John Dilbeck Musings

In December, 2007, SFI Marketing Group introduced MaxMalls.com.

In essence, SFI has joined the affiliate program of many of the top-ranked and most-liked stores on the Internet and has built a simple portal to all of these stores.

In addition to the convenience of starting at MaxMalls.com to go to your favorite stores - or a store you’ve never browsed - you’ll be helping children in impoverished countries around the world.

How?

SFI will donate a portion of every MaxMalls sale to the nonprofit organization, Save The Children.

Their goal is to have thousands of major, name-brand stores in MaxMalls.

Please note that going to any of the stores in MaxMalls is exactly like going to the store directly and you will pay the exact same amount for your purchases, too.

The only real differences for shoppers is that there are many stores conveniently located in one place and you can be happy that a portion of each of your purchases, if you start at MaxMalls.com, will be donated to Save The Children.

Not bad for just a couple of extra clicks when you start shopping.

Act on your dream!

JD

I earn, you earn, WeAllEarn.com. ™

I’ve been working over the last few days to create a new social networking site for SFI Marketing Group affiliates, and I’m announcing its presence to the world today.

If you are an existing SFI affiliate, or would like to learn how to join SFI, I hope you will join us at the SFI Marketing Group affiliates business networking site.

Please restrict your conversations to topics of interest to SFI Marketing Group affiliates. You are welcome to use your SFI affiliate links in the conversations and on your profile pages, but you are not welcome to spam the site with unrelated topics.

Spammers will be banned with no recourse.

You are invited to come and join us at the SFI Marketing Group Affiliates networking site. Of course, it’s free.

Act on your dream!

JD

I’ve been thinking about this question quite a bit over the last few weeks.

Am I getting all I deserve from SFI?

Let me think out loud about that for a few moments.

Do they send me a commission when I sell something? Yes, and it’s always on time, as expected.

Do they pay me an upline override for anyone in my T-Net? Yes. Again, it’s always on time and exactly as promised.

Do they offer training materials to help me improve my marketing and team leading skills? Yes, they do. I’ve learned a lot about online marketing over the last few years and I’m getting better at it all the time. I still haven’t found the magic system and don’t believe there really is one. But, I’m finding and using tools that make my business grow and I’m getting more commission checks than ever before.

Am I getting better as a team leader? That’s certainly a mixed bag. You see, I’m not a people person. I’m an old bear who likes to travel alone and do what I want. I’m much more suited to being a blacksmith, a programmer, or an affiliate marketer than I am to be part of a network marketing team.

On the other hand, I try to do what I can and I like to think I’m improving over time.

I only contact you sporadically, but I value each contact and look forward to hearing from you and working with you to build a real sales team over time.

I do my best to answer all emails I receive from you - something my sponsor has never done. So, I didn’t have anyone to learn from and I’ve had to figure it out on my own with the help from what I’ve found on the dboard. Eventually, I plan to have a system that works and which will be relatively easy to duplicate, even if you don’t have extensive computer or marketing skills. It’s not ready, but I am slowly making progress.

Will I take you by the hand and lead you each step of the way? No.

Will I help if you ask me a question? I’ll do my best.

So, I’m trying to offer you more than my sponsor ever offered me, and I hope you will build on that trend and offer more to your affiliates than I offer to you. When any of us finds something that works reliably, I hope we can find a way to make it available to everyone in our team. We cannot build a sales team without working as a team.

Does SFI provide me with services and products to market? Yes, they do. I love some of these products, including the Super Orange cleaner, which I use all the time. I enjoy reading the magazines to which I’ve subscribed via our Veriuni affiliate store. I haven’t bought many things through our store, but I’ve been very satisfied with all the ones I have.

Does SFI provide me with a staff to make my business easier to build? Certainly they do. They handle buying, stocking, and keeping track of the inventory. They pay the interest on financing that stock. They have a staff to handle customer service, shipping, returns, refunds, and all the rest of the behind-the-scenes duties that have to be done when selling products and services. They offer help to their affiliates (us) via phone and email and have always been curteous and helpful when I contacted them.

They provide a computer staff to take orders, provide marketing doorways for us, and maintain the dboard forum where we can help other affiliates and be helped by them.

What do they ask from us? Very little. You can remain an affiliate and do nothing, if that is the path you choose. If you want to build your sales business and start earning commissions, then you have to do the marketing that brings in new customers and generates sales. SFI pays rather generously when you do that, especially if you are an EA.

