Affiliate since: 03/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999

Hi Alvin,

Thank you for asking. While it might be tempting to head off the Google and search for alternate sites offering info or training related to SFI, you can easily find everything you need right here.

SFI has provided a wealth of information in the SFI Basics and LaunchPad areas. Next to these, I quite often head over to the Reference & Training sections. In these two sections, you will find a wealth of information that SFI has provided to ensure that we are successful.

But while all the information that has been written by SFI for our benefit, I find the two most useful tools for finding out anything and everything I would want to know about SFI are the forum and AskSC. Both are great avenues wherewith you can have any question you might have about SFI answered.

In the forum, you will get answers from both SFI affiliates and sometimes from Gery himself. Wherein, with AskSC, you are getting your answers solely from fellow SFI affiliates. The benefit with this is that you are getting your answers from people just like you who are actively engaged with their SFI businesses and have, more often than not, already done whatever it is that you might be asking at the time.

Hope this helps.
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Hi Alvin,

Thank you for asking. While it might be tempting to head off the Google and search for alternate sites offering info or training related to SFI, you can easily find everything you need right here.

SFI has provided a wealth of information in the SFI Basics and LaunchPad areas. Next to these, I quite often head over to the Reference & Training sections. In these two sections, you will find a wealth of information that SFI has provided to ensure that we are successful.

But
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Affiliate since: 03/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999

This is an excellent question, especially for those who desire to write their own ads apart from those ads that SFI has already provided.

There are several negative facets to avoid when writing your own ads:

1) Hype
This creates the sense that people are able to get rich quick. It heightens their emotions and can lead to disappointment and failure when they realize that there is no silver platter awaiting them and they actually have to work their business to make it successful.

2) Misleading information
This can be closely tied to using hype in your ads. By providing misleading information, you are automatically setting your new business partners up for failure as they joined under false pretenses and with the wrong impression.

3) Bribery
Using ads that promise a reward for signing up can be very damaging to your business and your reputation. Any new business partners that are gained through the use of such tactics are going to continue to expect such "bribes", sitting back and expecting you to do all the work.

4) Negativity
It is often easy to fall into this trap. Maybe you are having a bad day or your business is not growing as fast as you would like or your team of business partners is not as active as you would like. Whatever the cause, it is important to not allow such negative thoughts intersperse into your advertising.

Hope this helps.
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This is an excellent question, especially for those who desire to write their own ads apart from those ads that SFI has already provided.

There are several negative facets to avoid when writing your own ads:

1) Hype
This creates the sense that people are able to get rich quick. It heightens their emotions and can lead to disappointment and failure when they realize that there is no silver platter awaiting them and they actually have to work their business to make it successful.

2)
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Affiliate since: 03/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999

My first instinct is to say no, it would not be wise or useful. Usually, before I even consider offering any kind of incentive to any member of my team, I would be asking myself:

How will this incentive benefit my business?

Will this incentive inspire my team to make their purchases through TripleClicks?

Is this incentive one that could be considered cross-solicitation?

Is this incentive one that is able to be easily duplicated by my team?

If I can't answer yes to each of those questions, then I simply head off in search of something else that I can use that will not only benefit my business, but my team's as well. Let us take a moment to review each of these four questions is more detail.

How will this incentive benefit my business?
This can sometimes be a tricky one to answer unless you have a clear vision for your SFI business and what all you consider to be "benefits". Benefits can include such things as a direct monetary earning, building your team or helping team members attain their next rank. Once you have a clear vision of where your business currently is and where you want next to take it, it will be easier to find those tools or incentives that will help get you there.

Will this incentive inspire my team to make their purchases through TripleClicks?
Let's face it, if your team members are not purchasing from TripleClicks, you are never going to make any kind of a long-term, residual income. Sure, you can make money through SFI's SFIPPA program, by referring PRMs who make a purchase here and there, or by referring ECAs, but these are all either one-shot deals or so sporadic that it would be impossible to rely upon. But when you are able to get your team to purchase through TripleClicks, especially if your incentive inspires them to set up a standing order, then you are guaranteed a residual, monthly income so long as they maintain their standing order.

Is this incentive one that could be considered cross-solicitation?
The one thing you never, ever want to do is cross-solicit another business opportunity to your team members, even if it does benefit your SFI business. This is one of their strictest rules which can result in the termination of your SFI business. Let's say that your are an affiliate with XYZ Targeted Leads. You offer a leads package to your team, the only stipulation of which is that they have to enroll as your referrals in XYZ to claim their leads. This is an example of an incentive that, while it might appear to benefit your SFI business by providing leads for your team to use to build their SFI businesses, would be considered cross-solicitation as your team members has to sign up for a different business opportunity to claim their leads.

