Affiliate since: 01/06/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

It really depends on whether or not the affiliate has a product or products that are worth opening up an ECA store for and / or the commitment to truly make a success of the venture. For instance, there is absolutely no point in an affiliate having an ECA store if they're not going to be bothered

a) providing good customer service
b) keeping their inventory up to date
c) keeping their 'shelves' stocked
d) tracking what does and doesn't sell and ditching non-viable products

If all they want to do is sell the odd bit of second hand gear they should use the Member Listings Program instead.

However, if an affiliate has a great product or range of products and they're prepared to be serious about running their store like a proper business and not as a hobby they check up on occasionally 'to see how it's doing' then they definitely should have their own ECA store at TripleClicks. It's the best place in the world to have an online store.... :)
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It really depends on whether or not the affiliate has a product or products that are worth opening up an ECA store for and / or the commitment to truly make a success of the venture. For instance, there is absolutely no point in an affiliate having an ECA store if they're not going to be bothered

a) providing good customer service
b) keeping their inventory up to date
c) keeping their 'shelves' stocked
d) tracking what does and doesn't sell and ditching non-viable products
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Affiliate since: 01/06/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

Most definitely. If you have reached the point where you have 5 team members with the potential to become PTLs you probably won't be doing it for the income lol but more because you enjoy the challenge of developing your team members and seeing them reap the same benefits you have. Plus 'life happens' to people and you never know what's just around the corner. Getting too complacent about having 'discovered' your potential 5 super stars is setting yourself up for a big reality check if one or more of them suddenly drops out or stops working for some reason.

So no, definitely don't stop with just 5. Keep on developing your team to the best of your, and their, ability because you can always reallocate your 'excess' PTLs and top workers if having more than 5 PTLs on your frontline really worries you.
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Most definitely. If you have reached the point where you have 5 team members with the potential to become PTLs you probably won't be doing it for the income lol but more because you enjoy the challenge of developing your team members and seeing them reap the same benefits you have. Plus 'life happens' to people and you never know what's just around the corner. Getting too complacent about having 'discovered' your potential 5 super stars is setting yourself up for a big reality check if one or
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Affiliate since: 01/06/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

Not wanting to recruit or not being interested in recruiting SFI team members doesn't necessarily mean that someone is not interested in making a success out of their SFI business.

One of the truly awesome things about SFI is that it offers a number of DIFFERENT streams of income and some people choose to utilise some of the other methods instead, like promoting and selling TripleClicks products. This is more likely to be the case if the person requires, or wants to see, a steady income reasonably quickly - successfully promoting and selling products online is a much faster way of generating a substantial income than relying on sign ups to become active and want to work. Witness the massive number of people directly selling big 'A' products or drop shipping on Ebay. Selling products online works and works exceptionally well if you know how to do it. Relying on team building to earn you a significant income is a lot harder and takes a lot longer because you are relying on others wanting to work.

Once people have established a steady income through TC many will no doubt start to think about the benefits of residual income which come with building a successful team and that's when you'll likely see them get involved more in recruiting and duplication. They will also have positive results and a positive track record to SHOW their team members and they'll be able to better teach their team members how to do the same thing in order to start earning $$.

So instead of bewailing the fact that we have team members who aren't recruiting and don't seem to want to recruit, try finding out what they are interested in doing and then come up with options to help them become successful doing what they feel most comfortable doing.
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Not wanting to recruit or not being interested in recruiting SFI team members doesn't necessarily mean that someone is not interested in making a success out of their SFI business.

One of the truly awesome things about SFI is that it offers a number of DIFFERENT streams of income and some people choose to utilise some of the other methods instead, like promoting and selling TripleClicks products. This is more likely to be the case if the person requires, or wants to see, a steady income
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Affiliate since: 01/06/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

People buy products for 2 main reasons - they desire a particular result or they have a problem that needs solving. In other words, their primary motive in buying something is because it has a perceived benefit for them. It will either solve a problem they have or it will give them a result they want.

Once they've established that the product you're offering does either or both of those things, the next thing they're going to consider is credibility - do they trust you. Will you provide the goods or service you're selling, is the product reliable or will you just rip them off.

