The Agreement Seekers Blog

The level of effort you apply to your business is important, sure.  However, the road to (profitability) is paved with a lot more things that need to be in place - independent of how hard you intend to work at it. Mentorship - enables you to avoid unproductive activity and provides a support system that teaches how to transition from a newbie to a professional Home Business Owner.  It is the proverbial "shoulder to lean on".  However, it is a shoulder you are paying for and this is an important dynamic for both the mentor and mentee to understand. Leverage - there have to be components of the overall "system" that leverage your time and money.  You can leverage your time with tools and technology.  You can leverage money by understanding and ensuring that you are involved with platforms that employ compensation systems that have a leverage component. Onboarding - allied with mentorship, there has to be a "structure" that (at least in theory) provides you...

This will all make sense at the end... Preconceptions and predispositions relate to opinions and attitudes.  Both attitudes and opinions can be thought of on a linear scale from negative to neutral to positive.  In our industry, we deal with preconceptions, all day - every day.   To drill down one level deeper, an attitude is an established (predisposed) way of thinking about someone or something.  It exists as something that is pre-verbal.  It is also known as a mindset.  Everyone has attitudes and opinions that are a matter of degree - in someone's willingness to speak up (or) remain silent.  Either way, attitudes and opinions exist. As stated, once an attitude is articulated into words, it becomes an opinion.  The important thing to understand is that an opinion is something that is not necessarily based on facts or knowledge.   OK...  So, what is the point here... We build organizations in the context of person-to-person co...

You can't blink credibility into existence.  It needs to be scraped and clawed for through the passage of time.   Therefore, for anyone new to Affiliate Marketing (in our niche and the way we do it) this is the reason we recruit people with whom you have something in common, with the supposition that they may not have a deep credibility base in our industry either.  Historically, this is why ventures typically fail.  It is a matter of the blind leading the blind.  With Vertical Industry Marketing, we start with our Relationship Building Accelerator and, (at least) we develop an understanding of each others' lived experience (as best we can). So, this begs the question, "What sets you apart from the pack?"  What makes you exceptional to the extent that someone would want to choose you as the person they want to work with?   Especially if you are just getting started, you may think there is nothing that makes you "special". I want to challenge ...

Everything should be simple.  Why isn't it? There is nothing hard to understand about truth and integrity.  It follows that if you are perceived as one who is honest and adheres to virtue, you should be someone worthy of trust.  So where does everything break down?   I think it boils down to understanding that trust is built over time.  It is not implicit, it is earned.  It is a thousand micro-actions that lead to the macro of trust.  It is something that evolves, it is not something that is granted, in most cases, especially when two people do not know each other, initially. Corresponding to this, "A Real Solution" is simply a statement and perception that (like trust) needs to be earned.  We have every confidence that our solution IS real for the vast majority.  However, in the process of getting people to adopt what we do as something they embrace, there is a significant amount of education that is necessary.  It is a thousand mi...

This post is a point of clarification.   Our business is in the Affiliate Marketing space.  Yes, we build organizations, however, Rank Advancement is a Multi-Level Marketing concept.  MLM's "rank advance" through the growth of business volume, which is typically associated with organizational size. As one advances in rank, they get a bigger piece of the pie.  If the first level is 5%, the rank advance may mean 3% or a total of 8%... along with a title change from (in metals) Bronze to Silver to Gold to Platinum.  The company tracks these transactions and pays the distributor on a predetermined schedule. This is not our model.  We earn 100%, paid directly - peer to peer.  The company tracks these transactions as an accounting and "scorekeeping" function, however, money is paid directly to you.  The company is not a middle man that holds your money, it simply is a portal for your transaction to take place. This is a huge difference.  We gr...

Many people want or need more money and know if they simply "found" something to plug into... that actually worked, it would provide the all-important grease that would make life a whole lot easier. I have used the expression many times, "There are a million ways to make money, you only need one". I have also said, "Money is the grease that lubricates life". Both obviously infer the "idea" that money plays a huge role in people's lives. Most people have a job to fund their life. It is a fixed income approach, working for a salary or a wage. Their only "leverage" is getting a 401K match from their employer and then hoping the Stock Market performs in a manner that supports growth. The goal of a 401K is retirement, so it is of little use until you are 59 1/2, unless you want to borrow against it and incur stiff penalties for doing so. So what are the alternatives in the "million ways" to make money? A second and/or t...

