YOU make it happen, no one else

Not only is this a key rule in SFI, but I consider this to be amongst THE most important lessons in life. NO ONE ELSE can make you successful. It's all up to you. YOU are the "master of your destiny" and responsible for your own success. Period.

Conversely, there's not anyone or anything that will make you a failure. It does no good to blame the economy, your education, or whatever bad breaks you've had in your life. Doing so means taking on a victim's mentality. DON'T EVER DO THIS. I can guarantee you that many thousands of people have succeeded despite having it much worse, so don't make excuses and don't convince yourself that you're somehow a victim.

And the grass isn't any greener on the other side either. You have now (or can acquire) everything you need to be successful. Just remember that it's up to you and nobody else. Then go out and do it.

Now, for those who might be thinking, "well, that's easy for you to say, Gery!"…the fact is, I've achieved what most people would say is extraordinary success, but it was not handed to me, not by any stretch. I come from a very small Nebraska town and very humble beginnings. When I started in business I had no business education, no experience, and no money to invest. And it took four long years (the first two moonlighting into the wee hours of the night while holding down a full-time job), before I ever saw a profit. I had no mentors, no great upline leaders or sponsors to guide me, nor any wealthy relatives to come to my aid. But I decided I was going to become successful and I did. And I've put in the work every day for nearly 25 years now to stay successful.

So...it's not your sponsor. It's not your upline. It's not the economy. It's not the government. It's not the compensation plan. It's not any of these things or any other obstacles perceived to be in your way. 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."

"I don't know what my future holds, but I do know who holds my future."

-Unknown

"I found it easier to get rich than I did to make excuses."

-Jim Rohn

"He that is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else."

-Benjamin Franklin

"I used to say, 'things cost too much.' Then my teacher straightened me out on that by saying, 'The problem isn't that things cost too much. The problems is that you can't afford it.' That's when I finally understood that the problem wasn't it-–the problem was me!"

-Jim Rohn

"Don't wait for someone else to make your life terrific. That's your job."

-Unknown

How to invest now for future profits

Subject: How to invest now for future profits
From: John Dilbeck
NORTH CAROLINA USA

I've owned several businesses over the last 30 years, and I've learned what it takes to build a business that earns a profit. So, I understand that I have to invest work, time, and money now in order to get a future, larger return. It doesn't always work, but I've been successful more often than not.

That said, I think it is unrealistic to expect someone with no knowledge of marketing, advertising, and building a business to "get" the SFI opportunity quickly. A great resource for these new business owners (or experienced business owners, for that matter) is Cashflow Quadrant, by Robert Kiyosaki. It helped me.

When I read it a couple of years ago, I started understanding the huge differences between the left side of Kiyosaki's quadrant (employee and self-employed) and the right side of the quadrant (business owner and investor).

Employees and self-employed people trade time for money on a more or less static ratio that only changes if they get a raise, charge more per hour or per project, or find a way to reduce expenses. If you work, you earn a certain amount, generally several dollars per hour.

On the other hand, business owners and investors learn how to concentrate their efforts and money up front, receiving a larger return in the future as their investments are leveraged and compounded.

For example, as the owner of a marketing business run almost entirely online, I'm earning money for things I did last week, last month, and even several years ago, because I invested the time, effort, and money over time in the past. As a result, today I have several income streams that provide 100% of my income, letting me work from a cabin in the mountains about 100 miles from the nearest traffic jam. I really do earn while I sleep!

The patience required to keep building and looking for potential comes from my experience of building and owning past businesses and watching, over time, as my income from my marketing business continues to grow. Without that experience and an ever-changing mindset, I would have bailed out a long time ago because I didn't see the big picture and couldn't understand the potential.

As SFI sponsors, our challenge is to find a way to pass along some of this knowledge and experience to our affiliates who have a dream of building a home business but lack the knowledge and skills to make it happen—joining SFI and promoting TripleClicks comes darn close.

You also have to have faith and hope that your efforts will be rewarded. I decided that my marketing business won't fail. It has to succeed because that is the only outcome I will accept. That gives me the fortitude to weather problems and find ways around obstacles that would have otherwise defeated me several times over the last few years. In fact, I now earn more in one month than I did in my first two years, and it continues to grow. There are occasional downturns and some really horrible months now and then, but overall, the trend is upward.