Am I getting all I deserve from SFI? I think I am. I am building a business, and SFI is an important part of that business. It’s not all I do, but it’s important to me.

Are they paying me for doing nothing? Not on your life. I’ve earned every dollar I received from them, and you’ll have to earn every commission check you receive, too. SFI is a marketing organization, and if you’re not marketing, you’re not making any sales. No sales, no commissions.

That goes for every other affiliate and network marketing organization you’ll find on the Internet, too, no matter what they say. SFI won’t try to hype the opportunity and tell you that you’ll succeed by doing nothing. No sales, no commissions; it’s just that simple.

I think it is important to become and remain an EA in the organization. I became an EA the first month it was offered and I remain one now and plan to remain one for years to come. It is part of my commitment to the company and is a concrete demonstration of my intention to do the best I can with this organization.

Is SFI getting all they deserve from me? I hope so. I’m trying.

Is SFI getting all they deserve from you?

Only you can answer that. You know why you joined and what your dreams were. You know what your income goals are and I suspect you have not achieved them yet. Why not? Have you done any marketing today? What about yesterday? How are you going to sell anything if you are not marketing at least a little every day?

If you are regularly marketing, believe this: If you persevere and are consistent with your marketing efforts, they will start paying off for you.

I remember when I started my online marketing business. I was happy to make a sale a month at first. Then it was a sale a week, and then a few per month, and now a few per day. It takes time to get noticed and to let people know you.

Now and then, I entertain thoughts about quitting SFI. I’m not earning as much as I want to with this company, but I have good feelings about it. Gery is always working to make the company better. The staff I’ve dealt with have been efficient and honest. I’ve always been paid what I earned, and I can’t say that for some companies with which I’ve worked.

I think, as Gery states in his AskGery column, that NOC is the future of SFI. I think it still needs improvements, but I’m sponsoring new merchants every month and I’m seeing requests for coupons every week, so I know it’s growing. I love helping people in my local area market their products and I’m working to increase my marketing of NOC in the coming year.

Have you told anyone in your town about NOC?

Working together we can achieve great things. Working separately - or not working at all - will certainly limit our success.

I lost my team leader status for awhile and just regained it in November. I want to thank each of you who is now an EA, and I’ve adjusted my 4102 team leader co-op so that all current EAs are in it. I’ve removed anyone who no longer an EA.

The way you build your sales organization is to sponsor a few EAs and help them do the same. I wish I had a clear-cut way that I could recommend, and one day I’ll find one. If you find one before I do, please share with us.

Are you fully participating in your SFI business? I think there is room for each of us to improve.

Act on your dreams!

JD

http://JohnDilbeckAndFriends.com

http://ResidualIncomeForum.com

PS: I hope you are enjoying the holiday season and I wish you the best in the coming year.

You will find tips, advice, training, and answers to your questions about the NOC program at the NOC Forum and UBC Forum on the SFI discussion board.

If you are not an affiliate and would like to participate in the NOC coupon system, I invite you to sign up as a free affiliate.

To learn more about all the details about NOC, visit the NOC Launch Announcement.

Take advantage of Nice Offers, today.

If you are a merchant who would like to offer your own special offers, learn more and register your business at no cost.

First of all, I hope you have a very happy holiday season and I wish for you and your family a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2005.

This will be the last time you hear from me before the end of the year unless you write me.

The last day of 2004 is only one week from right now. That means we only have one week left to achieve the goals we set for this year.

Perhaps you have more than achieved what you planned. Congratulations!

On the other hand, perhaps you haven’t been as successful this year as you’d hoped and dreamed. Maybe there isn’t enough time to do what you planned before the year ends.

You know what?

It’s okay.

Look at what you’ve done, what you’ve wanted to do, and what you couldn’t do. Try to put everything in perspective. Then, re-examine what brought you to SFI.

(Not an SFI affiliate? Learn about it here.)

Was it the opportunity to earn more money?

Was it the chance to gain the freedom to do what you want on your own schedule?

What was YOUR reason for becoming an affiliate?

How much progress have you made on getting there?

The end of 2004 is not the end of the world. Just as one season follows another, 2005 will follow 2004. You have a new opportunity to examine your goals, make new plans, and work to achieve what you want.

