Moral Health and Doing Things Right

It is really easy to say or claim anything.  This goes back to the idea of actions speaking louder than words.  If this is the case, then how do you know 1) that what you evaluate, and; 2) then choose to become involved with - has merit and conforms to "all that is good"?

The idea of "moral health" speaks to this.  It is a representation of a line in the sand.  It is a proclamation that doing something right - matters.  This includes when we are in the business of helping people make money, that we understand and take seriously that peoples' lives matter.  It encompasses the fundamental decency of not leading anyone down a path that leads to nowhere in the pursuit of a quick buck.

It holds true to the idea that we are attempting to build something that has permanence and in doing so will provide security to families - and in many cases have implications regarding altering the legacy of families for generations to come.

However, when we state that what we do can lead to "life-altering" outcomes, we have the responsibility to provide all of the variables that will support this taking place.  Some refer to this as "walking the talk".  In our case, it is about skills, competence, behaviors, habits...  It has everything to do with helping people understand that what we do is not a cake walk and that income is directly proportional to value offered (the value you offer). If you do not lead.  If you are not a positive role model in terms of habits and values... you should not expect to make any money in the home business/networking industry.

Therefore, I implore you to "do it right". At the end of the day, we learn and we teach.  Or more specifically, our job is to find people who are receptive to learning and then teaching them what we do.

There are core skills and tools that are shared by everyone in our Community.  You have to buy into the fact that we are guided by a moral compass and the true north on that compass is to do things right with competence and integrity for the long-term.

Empathy and Humility

I just want to make a quick point about being authentic.  In the past, I have written about leadership, integrity, honesty, character...  and their role in establishing and maintaining a successful home business.

I was a communication major in college.  In one of the classes I took, we made a deep dive into what "attitude" is.  At the end of the day, it is basically how you are wired (predisposed) to react to things.  Attitude comes from how you think based on the accumulated experiences of your life.  Then, when you react to something (anything) you express yourself verbally and non-verbally with your "attitude" toward.. whatever.

I have also written about the importance of relationships... and the real asset you build is not a bank account, but the friendships and loyalties you build that support that income.  Our business is all about people helping people and a creating culture and community where people feel included, appreciated, respected, valued... and their confidence is borne of competence and success.

All this being said, let me bring it back around to empathy and humility.  First, empathy is necessary to understand and accept people for where they are in terms of life experience and skills.  This is a very, very wide range of attitudes, behaviors, and skills.  Anyone does not automatically "click" with just anyone.  Therefore, (although I generally don't like the term) finding and grooming a group of "like-minded" people that results in a community that will support your income is not easy.  It takes effort and investment of time - specifically focused on engendering the values and norms that are manifest in a culture of success.  This has everything to do with assessing where people are and getting them on the same page with you... or singing off of the same sheet of music, so to speak.

Humility, on the other hand, is all about you.  Let me put it this way:  if you try to fake it... if you are not honest about who you are, where you've been... you will be revealed as being disingenuous (at best) and a liar (at worst).  This is why I think it is important for anyone to develop resources about who they are and talk about "your story", no matter what that story is.

Fortunately, if you do not have a strong back-story, we have the systems, tools, and processes to enable success relatively quickly - and this is through being genuine about who we are, what we do and setting brutally honest expectations.  If you do not have a strong story, you can start with this... and talk about our community and culture and why it made sense to you... why it is different than most anything you have ever looked at in the past...

This has gone on a bit longer than I anticipated so I will close.  There is a lot to digest and try to integrate into your own "attitude" toward your life and your business.  I encourage you to read this a few times and really try to grasp what is being attempted to be communicated.

It will serve you well.

Two Steps to Retire at Any Age

Our Two Steps combine specific programs chosen for their financial dynamics as well as their practical capacity for fitting together in an overall strategy.  What follows is an overview of what these programs are and the justification for how and why they fit together.

It should be noted at the outset that the only component of this plan that is meant to "last" for the long-term in the third and final step.  This will become clear.  The programs (vehicles) we use are all online platforms with digitally-delivered products.  Each has a back office for tracking and accounting.  As a part of your education, you will learn about how different compensation structures work.  

