Affiliate since: 11/29/2011, Power Rank: 21 | Read Gliceria's 402 other Ask SC answers

Listen properly to what your affiliate is complaining about before dispensing advice or giving answer to alleviate his doubts and concerns.

People have different perceptions of SFI when they join with most comparing it to other MLM programs, and it is natural for some to expect instant result especially if they have been surfing the internet in search of a quick buck.

If your Affiliate is new but have already achieved EA, BTL or even higher, it is natural for him to expect financial result. The small commission received as EA2, BTL, STL may be way below to what they expect to get.

However, if the affiliate has invested so much money into building his business and still not getting as much out of SFI, a review of his activities would be in order. Perhaps the affiliate has been majoring in minors and not seeing the Big Picture at all.

An honest appraisal of his activities will be advisable.

. Investments, in any form: money for Standing Order, time,and commitment/effort
. Sponsoring- how many people did he sponsor to build a team
. Promoting sales of TC and ECAs' products which results in sales therefore commission
. Referring ECAs to SFI, etc.

Then explain the fact that when he joined SFI. he did not purchase a product kit, did not pay a joining fee to get started. There's also no compulsory requirement to spend, if one is willing to work hard and utilize all the free training and other resources pvovided by SFI.

A review of SFI Basics, and Launchpad, especially Day 4 : Marketing = Money, and Day 11: Overnight Success- NOT! may also help to open up his eyes and mind to what he is complaining about.
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Listen properly to what your affiliate is complaining about before dispensing advice or giving answer to alleviate his doubts and concerns.

People have different perceptions of SFI when they join with most comparing it to other MLM programs, and it is natural for some to expect instant result especially if they have been surfing the internet in search of a quick buck.

If your Affiliate is new but have already achieved EA, BTL or even higher, it is natural for him to expect
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Affiliate since: 05/03/2002, Power Rank: 45 | Read Mar's 582 other Ask SC answers

In order to understand why an affiliate is complaining about his/her expectation of what he/she should be getting out of SFI in relation to what he/she is putting into it, you should find out what exactly he/she is doing in growing his/her SFI business.

You should get in touch with him/her to discuss and analyze his/her development and growth in his/her journey with SFI. This is a very important step to help him/her get a clear understanding why he/she is in that situation or why he/she feels he/she is short of his/her expectation.

Here are important steps that you can do to help him/her his/her in that situation:

- Offer a one-on-one support by asking him/her to share with you his/her expectation with SFI.

Start the conversation by asking him/her about the Benefits Chart and Compensation Plan. If he/she is a new affiliate, it is always a common misconception for beginners that accumulating over 1500 VP in their first month would mean a higher commission. This is very disappointing for them if not explain right from the start. In the case of affiliates in their 2nd, 3rd, 4th month, etc. their expectations could be high in regards to earning commissions, moving up to higher rank (TL), building their teams, etc. These are needed to be clarified to clear up their misconceptions.

- Ask him/her exactly what type of investments (time/financial), how much and what are the results of his/her effort?

Performing To-Do List, Widening Knowledge base, allocating time on learning the Marketing and Training tabs, setting up a Standing Order, sponsoring new affiliates, etc. are activities that need time and some financial investments. Has the affiliate in question developed a business plan at all? Did he/she put in place a strategic plan to accomplish both his short and long term goals? If you can explain clearly to your affiliate the importance of these activities and how they greatly affect the momentum and growth of his/her SFI business then you’re one step closer of changing his/her attitude and opinion about SFI.

- Perform an evaluation of his/her method of growing his/her SFI business. Are SFI BASICS and

LAUNCHPAD the core foundation of his/her SFI business? A periodic review of these important principles is necessary to keep him/her on the track. You can make a checklist of activities based on these core principles. Your checklist may include such as setting up a Standing Order, daily performance of To-Do List, allocating time for the Training and Marketing tabs, sponsoring new affiliates and most importantly asking him/her feedback if he/she is getting out of the most from your training and support.

- What are his/her short and long term goals?