What follows may or may not apply to you.  Perhaps you are self-actualized and wealthy; both spiritually and financially.  Most people fall short of this.  If so, my wish is that these thoughts instill some hope and some clarity. There are a lot of things that take place inside of our specific Community as well as the Communities of our Affiliate Partners.  Ultimately, we are "in the business" of helping people rise above their current circumstances, to the extent that additional financial resources can make this happen. "Planting a Flag" essentially means making a commitment.  The question is, whether something is worthy of your commitmenmt of time and resources?  Does something you evaluate as a "means" to earn additional income hold up to scrutiny?  Does it make sense?  Can you justify and defend your involvement in whatever you choose to do?  Do you have the conviction and moral authority of "knowing" that what you are commiting to - is w...

You can make money doing just about anything if someone is willing to pay you for it.  In a general way, this defines commerce. In the new world of Digital Commerce, there is something called an NFT (Non-Fungible Token).  It is a "unique unit of data" on a digital ledger, typically associated with something... artwork, music, sports trading cards, or even just ideas.  So, it is a digital representation of something - stored on the blockchain. So let me ask, where is the value here?  Something is unique.  OK.  Something is scarce.  All right.  Something that two parties agree that has value... How? I am not sure, but it is happening in real time, right in front of our eyes.  I am in no real position to judge, so I will not.  This all seems kind of "made up" to me, however my opinion of it is irrelevant.  If people agree to it - so be it.  It is a means to an end.   More power to them. Analagously, the "detractors" of our in...

This will be short.  It is about procrastination.  It is about being stuck in life. There is a song by Adele named Easy on Me .  The refrain of the song is, "I had no time to choose what I chose to do".  It is a lament about youth and being stuck in her ways.  Later in the song she talks about having good intentions and the highest hopes.  Nonetheless, it is a song of regret - of an older self reflecting on a younger self. From my perspective, her song speaks to the "plight of the commoner".  It is a life resigned to the way things are, even with the best-of-intentions.  It is "knowing" things can be different, but doing nothing about it, and this realization coming only from the wisdom of the passage of time. Many times people get swept along by the inertia of family, social, or cultural expectations and as Adele says, "I had no time to choose what I chose to do".  Eveything in life is reduced to an unconscious whirlwind, in the absence of a...

For our purposes in what we do, first, let's define commerce.  It is the exchange of money for something of value.  This "something of value" can be broadly defined as a product or a service.   You pay a Lawyer for his knowledge.  You pay a carpenter for building you a shed.  You pay College tuition to attend a school.  OK.  I don't need to go on.  The point is money is paid in exchange for something of value. Ultimately, everyone chooses how to make a living.  If a grown man imports children's toys from Taiwan, there is no requirement for him to have an affinity for the toys.  He uses toys as a vehicle to make a profit and earn an income.  Year after year, there may be slight product variations, but ultimately the "toy business" is the toy business. We sell Tools and Education.  Just as in the toy business, these products remain relatively consistent from year to year.  There are innovations.  There are upgrades...

  This post is a perspective-builder. I don't want to insult anyones' intelligence here, but one a week for a year is 52, right?  In our business we use an initial "cash now" offer that is followed by a subscription offer, which is funded out of profit. For the sake of simple math, let's say a subscription is $200 a month.  This (times) 52 is $10,400 a month in gross income.  After taxes at 25% the net income is $7800.  This replaces most people's incomes, and if not, is a welcomed "bump" in income for anyone. Now, given the leverage components of a Referral Line Compensation Structure, to realize a group of 52, you do not need 52 direct recruits because people are referred to you as a part of the business model.  Again, this is a leverage component stipulated by a contract.  Realistically, a group of 20-25 direct recruits can produce a group of 52 (give or take).   Then you need to account for the realities.  Eventhough we do our best t...