Most importantly: act on your dream, and pass your enthusiasm on to others! Try it now, the link is at the top or bottom of this blog as a banner.

The Continuing Potential of Internet Income

MOORE'S LAW

Moore's Law describes the falling cost of digital technology. When my daughter was born in 1980, the price of the memory chip for a home PC was $1,000.00 (not the whole PC, mind you, just the memory). When my daughter was one year old, the same amount of memory cost only $500.00. When she was three years old, the price was $250.00. When she started the first grade, the same amount of memory cost only $62.50. When she graduated from high school in 1998, the price of that same amount of memory had fallen to less that $0.25. When she began her junior year in college, the cost for the same amount of memory as in that original PC was just pennies. I assure you that nothing else we have purchased over her lifetime has decreased in cost anything like that!

We, of course, upgraded the amount of memory we used over the years. Each time we upgraded, we spent about the same amount of money but got more and more computing power. So, what really happened was that our computing power increased by four times every three years for the same cost. Gordon Moore, one of the co-founders of Intel Corporation, made mathematical observations in the 1960's of the engineering practices which allowed miniaturization in semiconductor technology. This miniaturization applies to processors and other computer components as well as memory chips. What he observed mathematically is that computers can be made four times more powerful every three years for the same cost. Some argue that this same formula has held true for a full century, if you include the mechanical computers of the early 1900's and the old-fashioned transistors that followed. If you knew that you could get four times more raw materials every three years with no increase in cost in a given business, would you want to get into that business? The overwhelming answer everywhere is, of course, a resounding "yes!"

All businesses, even traditional brick and mortar businesses, must market their goods and services. Because businesses look for the lowest cost to perform their processes, more and more marketing information and marketing processes, even for brick-and-mortar businesses, has become digital. Moore's Law ensures that Internet businesses, especially Internet marketing, will continue to grow and flourish at an astounding rate. Will Moore's Law continue to hold true in the future? Can engineers keep making computer chips cheaper? Intel's engineers assure us that Moore's Law will continue to operate for several more device generations, if not indefinitely.

ACCEPTANCE OF DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS

The next factor that ensures continued growth for Internet businesses is the acceptance by consumers of digital environments. People have taken to Cyberspace. Despite the many predictions to the contrary, people have warmed up to digital environments with enthusiasm. Many Web communities have been formed and their participants report feeling all warm and cozy in those digital environments. Participants have developed a strong sense of identity with the digital communities such as Twitter, Facebook, and others. As Moore's Law has continued to operate over the years, technology has become more and more capable of producing engrossing digital environments in which most of the world's population enthusiastically participates.

CONVERGENCE

The third factor assuring a prosperous future for Internet entrepreneurs is convergence. Simply defined, convergence is the coming together of separate things. Convergence has occurred at both the industry level and the consumer level. On the industry level; computing, communications, and media companies have merged. On the consumer level, smart phones and smart TVs are commonplace. Consumers have combined their phones, personal computers, and televisions into one integrated media system. Even our money has become digital, as we have automatic bank deposits of our earnings while we buy things with our smart phones or the quick swipe of a debit or credit card. The Internet has so involved itself in our personal lives, there is no turning back. We have converged into a digital world.

THE CONTINUING POTENTIAL

These three factors--Moore's Law, acceptance of digital environments, and convergence--assure us that the potential of the Internet for the home-based entrepreneur continues to be nothing less than incredible. In the digital world, the large corporations have to compete, not just with each other but also with the home-based entrepreneurs. The large conglomerates no longer have the exclusive advantage. Given the low cost of computing power, individual entrepreneurs now have at their disposal the raw materials to develop digital products and processes and make them available to the world. Even more importantly, individual entrepreneurs can ban together in digital environments (such as SFI) to combine their skills and knowledge and use convergence to their advantage in a very efficient way, rivaling the large companies with the results.