Step One:  A Referral Line Compensation Structure

• A one-up is also known as a powerline model where you "pass-up" a sale to your sponsor.
• The investment levels for these programs are as low as $25, but normally (to create leverage) you want to start at $250, $500 or $1000, which inherently make this a "cash infusion" type vehicle.  This is a low-tier offer in the context of many programs in the market starting at $3500 as an initial investment... with programs that go to a $50,000+ one time investment.
• The goal at this level is to work with an ever-evolving smaller group of 6-8 people who will keep promoting and coordinating their business at this first level and who are comfortable enough financially to move on to the next step.
• You will not receive a Form1099 in this program and will be responsible for disclosing your earnings for tax purposes

Step Two: A Subscription in a Double Referral Line Structure

• The industry nickname for this compensation structure is a reverse two-up.
• The first sale in a reverse two-up goes directly back to you - so you break even with your first sale.  The second goes to your sponsor.  Thie third to you, and the fourth to your sponsor.  This creates great leverage in an expanding group.
• The model for this program is a monthly subscription, which creates predictable monthly income.
• The investment levels are $25, $50, and $100 when people use this as a primary program.  However, in our model, you will have built the resources to "come in" at the combined total of $175 a month.
• At this point, you will have built an initial group of 40-50 people.  The first "goal" with this program is to build to the same 40-50 level (which will not be the same as the initial 40-50 but only those who have committed to getting to this step.)
• $175 x 40 people = $7000 a month.  With this program (as you would hope in considering long-term income) you will receive a Form 1099.  Therefore, you will have to pay taxes.  As such, depending on how you are structured, you can anticipate, of this $7000, to "net" in the area of $5000-$5600 a month.
• This is monthly - replacement - retirement income for most people (and) this is just the starting point... the first goal for Two Steps to Retire at Any Age.

It all starts with our first program for $250 to $1000 one-time and then "getting after it" with effort and learning.  It is completely conceivable to make this happen within one year.  All you need to do is plug in and commit to learning what it will take in terms of skills and effort.  We provide the coaching and the environment to make it happen.

At the Edge of Propriety (or) Like Any Other Investment?

I have previously written about the idea of being money mercenary.  Essentially, my thought process is that making money is an end in itself - divorced from a product or service.  As such, the ability to make money, whether it be a program, process or platform is the "value" conveyed by the marketer and this is the proposition considered by the consumer.

"At the edge of propriety" challenges and articulates this notion of making money as an-end-in-itself  - as legitimate perspective.  The reason 'at the edge' is chosen to describe our reality is that what we do is unconventional.  Or, said differently, is not in the mainstream of how people typically view commerce... e.g. money exchanged for some "thing".

"Something of value" is typically something you can hold in your hand, or derive some benefit from a service provider.  In my transactional worldview, the product behind the transaction is secondary to the transaction itself - with the ultimate goal being transacting commerce with a focus on financial mechanics and this, standing alone, is the object of the business (with the ancillary benefits of being a part of a culture and community with the ethos and values that exist in  all we do).

As such, this is no different than an "investment" in the stock market.  You put your money to work for you in vehicles.  If you invest in Exxon, Procter and Gamble, or Microsoft - you are not obliged to buy their gas, use Bounty Paper Towels or have Bing as your default search engine.  In each case, your money is working for you independently of a product or service.

The question is whether what we do is "at the edge of propriety"?  Obviously, I don't think so.

Your Business - 10 Things to Consider

Here are 10 things worth pondering and understanding:

1. Your business is finding people who embrace the idea of partnering with you to make money.  
2. Your business is not the business you "represent".  The businesses you represent is the tool you use to make money.
3. If you love and are zealous about the business you represent, your passion will be a sales asset, however...
4. The true asset in your business is the strength of the relationships you build with people and everyone's' level of commitment.  This is grounded in their monetary success.
5. Long-term success in our industry is a function of the social group.  Inclusion and support of a community of people who share the same goals and values are foundational to success - and many companies/businesses provide this kind of culture.  This is as it should be.
6. As such, fidelity to a core business is also foundational to success.
7. However, once established, a portfolio approach to expanding earning opportunities within the confines of the community and guided by the constructs of trust, measured consideration, and viability for success is a reasonable proposition.
8. The syndrome of "chasing shiny objects" speaks to an immature mindset of people who are not established (successful) in a primary business.
9. Home business marketers have two roles:  a) finding people to join you, and; b) supporting them in their maturation to competence and success as a home business marketer.
10. Once profitable, the majority of people do not leave a business. Therefore, the key to long-term stability and growth is helping new people find success.

