The Agreement Seekers Blog

There is a pretty well-known leadership training exercise named, "Epitaph".  It focuses on what you would want to be inscribed on your tombstone.  It uncovers the legacy you leave to the world that constitutes the fruits of your labor and leadership? This is a forward-looking, yet retrospective exercise about the meaning of your life.  Again, what will you have left to the world?  How will you be thought of when you are gone?  How many people will come to your funeral?  Will you be missed, and why? Now, rewind the reel of this future movie to the present.  What are you doing to fashion and groom your Epitaph?  What choices are you making now?  Right now, this very minute you are choosing to read this, however when you get to the end of this post, then what? Being conscious and fully engaged "in the moment" is the subject of many Existential Philosophers.  Have you thought about the meaning you bring to others' lives?  What can you do to have an impact?  Or, are

 A big part of what determines our success is our ability to influence others.  The way we position ourselves in the vast ocean of "opportunities" to make money is central to how we are perceived. This positioning has a direct bearing on our ability to influence and be trusted. So, what is this positioning?  It is many things, however, it starts with education that is honest and reliable in terms of explaining the unvarnished truth about "what it takes" to be successful in managing a home business.  Then, mentorship and a long-term frame of reference have to be near the top of the list.  Lifestyle adaptation and time management.  And, so much more that is talked about in this Community. Most think of "influencers" as people with huge audiences (email lists or social platform followers) who in turn (given their mass exposure) have the ability to have an influence on this audience.  You have the opportunity (and challenge) to do the same - and at the same ti

 I have had some interesting exchanges recently with a reasonably well-known CEO of a family of eLearning/Income platforms.  The business model of most of his platforms involves some form of monthly residual income.  This is the same space in which we dwell.  As such, I have no issue with the overall business model. However, if you are paying (pick a number) $100 a month on a subscription basis, then what are you really paying for?  In some comp plans, a certain percentage goes to the company as an Admin Fee (say 20%), or in this case, $20.  In some cases, there is no Admin Fee and the entire $100 goes to the person who enrolled you. This begs a question, "What are you paying for?"  Are you paying for a ticket to the money mechanics, the back office of the platform, and all of the tracking of people and payments?  The obvious answer is YES, you are.  But it begs a second question:  "Are you paying for support and mentorship?" In other words, what is the person on th

All three of the items in the title of this post are related, with nuanced differences.  The first two are both leverage components.  An upsell is basically a disguised value ladder.  Let me explain. At the highest level of marketing, a value ladder is fully explained as part of a strategy.  It starts with an introductory offer of (typically) anywhere from $9.97 to $49.97 and is a part of a fully transparent strategy that tells a prospective participant the "goal" is to leverage into higher-level (price and value) products.  Value Ladders are a way to maximize the lifetime earnings from a single customer by increasing the monetary investment, typically over time, and (perhaps) out of earnings. Upsells, on the other hand, promise "the world" in an initial offer and then on the bridge page (sometimes referred to as thank you page) give you the infomercial equivalent of "but wait... if you act now... never to be seen again at this price" pitch.  To me, this i

Everyone has heard the advice, "go to school, get a good job with benefits, contribute to your retirement", etc.  Going to school typically means getting an advanced degree in something, or going to a trade school to acquire the knowledge and skills be a ____________ (fill in the blank). Making money in any context starts with learning new things.  Money manifests when an effective effort is applied to acquiring new knowledge, which is then applied to the performance of new skills, which is then applied consistently over time to form new habits.  These new habits translate to income-producing behaviors - backed by a foundation of applied expertise.  This is how it works.  No short cuts.  It requires effort and stuffing new "stuff" in your noggin. When I was in college, introductory, freshman-level courses were two digits, typically starting with 80.  Then, progressively the deeper learning in a subject area (and as I progressed through my college years) the courses

We build people through enhancing their skills and knowledge acquisition.  We talk about personal branding.  We extol the establishment and nurturance of long-term business relationships and provide the tools to kick start this process.  We are not a biz-opp, sign-up-and-try-it operation.  In fact, the income platforms we use can come and go. The reality is this:  1) the more value you offer, 2) the more people you will attract, 3) the more people you attract, the more money you will make. The "moral of the story" of this post is this:  you need to build resources that build your personal brand as a professional coach and mentor.  Said differently, you need to posture yourself as someone worthy of following   This can't be done by posting links to biz op pages on Facebook, nor any other means of Social Media posting where you are being told to essentially "spam" your link. You can believe this, or fight it.  It is your choice.  Long-term success is conting