His/her short term goals will depend on his/her current stage of growth in SFI. Identify his/her short and long term goals by taking your time to discuss what he/she has written on his/her Goals tab. By knowing his/her short/long term goals, you might be able to offer your customized support or you can start a thread about these topics in SFI Forum to get the best ideas to share with him/her.

- Did he/she set up for his/her marketing plan and budget?

It takes time to develop a good marketing plan and budget, but it’s important because it ties all of your activities to tangible goals. You need to explain to him/her clearly the importance of having a marketing plan and budget. A plan is a compass.

Without one, he/she may be traveling in the right direction, but it’s incredibly difficult to stay on course – and that can drastically limit his/her success.
Even a simple plan is better than none, but when he/she invests more effort upfront, he/she will have a better roadmap toward his/her goals.

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In order to understand why an affiliate is complaining about his/her expectation of what he/she should be getting out of SFI in relation to what he/she is putting into it, you should find out what exactly he/she is doing in growing his/her SFI business.

You should get in touch with him/her to discuss and analyze his/her development and growth in his/her journey with SFI. This is a very important step to help him/her get a clear understanding why he/she is in that situation or why he/she
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Affiliate since: 07/26/2007, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Williams's 638 other Ask SC answers

Many an affiliate falls into this dilemma at some part early in the business so the first thing you should do is to remind that affiliate that they are not the only one that is struggling to grow their SFI business. People can easily become victim to the 'poor me' mentality. So nip this one in the bud and let your affiliates know of the struggles that you had early in the business.

Find out what they are doing to promote products, sponsor affiliates, and build their business. Some people what you to do the work for them while others expect overnight success. Even with paid ads, there is a learning curb and every campaign has to be perfected. There is no one hit wonder that solves all of the problems of growing the business. Much work, patience, dedication, and learning is required. If your affiliate is not willing to do this, then SFI is not a good fit for them.

Moreover, reassure your team that you are available to assist them with their marketing efforts by providing co-ops, gift certificates, TCredits, and team support, Set the expectation properly by telling your team honestly when they can expect to see better results. If your team just uses free advertising and is afraid to invest then for sure they will become disheartened because free ads take more time to work and they have to be dead on to get the desired results because there is much competition in this area.

Finally, always end your communications with your affiliates on a positive note. If they are down then you must point them in the right direction and give them 2 or 3 suggestions that they can try to improve their results. If they try they will find that they can succeed at this business.


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Many an affiliate falls into this dilemma at some part early in the business so the first thing you should do is to remind that affiliate that they are not the only one that is struggling to grow their SFI business. People can easily become victim to the 'poor me' mentality. So nip this one in the bud and let your affiliates know of the struggles that you had early in the business.

Find out what they are doing to promote products, sponsor affiliates, and build their business. Some
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Affiliate since: 10/26/2013, Power Rank: 528 | Read Nafisa's 286 other Ask SC answers

When you deposit $1000 in the bank, you will definitely not receive a return on your investment for $5000.

This holds true for anything you wish to accomplish in your life, SFI is no exception. Here are a few common examples to illustrate my point.

- take a relationship where there are 2 persons involved. If 1 person does the "giving" all the time, it is bound to create an imbalance in the relationship and this will lead to failure;

- a university student taking a degree course is not going to get an Honors if he has not "given" his best by studying hard for his exams; he is bound to get lesser than he expected.

The same applies to SFI.

You can convert my examples to answer your affiliate. However, these are a few additional points that you may wish to add.

1. SFI is a long term business that requires patience, perseverance and commitment. You will not become rich overnight. You have already been given (a) an online business opportunity (b) two free websites (c) training materials (d) 24/7 support from Support and other Forum members (e) a chance to have your ECA store (f) no ultimatum to invest any amount other than what you are comfortable with.
This is what SFI is giving you.

2. How much time are you spending on SFI, building a team, recruiting PRMs, creating sales opportunities, buying from your own store, advertising and marketing. What are you "giving" to ensure that you have an active team under you?