I was looking through some of the articles in IAHBE this morning and I read “My Biggest Mistake in Network Marketing” by Tom Wood. It is a very interesting article, and if you are an IAHBE member you can read it here:

http://www.iahbe.org/Resources/Reports/ExpertReports/WOODMyBiggestMistake.jsp

(If you’re not a member of the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs, you can learn more about it here.)

Like most of us, he saw the opportunity to earn more, be his own boss, gain the freedom to set his own schedule, and do the other things we dream of when we first learn about SFI.

He had some success in the first month, but he sure didn’t get rich — and neither did you or I.

He kept working, but even into the second and third month he could have earned more working for minimum wage than he was earning from his new home business.

But he listened to his upline and knew the big money was years down the road.

In his third month, some of his downline started quitting! How was he to ever build an empire of freedom if everyone quit?

So, his upline told him to go to his “chicken list.”

What’s a chicken list?

It’s the people you are too chicken to call.

“They’re the people that don’t quit. Find people who don’t quit in their life, and you will have a rock-solid business.”

So, he lined up his list and made his worst mistake in network marketing.

First, he chose someone who had no success in business.

Second, he didn’t do a great job of presenting the business to him.

Third, the prospect turned out to be a mean-spirited person who blew up and said he never wanted to hear from him, again.

Fourth, he cared too much about what the prospect said.

Fifth, he spiraled down into misery.

But, eventually, he realized, “I’m in charge of my life. I’m responsible for my destiny.”

If you want to read the rest of the story, it’s available to all IAHBE members.

When I signed up with SFI, I made a decision I was going to make it to the top and I was going to achieve my dreams — no matter how long it takes and no matter how much work I have to do. I feel as strong about that now as I did then.

(I even started a website at AYearFromNow.com with the theme of Act On Your Dream! I haven’t had time to work on it much this year, but it will become my top priority in January and February. I decided earlier this year what my big life’s dream is and I’ve been working hard to put things in place to achieve that dream in the next few years. I’ll be talking more about it on that site as I have time to work on it for the next couple of months.)

I know that I’ll never get to where I want to go without the help of many others from around the world.

I also decided that I’d never get to where I want to go without helping others along the way. I chose for my motto: I succeed by helping you succeed.

I’m not going to quit. Are you?

I believe in you. I believe in your dreams.

Now, if you decide that it’s best to quit SFI, that’s okay. Be true to yourself and do what’s best for you. But, don’t quit on yourself. You can achieve the success you want if you keep working at it every day.

I want you to succeed as much as I want to succeed.

But, I can’t do it for you. You are the master of your destiny and you have to find a path for yourself that will take you where you want to go.

Never give up on yourself. Never give up on your dream. Never let anyone else steal your dream from you.

If you still want to succeed with SFI (or any other business), you’ll find a way to make it happen.

I will help you get there any way I can.

One week from tomorrow, we start a new year. We have a new opportunity to act on our dream and achieve the success and freedom for which we yearn.

Nobody will do it for you. Nobody will do it for me.

As Gery Carson says, “If’s it’s to be, it’s up to me.”

When 2005 rolls around, a brand new compensation plan will be implemented.

I’m ready and I’m aching to work even harder in 2005 than I have in 2004.

I’m MIQ this month and I’ll be in the T-Net when it is formed one week from tomorrow. You may have done the same thing this month. I’m very happy that you did and I want to congratulate you on your foresight. This new comp plan looks like it’s going to work well for all of us.

You may feel that you can’t afford to become MIQ this month. I understand that.

Just a little over two years ago I had to close my metalsmithing business to care for my Mom. I depleted my savings and had no income. So, I turned to online marketing so Mom could continue living at home and I could earn the income I need to live here. I scrimped and saved just to afford the hosting fees for JohnDilbeck.com. I kept at it. I added hundreds and then thousands of pages to the site. It started earning a little money.

Then I added more websites and more weblogs. Now, I’m paying more per month for hosting services than I earned the first year and my profit is growing. Each year, I’m earning several times more than I earned the previous year. But, it’s not easy.

It’s like pushing a boulder off a cliff. At first, it takes all your effort and you barely get any results. It’s easy to despair and quit. But, you keep pushing and slowly, with great difficulty, it moves a fraction of an inch. If you stop now, it will settle back and all that effort will be wasted.

So, you keep pushing, and the more energy and time you put into it, the more the boulder starts to move. Slowly - but surely - you can see it move.

