Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

Fairly new and no knowledge makes the confidence to lead a downline successfully crumble easily.
BUT learning is the greatest key for both of you:

Make sure to learn and repeat a few lessons and training pages each day, visit the forums and discuss with other affiliates what you learned and where you feel you still need to learn more.

For a good start with your new downline member, you can either duplicate how your sponsor welcomed you or get a few additional ideas from the forums. In the forums "Getting Started" and introduction section are a lot of posts and answers that advise how to start with SFI and what one should do on his first days here.
There are also some starting videos / tutorials for SFI on Youtube, that can help with the initial steps even if there's a language barrier between you and your PSA. Also for language problems, advise your PSA early on to join a2a and to search for affiliates that he can talk to.

Also make sure to learn from each question your PSA asks. Don't just fast type a halfhearted answer, but investigate the topic via the knowledge base of SFI (training, marketing, reference,...), forums and AskSC.
With each question your PSA has for you, you yourself can grow your knowledge even better.

And while I am at it:
See it from a different angle - while learning a new lesson, you can apply it immediately, share and discuss it with your PSA. Others might have to learn it the cold way and might have to put in more effort to be able to apply and train the new knowledge ;)
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Fairly new and no knowledge makes the confidence to lead a downline successfully crumble easily.
BUT learning is the greatest key for both of you:

Make sure to learn and repeat a few lessons and training pages each day, visit the forums and discuss with other affiliates what you learned and where you feel you still need to learn more.

For a good start with your new downline member, you can either duplicate how your sponsor welcomed you or get a few additional ideas from
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Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

Hi Bob,

I'd tell them it's okay - there are other possibilities to earn with SFI that may suit them better, but they shouldn't write of sponsoring completely since it is the best way to earn money even with several years to come.

When getting started, most PSAs don't have confidence in getting sign ups or even less becoming a good Teamleader. Also most have to make sure first that SFI is not a scam and only benefits them. Both are reasons for us sponsors to guide them the best we can and also to find out how we can help each individual PSA to start their own journey here.

So what to do to challenge that feared wall. First, tell them how they can earn besides sponsoring and duplication:
- get customers to TripleClicks (= PRM):
by advertising TC features, favorite products or whole shops;
they will earn lifetime commissions from purchases of all invited PRMs
- get sellers to TripleClicks (= ECA):
by advertising TripleClicks as marketplace with free listings and free global advertisement by affiliates;
earning lifetime comissions from all sales of this ECA
- open an own shop at TripleClicks: offer legal products and services
(- PPA: if they someday do want to try recruiting for training, but still are not sure about sponsoring)

Help them in learning about advertising methods and possibilities and teach them about transfer buying. Also, absolutely do tell them to still do their dailies the best they can. This has three reasons:
1. Your PSA can get even more input and ideas on marketing or selling through his daily activity
2. An affiliate needs to reach EA status at least once within 6 months or he forfeits his commissions
3. The goodie for the sponsor: you get 100 bonus action VP for each EA2 (affiliate with consecutive EA status)

Since each kind of advertising also does need some good background information of the involved companies, advice your PSAs to still work through the accumulated knowledge base of SFI. They may use their own pace to go through all the information, there is no need to rush it before they aren't confident that SFI really works. But once they are confident, they might only need a little reminder of the opportunity "sponsoring".

Another factor for some affiliates is the time spend on SFI.
While most marketing can be done in just a few hours a week, real sponsoring can take up much more time. A lot of affiliates join up online business opportunities not only because of being able to work from home, but also because of the opportunity of more free time.
Here, you can advice them to concentrate on warm and local market for sponsoring, this way they can meet up with family and friends like usually while helping them to build up their business. Compared to timing your talks with nonlocal PSAs that you cant't meet personally and might live in different timezones, you can take advantage of your own daily routine and even share the newest idea fresh and fast without having to invest that much extra time.

All in all, you could say, SFI offers the opportunities and we sponsors light up the different paths for our PSAs to use those. It is just a question of what the affiliate wants to do.
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Hi Bob,

I'd tell them it's okay - there are other possibilities to earn with SFI that may suit them better, but they shouldn't write of sponsoring completely since it is the best way to earn money even with several years to come.

When getting started, most PSAs don't have confidence in getting sign ups or even less becoming a good Teamleader. Also most have to make sure first that SFI is not a scam and only benefits them. Both are reasons for us sponsors to guide them the best
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Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

SFI is better than most other affiliate programs already just because it IS different.
It goes quite beyond just affiliate or network marketing with all of its opportunities.