The time you spend complaining should be converted into a positive attitude to learn about the concept of the business, analyse your results and be honest about them. This self reflection could help the affiliate realize that he has not given even half of what is expected to enable him to get anything out of SFI.





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When you deposit $1000 in the bank, you will definitely not receive a return on your investment for $5000.

This holds true for anything you wish to accomplish in your life, SFI is no exception. Here are a few common examples to illustrate my point.

- take a relationship where there are 2 persons involved. If 1 person does the "giving" all the time, it is bound to create an imbalance in the relationship and this will lead to failure;

- a university student
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Affiliate since: 04/29/2015, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Rebecca's 57 other Ask SC answers

Hi David,

Great question! I think that many of us see this sentiment in our downline or ourselves even. I think the best response is that in order to get momentum moving in a positive direction, it takes time, energy and effort to get the ball rolling.

The key is not giving up.

In Napoleon Hill's book, "Think and Grow Rich" he references Broadway and those trying to be successful on Broadway and how most people fail because Broadway is relentless in denying success. He makes an analogy that essentially says persistence will always win over failure as long as a person does not give up. Eventually failure gets tired and gives way to success. It takes time and continued effort before we start to see the tide swing in our direction.

It is good to remember that while persistence is the act of perseverance and continued effort, that effort very often needs to be varied according to our results.

Simply doing the same thing over and over again will bring the same results. This is great if the results are positive BUT if the results are not what you are looking for then it is imperative to change what you are doing (while still taking action). This is an important distinction that I think we all need to both recognize and remember.

Never Give Up .... but be open to doing things a different way to obtain different results.

I hope this helps.

Be Strong and Keep the Faith! :-)


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Hi David,

Great question! I think that many of us see this sentiment in our downline or ourselves even. I think the best response is that in order to get momentum moving in a positive direction, it takes time, energy and effort to get the ball rolling.

The key is not giving up.

In Napoleon Hill's book, "Think and Grow Rich" he references Broadway and those trying to be successful on Broadway and how most people fail because Broadway is relentless
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Affiliate since: 10/26/2010, Power Rank: 272 | Read Kay's 289 other Ask SC answers

Why isn't he getting as much out of SFI as he is putting into it? Find out. Ask him. Use this check list and then have a discussion with him.

1) Is he unwise in his spending?
What is he spending his money on that he considers as investments? Is he only buying TCredits and playing the auctions? This will not advance his business to the point that he will get anything but auction wins. The business itself will not pay him until he makes sales and has an active team that makes sales and purchases.
Is he buying PSAs from sources from sellers who are looking for quick profits, without knowing what the PSAs were required to do in order to get paid for their click?
Is he doing transfer buying and regarding his personal use purchases as investments?

2) Is he not doing all the work he needs to be doing?
Is he doing his own advertising, everyday?
Is he doing follow-ups after making the first contact?
Is he communicating and training his team?
Is he logging in everyday, completing his To Do List every week?
Is he maintaining EA2 and striving for BTL? Or is he failing to build up his CSAs?

3) Does he have a solid business plan written out? With long term goals written along with the short term goals and the steps needed to fulfill them

4) Does he have a big dream or need that will propel him through the time it will take to bring his business to maturity? Will he give it time?

These are all things to consider when your affiliate comes with doubts about the business. What you put in is what you will get out of it if you are wise, hard working, and willing to do what it takes for as long as necessary. But what he puts in may not be what he needs to put in, or as much as he needs to put in.He has to see that.
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Why isn't he getting as much out of SFI as he is putting into it? Find out. Ask him. Use this check list and then have a discussion with him.

1) Is he unwise in his spending?
What is he spending his money on that he considers as investments? Is he only buying TCredits and playing the auctions? This will not advance his business to the point that he will get anything but auction wins. The business itself will not pay him until he makes sales and has an active team
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Affiliate since: 09/25/2020, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Prince's 92 other Ask SC answers

This is a constant in this business for the upstarts who think SFI is a fly by night business where one click will produce millions of dollars.