Lists versus Community

Anyone who has been around internet marketing for any length of time has heard the saying, "The money is in your list".  For some businesses this is true - especially affiliate offers or an Amazon or Shopify store.  Or, for information and private label products.  There are more...

Many of these list advocates (you guessed it) market their list-building funnels with an attached affiliate opportunity to push their funnel.  This convenient and ultimately symbiotic function is great for low cost and "free plus shipping" deals, however, they are not necessarily what is needed to build an organization that is built upon a community, support, and interdependence - with a higher ticket, lower volume numbers.

Large lists work for what they are intended to do - and many people make a ton of money with this strategy.  However, many would have you believe that the "be-all-and-end-all" in internet marketing is building a large list.  This is simply not true.

Our model is building a strong community.  On average, replacement incomes can be achieved with groups as small as 40-60 people depending on the income being replaced.  Our model places a higher value on the higher value.  That is to say higher-value relationships, higher-value investment levels, and overall higher "lifetime value" - spread over a much smaller number of people.

This is not to say that many of the same skills used to build a large list are not employed to build a small list.  Mass marketing is mass marketing and the more eyeballs you get your message in front of, the higher potential for your success.  Therefore, I am not discounting sales funnels, but challenging the end result that you are trying to achieve.

We do not see the large list as an asset.  We see the value of people we pluck off of the list and those we work with and help develop - as the asset.

The money-in-the-list advocates have their reasons for saying so... and the skills they teach are fundamental to internet marketing.  However, how we monetize the list is where we diverge in terms of the value and depth we build in the business partners we attract.  As such, if people are on our list, but not active participants in our community, there is a re-marketing opportunity, but essentially are just names until they engage and choose to learn about what we do.

Transcend the Place that Holds You

The title of this piece is from The Hurricane, a movie about the boxer Reuben Carter who spent a couple of decades in prison for crimes he did not commit.  Peoples' circumstances are their prison and have the same limiting effect.  Our evangelism about changing peoples' lives speaks to this notion of transcendence through shining a light on an alternative.

Most people readily admit they need or want more money.  This is somewhat universal.  At the same time, they are "stuck" in the patterns of their lives.  The lack of awareness of viable alternatives is a prison for some.

This being said, we fully recognize that what we do is not for everyone.  The "prison effect" is just one factor.

Our mission is to educate people and raise their level of awareness to an alternative.  We then guide them through an information acquisition process and serve as a consultant in their decision-making process.

The end-game in our business is to provide a vehicle - for those who choose to get in - to transcend the place that holds them.  Our job is to point to the car and encourage them to take it for a spin.  For some, it enables them to put their prison in the rearview mirror.  Many think our car is like any other car.  And, just as many - are content riding a bicycle for the remainder of their lives.

The Priorities of What We Do

It is with a degree of pride that we accentuate our differences from many other marketing groups. Our"targets", that is to say, who we choose we want to work with are reasonably specific. This is conscious and intentional.  Our business stability is much stronger if people "join" who are well-grounded in what makes us different.  This blog articulates many of these.

However, although we talk about incorporating change into lifestyles, mindset, business models, compensation structures and the like, there are three guiding priorities that build one atop the next (or) are attached in consecutive layers.  The first and most foundational is:

1. A Philosophy of Life and Doing Business - Our goal is to help people and in so doing, help ourselves.  We do this by being as honest and transparent as is humanly possible. We do not sugarcoat the realities but at the same time posture that what we do benefits individuals, families and ultimately society.  As such, on this foundation is built the next layer:
2. Community - The social group is also the business community.  We talk extensively about competence being achieved through learning and then teaching  Ultimately, one's success in our community is a function of increased levels of competence (knowledge and skills) that can be transferred to others... and this process of learning and teaching needs to perpetuate itself.
3. A Way to Make Money - This is a paradox.  It is both last but most important.  The reason for this is that although the money "vehicle" could be just about anything, the money will never happen unless the first two are in solid focus.  

However, having said this, the money is the most important part, right? The point here is: if you start with the money, the probability of the money happening is quite low without a foundation of why and how to make it happen.

Working Poor No More provides this foundation.

Balancing Benevolence and Personal Gain

I have been reading (cherry picking) through Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations to try to understand economic theory as it relates to what we do.  The following paragraph is copy and pasted:
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In a famous passage, Smith remarks that a human being needs the "help of his brethren, so that "it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favor, and show them that it is to their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them".