Even then, you still have one more important hurdle to overcome before you can begin to think that you've made a sale. Is what you're offering relevant to their current circumstances? Yes, you might be trying to sell ice to Eskimos which solves their problem of what to do when all their ice melts in a global warning caused heat wave, and as you seem to be a very trustworthy type of person, they believe you'll deliver the promised truckloads of ice to them BUT unfortunately if they don't need ice right at the moment, they're not exactly going to be beating a path to your door to buy it from you.

So how do you discover which TripleClicks products your Eskimo friends would buy? First of all, you need to have, or develop, the skill of asking the right types of questions at the right time, patiently and skillfully. Your questions should not put the person on edge or annoy them because that's the quickest way to lose a sale. Rather, they should lead the person into wanting to chat and feel comfortable sharing information with you. Then, having asked the questions, you need to be able to listen closely to the answers, then maybe ask some more questions until eventually you uncover information that will give you excellent clues as to what products will be of benefit to them at THIS point in time. By now they'll also be comfortable enough with you to listen to your recommendations.

So your Eskimo friends may not need ice right now and if you persist in trying to sell it to them because, by Golly, you want to sell ice, they won't want to buy anything at all from you, even if they do need it. However, if you ask them questions about how they use ice, what tools they use, what problems they may have with their ice, how does living in an ice-bound country affect their health and so on, you will uncover all sorts of ideas about what products they probably would be interested in buying - tools, thermofleece clothing, vitamin supplements and so on. So those are the types of products you would go find in TripleClicks and recommend to them.

As Zig Ziglar said in his much used quote - If you help enough people get what THEY want, you will get what you want.
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People buy products for 2 main reasons - they desire a particular result or they have a problem that needs solving. In other words, their primary motive in buying something is because it has a perceived benefit for them. It will either solve a problem they have or it will give them a result they want.

Once they've established that the product you're offering does either or both of those things, the next thing they're going to consider is credibility - do they trust you. Will you provide
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Affiliate since: 01/06/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

The company is already communicating with new members about Fast-Track 2.0 so, apart from briefly mentioning it in your welcome letter as an OPTION and providing the link so they can read up about it if they want to, I wouldn't push it.

Most new affiliates join SFI to have a look around because it's free and if the first thing they get is your welcome letter telling them they need to spend $20 if they're "serious about growing their business" it pretty much makes SFI look just like every other 'free to join and as soon as you do you get asked to pull out your credit card' program. I know what my opinion is of companies like that...
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The company is already communicating with new members about Fast-Track 2.0 so, apart from briefly mentioning it in your welcome letter as an OPTION and providing the link so they can read up about it if they want to, I wouldn't push it.

Most new affiliates join SFI to have a look around because it's free and if the first thing they get is your welcome letter telling them they need to spend $20 if they're "serious about growing their business" it pretty much makes SFI look just
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Affiliate since: 01/06/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

The most important thing new affiliates should do, after confirming their registration and verifying their email address to make sure they receive important emails from SFI, is visit the Getting Started page (grey button on the top RH corner) and watch the introductory video. This gives them an excellent overview not only of SFI itself but also explains the affiliate centre home page and the importance of doing their daily tasks, daily. It also introduces them to the basic concepts behind earning with SFI and Tripleclicks and sets out in very simple and plain terminology exactly how to take those all important first steps as well as showing them where the various links to more information and help can be found.

The second thing they should do is visit the SFI Basics page (blue button) to read, and UNDERSTAND, the information on that page. This is SFI broken down into the most basic of building blocks and if, after reading it, a new affiliate understands this information I believe they have a better than average chance of being able to make an informed decision about whether or not SFI is for them. New affiliates who choose to ignore or bypass the Getting Started and the SFI Basics pages will, in all likelihood, end up confused and intimidated by the sheer volume of information that they find here, flounder and lose their way unless they are already experienced marketers with a pretty clear idea of what SFI is and how it works before they join.

Once they start receiving the Daily Launchpads, it's important that new affiliates read and UNDERSTAND those lessons as well because again, these are vitally important stepping stones to success in SFI.

And then the most important thing new affiliates can do is learn by doing their daily tasks, daily, and by READING, READING and then reading some more because it's only by reading and learning that they'll get a true understanding of exactly what SFI and TripleClicks are about and the very real potential this company has to change their life for the better.