Is this incentive one that is able to be easily duplicated by my team?
The primary structure for SFI is that of duplication. We want for our team members to be able easily duplicate what we do. If your want them to set up standing orders, have one yourself. Do you want them to Fast-Track, be a Fast-Tracker yourself. The same consideration needs to be taken into account when considering offering any kind of an incentive to your team. If you want to offer incentives to your team to inspire them to take a desired action, then you need to make sure that your team members are able to easily offer either the same or the same kind of incentive to their teams.

Hope this helps.
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My first instinct is to say no, it would not be wise or useful. Usually, before I even consider offering any kind of incentive to any member of my team, I would be asking myself:

How will this incentive benefit my business?

Will this incentive inspire my team to make their purchases through TripleClicks?

Is this incentive one that could be considered cross-solicitation?

Is this incentive one that is able to be easily duplicated by my team?

If
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Affiliate since: 03/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999

This is a great question.

One of the best places to start is with a thorough review of your affiliate's profile page. Engage with them in regular dialogue. Learn as much as you can about them, not only from a business perspective, but personal as well.

Where does your affiliate live? Do they have a family? What prompted them to look for a business opportunity? Out of all the opportunities available, what made them choose SFI?

These are all appropriate questions you can ask your affiliates. By asking personal questions, you are demonstrating to your affiliates that you care about them individually, not just as another pay check.

Through your affiliate's profile page, you can learn about what, if any, prior business experience they have, what marketing skills they possess, what their goals are, etc.

Identifying the skills necessary for success often requires being able to decipher what they are telling you. Let's say that through your dialogues, your affiliate tells you that they enjoy playing sports and was a team captain during their four years of college. This would demonstrate that your affiliate already possesses leadership skills from being a sports team captain, and that they knew how to lead their team to victory as they were able to retain the role of team captain for four years.

I hope this has helped to answer your question.
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This is a great question.

One of the best places to start is with a thorough review of your affiliate's profile page. Engage with them in regular dialogue. Learn as much as you can about them, not only from a business perspective, but personal as well.

Where does your affiliate live? Do they have a family? What prompted them to look for a business opportunity? Out of all the opportunities available, what made them choose SFI?

These are all appropriate questions you
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Affiliate since: 03/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999

Hi Ana,

This is an excellent question, though not such an easy one to answer as both are important, and indeed, I would highly recommend both if your budget allowed.

But were I started over and had to choose, then without any hesitation, I would set myself up to quality for and remain qualified for EA status. This ensure that you have access to multiple income streams so that you can start earning a return on your investment while you are learning about building a team and being a team leader.

The nice thing about the internet is the fact too that there are numerous ways wherewith you can advertise your SFI business for free, so it is not necessary to invest in advertising right away.

I hope my answer has helped.
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Hi Ana,

This is an excellent question, though not such an easy one to answer as both are important, and indeed, I would highly recommend both if your budget allowed.

But were I started over and had to choose, then without any hesitation, I would set myself up to quality for and remain qualified for EA status. This ensure that you have access to multiple income streams so that you can start earning a return on your investment while you are learning about building a team and being
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Affiliate since: 03/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999

The best way is through communication. Obviously, you can't do this through sending messages through the internal SFI messaging system. If they are not active, then they are not logging in and thereby will never see your message. However, if they provided their valid email address to SFI when they signed up, then you can email them directly.

When contacting them via email, it is important that you identify yourself and have a "This is not spam" disclaimer in your email, indicating that they are receiving the email due to your having been granted the privilege of being their new co-sponsor.

Show interest in them. Find out about their lives, their family, their goals, their desires.

If they provide a positive response, focus on those responses so that you are able to custom taylor your responses back to them. Encourage them and let them know you are there for them, to help and guide them along their way.

However, if they request to not be contacted again, then you must respect that as well.
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The best way is through communication. Obviously, you can't do this through sending messages through the internal SFI messaging system. If they are not active, then they are not logging in and thereby will never see your message. However, if they provided their valid email address to SFI when they signed up, then you can email them directly.

When contacting them via email, it is important that you identify yourself and have a "This is not spam" disclaimer in your email, indicating
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Affiliate since: 03/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999

Hi Bob,

Thank you for your excellent and very important question. With the vast amount of information available at SFI, it can be very easy to get lost in all of it and feel overwhelmed. So just how do we prevent that feeling?

One of the things that I tell my team on a regular basis is that success is a journey, not a race. When we first start with our new SFI business, naturally we are excited and want to just dive in and do it all. So we start clicking on links, and those links lead to more links, which lead to more and more and we reach a point where we are sitting there, our minds boggled by the sheer immensity of the information and training that is being provided for us.

There are a number of ways wherein we can lessen the impact and not get mentally overloaded. I will share a few of the ways that I have found to work for me:

1) Know when to walk away and take a break. Just like at a job where we are allotted break periods to unwind and rejuvenate, it is important to do that same with your business. Go watch some TV, work in your gardens, go for a walk… anything that helps you to get your mind off business for a while.