Every business has to have a product or service to be legal.  Simply trading and leveraging money for the purpose of trading and leveraging money is considered a scheme, typically preceded by the adjectives of Ponzi or pyramid. That said, one does not have to be in love with the associated product or service.  This gets a bit dicey to explain philosophically.  However, let me start here.  The goal of business is profitability.  Not every trinket trader is in love with all of the trinkets he imports from China.  He trades trinkets to make money.  It is a basis for commerce.  Anyone can think of 1000 examples. I know an Electrical Engineer who sits at his computer all day in a small office at a large corporation.  He does not like what he does.  However, he is paid well for what he does.  He derives income.  That is his only goal in spending eight hours of his life a day doing what he does. Frankly, at the end of the day, to me (ultimately) what we "sell", or the product

We build organizations.  The more people in your organization agreeing to financially participate in what we do... the more money you make.  This is your network.  You build a network, by networking... reaching out to people, exposing them to an idea and inviting them to evaluate and participate. Said differently, business size (in most cases) is directly correlated to the number of people in addition to the value each of these people represents.  Lower numbers mean lower income.  Higher numbers mean higher income.  As such, a $50 program has less yield than a $500 with the same number of people. However, our model starts people in low ticket programs ($100 and under) and then strategically "upgrade" to higher-level programs (or higher tiers within the same program). In any case, your net worth is ultimately your network of people who are fully competent and fully committed to a long-term business relationship with you.  Treat everyone like a lifelong business partner

The topic of money mechanics deals with how different compensation systems are structured (and) how you get paid for your participation and effort.  I deal with this subject in other posts, however, the important point to recognize is that not all compensation systems are created equal. In the Social Commerce/Networking space, some make sense and some don't. Obviously, one of the first variables to consider is how quickly you can get your money back on your initial investment.  Said differently, how soon can you break even?  How many customers or business partners will it take to recoup your money? Second, what is/are the investment levels?  Is there just one way to get started with just one amount of money?  Or, can you choose the level of investment based on your current means and risk tolerance?  I would submit that multiple options within the same program are preferable to a "my way or the highway" approach. Third, is it (reasonably) easy to understand?  Is i

In the early stages of mentorship, this is the most important question you can learn to ask: "when can we talk next?"  Initially, this should be every day.  Then, as things settle into place, you wean off of constant contact and then just check-in for support and metrics. Your job, as a sponsor/mentor, is to get the people you partner with up-and-running as quickly as possible.  Up and running with what, you ask?  There is a ton of things initially. Personal Resources (at minimum to get started) a Gmail account for your business that is used exclusively for business purposes a Gmail account that is set up as an autoresponse a personal "About Me" page Payment Processors (you need to have ways to get paid) PayPal Account Venmo Account Cashapp Account There are many others which are addressed in other places, these three are a good start. The "Getting to Know Each Other" tool we use a Google Form that is designed to bust through layers

I have written other posts about "the money being in your list".  This post is related.  I have argued that building a large list and monetizing that list is certainly one viable strategy, however not an easy one - both in terms of the resources required to make it happen (a capture page, autoresponder, etc.) AND the entire process to make it happen. Juxtaposed to this is a small list.  A group, if you will... of About 40 People.  Or, a tight-knit community of 40 who share common values, skills, goals... an interdependent, supportive, and cohesive structure all geared to each others' financial well-being.  Allow me to slice and dice this a few different ways. So, why 40?  To be clear, I am starting here explaining the "end state".  This is the place you work toward and where you "end up" after a year's effort.  (You can't blink this into existence). We use a progressive model that builds different income platforms.  The first starts at

First, let's talk about these words and their meaning and then apply them in terms of how they are related and work together. Aggregate means to collect, gather, or bring together.  We aggregate people and money. Leverage, in physics, involves a fulcrum and the length of a lever.   It involves creating a mechanical advantage.  Think of prying a rock out of the ground with a digging iron.  Here, the rock is a pool of money (or income).  The fulcrum is the platforms (the businesses) we utilize.  The long end of the lever is all the resources and credibility we apply working with the fulcrum in order to pry the rock (money) out of the ground. Residual Income is money that is created and recurs over time, typically monthly.  This is accomplished through various means.  Compensation models of the businesses we work with have residual income "built-in".  These vary.  The most stable is a monthly subscription, like any other subscription (a magazine, cable bill, gym member

Here is the truth:  making money through marketing an online business is neither easy nor simple.  If it were, everyone would be doing it and enjoying success.  Obviously, this is not the case.  The fact is that there are many components that need to be in place all acting together in an integrated fashion.  This is not to say that it can't all be laid out and explained.  It can.  However, one of the "tests" you should apply is running from anything that proclaims to be a "no brainer". Here's the truth:  you need to create resources that support your "ventures".  If wanting to create a long-term business, it is not as simple as joining something with a replicated website and promoting that link.  If you want a business with long-term legs, there are many more things that need to be in place.  However, let's just start with the first two: Here's what you will want to consider.  First, how will people get to know you?  You will need to es