HOW TO POSITION YOURSELF

To obtain convergence, you must bring together computing power, media content, and information processing. To obtain the economies of scale, you should position yourself within a digital community where resources can be shared. Despite the low cost of computing, there is still power in numbers with regard to media content and information processing. To position yourself as a marketer for one of the longest lasting and most successful digital communities in existence is without doubt the smartest move you could possibly make right now. Having done that, you can use your individual creativity, skills, and resources in an environment of freedom employing the low cost computing power at your disposal to obtain your financial goals. Due to the three factors discussed in this chapter, there is an unprecedented opportunity available to you right now as an SFI affiliate. You have but to take advantage of it. Just Click Now!

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Overnight Success....NOT!

Overnight success...NOT!

Today we're going to talk about having big goals...but REALISTIC goals. SFI holds tremendous potential for those who will apply themselves, but it's not going to happen overnight or without work. As the old saying goes, "the only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary."

We often hear from affiliates asking why they're not seeing a big commission check yet. But more times than not, the person asking hasn’t even been an affiliate for more than a few weeks and is only really beginning to even understand how the whole SFI system works. And frankly, even if the number was six months, it’s still much too early to be expecting a significant income stream to have developed.

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.

The fact is, anything worthwhile takes sustained effort. If that were not true, we'd all be the perfect weight, we'd all have perfect relationships, etc. It's the same thing with your own business. If you're thinking money's going to start pouring into your lap next month, you’ve set yourself up for failure.

But let’s look at some real examples and see if we can put some perspective on this. Let's start with SFI's own president and founder, Gery Carson. Gery explains:

"My success as a entrepreneur and business leader is widely known today. Yet what most people don’t know is that I LOST money my first two years. I only broke even in my third year. And it was only when I got to my fourth year did I finally start seeing profits. Oh, how I wish someone had invented an SFI for me back in the mid-80's when I was starting out! ; - )

So was all that effort worth it? ABSOLUTELY! Because I persisted, today I live a dream life, I have my dream home, drive my dream car, and I get to lead one of the most exciting Internet companies in the world. Yes, because I stuck with it, I am today truly blessed beyond my wildest dreams."

But let’s go farther. Let’s look at some of the actual home business superstars we've interviewed and featured on our Website in the past:

Note that amounts listed reflect declared earnings at the time their interview was published.

ROBERT BLACKMAN now earns as much as $85,000 per month. Yet it took Robert two years to see his first four-figure check ($1,000 or more), and it took him five years to see his first five-figure check ($10,000 or more).

CHARLES LESLIE’s monthly income exceeds $12,000 a month. It took Charles five months to see his first $1,000 check, and three and a half years to see his first $10,000 check.

TRACY DIETERICH earns $36,000+ monthly. But it took six months to hit that first $1,000, and a year to get to $10,000.

DALE CALVERT makes so much more than $100,000 a year that he won’t even divulge the amount. Yet Dale worked four months before seeing that first four-figure commission check...and two full years before hitting five figures.

DR. JOE RUBINO now cruises at over $62,000 each month. But that first $1,000 check took two months, the first $10,000 check, one year.

ROBERT BUTWIN drops $80,000 or more into his bank account each month. But would you believe that first $1,000 check took two years to reach, and a full FIVE years for Robert to reach the first $10,000 check? It’s true!

DAVID A. NELSON clears $40,000 in a month. But reaching that first $1,000 check took 18 months. Reaching the five-figure check took two years.

TONY KENT has exceeded $90,000 in monthly earnings. But exceeding $1,000 took Tony one year...and a year and a half to exceed $10,000.

In other words, even the most dynamic, highest-earning entrepreneurs took MONTHS to begin seeing an income of any real significance. And the real wealth, the $100,000+ income we all strive for, took an average of almost THREE YEARS to achieve!

Do you think ANY of these gentlemen don’t think the ends justified the means? Do you think for an instant that the months and years invested hasn’t been rewarded a thousand times over at least? You don't even have to think about it, do you?

If we told you that after two to three years of following our system, you could be making more in a month than you now make in a year, could you handle that? This is a genuine and realistic goal. But when you say you want to quit your job in six months and live off the income from your new business, well, that's just not realistic.

Not what you wanted to hear, right? But is what we're suggesting so tough to swallow? Of course not.

Can you think of any other endeavor where you could invest just five to 10 hours a week for a couple years and at the end of that time have that turned into a $3,000 to $10,000 residual monthly income stream? Money that keeps coming in month after month, year after year. Money that keeps coming in whether you work 10 hours a day or two. A commission check waiting for you in your mailbox when you return from yet another vacation. Money that when you’ve left this planet continues to provide for your spouse, children, or grandchildren.