Of course, there are those points like 16 years SFI, shared experience in massive free training, free tools and other freebies that differ it from others.
Those are fast listed but just the word "network" or "affiliate" let's people already think of just another snowball system and they forget about the above.

It is the differences below that persuaded me that SFI is not at all another melty snowflake:

- Affiliate marketing:
At SFI we have an unlimited system that allows us to expand our downline both horizontally (getting PSAs) and vertically (supporting PSAs by sending them other active PSAs) based on support and training new teamleaders; most other systems have a matrix system with two legs where everyone mostly waits for the upline to get some new affiliates under him

- "Inside Marketing":
Yes, there may be affiliate programs where you can buy traffic for your affiliate pages, but you'll never know whether it will produce leads and even less which ones will be active; SFI is the first I know off where you can directly buy your leads (S-Builder Coop and PSAs to go), so at least the first problem is tackled an that for a reasonable price!

- Product Marketing:
Normally, the range of products is quite low and mostly you yourself are asked to buy them for yourself if you need them or not; SFI offers with its partner TripleClicks a platform where it is taken the other way round: first you like a product, then you promote it

- Brand/Company Marketing:
Same as in product marketing: most other affiliate opportunities only offer one shop, one brand, one company; On TC you have the choice whether to promote TC, an ECA shop you like or maybe just your friends and family stores represented at TC

- Your own store:
Those companies that start out as pure affiliate marketeers won't have it: the opportunity to open up your own store; what else to say, than SFI has it and its named the ECA program on TC

- Your choice:
Now we get to the best part: All these things are your choice and you don't even need to pay anything for those. They are all free opportunities, each of them can generate a very good income and even more if combined.

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SFI is better than most other affiliate programs already just because it IS different.
It goes quite beyond just affiliate or network marketing with all of its opportunities.

Of course, there are those points like 16 years SFI, shared experience in massive free training, free tools and other freebies that differ it from others.
Those are fast listed but just the word "network" or "affiliate" let's people already think of just another snowball system and they
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Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

"Paint the world in your colours"

There may be many actions in the world that seem the same and make you feel like just one of too many. But one defines oneself as individual that stands out by HOW one does something, not just WHAT. It's the same in SFI.

Within SFI you might be able to stand out with massive VP counts, downline success stories, badges and activity in forums and AskSC. But reaching this point is only the result of how you worked.

So how do you need to work to stand out? Here are the points that make one stand out for me:

> be yourself - don't try to change yourself forcefully just to become successful. You know your good and bad sides, don't you? So go out, learn how to use your weakness for you and multiply your strength. Like if you are bad at talking or advertising, try to find or better create a connection to your hobbies - you get natural indirect advertising and are able to speak fluently (maybe even nonstop...)

> promote yourself - be an active member in your region and in all activities of your interest. If you are open, honest and active, people will put their trust in you more easily which can only benefit your business later on. Also others will talk about you, and even a stranger for you might have already heard that you can be trusted.

> learn, learn, learn - learn from your weaknesses and mistakes, turn them into strength. One weakness is the unknown, make sure to learn and understand about SFI / TC, then don't just quote all the teachings here but use YOUR VERY OWN WORDS to describe and teach others

> be tenacious and have courage - tear down every wall that you hit even if it takes several tries and alternate attacks. It might be tiring sometimes to cope with the obstacles, but if you give in or even ignore them, you won't be able to advance. The mass does neither rush forward nor take a step aside and think about the problem, they just drift alongside the others.

Such people, that master the aboves, won't have to worry about standing out - it will come to them naturally as they walk their path with lots of personal colours.

Happy colouring!
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"Paint the world in your colours"

There may be many actions in the world that seem the same and make you feel like just one of too many. But one defines oneself as individual that stands out by HOW one does something, not just WHAT. It's the same in SFI.

Within SFI you might be able to stand out with massive VP counts, downline success stories, badges and activity in forums and AskSC. But reaching this point is only the result of how you worked.