As sponsors we can guide new affiliates and we can point them in the right direction and we can tell them what they need / want to know but ultimately they're the only ones who can decide whether or not to read and learn what SFI is and how it works. Invariably though it is the new affiliates who do decide to learn everything they can about this industry and who truly 'get' what SFI is and 'get' how it works that decide to stay and give it their best shot.
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The most important thing new affiliates should do, after confirming their registration and verifying their email address to make sure they receive important emails from SFI, is visit the Getting Started page (grey button on the top RH corner) and watch the introductory video. This gives them an excellent overview not only of SFI itself but also explains the affiliate centre home page and the importance of doing their daily tasks, daily. It also introduces them to the basic concepts behind earning
...more

Affiliate since: 01/06/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

'Where' needs to come before 'how' because 'where' you advertise affects the effectiveness of 'how' you advertise. Once you've determined what your target group is, put yourself in their shoes. Think about the places online they frequent, what they're predominantly interested in and then put your ads where they're most likely to see them. For instance, there's no point putting your ads where people who are approaching retirement age are more likely to see them if you're trying to attract young people who are actively looking for a career, and vice versa. You also wouldn't use the 'Worried about your retirement' angle either because most young people don't think that far ahead in life. Instead, think about the types of things young people about to embark on a career or launch themselves out into the work force would be thinking about. What are the things that would most likely be of concern to them and that might motivate them to want to get involved in building their own online business. A better, more lucrative lifestyle, working from the comfort of their own home, being their own boss (Honey, I fired the boss), having a second income, the freedom to come and go as they please without having to worry about money, being able to provide adequately for their family and so on. All valid selling points for this target group.

Conversely, if you are targeting those approaching retirement age, you would hone in on their likely worries about whether or not they'll have enough money to live on if they retire (Worried about your retirement?). One of the biggest concerns of this age group is health care - will they be able to afford medical treatment should, or when, they need it. Will they in fact be able to retire at all - studies have shown that many people approaching retirement age are now increasingly deciding that they won't be able to and will have to keep working. How many of us really want to still be working for someone else when we're in our 70's!! So a supplemental income that can be earned from home is an attractive selling point for this age bracket.

When you're writing your ads, think about the language your target group uses and the way they communicate with each other. By this I don't mean their native tongue, I mean the types of words they use and the tone of their conversations - are they formal with each other or do they use a lot of casual phrases, 'txt speak' and slang terminology. Then try to write your ads so that they fit in with their communication 'culture' and are appealing to them. Try several versions of the ad, track your results and then use the one that gets the best response.
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'Where' needs to come before 'how' because 'where' you advertise affects the effectiveness of 'how' you advertise. Once you've determined what your target group is, put yourself in their shoes. Think about the places online they frequent, what they're predominantly interested in and then put your ads where they're most likely to see them. For instance, there's no point putting your ads where people who are approaching retirement age are more likely to see them if you're trying to attract young
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Affiliate since: 01/06/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

We've all probably heard the saying - work smarter, not harder. First of all though we need to understand what 'working smart' means. Working smart is basically just the PRODUCTIVE APPLICATION of hard work achieved by PRE PLANNING and by carefully working out the BEST, MOST EFFECTIVE WAY to proceed, BEFORE you start. So, how can we apply this to how we work our SFI business?

- Know WHAT you want to achieve each day when you first log into SFI. If you log in and waffle around getting side tracked you'll invariably find at the end of the day that you've spent a lot of time putting in some hard yards but not necessarily made any significant progress towards your overall goal. That's working hard, not smart. Working smart means making sure everything you do is focussed towards a particular goal, which you've predetermined before you even start working on it, and then ensuring that everything you do is actually taking you towards that goal, not sideways or backwards. Tip - "People dont plan to fail. They fail to plan."

So, when you log into SFI each day have a plan of attack which may run something like this - complete daily To Do's, play T Time and a few other games to earn VPs, MRPs and potentially Tcredits, find new TC products to promote, read at least one piece of information pertaining to business building, find X number of new places to advertise, spend x amount of time surfing in traffic exchanges, write a new blog post for your blog, update your website, contact your movers, send E-cards to new team members and so on.