Our goal (and our success) are dependent upon attracting people to what we do.  This is in the context of a social group where healthy tension exists (in reciprocity) between helping others for one's own benefit.  This is a core construct and this is how all economies function.  The dynamic between self-gain through advancing the goals of others in a group cycle over and over and over again.

The "marketing angle" or the message here needs to be focused on showing others what is in their own self-interest. This is because in many cases, it is rarely apparent to them.  The persuasion aspect, therefore, is to never confuse our own personal self-interests with what is motivating the people we are attempting to attract.

As stated above, human beings need the "help of their brethren".  We will be more likely to "prevail" if we can interest others' self-love in our favor.  We win when we effectively communicate "what's in it for them" effectively - and then teach the adoption of this mindset that will ensure the long-term stable growth of our business.

I encourage you to read this post until it becomes ingrained in your understanding of how we function.  It encapsulates everything we do.

Economic Self Interest in the Context of a Social Group

At the end of the day, everything we are about circles back to the premise of long-term financial security. There are a lot of different lenses we can look through to bring this into focus.  Ultimately, we "promote" economic self-interest in the context of a social group.  The "group" supports and makes possible the entire framework that incentivizes individual participation.

Today there are many internet-enabled ways to make money and most of these are talked about somewhere on this blog.  Among them is what I describe as the "helping people" model.  What this directly infers is attracting people to a community with common values and goals.  The process of educating - and getting people to adopt our values and participate in the attainment of our stated goals.

The point here is that first and foremost we are educators who have a story to tell.  Our story explains a viable and realistic path to financial security.  As a people business, our role is to expose as many people as we can - to who we are and what we do.  And - explain how and why we think we can help them.

The Working Poor No More philosophy is that everyone who is in debt and whose assets do not exceed their liabilities is among the working poor. This is regardless of age, status or current income level.  Most people, especially those we attempt to attract will have "relative stability" inherent in their careers.  They are meeting their bills, contributing to their 401K, driving a nice car, and saving for annual vacations.

At issue is this:  none of these people own their lives and are living life on their own terms.  This is not a judgment, but simply a description of how most people "choose" to live their lives in the absence of an alternative.  Our job is to raise this level of awareness.

Pursuant to true long-term security - in creating a parallel and independent personal economy - we elevate the potential for people to understand change and provide the structure and resources to bring it about.

This is a noble and worthy endeavor.

Financial Literacy in Context of What We Do

I was in my car this morning listening to talk radio on my way to the grocery store.  Ric Edelman, a nationally syndicated financial advisor was talking about restructuring Social Security and the impact this will have on how he recommends structuring portfolios.  The point he was making was that Social Security is a common baseline for everyone (in retirement) that he builds upon in projecting future needs.  Surprisingly, the average monthly check is only around $1700.

In the context of generating monthly income - if your investment portfolio of resources are not significant - what strategies are there if you have not "saved" or planned for additional sources of income that will grow (and/or) at the minimum, sustain your lifestyle?  What we do is one answer. - one viable alternative.

All investment strategies are tied to the amount of risk you are willing to take.  Obviously, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Younger people are advised to be more aggressive.  Older people - more conservative.  Our model is a totally different paradigm and no matter what your age, risk tolerance, and cost are not barriers to entry.

If you are not well established with a 401K or if a trust fund discussions are not part of an occasional family dinner... if you do not know the difference between an index fund and bond fund... then perhaps what we do will make sense to you.

We have created our own economy that is built on a foundation of mutual success.  You can choose to participate.  Our role is to guide and educate. Your role is to make an informed decision after gathering sufficient facts.

We wish you the best in this process.

Our Business Plan

Our Business Plan has three fundamental elements.  They are not equally important. Here's why.

1)  The first (and most important to understand) is the ability to adapt to change.  Integrating something new into your life requires investing your time in different ways.  Most people (attesting to the failure rate in home businesses) do not successfully navigate from point A to point B.

2)  The second is understanding what a "learning community" means.  People and relationships are the foundation of our business.  We need to engender and pass along what we know and help others develop proficiency and competence as marketers.

3)  Third, is the tools we use and the business we promote.  The reality is that there are many, many directions this could take.  There are many, many:  a) tools suites, and; b) compensation models.  We utilize a selected few and at the very top of our marketing funnel we use Working Poor No More" as a differentiator.  Ultimately, the funnel leads to the tools and the business, but these are not the starting point.  Why?  Because if the first two are not in place (change and community) the third does not matter.