Now this affiliate need to understand the dynamics of SFI:
1. It is not a get-rich-quick-scheme.
2. It calls for a lot of patience, dedication, commitment and the never-quit-attitude.
3. Investing with knowledge.
4. You can get all you want, if you can get enough other people get what they want. (Zig Ziglar).

Then comes the tutoring.
The first month in SFI is dedicated to training and getting to know the business better. Understanding the the rules, the affiliate agreement, advertising, recruiting and so on. After you've acquired the necessary skills then comes the implementation stage.
The right investment produces the right results. Having at least 5 active affiliates in the second month is critical to success. This is a break even point when these fives set up a standing order of 1500vp of 125tcredits and above. Not only have the affiliate recovered his initial investment, he is also in profit. He should go all out to get these diamonds from his neighborhood, friends, acquaintances and coworkers. (There's every likelihood that he must have bought inactive PSAs at this stage). Getting active affiliates from around his neighborhood will boost his confidence.

He should spend sometime at the auctions as well. A win of some worthy item can be resold and profit made.
Becoming an ECA and selling quality items through Tripleclicks can generate an ongoing income.
Generating Personally Referred Members are also key to building one's income.

Encourage your affiliate to look at the various areas of investment in SFI that can give him enough income to cover his costs.

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This is a constant in this business for the upstarts who think SFI is a fly by night business where one click will produce millions of dollars.

Now this affiliate need to understand the dynamics of SFI:
1. It is not a get-rich-quick-scheme.
2. It calls for a lot of patience, dedication, commitment and the never-quit-attitude.
3. Investing with knowledge.
4. You can get all you want, if you can get enough other people get what they want. (Zig Ziglar).

Then
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Affiliate since: 03/17/2012, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Jenny's 112 other Ask SC answers

Thank you for your question. Every person who starts a business knows that they are going to have to invest time, energy, and money in that business. It may take awhile for that business to turn a profit. If you join SFI expecting to make a fortune overnight, you chose the wrong company!
However if you joined SFI knowing that you are willing to learn, that you are willing to put forth your best effort, and that you will have to invest some money in your business, you will be successful in achieving your dreams. You can succeed in SFI without investing any money but it will take longer and be a lot more work.
I wonder if the person who is complaining realizes that he/she is investing in their future. I imagine at one time or another we probably all have a complaint with SFI ( that is why they have support ) but we know that SFI is the best company to join because they have been in business for 17 years, have the best leadership possible, and they are continuing to have world wide growth.
Encourage the affiliate not to give up on SFI too soon. If he/she quits SFI, they will never how close to achieving success they are.
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Thank you for your question. Every person who starts a business knows that they are going to have to invest time, energy, and money in that business. It may take awhile for that business to turn a profit. If you join SFI expecting to make a fortune overnight, you chose the wrong company!
However if you joined SFI knowing that you are willing to learn, that you are willing to put forth your best effort, and that you will have to invest some money in your business, you will be successful
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Affiliate since: 07/16/2008, Power Rank: 518 | Read Olusola's 92 other Ask SC answers

This is perhaps the question that comes into the mind of every affiliate at the initial stage of building this business..... not getting return on investment in SFI!

Yes, you need to educate the affiliate that SFI is a home business and not a job. Gery in SFI Rules of Success said "Treat your business...like a business!
If you purchased a franchise, would you expect it to make money for you if you only worked it a few hours a week? Or if you didn't get trained? Or if you only tried for a few months? Or if you didn't follow the proven guidelines of the creators of the franchise?

Of course not! That's ridiculous. SFI is no different. Success requires commitment.

There is no business that would thrive without initial investment. People invest at times hundreds of thousands of dollars into investments that may not yield until after 3 to 5 years but afterwards consistently yield in multiples of the initial investment.

In a nut shell I would tell him:

1. SFI is not a race. It is not a "get rich quick scheme". You would not likely make any significant money in the beginning. I would remind him of LaunchPad Lesson 11 .... Overnight success...NOT! I quote "We always say that if you’re not willing to give a business at least a year, don’t even bother getting involved. You must understand: It takes time to get to know all the nuances of a business. It takes time to get to know the products. It takes time to develop a game plan. It takes time to figure out what marketing activities will work best for you. See our six-step plan for reaching the top in SFI."

