The Agreement Seekers Blog

The Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) business model is difficult to make work.   The success rate attests to this.   Or, conversely, the failure rate in the 90%+ range attests to this. Regardless, many people intrepidly espouse their love of 1) the product or service, and/or; 2) their aspiration for time and financial freedom.   The inherent “rub” is simply a  repeat of the first sentence:   it is difficult to make work (and) many starve-out due to lack of success – which translates to lack of organizational growth... and in turn means no profitability or income. There is a way to fix this problem.   First, l et’s compare and contrast the MLM business model with Affiliate Marketing where there are immediate payout, "cash now" offers. As most know from the name of the industry, MLMs have many levels.   Typically, there is an up-front incentive bump like fast-start-bonuses for recruiting new enrollees, and then in the following month, percentages kick i...

 Fancy title... for not-so-complicated an idea.  This deals with To-Do lists and your schedule.   To-do lists are tasks, e.g., stuff you need to get done that is written down somewhere.  Your schedule is the same.  It is a written accounting of how your time is and will be spent/invested.  Combining these is a "work plan":  when you plan on doing what . Making a commitment to this kind of structure is a BIG change for many (most?) people.  It requires engagement and focus.  First, you need to "spell out" the plan and then execute your plan.  It requires forethought.  It requires projecting into the future. It requires discipline.  Otherwise, you are operating by the seat-of-your-pants. Now, let me circle back to the title of this post.  Task Management is a Function of Time Management.  In other words, everything starts with your calendar (no matter how you keep it:  online, a calendar book, or weekly plann...

Right now, in December of 2020, in Rhode Island where I live, we just entered a two-week shutdown due to Covid 19.  Our hospitals are full and just down the street, they have opened a facility to house more Covid patients, the first 7 were today - in a barracks-style warehouse.  These people are sick, however, there are many more people who are hurting due to job loss, financial strain, and even hunger. There is a world of hurt.  Restaurants are closing.  Servers and cooks have been laid off.  Just about every night on the news there is a new story with a restaurant owner talking about how they are struggling to keep their heads above water and make it through these dark times. We can help.  We can propose an alternative that may have not been considered.  This can be done locally.  It can be done nationally. A few weeks ago, Disney laid off thousands.  Can you go on LinkedIn and do a search for people who worked at Disney and are "looking fo...

When I was in college, my undergrad degree was in Human Communication.  Many people in this field go on to be Counselors.  A word I learned was 'homophily".  It means perceived similarity.  For instance, in general, tall, skinny people will be most likely to be attracted to tall skinny people.  People of similar socioeconomic backgrounds tend to be drawn to each other... people who play tennis...  have read the same books...  Any perceived similarities are predictors of attraction. So, what does this have to do with Affinity Affiliate Marketing?  The question is, "To whom are you homophilous?"  Aka, who do you have something in common with?  For example, I have had my Life and Health Insurance Licenses twice in my life. I can disclose this and "fully" empathize with people who are struggling to sell these insurance products.  In this industry, there are as many people "starving out" as coming into the industry with wide eyes and eag...

To get to the definition of a Digital Franchise Broker (DFB) let's start with the word Broker.  Everyone understands what Stock Brokers do. They evaluate and recommend stocks and establish relationships with clients to manage a portfolio of "paper" assets based on the performance and value of corporations or commodities.   Stock Brokers need to be licensed and certified by the Securities Industry to transact business.  You may have heard of all the tests:  the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE), then on to Series 7, Series 66... there are many, many more credentials that people need to test (and pay) for - to become certified in different areas of expertise.  Ultimately, when credentialed and making money, a portion of their earnings are funneled up-the-organization (or) these profits are 'baked in" based on their commission structure. Insurance and Real Estate Brokers are much the same.  They too have tests and certifications to pay for - and need t...