2) Change your atmosphere. With all the various mobile technologies that are available to us, no longer do we have to stay in our “office”. So why not change your venue and take your office with you… to a park, a beach, your local coffee shop… anywhere you are able to feel relaxed. Just be sure to not allow yourself to get too distracted too often.

3) Set daily goals. The final task for any day should be spent planning your goal for tomorrow. Choose a new topic to learn about or an existing one to refresh. Apply something you learned today. The most important aspect here is to keep your goal(s) simple. So, for example, instead of setting a goal of learning how to market your new SFI business, break it down to a specific type of marketing, like classified advertising.

4) In conjunction with setting daily goals, it is also important to set a schedule. Let’s say that you are only able to work your business for two hours a day. You could set a schedule so that in the first hour, you learn something new about your business, and then, after a short break, in the second hour, you could apply something learned the day before. For example, let's say that today you learn about classified advertising. Tomorrow, you could schedule yourself so that in the first hour, you could learn about or research places online to place classified ads and then in the second hour, return to the sites you either wrote down or bookmarked and place some ads.

I hope this helps. I know it has certainly helped me to be able to get through each day without feeling overwhelmed or overloaded.

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Hi Bob,

Thank you for your excellent and very important question. With the vast amount of information available at SFI, it can be very easy to get lost in all of it and feel overwhelmed. So just how do we prevent that feeling?

One of the things that I tell my team on a regular basis is that success is a journey, not a race. When we first start with our new SFI business, naturally we are excited and want to just dive in and do it all. So we start clicking on links, and those
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Affiliate since: 03/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999

No no no no no... and another no for good measure.

Think back to the last time you had a telemarketer interrupt your dinner or wake you up. When you didn't recognize the number, did you even answer the call? And if so, were you kind and courteous, or were you brash, abrupt and short-tempered?

In today's world, many would view cold-calling as offline spam. When you cold-call a prospect, you are doing so without their permission as they did not specifically request to be called about your business opportunity, or any opportunity for that matter.

Not only this, but because they not request to hear about your business opportunity prior to your calling them, they are an untargeted prospect. With so much competition online, it is important to ensure that your marketing efforts are reaching the right people... people who have specifically asked for or are specifically looking for a viable business opportunity.

I hope this helps.
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No no no no no... and another no for good measure.

Think back to the last time you had a telemarketer interrupt your dinner or wake you up. When you didn't recognize the number, did you even answer the call? And if so, were you kind and courteous, or were you brash, abrupt and short-tempered?

In today's world, many would view cold-calling as offline spam. When you cold-call a prospect, you are doing so without their permission as they did not specifically request to be called
...more

Affiliate since: 03/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999

This is an excellent question Eddy. Thank you for asking.

While the definition of success tends to be different for each person, here are several character traits or attributes that I feel are essential to achieve success with SFI.

Be Self-Motivated
Have you ever started a new job only to get little to no training? Or maybe you have been involved in another business similar to SFI where you received little to no support from your sponsor. Perhaps you have even experienced that lack of support with your sponsor here at SFI.

What do you do? Do you give up and walk away, or do you motivate yourself to keep going, despite the obstacles that stand in your way?

We all will face challenges and obstacles in our lives… SFI will be no different. There will be times when you feel frustrated when your marketing efforts are not producing results or your down line members are not active. There will be times when you might feel bored do the same tasks over and over again. Being able to keep yourself motivated to keep going, whether through rough times or good, is a key contributor to achieving lasting success with SFI.

Be Dedicated and Committed
“Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
- Mario Andretti

How often have you seen people join a business opportunity like SFI only to either never log in or end up quitting after a few days as they hop from program to program, opportunity to opportunity, forever seeking that “holy grail” that will make them rich overnight? Perhaps even you have found yourself in that same position.

True and lasting success can only come when you dedicate and commit yourself to your SFI business, doing everything that you can think of, and then more, to make your dreams become goals… to make your goals become reality.

“Don't ever give up.
Don't ever give in.
Don't ever stop trying.
Don't ever sell out.
And if you find yourself succumbing to one of the above for a brief moment, pick yourself up, brush yourself off, whisper a prayer, and start where you left off. But never, ever, ever give up.”
- Richelle E. Goodrich

Be Consistent
“In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.”
- Tony Robbins

A great deal of the success that we achieve throughout our lives is dependent upon the things that we do consistently every day. If you consistently do nothing, then you will consistently get nothing. But, if you consistently do something for your business every day, eventually it will become habit and you will reap the rewards for your efforts.

Be Willing to Learn
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
- Albert Einstein

As illustrated in the above quote, one of the key constituents or purposes of learning is to understand. You can never expect to succeed if you do not first understand what you are learning, and then apply what you what learned.

