Posts

The Liability of Preconceptions

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...

Be the One They Choose to Work With

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 ...

A Real Solution for the Vast Majority?

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...

Thanks, but No Ranks

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...

Funding Life and Financial Literacy

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...

Plant a Flag on Your Dreams

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...

A Means to an End

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...