The Agreement Seekers Blog

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...