Let us say that you enroll as an affiliate and right away dive in eager to learn everything you can as quickly as you can. So you read through the SFI Basics, then immediately jump into and read the entire LaunchPad series, and after that, you plunge yourself headfirst into SFI’s Internet Income course… all on your first day.

Congratulations! You are now a master at speed reading, but do you truly understand all that you read? Would be able to remember everything you read well enough to apply it without having to constantly refer back to it? No, not likely.

That is why, in order to achieve success with your SFI business, it is important to stay with a topic until you have a full and complete understanding of that topic, are able to practically apply what you learned in that topic, and then, in turn, be able to share your knowledge and understanding of that topic with your team.

Be a Good Communicator
"Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can't get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn't even matter."
- Gilbert Amelio

Regular, effective communication is essential to success in all aspects of life, whether used in personal or business relationships. Communication is an integral foundation to building trust, and you will realize a much greater degree of success in your business if you regularly communicate with and earn the trust of not only new prospects, but also your existing team members.

Be a Leader
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
- John Maxwell

A true leader first must have a deep rooted knowledge and understanding of their field. You would not expect a football coach to be able to coach a women’s gymnastics team, nor would you expect a ballet instructor to coach a rugby team. The same can be said with regard to your SFI business. If, prior to joining SFI, you had absolutely no business knowledge, no one could expect you to jump in and start teaching people about SFI.

Going the way and showing the way go hand in hand I feel, because our personal affiliates learn from us in two ways… through earnest instruction, whether that instruction is offered or asked for, and by watching what you are doing yourself.

Be Patient
Honestly, I feel that patience is one of the most important character traits you could have or develop if you want to experience success with your SFI business. I am sure you know, or ought to know, that SFI is not a get rich quick scheme.

In today’s “speed-driven” society, it is natural for people to want everything and want it now, but when you are patient, knowing that your actions and efforts made today can and will affect your future, then, when that success comes, you will be able to look back and say it was worth it.

I know this answer has been rather long-winded, but I truly hope it helps to inspire you.

To your success!
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This is an excellent question Eddy. Thank you for asking.

While the definition of success tends to be different for each person, here are several character traits or attributes that I feel are essential to achieve success with SFI.

Be Self-Motivated
Have you ever started a new job only to get little to no training? Or maybe you have been involved in another business similar to SFI where you received little to no support from your sponsor. Perhaps you have even experienced
...more

Affiliate since: 03/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999

While this is an excellent question to ask, it is not one that is so easily answered. Why? Because each of the lessons that is taught in the LaunchPad series is of critical importance to building a long lasting and successful business with SFI.

And so while I am not able to pick out any single one lesson from LaunchPad to be the best one, I have narrowed it to five that I feel are a combined "best pick".

Day 11 - Overnight Success... NOT!
This is one of the most important lessons any budding businessperson can learn if they want to experience a true and lasting success with their business. So many people look to online businesses as a way to make a very large amount of money in a very short time frame. They expect to set up their business one day and when they wake the next day, have their inbox flooded with payment notifications. This lesson teaches us that true and lasting success takes time and patience.

Day 17 - Communication is HUGE
You could be the world's most successful recruiter and be able to build massive downlines, yet it will be all for naught if you never communicate with them. The people that you introduce to SFI look to you as their sponsor and mentor to help teach and guide them. While it is good and important to set up your automated welcome letter, you should follow it up with a personal letter within no more than 24 hours after they enroll pledging your support and guidance to help them build a thriving business with SFI.

Day 18 - Put a Face on Your Business
One of the drawbacks with running an internet based business is the fact that more often than not, you will meet in person those whom you have introduced to this amazing business. Therefore, it is important that you personalize every aspect of your business. Attach a recent picture to your SFI profile so that your team and your prospects will see that you are a real person and not just a name on a screen.

Day 21 - Gaining With Training
This lesson I feel is twofold inasmuch as SFI has provided a massive training library for our use. It is important for us to use the vast resource to first learn as much as we can about our SFI business and then teach those whom we introduce to SFI and thus be able to duplicate our efforts throughout our teams.

Day 28 - SFI Rules of Success
I suppose if I had to choose a single LaunchPad lesson as being the very best of them all, this would be it. The Rules of Success are a great guidline resource to follow and teach us the facets of what is required to be successful with SFI.

Hope this helps.
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While this is an excellent question to ask, it is not one that is so easily answered. Why? Because each of the lessons that is taught in the LaunchPad series is of critical importance to building a long lasting and successful business with SFI.

And so while I am not able to pick out any single one lesson from LaunchPad to be the best one, I have narrowed it to five that I feel are a combined "best pick".

Day 11 - Overnight Success... NOT!
This is one of the most
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