So how do
...more

Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

The maximum amount possible is hard to reach, even if you do know the tricks.
But to get one of the topspots these DOs and DON'Ts should help you:

DO:
- Read the question thoroughly to see what exactly was asked,
- Be polite and write in a positive manner
- Write in well understandable english and pay attention to a readable format
- have exact and full information related to the question,
- but still keep your information short and to the point,
- be creative and think further than just the obvious points,
- bind in your own experience on that topic

DONT:
- reinterpret the question into something that wasn't even asked,
- only copy texts from training or ToDo-list or other affiliates,
- spam, include personal identification, cross solicit or anything else that's against the rules,
- answer just to have answered (like just some nonsense)
- write massive text blocks (even less if you didn't use punctuations)
- relink too many sites even if only SFI training pages

...
Should be the mainpoints.
Of course, there will always be some questions where oneself is not really experienced in, so you might need to pick out the questions you really feel able to answer.

Happy writing!

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The maximum amount possible is hard to reach, even if you do know the tricks.
But to get one of the topspots these DOs and DON'Ts should help you:

DO:
- Read the question thoroughly to see what exactly was asked,
- Be polite and write in a positive manner
- Write in well understandable english and pay attention to a readable format
- have exact and full information related to the question,
- but still keep your information short and to the point,
- be
...more

Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

I suggest to participate in both. They are quite different and both are worth the investment without a doubt:

-> Payment wise:
S-Builder Coop is really great as a monthly standing order.

Wave is a one time payment and that only for the fixed shipping fee of $1.95. After this you won't have to pay again for Wave 3 - so no extra costs for you.


-> Feature Wise:
Wave is mostly only a marketing program for TripleClicks: Wave sticker only advertises TripleClicks in general, but still can catch attention and raise the overall value of VP (bound to the sales). Wave X-cards and the invitation link are bound to your account though, and thus can create PRMs and winoptions for the weekly wave drawing. Additionally you will be rewarded with monthly bonus points.

From S-Builder Coop you will automatically receive shares of PRMs and PSAs depending on the success of SFIs own marketing. It helps you to build your downline and can even get you some sales from TC. Also it is a great tool for helping your Team: set up a coop and invite your active Teammembers so they can recieve a share too.

The greatest differences between the two:
1) one is PRM only (WAVE), the other goes for PSAs, too (S-Builder)
2) have to advertise yourself (WAVE), automatic Teambuilder (S-Builder)

So, if you can afford at least one share of S-Builder in a standing order, there's no downside of participating in wave.
On the other hand, even if you can't scratch together the money for the Coop right now, Wave is still a good option for you ;)
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I suggest to participate in both. They are quite different and both are worth the investment without a doubt:

-> Payment wise:
S-Builder Coop is really great as a monthly standing order.

Wave is a one time payment and that only for the fixed shipping fee of $1.95. After this you won't have to pay again for Wave 3 - so no extra costs for you.


-> Feature Wise:
Wave is mostly only a marketing program for TripleClicks: Wave sticker only advertises
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Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

Yes, it definitely is.

Though many students will have to hold back on buying too much on TripleClicks, being part of SFI and its training is completely free.

You gain abundant knowledge just by reading and learning and get big shares of experiences from other affiliates all around the world.
In fact, many of the strategies and tips listed here can be conversed into nearly every field in the offline world too.

Another good point is the building of future friends and coworkers all around the world. If you're studying different languages your a2a friends, up- and downline might even help you with practical language training. A good friendbase from all sorts of backgrounds might even help you with s job (besides SFI) later.

You see, SFI is not just good as an income opportunity but helps you already in every possible way even before you want to start earning income with it.

Hope it helped you.
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Yes, it definitely is.

Though many students will have to hold back on buying too much on TripleClicks, being part of SFI and its training is completely free.

You gain abundant knowledge just by reading and learning and get big shares of experiences from other affiliates all around the world.
In fact, many of the strategies and tips listed here can be conversed into nearly every field in the offline world too.

Another good point is the building of future friends
...more

Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

Discourage? Never.

I might end up telling them to be patient and learn a bit more before, but if they are eager to become real Teamleaders and building up an active team, I'd do my very best to support them.

There's the catch to it: Real Teamleaders.
As long as they do not understand that a Teamleader needs an active team under them that they can support and mentor, they are not ready yet for this task and it needs more patience and mentoring on the sponsors side.

Of course, you can always advise eager PSAs to invite their friends to learn SFI from the get-go with them. Sometimes it is easier for us sponsors to teach a team that knows and challenges each other ;)
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Discourage? Never.

I might end up telling them to be patient and learn a bit more before, but if they are eager to become real Teamleaders and building up an active team, I'd do my very best to support them.

There's the catch to it: Real Teamleaders.
As long as they do not understand that a Teamleader needs an active team under them that they can support and mentor, they are not ready yet for this task and it needs more patience and mentoring on the sponsors side.