When you first started pushing the boulder, everyone around you thought you were crazy. They laughed at you and told you it would never move. Nobody would help.

But, you kept at it. When it started to move and the people around you could see it for themselves, the laughing subsided. How could someone tell you it was impossible if they could see with their own eyes that you were doing it.

Now, it’s time to keep pushing — even harder than before. As momentum builds, others around you will pay attention. Eventually, gravity will take over and be your friend instead of your tormentor. The boulder moves faster. Now, your friends want to help.

That’s the way it is with a business, too. When the boulder starts moving (income starts coming in), it’s easier to get people to help you. Even if they laughed at you and told you it wasn’t possible, they can still become valuable team members. Don’t hold their lack of foresight and imagination against them.

Welcome them to your team and help them start pushing their own boulders.

We’re in this together. You help me. I help you. We help each other.

As the Team Network comes into being, we’ll be helping each other in a whole new way. It will take some time to see how it all works together. There may be some glitches that will have to be fixed, but I have confidence in the staff at SFI and I know they’ll smooth things out within a few days.

Whether you want to earn an extra $100 per month or you’re willing and able to work full-time to earn thousands of dollars per month, it starts by believing in yourself and taking action.

No action - no income. No sales - no income. No sponsoring new affiliates - no team.

I challenge you.

Make your chicken list. Find people in your neighborhood who are successful in business and know how to sell. Then, tell them about SFI. Show them how they can earn income by promoting the services and products we offer. Show them how they can become a part of your team. If you can’t afford to become MIQ/EA because you just don’t have the money, don’t give up. Sponsor someone with the money, experience, and personality and work together to build your team. With work, it won’t be long before your income will pay for being EA and you’ll take your place in the new T-Net.

It’s not a game. It’s not a scam. You CAN build your home business and start earning that extra income you want.

Go to your chicken list. Tell them.

Even if you only talk to one person on that list, you’re taking a step forward. Soon, it will be two steps, and then you’ll be on your journey.

Promote the products SFI offers and earn the sales commission.

Build your team and work towards that residual income you want a few years from now.

Or, do nothing.

It’s your choice.

You came to SFI with a dream. Don’t let anyone steal that dream from you.

You are the master of your fate. You are the captain of your ship. You are the king of your castle.

You’re next. I want to be here when you make it to the top and earn whatever level of financial freedom you want. Even if you’re half-way around the world, I want to be a small part of helping you succeed.

Are you ready for the challenge?

Take some time and visit the training section at:

https://www.sfimg.com/Training/SpecialReports.sfi

Learn how to build your business and work on it every day. Don’t let that boulder stop moving!

Thank you for being a part of my team this year. Thank you for letting me be a part of your team.

I’m looking forward to working with you in 2005.

Let’s make it the best year, yet.

All the best,

JD

Congratulations to Oluwapelumi Olorunninwo, of Idimu, AL, Nigeria, for growing his SFI sales team in April, 2004. Of all the entry-level people in my sales team, Oluwapelumi added more new affiliates to his team than anyone else.

You are invited to visit his SFI store.

He would appreciate any purchase you might like to make!

You are also welcome to join his SFI team.

Congratulations to the following for becoming Multi-Income Qualified in April, 2004 and for starting to build their SFI sales teams!

Kendra Tucker, Owings Mills, MD, USA
Visit SFI store — Join SFI team.

Stacy Harris, Calgary, AB, Canada
Visit SFI store — Join SFI team.

Jennifer Anderson, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Visit SFI store — Join SFI team.

Our sales team is growing, and we’re building a bigger presence around the world — already on four continents.

The May 1, 2004 edition of my Home Business Tips newsletter has been posted.

Congratulations to my SFI sales team for growing their businesses in April!

Hi,

This week, I’ve been thinking about a couple of issues that are gaining in importance for reasons I’ll mention below.

I was a bit out of the loop last week because my mother was scheduled for surgery on Thursday. The surgery was a success and she’s back home and doing well.

(You may not know that I’m a full-time caretaker for her after her cancer surgery a couple of years ago. I help her during the days and do most of my marketing work from the next room during the nights and early mornings.)

So, now, my mind is back in the game and I’m looking for ways to help you grow your SFI Marketing Group business.

Some thoughts about marketing and selling

As I’ve said before, we are a sales organization. No sales, no business.

Most people hate selling, but that may be because they have a misconception about what selling is all about.

Look around you. Everything you see was sold by someone and bought by someone.