Here is the Google result for Business Plan:  "A business plan is a formal statement of business goals, reasons they are attainable, and plans for reaching them. It also contains background information about the organization attempting to reach those goals."

If you do the same search, you will find a lot of ads for Business Plan templates that enable you to plug and play with your own sets of variables and definitions.  There are academic articles that describe Business Plans at further and further levels of detail.  All of the information is "out there" that we have adapted specifically to our structure.

What you need to know is that this plan exists and is proprietary to our group.  The important thing to understand is that seat-of-the-pants, willy-nilly, you're on your own ways of approaching business success are at the other end of the continuum from where we operate. 

There is a dedicated site for our Business Plan that will be shared with you when/if you join us. It is not, and is not meant to be the be-all and end-all, but more of a starting guide to understanding our target markets and our methodologies - all under the umbrella of the thoughts and principles that drive our business success and integrated into a plan-of-action.

This blog does a pretty adequate job of providing background information about our organization and what makes us tick.  The key is how we execute:  who we target, how, and why.  The rest is simply applying the effort to make it happen.

The first step is to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you able to change the way you invest specific hours of your days.  The result(s) will be life-altering.  

Literally, and, at the end of the process, when all elements are integrated into how you function as a home business owner, you make money.

On Building Credibility

In the total universe of money-making opportunities, why would anyone choose us?

This is a fair question that warrants a thoughtful answer.  The core of the answer revolves around the values we embrace as an organization - but at the same time, the challenge is to not provide the same... yeah, yeah, yeah thoughts that everyone espouses.

The single most distinguishing feature of our difference is how we deal with the failure rate in the home-based business industry.  Our premise is that the failure rate is due to peoples' inability to adapt to and integrate change into their lifestyle.  Said differently, people do not "find" the time to constructively engage in the activities that will build a business and crawl out of the entrenched patterns of their lives.

Therefore, this core value is "embracing change"... and the degree of change will predict the amount of success.  It is the mature and responsible understanding that nothing happens without applied effort within the context of an intentional strategy.

Let me use this as one example from my own experience.  I worked for years needing to be at work at 6:00 am.  This required my alarm going off at 4:30.  When I got home, the routine was to catch up on (reading) the day's news and in so-doing fall asleep for a nap upright on the sofa.  Then, the TV was on and this occupied the hour or so until it was time to start dinner.  Then, the Network news to Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and then nodding off again... how pathetic - every day for years.

Now, ask yourself, where did you see me mention 'working on my business'?  The necessary change came when the TV was turned off.  This is the change that was necessary, for me.

Everyone has their own structure of how their time is invested.  Good, bad, or indifferent - this "inventory" simply "is" for every individual.

In building our credibility, we do not sugar-coat the reality the change necessary.  There is a lot more in regard to the process we have chosen to work within, the skills required and a host of other factors.  However, unless you are exhibiting the daily habits of applying effort, you will not be an effective leader.

This is the raw truth and we hope you can appreciate it for the value and advice it holds.

Clients and Being of Service

There is a whole world of words, semantics, and definitions that we very consciously attempt to use as differentiators in defining who we are as a marketing organization.  In referring to people we work with as clients, it is really a  mindset "trick" in understanding that you are (for all intents) employed by them.

Anyone you bring into your organization,, we encourage you to think of as clients, in the sense that they support your income - like in any business.

Referring to them as recruits, downline or enrollees all miss the mark.  Until you fully appreciate that you need to be of service through teaching, helping and coaching your "clients" and treating them in the context of the lifetime value they represent, you can not consider yourself to have evolved to the professional level of an at-home business owner.

Lifetime value.  Ponder this.  Enter into relationships instead of "signing people up" and seeing what happens.  Mentor.  Teach.  Coach.  Encourage.  Support.  Be a role model for others to emulate.

This is at the core of anyone's success.  Leadership in setting the tone, the pace, the activity... what you do and how you do it must be an example to those who look to you for guidance.

No one starts here.  Everything is earned.  As you earn competence and credibility, you will earn money.  This is also part of what is referred to as the Law of Compensation.

There is no faking it.  You put in the work to gain competence and you get paid.  Conversely, no skills,  no money.

Being of service and treating people as clients (who are paying you to lead and teach is a great way to define who you are and what you do in our business.

Shake Up Your World - A Rebirth of Magnificent Proportions

I approach this title with a certain amount of glee and aspiration.  Our goal with this site is to motivate and instigate change.  The admonition in the title is a call to action that will have life-altering implications.  However, we always need to temper the hyperbole with reality.