No doubt, you have heard the expression, "Hope is not a strategy".  Just so you know, I am not "going there".  The expression is somewhat flippant and unserious. The statement offers little of value.  I simply wanted to mention it to frame something that is of value. It is important to understand that what we do is noble.  What we do is important.  We help people by showing them a path to improve their financial condition.  We inherently instill "hope".  It is the aspirational idea that things can and will be different.  It is the promise of money being a lubricant to life by providing the means for security, and ultimately with time and effort, prosperity. However, hope is not enough.  It needs to be tied to a strategy that is realistic and can be implemented with a reasonable amount of learning and effort.  This entire blog talks about all of the variables that constitute this "strategy". If your head and heart are in the right place, ...

 I created this graphic as a Facebook and Instagram post.  I simply wanted to include it as a post. It speaks for itself. No explanation is necessary.

I am splitting hairs here a bit, however, I want to point out a difference between two terms based on the income platforms we employ.  Many times, recurring and residual income are used interchangeably.  From my perspective, they are not the same.   Both are also referred to as "passive" income because both continue to pay regardless of whether there is still active work being done.  However, in the models we use, for income to recur (periodically), an effort has to be applied to make it happen.   In other words, if you need to work with people to get paid, it is not automatic.  It is "earned" in the true sense of the word.  It can and will recur, based on the business model, but it is not automatic.  It is dependent on people doing something in order for you to derive any income. Residual Income, on the other hand, is "automatic".  It is tied to automatic payments on a calendar basis and linked to someone's bank account, credit/de...

Odd title, right?  Let me explain. Franchises exist for all types of things... massages, hardware, storage, any type of fast food... including hamburgers.  Law Offices, Insurance Agencies, Real Estate Brokerages, Physical Therapy Clinics, H&R Block... OK, you get it. What all these have in common is a set of processes for operations, policies and procedures, standards, and best practices... all culminating in a replicable model that can be repeated over and over.  Simply put, all franchises provide a business template. What we do is the same.  We market digital franchises.  Our product is eLearning, sometimes referred to as Digital Education.  We deliver our product over the internet and affiliate with Online Platforms that have a business template in place for us to follow.  In addition, these platforms also provide all of the business functionality to handle payments, organizational tracking, management, training, and a host of other functions, d...

Whether you define it as emotional energy, or simply as just energy, this is a simple component of your success to understand.  Most people we recruit already have a primary job, as you probably do as well. Inherently, what we are asking people to do is to jam something "extra" into their lives.  No matter how thoughtfully and constructively we frame it, no matter how much we can preach time management, regardless of how we define business-building activities - at the end of the day we add "something else" to peoples' lives. I am not going to go down the "why" path, e.g. people need to have a strong enough "why" to compel them to action.  Fundamentally, what precedes this is emotional energy.  It is the internal transfer of energy from your head and your heart to your hands, feet, and will to communicate.  In other words, knowing what to do is not enough.  Doing it is everything. (And) this requires fortitude (emotional energy). At his point,...

The core strategy of Agreement Seekers is a method called Vertical Industry Marketing.  This bears some explanation.  First, a vertical industry is a group of companies that focus on a specialized market.  For purposes here, let's talk about Landscapers as an example.  Landscapers obviously have expertise in turf management and shrub/tree maintenance.  They have skill sets in equipment care and are generally multi-taskers and problem solvers... are industrious and entrepreneurial. They have relationships with equipment vendors, landscape architects, lawn sprinkler companies, nurseries, arborists... and of course, all of their customers, however, customers are not included here. All of these companies are in the same "vertical", however the most important is the one not mentioned.  It is a landscaper's competition - other landscapers.  This is the main opportunity for this marketing method. Essentially we give every "industry vertical" the opportunity t...

I have written about this topic once before with a different and more straightforward take.  I called that post "Scam and Pyramid Marketing".   This time I want to frame things as irritating - like a gnat. Gnats and Fruit Flies buzz around your head.  You swipe at them, but they persist.  They are annoyances that can drive you to distraction. They have no real value in the scheme of things.  They are simply pesky little undesirable critters. For just about any non-traditional business model such as Affiliate Marketing, you can typically find a Google-ranked reference to such businesses as being a scam, a pyramid, or a cash gifting "scheme".  These "gnat" articles are sleazy and self-serving due to nearly 100% of the time their sole purpose is to trash the company cited and then tell you how great their opportunity is as an alternative. It should go without saying that this is duplicitous and disingenuous, not to mention that most of these posts are wri...