- Don't keep repeating things that don't work in the mistaken belief that somehow the end result will be different 'this time'. For instance, if your current advertising is not bringing results, don't keep doing more of the same hoping that one day your ads will miraculously start working and you'll find people beating a pathway to your door. That's just a lot of hard, unproductive work. The smart way to work is to identify early on why your ads aren't working (content, wording, target audience, platforms etc), correct the mistakes (reword, tweak, research your market some more, try other advertising platforms etc) and then keep working on the ones that are getting the results you want in order to bring about the results you want.

***TIP - using key codes and SFI's Hit Tracking tool to assist you will help you work smart with your advertising.

- Figure out early on what activities are getting you the results you want. Working smart means being FOCUSED and ORGANISED so that you can make EFFICIENT, PRODUCTIVE use of your time. Set yourself SMART goals and be prepared to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to achieve them.

***TIP - remember the 80/20 rule. A person who works hard rather than smart has a tendency to focus 80% of their time on things that bring in 20% of their results. If you want to work smart you need to be focusing 20% of your time on what gets you 80% of your results.

Unfortunately most of us have been conditioned to think that if we aren't working long hours putting in the hard yards we aren't 'really' working. So we apply this principle to our SFI business as well, thinking that if we slog away at it for x number of hours each day eventually the hard work will pay off. Regrettably it probably won't. Not if you're not applying the hard work effectively to only those activities that will bring about the results you want. For instance, if you spend time randomly posting ads and interacting on social media more because you enjoy doing it rather than because it actually brings about any significant results, then you're working harder not smarter. Working smart involves first learning how social media works and how to utilise it correctly (by adding value and not running the risk of getting banned for spamming). Then identify your target audience, learn what it is they want and need, and design effective ways to approach that specific audience that will get you the results you want, whether it be new affiliates, PRMs or ECAs.

Likewise, if you're spending huge amounts of time writing blog posts that no one reads because you've not taken into account things like SEO, effective key word use and so on, that's working hard, not smart. Learn about SEO strategies and the like, then write original, targeted posts that supply information and provide value to readers and make them want to join SFI or purchase the TC product/s you're talking about.

- Don't spend hours and hours trying to cut down one tree with a blunt saw (because you're so busy cutting down trees you don't have time to sharpen your saw). That's definitely working hard. Working smart means taking time out to sharpen your saw so that when you do get to work you can cut down many trees with the same amount of effort. In other words, take the time to hone and sharpen your skills so that you can be more effective at recruiting new affiliates, PRMs and ECAs rather than spend endless hours using ineffective methods and tools that probably won't get you even one solitary new affiliate, PRM or ECA.

***TIP - 'Leaders are readers.' Utilise the extensive library of training material that SFI has built up over the years and made available, free of charge, to us all.

- Be innovative and creative. Start thinking outside the box to come up with ways of achieving better results for your business. Find new ways and places to promote your SFI and TC business.

- Look at ways you can work smarter with your team. For instance, identify the go-getters in your front line and transfer some of your other affiliates to them. This will allow you to devote more quality time to, and concentrate on, developing your team leaders. It will also help your team leaders build their own teams which is going to encourage them to stick around and it will help deepen and strenghten your entire team - you'll be growing several strong roots instead of a bunch of shallow ones and it. Then teach them to do the same thing.

***TIP - remember the 'find 5' concept.

- Utilise products like SBuilder, PSA's To Go and the various other ECA affiliate / website hit packages available through TripleClicks to build your team faster and smarter, at least until you learn to do this effectively yourself. Otherwise you may well be spending a lot of time on hard work that won't pay off in terms of real sign ups.

Tip - If you think something will be hard work it invariably will be. Likewise, if you approach it with the view that you can do it the smart way then you'll find a way to do it that way. In other words, by working smart you can turn even the hardest work into smart work.
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We've all probably heard the saying - work smarter, not harder. First of all though we need to understand what 'working smart' means. Working smart is basically just the PRODUCTIVE APPLICATION of hard work achieved by PRE PLANNING and by carefully working out the BEST, MOST EFFECTIVE WAY to proceed, BEFORE you start. So, how can we apply this to how we work our SFI business?

- Know WHAT you want to achieve each day when you first log into SFI. If you log in and waffle around getting
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