At the time of this writing in early January of 2017, we are typically called to make resolutions in a spirit of renewal  We take a collective deep breath, and in a state of calm repose, make our best attempts to set goals for the year to come.  With earnest intent, we set out conceptually to define how want things to be - in defining our future(s).

Ultimately, you make decisions.  Your life is the accumulation of the choices you have made. From the extent of your education to relationships and who you spend your time with, how much television you watch, your level of involvement with self-medicating, whether you have your future mapped out in writing... there are and there will be on-going choices you make.  These choices have consequences... or every action has a reaction...

In this context, "shaking up your world" is a choice. You can go with the status quo, or you can responsibly and intelligently make changes.  What we do with Working Poor No More is such a choice.  We simply take you by the hand, lead you to the window and point to the potential that is outside (of your current, personal experience).

The promise of a Rebirth of Magnificent Proportions is where the potential for hyperbole exists.  This is meant to inspire your ambitions - not a promise that it will happen. There is a great deal of learning, application and execution between these two ways of defining promise.

Our intent is to simply apprise you of the potential in the context of something that is plausible and reasonable to understand and engage.

Making a Positive Difference

At risk of sounding too simplistic, our business philosophy is to make a positive difference in peoples' lives.  The reality is that money lubricates life.  When income exceeds expenses, money literally eliminates the stress of daily living and liberates people from financial demons.  This allows people to be their best-selves - happy and comparatively free - at least on a financial dimension.

As such, and in a much broader context, our culture (our ethos) positively impacts society.   This is much larger than a "business opportunity". Inherent in this is collectively, as a community, we elevate the quality-of-life for large groups of people who we support through education and through teaching to take purposeful, well-defined action(s).

We make a positive difference by paying attention to relationships and to the best of our ability, doing all we can to ensure others' success.  This is inherently a process that happens over time - and with time, we build stable and lasting businesses that are built around our culture and sense of community. When applied to large numbers of people, the societal benefit becomes somewhat self-evident.

If you look at the real potential to build something to pass along to your heirs, there is no other way to approach what we do.

Permission Marketing

First, let me preface:

Without giving away too much about what makes our marketing group unique, it is safe to say that we seek to establish stable, long-term relationships. This is done within the context of a community. We rely on and support each other in building businesses that create financial stability. The kind of stability that evolves into higher and higher levels of prosperity.  Individual by individual, this defines what we do as we grow participation in our groups.

This being said, how we initially approach and market to the groups we target has everything to do with the initial contact(s) we make.  We do this through asking for permission (if they are receptive to?) receiving further information about what we offer.  

In this context, the chapters that Seth Godin shares a great primer to get your head around how we build large, stable organizations.  We are not mass marketers in the traditional sense, but very specifically and intentionally are thoughtful, courteous and methodical in our approach. This level of sophistication (both in terms of etiquette and strategy) is one of the key variables that sets us apart.  Depending on the group we are marketing to, this has to be done right.

A Right Way and A Wrong Way

Is there a right way and a wrong way to approach a home business?  Around the Holidays, between Thanksgiving and New Years (every year) there are always multiple promotions from different "follow me and my system" marketers.  Typically, they host webinars and then have a campaign to follow-up (forever) until you unsubscribe.

There are a lot of clues left by this process.  The problem is that for the vast majority of people, the skills sets required to execute this kind of "marketing funnel" to a targeted national or worldwide audience are well beyond their time and talent.  So, even though there are many examples of state-of-the-art processes, building one yourself is an extremely tall order.

Some advocate "the only way" is through paid advertising and they will show you how to make it happen.  Others sell the process itself and include landing page builders integrated with free offers and auto-responder campaigns.  Many or most of these have affiliate programs and "the model" is to sell their tools and their process as an additional income stream.  There are different levels of sophistication and integration that make all of the pieces of marketing funnels fit and work together.

The issue is this:  it is really a full-time second job to learn and implement all of this stuff, and the commitment required to make it happen is simply beyond the capabilities of most people.  Therefore, even if they invest in a course, a process, or a suite of tools... getting it all to work and having the skills to make it "hum" is a huge problem.

Therefore, somewhere between knowing + doing nothing - and - these state-of-the-art systems are some common sense best-practices that the majority of people can engage in to build a home business.  At the end of the day, our "job" is to get our message of "what we do" in front of people for them to evaluate and then provide on-going information that reinforces the viability of making money and encouraging them to join in the effort to enhance their own income.