First, a little background to set the stage for what follows. A contract is something that all parties agree to that governs the rights and duties of those involved.  A contract can stipulate anything, however, there is no contract unless there is an agreement between two parties .  It is a statement of expectations and “how things will work”.  The business platforms we affiliate with have contracts, also known as “Terms of Service”. You agree to these terms in participating in our business. In the world of Affiliate and Online Marketing, there are many compensation models.  Among these are subscription, referral line, power leg, matrix, uni-level… and the list goes on.  (Most) all provide incentives for some type of leverage.  Leverage is defined in different ways:  1) overall volume, 2) individual transaction margin, and/or; 3) organization size.  Obviously, in many cases, these go hand-in-hand. With eLearning courses, products are based on tie...

We build groups of people who choose to collaborate to make money together.  Fundamentally, this is what we market and "sell".  The individual businesses and platforms we employ to fuel the economic engine do not really matter (given they are sound).  Essentially, they could be anything.  As such, we are not hawking a "biz opp", we are creating understanding about the benefits of "agreement" and of being in business together. This agreement, at its core, has a moral and philosophical underpinning.  Without "agreement", a viable, long-term business will not exist.  No consensus, no shared values, and commitment... no long-term business.  Therefore, to re-state, we build consensus within groups of people who choose to be in business and make money together.  The asset you build is a group of competent, committed people who (ultimately) participate in monthly subscriptions, long-term -with you being the recipient/beneficiary. To back up a step, mora...

Let me start with a number of questions. Who is accountable for your life?  Do you have anyone pushing you to excel?  Do you have your own standards that you strive to meet? What benchmarks do you have that signify success?  Given that this blog is about home business and making money. are you satisfied with where you are with respect to your finances and earning potential? Is any of this worth any thought?  Is it possible to be intentional and strategic about how you invest your time and resources, pursuant to stated objectives? To squander is to waste foolishly.  If you are not "present" and intentional about what you want your life to be, you are squandering life (existence) and losing the potential of the moment.  Right now, you can make decisions that will propel your life in a more positive direction.  You simply need to do it. These actions do not need to be massive.  They can be small and incremental, but need to be tied to some defined ou...

 I have written about this topic in other posts.  As such, I will be brief here. Here is the lay of the land: If you are in our Community, you are in a recruiting / organization-building business. The real asset you build is people. These people are competent, and; committed to a common mission/vision regarding our business model. You nurture competence through building relationships that are based on support and mentorship.  You build commitment through others' having success and thus sticking with our business. Relationships involve communication, both formal (training) and informal (chatting). The most fundamental act of communication is reaching out to someone and asking "How can I help?" It is the responsibility of the enroller to structure the onboarding and continuing mentoring process.  This process has to be thoughtful and strategic.  In other words, there has to be a plan of when and what you will talk about as a business-building exercise. Then, the r...

I am officially "retired" but work about 25 hours a week at a Prometric Testing Center as a Test Center Administrator.   PTC is a worldwide organization that administers nearly 500 different tests across many professional disciplines.   Some of these include the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) for physicians, NCARB is for Architects, ASE is Automotive Service Excellence.  Then we do the Graduate Record Exam (GRE)... all of the Praxis tests for teacher certifications.  We also do TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).  Massachusetts Insurance Licensing for Health, Life, P&C.  Certified Public Accountants need to take 4 tests...  FINRA licenses Stock Brokers (Securities Industry Essentials, Series 7... etc.)  And... many, many others. Each of these tests costs money.  For example, to become a fully-fledged Architect, one is required to take 6 exams each costing $235 each, for a total of $1,410.  A physici...

This post pre-supposes that you are open to a portfolio approach to generating income with a range of diversified products and services.  This will not appeal to anyone with tunnel vision who thinks their product or opportunity is "their business". In contrast, "your business" is the group of competent, committed people who agree with and participate in the same business strategy you ascribe to.  As such, the businesses themselves can be anything.  Your business is a cohesive group of people who share the same values and principles in a community of support and interdependence that is built on relationships.  That being said... The natural market for what we do is the universe of people who are already familiar with Social Commerce.  Call it what you will... the global way to describe it is building organizations and sales teams through marketing and networking.  This includes the Multi-Level Marketing Industry, Affiliate Marketing, Network Marketing, Home ...

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...