First, allow me to clarify the segment of the industry we are in.  We are Affiliate Marketers. We deal predominantly with digital tools and/or eLearning products.  We affili(8) with affili(et) offers and earn a large percentage of a one time sale for a product or service.  This is how Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy run their Affiliate programs although they are not as generous and lucrative as what we do.  In our case, this one time sale is integrated with a leverage component that enables organizational growth and earning money from a team that uses a powerline or subscription... or whatever structure the affiliate offer is paired with. Multi-level Marketing on the other hand, in most cases, is a physical-product-based offer and is almost completely dependent on large organizations given the multi-tiered structure(s) that provide a much smaller percentage throughout all of the different "layers/levels" of their compensation structure.   As an analogy, think...

This post is about business strategy and the role of "pitching" things versus "making a proposal" about a much larger proposition.  Both play a role.  However, it is important for you to understand the difference between pitching-an-opportunity (whether it be a product, service, or tool) and making a proposal-for-life- transformation and having the sophistication to understand how each fits into your overall business strategy. So as an analogy, let's talk baseball.  Everyone knows what a pitch is. A pitcher throws a ball to a catcher.  It is a single act, repeated over and over during the game.  It is a single, solitary, isolated "thing" that is just one part of the overall strategy of the game. A proposal, on the other hand, is more like the game plan.  On offense, what will the batting order be?  Who is best to lead off, and who is best to bat clean-up?  Do you plan to steal bases, or hit and run?  Are there situations where you will bunt?...

This is a tale of perseverance and courage in the face of mountains of obstacles. It tells the story of relentless commitment to a vision, being squashed like a bug and somehow reassembling all of your parts and only to come back bigger, better, and stronger. Among many things, Jeff Long, the CEO of Textbot.ai is an artist - a classically trained singer.  He has all the markings of creative people.  Emotional.  Impetuous.  Brilliant.  His lived experience in breathing life into the Textbot platform has been a tale of triumph and tragedy, then triumph and tragedy...  In this evolution, he shared both the intimate details of the devil on his shoulder and the better angels that came to his rescue.  I did not always agree with or appreciate his level of disclosure, but now in retrospect, I see it as a necessary means of catharsis to deal with the stresses and pressures that he carried through the ordeal of surviving through Abundance Network and giving bi...

 Let me start by asking a question.  Is there is a place in the Home Business Industry for people who simply want to make a buck?  These people may have no interest in the big picture stuff with a long-term orientation.  Additionally, they may have tried "figuring out" things in the past and simply have given up on their ability or aptitude to make things work.  So instead, they can (and are more than willing to) pitch "this or that" with a very short-term strategy of simply hustling to make money.  Full stop.  No relationship.  Everything is a sales transaction. Once you have bought, you are on your own.  No different than going to the grocery store and buying a potato. We all know these people exist, consciously or by default.  Again, asking, if there is a financial incentive for the (purchaser) and you are an Affiliate selling a tool or re-marketing other peoples' products, where does the responsibility lie for teaching the purchaser ...

I had a short exchange with an Opinion Leader on Social Media recently.  We are involved with the same platform that is both a tool and an income opportunity.  His thought was, "Your referrer owes you nothing but their referral code, anything more is a bonus".  I took him to task and here's why.  In my mind, this is a distinction without a difference if you split the hairs of the referrer, sponsor, enroller, upline...  Semantically, they all connote the same thing.  The person I was "arguing" with was attempting to make the case that given that we market a "tool", it is no different than Aweber (an autoresponder "tool") and the Affiliate Program for Aweber does not require selling your soul to the person you enroll for (in this case, for this program) $100.  Or, as he said it, "they don't own you for $100". I disagree to the extent that everyone deserves a shot at profitability.  In the "opportunity" portion of this to...

No need to re-invent the wheel on this one.  Total attribution goes to Ray Higdon.   I simply think this is so important to understand (and he does such a good job of explaining it) that I want to include it here; There is a video on this page as well as the article:   https://rayhigdon.com/the-art-of-prospecting-successful-people/ Good stuff.  Take notes with the objective of integrating into how you view and manage your business.

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 d...

 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 sam...

 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 wo...

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...

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....

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, t...

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 l...

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 un...