Of
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Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

Depends on your workplan.

The least amount you should invest directly into SFI each day is: 35 minutes.
In this time you can get your dailies done (including survey, TC latest items, entries for Daily Grand and T-Time), answer 30 AskSC question WITH careful reading and browse the blog for news.
Still within SFI: depending on the activity and questions of your team, you might want to invest another hour or more into sponsoring, research/review and reading the forums.

For the indirect investment: you should invest at least another hour depending on how fast you create new content for your blogs/websites/social sites/forums/meetings and the necessary research for your topics.

Add a short recreation for your eyes and your body with at least 30 minutes inbetween and you get to a least amount of 3 hours.

Advertising on the Go (daily outings, always ready to find a new opportunity) and local advertising (Distribute/refill giftcards, business cards, flyers, ...) will add even more time to it.

Still, 3 hours of forwarding your business is the least amount I advice you to invest.
To not overwork yourself, I advice to hold it down to a maximum of 9 working hours each day with (short) breaks every two hours.

Please be careful: While funny, relaxing or motivational reading and conversing within SFI do not really feel like work but may happen quite often, please make sure to calculate in a good amount of time for your beloved ones!
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Depends on your workplan.

The least amount you should invest directly into SFI each day is: 35 minutes.
In this time you can get your dailies done (including survey, TC latest items, entries for Daily Grand and T-Time), answer 30 AskSC question WITH careful reading and browse the blog for news.
Still within SFI: depending on the activity and questions of your team, you might want to invest another hour or more into sponsoring, research/review and reading the forums.

For
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Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999

Hello Ian,

you made me laugh out just now with using "bribe" for this question! :D
Surely, there are different ways to use incentives if oneself has already enough earnings for this.

BRIBE/INCENTIVES
But seriously, a "bribe" normally is given as pre-incentive to do (or not do) something AFTER receiving the bribe. So, in this context: no, it is definitely not wise to give your downline those incentives directly without them having done anything else than just opting in.
As pre-incentive it is better to announce competitions where those incentives can be earned. Your downline will hear it and might engage even more just to get that bonus from you!
Another nice point here: those competitions can be just a few times a year, they don't need to be completely regular. Thus, you can control your investment even on lower earnings.

REWARD
Of course, gift certificates, TCredits and such are good as rewards for any achievement as long as you think that the reward equal their work. Always think which rewards you would choose for one of your affiliate reaching EA and another one becoming TL. For me, it would be Tcredits (up to 10 possible) for EA and gift certificates for TL (evtly combined with TC).
Attention here: Don't discriminate anyone no matter when/where they opted in or how much you talked to them. This system only works if you treat each of your PSAs as equals and are not limited in the incentive counts (ie if you already earn enough money).

HELPING OUT
Another use for those incentives is to help your downline achieving certain goals. This method should only be used on affiliates you have lots of contact with, are eager enough to earn more and can truly achieve their goal with that help.
A good example here is the 10actionVP-missing-to-TL: if this happens to your teammember, 10Tcredits will surely be able to be converted into those action VP via TripleClicks within the day they were recieved. TL saved, teammember happy and you get extra points for him/her.
A bad example would be to give out gift certificates and Tcredits to PSAs you neither had a talk to yet or that weren't really active that month. Your incentive would just make "puff": the other one either doesn't use them or isn't able to use them for good and achieve something through it. Wasted effort and money on your side. in the worst case, that person asks for more and more incentives like that and you end up getting bitten.
It would be another question if you know that person personally (like a dear friend or family), have regular talks, trainings and meetings. In that case, it will be easier for you to estimate his/her true situation and if this gift will really help. But be careful here too, if freebies and money are involved, even a known person can get greedy quite fast.

Last but not least, two tips of mine, whatever incentive methods you may use:
- Limit your investment cost and never cross it
- put together your own system for incentives with help of your budget and review it regularly

Happy sponsoring!
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PS: just from listing those, I noticed my favorite are the competitions :)
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Hello Ian,

you made me laugh out just now with using "bribe" for this question! :D
Surely, there are different ways to use incentives if oneself has already enough earnings for this.

BRIBE/INCENTIVES
But seriously, a "bribe" normally is given as pre-incentive to do (or not do) something AFTER receiving the bribe. So, in this context: no, it is definitely not wise to give your downline those incentives directly without them having done anything else
...more