2. I'll tell to have a business owner mindset. When you set out on a business; it takes sometimes to break even. If you expect instant success in 6 months to one year; it may not come. A business owner works until success comes. It will take time to build a group. It takes time to find good people and teach them what they need to know. Sometimes your best people will give up and drop out. Persistence wins at the end of the day

3. I'll tell him to think long time. Many people get into an SFI with the idea that it's some kind of "easy road to riches". It's not. It takes work. It takes time and dedication. I'll tell him of the explosion that could come over the years in his downline. A time would come that even without doing anything; he has assured monthly income because of his downline. He could go on vacation as he likes because of residual and leveraged income.

I'll recommend to him, the classic book "Think And Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill and also "The Magic Of Thinking Big" by David Schwartz.
I'll tell him: If you want to become successful, you can go around the obstacles, go over, go under, or go right through them.
Success is yours if you want it, but ONLY YOU control this. Always remember: "If it's to be, it's up to me." "He that is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else." -Benjamin Franklin. "Don't wait for someone else to make your life terrific. That's your job." -Unknown

Finally, he needs to improve his online marketing skill through acquisition of knowledge for improved sponsoring, referring and duplicating activities. Also he should explore other income streams in SFI such as opening an ECA store or referring many ECAs, winning at PriceBenders auctions brand items for more than 90% off retail, playing and winning Eager Zebra games etc.

Hey, persistence is the key thing in SFI, many quit when they are at the threshold of breakthrough, he/she must not!
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This is perhaps the question that comes into the mind of every affiliate at the initial stage of building this business..... not getting return on investment in SFI!

Yes, you need to educate the affiliate that SFI is a home business and not a job. Gery in SFI Rules of Success said "Treat your business...like a business!
If you purchased a franchise, would you expect it to make money for you if you only worked it a few hours a week? Or if you didn't get trained? Or if you only
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Affiliate since: 05/10/2012, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Wayne's 236 other Ask SC answers

I have found that most people who join a business on-line really do not have the slightest idea as to what they have signed up to do. The misconception of “Get rich Quick” with an on-line business is foremost in their thinking.

Some also join thinking this is a regular 9 to 5 job and they want to know how are they going to get paid and how much pay for the work they did this week or this month.

I personally believe that it is our duty as team leaders to explain to our new teammates just what they have signed up for.

This is what I have shared with my team at least once or twice a year. (Or whenever needed).

Everyone who joins SFI has become an independent affiliate who is using the SFI and TripleClicks platform to build their own personal business. The success or failure of our personal business is controlled only by our willingness to invest the proper amount of time and fiancés.

There is no such thing as a “one click auto-pilot” business. Every successful on-line marketer will tell you that it takes hard consistent efforts along with investing capital and re-investing the profits we are making back into the business for the first 3 to 5 years.

As independent business owners we must be able to “self-motivate” We have no boss to tell us what to do next. We must be open to learning new things and accepting constant changes that occurs in Internet marketing.

If building an Internet business was quick and easy then every person in the world would be into Internet Marketing. But that is not the case – It is said that only 1% of the population of the world controls 90% of all the money.

Why is that the case? There are very few people willing to put forth the effort and fiancés to reach a level of success. Most people give up just before they would break through the barriers that were blocking their success.

Let us join as a team to work through the tough times that everyone goes through. We need to support each other for the long haul. We need to prepare ourselves to put forth our best efforts for the next two or three years and I personally believe that we all will be pleasantly surprised in the success levels that we can achieve.

So let's work together and get us a large piece of that 90% of the worlds income.

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I have found that most people who join a business on-line really do not have the slightest idea as to what they have signed up to do. The misconception of “Get rich Quick” with an on-line business is foremost in their thinking.

Some also join thinking this is a regular 9 to 5 job and they want to know how are they going to get paid and how much pay for the work they did this week or this month.

I personally believe that it is our duty as team leaders
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