Selling is difficult when you are trying to convince someone to purchase something she doesn’t want.

Selling is easy when you talk to your customer and find out what he or she is most interested in. If she’s interested in what you have to offer, tell her about it.

Selling is easiest when you find what a group of people want or need and then you find a way to provide that product or service to them.

It is much easier to sell ice to a hot person in the summer than it is to sell it to a cold person in the winter. Few people can sell refrigerators to Eskimos, but practically anyone can sell a cold soda to a hot sweaty person in the summer.

You don’t have to do a hard sell. Just mention the benefits and how to get it.

Don’t know how to define the benefits? That’s pretty easy once you know the trick.

First, take out a sheet of paper and draw a vertical line down the center of the page. On the left side, list all the features you can come up with. On the right side list the benefits of each of the features.

How?

A benefit must answer the question “What’s in it for me?” or “How does that help me?”

Try to think as your customer would think and then list how each feature will be of benefit to him or her.

Once you know the benefits of your product or service, don’t list the features any more. Tell about the benefits, because that’s what we’re all interested in.

Now, you’re not trying to make someone buy what you have to sell, you’re offering a list of ways to help someone get what he or she already wants.

Are you selling when you tell someone that you saw a good movie they would probably like?

Are you selling when you recommend a good restaurant?

Are you selling when you tell someone about the SFI business opportunity?

Sure you are.

You may or may not be getting paid for your selling efforts, however.

That’s the beauty of affiliate selling. All you have to do is get someone to go to your gateway or a specific page in your Veriuni store and purchase from that link, or sign up as your sponsored affiliate. Then you get paid.

It’s not hard, it just takes some effort. When someone likes what they see, buying is easy. Remember how easy it was for you to become an SFI affiliate? That’s just how easy it will be for someone else to sign up as your affiliate and that’s how your sales team will grow.

The more you learn about selling, the more money you make in commissions.

Of course, it’s not just about learning. You must take action. Knowledge without action accomplishes nothing. Action without knowledge may or may not accomplish something. Sometimes it can work against you.

So, make sure you know what you’re going to do before you just start doing it. Set your goals and plan how you’re going to accomplish them.

Then, work your plan.

Does your upline answer your email?

It occured to me yesterday that there may be several reasons why you don’t get a reply when you email someone for help.

One of you — I won’t mention who — sent me an email last week that I almost never saw.

Because of all the virii (viruses) and worms, I no longer open an email with the subject of just “Hi”, “Heya”, or “Hello”. I have programmed my email program to drop those directly into the trash without seeing them.

I get over 1,000 email messages every day and several hundred are spam. Of the others, I have a couple of hundred filters defined that send the messages into over 50 inboxes. Some — such as my SFI inbox — are a high priority. Others are low priority.

When I check my email, I read the messages in the high priority inboxes first, and if I have time I eventually get to the others, but it may take days or even weeks, if I ever get to them at all.

Last week I got an email from an affiliate with a subject of “Hi” and a body that consisted only of “What do I do next?” No name. No company mentioned — and I represent several. No discussion of what had been done before to lead up to this point.

It was automatically filtered into the trash. I only read it because I had a few extra minutes that day — unusual — and recognized the email address.

It took a while to respond to the message, because I had to find the affiliate’s name, and what he/she may have done already. It would have been much easier and faster with some basic information in the email.

So, I’m going to ask you, whenever you write me, to please include the following:

1. Your full name.

2. Your SFI affiliate ID.

3. Your city, state, and country — whatever is appropriate.

4. Put “SFI Affiliate” at the start of the subject line.

5. In the body, ask questions that can be answered and provide information about what you have already done and what I can help you with.

6. If you reply to a message from me, please quote the previous conversation so I don’t have to go searching for it. These simple steps will make sure I see your message and will make it much easier to respond to you.

That’s assuming, of course, that some ISP between us doesn’t throw the message away or refuse to deliver it for whatever reason.

Because email is getting more and more unreliable, I’m opening up alternative forms of communications. I’ve created a Residual Income Forum and I invite you to register and participate there. We can discuss SFI in the SFI Marketing Group section.

How do international affiliates become MIQ?

I define “international affiliate” to mean anyone who lives in any country other than the United States.

As you may know, it’s sometimes difficult for international affiliates to purchase anything online. We’re getting more and more international affiliates in our sales team, and I welcome you! I want to find a way to help you transfer money back and forth between the US and your country.

