The Agreement Seekers Blog

This post is about mindset.  The home-based business industry typically has used the words recruit, enroll, sponsor, get sign-ups... to define the activity of business building. I want to tweak this just a bit.  There is more to the proposition beyond the next silver ball being loaded - and then flung up to the top of the pin ball machine and left to bounce around - and then needing to be whacked to keep it in play. When we "find people to support", the idea from the outset is that we need to understand how the person we are talking to.  Our orientation has to be how we can help someone.  In some cases, this will mean that we "turn down" people if we do not think they have a likelihood of success. This comes down to our assessments of people as potential business partners.  Have they taken the time to understand what we do?  Do they have the ability to articulate our business philosophy of learning and teaching?  Have they, in some manner, stated...

In general, I hesitate in talking too extensively about money. Although any business success  is ultimately "measured" by profitability, the money is the end and not the means... and without the means - talking about the end is simply a pipe dream.  This having been said, there is a path to retirement with our business.  The intent here is to share what this looks like. The first goal is the first sale.  It all begins here.  We need to attract just one person who is interested and believes in what we do.  This breaking-of-the-ice (and breaking even) is all important and will establish the first bit of conviction that what we do is viable and do-able - for you. Being realistic, we then need to learn how to grow.  As you grow, you can reach more things higher and higher on the learning tree and make connections between people and concepts.  During this time, you complement your income.  At first, it feels like tidbits and the retu...

Having been in or around the online money-making industry since the beginning of the internet, I have seen things come and go.  I am or have been on the email lists of many, many "gurus" who have marketed the latest and greatest systems, strategies and formulas. I have been exposed to and evaluated "money-making opportunities" that are every color of the rainbow, at investment levels from 5 cents to $52,000.  Systems that use phone broadcasting, to postcards, to auto-posting to social media, local guerilla marketing, email autoresponders and capture pages.  And this is just the tip of the possibilities  Frankly, all of these have their place (and) are a fit for some but not for others - based on your background and experience. To put it like my father would have said it, there are more ways to make money than "you can shake a stick at".  The corollary to this is that there is an equal number of people willing to impart advice on how to go about i...

At the end of the day, among all the ways we define ourselves, we are a social business. When I came across The Seven Social Sins, it was an "ah-ha" moment because these encapsulate so much of the Working Poor No More philosophy and what we strive to communicate to people in the process of evaluating whether to join us. The Seven Social Sins are: Wealth without work. Pleasure without conscience. Knowledge without character. Commerce without morality. Science without humanity. Worship without sacrifice. Politics without principle. These represent our core values in regard to wealth, knowledge and commerce.  Of course, the rest are all good ponder fodder.  If you delve at any depth into this blog, you will find that wealth requires work, especially when like most of us, we start from nothing and incrementally build a business and better life. Commerce without morality is a key differentiator in our marketing community.  You will find that truth ...

Isn't it interesting that a topic like Moral Authority is relevant in today's business environment, especially in the "home business" arena?  I have thought about this topic for quite some time and reflected on my life experience to illustrate something that I hope will be beneficial. When my kids were in Junior High, I started asking the same question in a couple of different ways. The first was, "How are you going to distinguish yourself as you get older?"  The second was, "What makes you exceptional?" I was trying to impress upon them that they need to stand for something.  I wanted to convey that someone trusting you - implicitly -  is the highest compliment and honor you can ever receive.  There is a great deal more that I tried to do in helping (them) form their character, but you get the idea... So, this is a nice tidbit of family nostalgia... but what does it have to do with business and the subject of Moral Authority? Moral Aut...

We try very hard to not over-inflate what we do and stay firmly grounded in the practical and reasonable.  Our "appeal" is to anyone wanting or needing to stabilize their finances as a springboard to higher and higher levels of prosperity.  However, if you spend any time learning about our philosophy of doing business, this pre-supposes a lot. We strive to be perceived as calm and rational, and as the title states... to simply posture ourselves as a viable alternative in the total universe of money-making opportunities.  Our goal is not to appeal to everyone, but to appeal to people who will invest the time necessary to understand, on a very pragmatic level, "why" we are a special organization to be a part of. The title also mentions treadmill income.  This infers that most people who will find what we do appealing - are looking to elevate themselves beyond their frustration with a life of squeaking by and barely "making it".  People who go to a job ...

As a business owner, I want to attract decent, honorable people.  This is important on a number of levels, not the least of which are the implications of attracting the opposite. In my "day job", I manage a group of 72 people.  When I first introduce myself to any group I talk about having two extra eyes.  I then go on to explain that I really mean they need to have to extra "i's".  These two i's are initiative and integrity.  Decent, honorable people, for the most part, have these two i's. Let me tell you how I define them.  Integrity means that you are doing what you are supposed to be doing when no one is watching.  Initiative means that you do things on your own, without having to be told. In our business, you need to engage in productive daily activity.  Your sense of integrity needs to drive doing what you are supposed to be doing.  Discipline is absolutely essential.  And this rolls right into initiative because th...