The most simple, first thing anyone can do is to point people to a company capture page with no other supporting resources (that talk about who you are as a marketer or a leader).  However, you can piggy-back off of other people until you gain and build your own resources (like this blog and individual posts within it).

The key is to get started doing something/anything - and then building on your time and talents.  This will differ for everyone based on your personality type, the skills you initially bring to the table, whether you have other commitments, including children and any number of other factors.

Short of investing thousands of dollars in your education to implement state-of-the-art systems, you have to find your sweet spot of engaging with your business.  Your business is finding people who will embrace the idea of partnering with you to make money.  We are "selling" participation and group-think.  We are marketing a community of shared values.  The key here is "buying into" a philosophy, as opposed to buying a business opportunity.  We are not selling a "deal" as the means to our end, we are selling a culture of interdependence that will sustain everyone.

The Community is Your Asset

There is a point of confusion that most digital marketers to not adequately address.

This entire blog talks about culture and community, and here's why.

Businesses (can) come and go.  Unless you literally "own" the company - you are promoting someone else's opportunity.  You are not in control of your business.  What you do control, however, are the relationships, the "group think" and the alliances and common purpose you build with people.

This is your asset - and it is all relationship-based.  Some call it your "list".  And... the industry adage is "the money is in your list".  Actually, some marketers advocate collecting names and having a lot of names to make different offers to - over time.  As such, they say that this large list is the asset.  I agree with this to a point, but am also inclined to disagree.

There is also the industry mantra of "know, like and trust".  The admonition is that people need to know, like and trust you to do business with you.  I have no argument with this.  The question for me is that from a large "list",  you may or may not have people who are currently participating with what you do - and putting money in your bank account.  Therefore, all of the good will, liking and trusting is of no tangible monetary value.

Therefore, the notion of inter-dependence is key to my definition of community.  Or said differently, having a stake, or "some skin in the game" is a requirement.  As such, names and email addresses are of little utility other than the "potential" of them participating with you financially at some future date.

Again, the asset is the sum total of the relationships you build - one at a time - with the trust of everyone holding everyone else's best-interest as a core value.  And, with the understanding that this community moves forward as its own economy where everyone has a vested interest in ensuring that all who participate have success.

Our Marketing Sites (so far)

You can click on any of following sites to get a sense of how we approach market segmentation and drill down on specific groups, or geographic areas.  You will note they are all "neutral" in terms of contact information and does not disclose nor link to the business that drives our incomes.

Also, you will note that each site is built on a FREE Google Sites host.  They are simple, one page sites that encourage people to get back to the person who led them to the information.  As you advance in your skill sets, you can develop your own.

In any event, here's the list:

• 401Konundrum - Targeted to people who are about to retire, but have done a less than adequate job at saving and planning for it.

• Business Owners - Targeted to individually owned, small retail shops, food establishments, child care centers, contractors, etc.

• Independent Grad - Targeted to college students, including fraternities and sororities as well as student organizations.  These can and should have discrete sites.

• Money Club - This site is Money Club Warwick, which is my "home town".  It is obviously intended for local marketing.  The Banner can be changed and used in any town, anywhere.

• Our Money Bus - This was one of the very early sites that is now primarily used as a follow-up site - to send people to as a further explanation.  You will note that the video is used at the end of a couple of the other sites.  This can stay or go, if you get to the point of creating your own sites..

• Union175 - Targeted to Unions of any labor stripe.

• Motivated Volunteers - Targeted to Fundraising Groups.  Youth Sports, Religious Affiliated, School Groups... any group seeking to make money.

It is important that you understand that these are additional resources that are specific to our Marketing Community.  There is a whole host of additional resources that our business provides and the larger marketing community provide.

Our group is one of many that all lead to our core business.  You will note on my "About Me" page on this blog, I am just one person out of thousands carving out "one way" to get from Point A to Point B, in terms of educating people about what we do, and then enrolling them in our business.

One aspect of our training is to teach you how to "employ" any of these sites.  Again, you need to develop some of your own resources to make this work.  This will begin your learning curve.  

The first thing will be to make a landing page that you tell people about yourself and the business.  This will be a Google Site.  It is not complicated and there are tons of YouTube videos that teach how to make it happen, in addition to our training.

The point here is, there are things to do, and things to know as you ramp up your skills and knowledge.