Sounds extremely nice, doesn’t it? But again, these are likely not things you’re going to see in your first year. It's just not going to happen. Some of you—the go-getters—you WILL see it happen in your second year. For most of you, however, you need to be thinking two to five years. And you know what? When you get there, we guarantee you, you’ll say it was nothing!

BOTTOM LINE: We reap what we sow, but the harvest is never in the same season as the planting! Today you are planting...and will be at least for the next several months. Your harvest will come in time. Be persistent. Be patient. Work the Web using our proven SFI system. Think long term. Take action every day, (no matter how small) to build your business. And always remember, THE ONLY WAY TO FAIL IS TO QUIT.

Dispelling An SFI Myth

Dispelling An SFI Myth A special message from SFI President & Founder, Gery Carson

One of the biggest misconceptions about SFI is that there is a monthly fee or purchase requirement. This is, of course, completely FALSE. There is NEVER any cost to be an affiliate. And you can earn VersaPoints and corresponding benefits, perks, and payouts through a variety of actions. Yes, thousands of SFI affiliates DO purchase SFI products for themselves. It only makes sense, after all, to buy from TripleClicks.com, "your own store"—especially those items that you are already purchasing from someone else (more on this in a moment). However, this is TOTALLY OPTIONAL. The best way to accumulate VersaPoints and attain Executive Affiliate rank is to generate 1,500 SVP instantly via a purchase at the TripleClicks store...OR...without any personal purchases by taking the actions outlined in the Getting Started, BASICS, or LAUNCHPAD sections. In fact, SFI has a wide variety of products available with varying VersaPoint totals attached for you to offer your customers and prospective affiliates. As few as one customer sale a month can get you to Executive Affiliate rank each month! How do you make these sales? The easiest way is to check out the numerous strategies outlined at theMember Referral Methods page. By the way, each time one of your TC customers or one of your PSAs places an order at TripleClicks.com, you earn 45% of the CV. PLUS...as an Executive Affiliate, you'll earn shares from the TripleClicks Executive Pool, become eligible for Co-Sponsor Commissions and ECA Royalties, pick up free TripleClicks TCredits, get co-sponsored affiliates added to your team each month, and more! For a list of ALL benefits you'll get from accumulating VersaPoints. BUYING FROM TRIPLECLICKS.COM, YOUR OWN STORE As an SFI affiliate, you are essentially a partner of SFI's. You truly need to think of the SFI product line as YOUR product line. Hence, it only makes sense that when you buy products and services, you always shop your own store first. If you owned a bakery, I'm certain you wouldn't be buying cinnamon rolls from Winchell's Donuts down the street. If you owned a Ford dealership, I'm betting you wouldn't even think about buying a Chevy across town. It's the exact same thing with SFI. Especially when it comes to products you're ALREADY buying. "Your store" almost certainly carries several products or services that you ALREADY purchase from a local store or other service provider. Why not transfer those purchases...to YOUR store? Remember, we're not talking about spending extra money, just changing where you're buying it from. In doing so, you're taking action that supports the growth of your SFI business and the businesses of your entire team. Additionally, your upline leaders (your Sponsor and Team Leaders) earn commissions each time you buy from your SFI store. And while that may not excite you right now, it surely will when later you have your own team of hundreds or thousands of affiliates and you're earning commissions on every purchase they make! So where do you go when you're ready to shop your store? Just head over to TripleClicks.com—YOUR store.

Internet Marketing Is 24/7, Not A One-Time Stunt

Internet Marketing Is 24/7, Not A One-Time Stunt

An oft-stated principle of Internet Marketing and Social Media Marketing is that it is not a one time stunt—it is a 24/7 endeavor. As we have discussed earlier in this course, you can profit indefinitely from the things that you build. But, that does not mean you can just create a Website and some social media profiles and then leave them to work by themselves. Nothing you build, no matter how clever, will work without your continued attention.

