this context, our mission in attracting people to our community is pretty simple.  And, moral authority must be at the foundation.  If people do not trust us, they will not do business with us.  Therefore, talking about the negatives is as equally as important as the positives.

This is just one more way we distinguish ourselves.

A Viable Means to Complement Treadmill Income

We try very hard to not over-inflate what we do and stay firmly grounded in the practical and reasonable.  Our "appeal" is to anyone wanting or needing to stabilize their finances as a springboard to higher and higher levels of prosperity.  However, if you spend any time learning about our philosophy of doing business, this pre-supposes a lot.

We strive to be perceived as calm and rational, and as the title states... to simply posture ourselves as a viable alternative in the total universe of money-making opportunities.  Our goal is not to appeal to everyone, but to appeal to people who will invest the time necessary to understand, on a very pragmatic level, "why" we are a special organization to be a part of.

The title also mentions treadmill income.  This infers that most people who will find what we do appealing - are looking to elevate themselves beyond their frustration with a life of squeaking by and barely "making it".  People who go to a job every day, get a paycheck, meet their bills and then have little or nothing left to enjoy (or) have any quality of life.

What we offer does represent (one) viable means to complement treadmill income.  As an initial step, we simply encourage people to learn about who we are, what we do, and how we do it.

That's it.  Simple.  Rationale.  If it is for you:  you decide.  Our job is simply to convey the information.