There is an email in our system that talks about "having ways" to get paid.  In the first tier of our business model, we are in the direct-pay / instant-pay arena in terms of the vehicles we use to earn income. It (should) go without saying that in an online environment where commerce is taking place, you will need platforms to enable transactions.  In other words, you will need to set up relationships with payment platforms and link these platforms to your existing financial resources - .typically this is your bank account and your debit or credit card. Why?  You need to have ways for people to pay you.  The more payment platforms you are set up with, the more ease there will be in enabling people to "transact" with you. The most fundamental and universal of these is PayPal.  If you do not have a PayPal account, you will want to get one.  As well, PayPal owns Venmo.  You will want a Venmo account as well. CashApp, Facebook Pay, Google Pay are all free to se

Aggregate, accumulate, save, invest, build a nest egg... call it what you will, the "ways" to establish a pool of money are diverse.  So, let's talk about what we do and how it fits into this context of building your bank account. You are no doubt aware of the phrase that "it takes money to make money".  Here is the reality:  it does.  You need savings in a bank for it to gain interest.  You need a broker or brokerage account to put money into and hope stocks appreciate.  You need the funds to buy a fixer-upper to upgrade and then flip for a profit.  If you can think of a scenario where it does not take money to make money, I am curious to hear about it. Like all of these, our business requires an initial outlay of money.  This is based primarily on two factors.  Means (does someone have the money) and risk tolerance (how do they view potentially losing this amount of money?).  What we do is not traditional.  We aggregate people and their money into pools

Everything starts with making decisions.  And, (for our purposes) ends with money in your bank account, e.g. decisions to dollars. This assumes there is a sound decision-making structure to operate from.  You will find this information on a few other places on this blog:  Decisions are a function of information.  D=(f)i  Slow down and let that sink in if you have not pondered it before. So, what information do you (or someone you are wanting to attract) need to gather, evaluate and act upon in order to progress to the point of "getting started"? This breaks down into the two broad categories of affect and intellect.  In other words, how people feel and what they think. The biggest affective component is trust.  Are you being dealt with in an honest and fair manner (and) is your best interest is at heart?  Trust is (typically) built and earned over time, however in our business, we need to move people through "trust development" in a relatively accelerated wa

This post is intentionally short and sweet. The first $1000 you make is the hardest.  It is where most of the learning takes place.  However, understand the difference between learning and applying.  There is an important balance in terms of time invested. Nothing will happen in your business if people are not actively evaluating what you have to offer, measuring its utility/viability and making a decision to either buy from or join with you. Exposures of what you do, creating interest, educating, and forming lasting relationships are the fundamentals of a sustainable business.  The more people you form relationships with (customers and business partners) - the more money you make. Your first $1000 starts with your first sale.  If you do not have a strategy in place to be telling people about what you do and you can convey its value, you are not in business and you will make no money. Once that plan is in place and you are executing, then you just need to persevere and break

Social Commerce has an inherent problem of the blind leading the blind.  It is a function of people joining people who have "joined" and neither have a real clue of what to do - beyond making a list of 100 names.  The question is:  is this an industry issue, or an individual company issue? Well, you can't really control an entire industry.  Therefore, the answer has to lie in all of the individual companies whose model is basically to let people "wing it".  There is no structure, no planning, no accountability.  This is for daily activities, scheduled communication (check-ins), or any other form of "active" mentorship/sponsorship. For most, sponsorship ends when the transaction is complete.  It's simply a, "OK, I got mine.  Good luck in going to get your's" approach.  The contention of this post is that this is when the "relationship" should begin.  The issue is that there is no formal process (in most scenarios) to

Platform as a Product (PaaP) businesses have been around (in earnest) for at least a decade.  These businesses provide the system, processes, and administrative functionality to both market and track digital commerce.  Most require a one-time (or periodic) Administration Fee that is paid to the Platform owner.  As well, many now have peer-to-peer-based money-exchange models where funds (the commerce) is made on platforms such as Bitcoin, PayPal, Cash.app, Stripe, Googlepay, etc. Typically, these platforms have training information or service-based offers.  However, no matter "what" the offer is, all have a front-end marketing system (capture pages, autoresponders, sizzle calls, chatbots, etc.) and a back-end where "the business" is tracked and administered.  This marketing and administrative platform is the product.  It enables Social Commerce where people agree to participate in the exchange of money for mutual benefit by engaging with "the platform"

So... if everyone wants a map, is it the same map?  Does the same map get everyone to the same destination?  I don't think so. If you are talking a literal, conventional map with roads and streets... sure, the concept applies.  However, here, we are talking about a map to the "promised land" of success, profitability, leadership, etc.  As such, everyone has a different starting point and this is why we say, "we will work with you based on what you bring to the table".  In other words, we may know where we are going, but the route to get there has to be tailored and specific to an individual's starting point. This is based on current skills, amount of time, the amount of money, likes and dislikes, introversion versus extroversion... ultimately, what someone is "willing" to do.  But leave no doubt, "something" has to be done.  This is not an empty gesture. The "map" has to have directions.  On the first leg of the journey, y