You may have very limited time. You may have a full-time job—perhaps even two jobs. You may have family responsibilities. As grand as it would be if we could, we simply cannot create extra hours in the day. Thus, it is understandable that you cannot devote 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to your Internet Marketing, no matter how promising the future might be if you could. What you can do, though, is care about your Internet Marketing 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can be mindful of it. You can ensure that you do carve out as much time as possible to devote to it.

Your goal is social media is to create conversations. Online conversations are understood to have pauses, no one is expected to be online all the time. But, conversations must have some steady flow or they will dry up. However limited your time may be, make enough time to keep the flow of your conversations as steady as possible. Do your best to respond to everything, even if it takes some time for you to get to it.

The most frequently made mistake in Internet Marketing, from my observations, is that someone will put a great deal of effort into creating a Website and setting up social media pages and then just ignore it, expecting it to work on its own. What you are creating when you create a Website and social media pages is a vehicle, a vehicle that must then be driven before it can go anywhere. You can build the greatest car in the world, but you go nowhere in it unless you crank it up and attentively drive it somewhere. You can take breaks and pauses in your trip, but you have to get back in again soon and keep driving in order to reach your destination.

If You Think You're Done Creating Content, Start OptimizingContent

The platitude, "if you think you're done creating content, start optimizing content', which follows from our discussion above, is expressed various ways. It is just another way of reminding Internet Marketers that the job is never done. There are times when we all feel that we have just said all there is to say for now. We feel we have worked hard and have covered everything that needs to be covered in our Website and our social media pages. When you have that feeling, start optimizing your content on the same regular schedule that you used to create your content.

You can optimize your content in a number of ways. First, you can review the language you used in your content and ask yourself if it could be more clearly expressed. Could you say the same thing is less words? Could you say it in a more understandable way? Are there 'power words' you can use to replace some of the bland words you have used in your content? Is there some better way to say essentially the same thing, but with much more impact? You can always find something to improve in your content. Often, those little improvements can make a big difference.

Always Respond

"Always Respond" is a very concise way of expressing the principle that we have been discussing as it applies to social media. You do not have to respond right away— although it is better if you do—but do always respond to every legitimate communication you receive through your Website or social media pages, regardless of how long it takes you to do so.

In polite conversation among friends, it may not be the best thing to always have the last word. In marketing, though, if you do it thoughtfully, it is good to always send the last communication. This way, you are always acknowledging that you have been contacted. Even if the last correspondence you received concluded all business at hand, it is still good to acknowledge that communication and let your contact know that you are available the next time they need to communicate with you.

Don't Try To Be Clever, Be Clever

We discussed being clever in your social media posts just a few lessons back. It is mentioned again here because it appeared regularly in the recent articles I reviewed. It is worth repeating that being clever only works when there is a surprise and an intelligent point is made. If you try and fail, it falls flat. If possible, have a business associate, friend, or family member review your posts that are intended to be clever and see if they have the expected reaction. If not, perhaps you should rethink the post. It takes a little extra effort to be clever and creative, rather than bland in your communications, but that extra effort pays off.

Not Everything Will Work And That's Fine

On the other hand, if you do try and fail, it is not the end of the world. Do not let the fear of failure paralyze you. Some of your posts will work. Some will not. Some of your Web campaigns will work. Some will not. Study the ones that do work and study the ones that do not work. Try to ascertain what is common among the ones that do work and what is common among the ones that do not work. If you observe your results carefully, you should be able to improve the percentage of your efforts that do pay off.

Conclusion

To have success in Internet Marketing, you must really stick with it. While you may not be able to make it a 24/7 activity, you can make it a 24/7 concern. Always being mindful of your Internet Marketing efforts will help you to find more time to make them work. Any time you have the feeling that you're done for now, focus on trying to optimize what you have done. You can always find ways to improve things and little improvements often make a big difference in outcomes. In social media, always keep the conversations going and always respond to communications, even if it takes you a while to get to everything. Every communication to which you fail to respond may be a lost opportunity. Be clever, at least at times, in your communications and responses. Because failed attempts to be clever can be harmful, have someone review your efforts before you post them. Sometimes your efforts will fail despite the thoughtfulness and cleverness you apply to them. That's OK. Observing what works and what doesn't work, will help you apply your efforts more efficiently in the future.

Material from my SFI Business Tool Kit at: Http://sfi4.com/12688726/First