There are two issues: how to buy something here and how to get paid there.

Be aware that you are never required to purchase anything from SFI. You can become MIQ by selling rather than buying and I highly recommend selling. However, you may have decided that you’d like to join the IAHBE, but don’t have a way to do it if you don’t have a credit card.

I have to admit that I was rather ignorant of this whole situation until recently and now I’m trying to find a way or ways to help you. I’ve sent some information to a couple of you. If you find it helpful, please tell me and I’ll pass it along to the entire team.

I’d also like to know if it wasn’t helpful.

I think SFI must find a way to make it easier for international affiliates to play a bigger part in the company and I think that’s under development. After all, Gery Carson — the founder of SFI — has announced that he’s changing the name of the organization from Six Figure Income Marketing Group to Strong Future International Marketing Group, and if he’s going to position it as an international organization, it’s necessary to make it easier and more profitable for anyone who lives outside the US to be a part of the effort — and to reap the rewards.

I’ve also learned that it is difficult for some people to receive their commissions from SFI. Some of you have to pay very high fees to cash a check from the US. Som you may want to accumulate your commissions until they reach a certain level before SFI sends you a check, so the fee will be a lower percentage of what you earn.

I’m still looking into this and I’ll be checking the SFI discussion board every few days to see if any news is forthcoming in this regard. If you learn something that works for you, please share it with us.

(Update: September, 2006 - SFI has made some dramatic improvements in working with international affiliates. I’ve written about some of them in my SFI Sales Team blog.)

That’s all for today.

As usual, if you have any questions, comments, feedback or want to talk to me about any of this, I look forward to hearing from you.

I’d like to recommend that you read the SFI discussion forum on a regular basis and post there if you have questions or comments. We’re a friendly bunch and there are some very helpful people there. Just remember that you can’t post contact information on their forum.

If there’s anything I can do to help you grow your SFI business, please let me know at your convenience. I always try to answer my email within two or three days or so.

All the best,

JD

PS. Want your own SFI business? If you’re willing to learn, set goals and work to achieve them, and have at least a couple of dollars per day to invest in growing your business, please click the link and join my sales team today.

Gery Carson, President of SFI Marketing Group announced some important changes in the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs.

Since its inception in January 2003, the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs (IAHBE) has dedicated itself to providing the timely advice, information, and resources home-business owners around the world need to launch, operate, and grow a successful business. This commitment to excellence continues in 2004 with some exciting enhancements to the Association–enhancements designed to bring even more value from an IAHBE membership.

On March 1, 2004, the IAHBE moved to an all-digital format. According to feedback IAHBE members provided in the recent Association survey, a vast majority prefer getting their business materials online.

This new emphasis on online access has already resulted in a brand new look, feel, and organization for the IAHBE website.

Updated with a cleaner, more user-friendly interface, the newly redesigned IAHBE site now makes navigating to the material you’re looking for easier than ever. Articles and reports are now organized by topic, for example, while audio seminars, book and tool reviews, interviews, and other resources are listed in their own easy-access directories.

Here’s another MAJOR new bonus: The doors to the IAHBE archives have been swung wide open to ALL members of the IAHBE. This means that, as a member, you now have access to the entire IAHBE library, containing over 150 exclusive articles and expert reports, hours and hours of expert audio seminars, dozens of SFI-related business-building resources, and much more.

That’s not all! The IAHBE site will now be updated WEEKLY with fresh, new content, giving you a never-ending supply of new exclusive articles, expert reports, audio seminars, SFI resources, special IAHBE-exclusive offers, and more!

If you haven’t stopped by the IAHBE website lately, you owe it to yourself to check it out now.

After you visit the site and look it over, I’d like to invite you to become a member today.

This message was sent to all members of my SFI powerline on 2/21/2004.

Hi,

It’s John Dilbeck, again, and I’m either your sponsor or Powerline Team Leader with SFI — or both.

We’re getting more members on our team every week and it’s gratifying to watch our group grow. As we put more effort into marketing the SFI opportunity and into selling products, the whole team will benefit.

Have you read the special report, “Six Steps to Six Figures,” yet?

There is a very-well-defined path to success with SFI, and that’s what makes it, in my opinion, such a great company with which to be affiliated.

You can read the special report at:

www.sfimg.com/Training/SixSteps.sfi

Note that you have already completed Step 1: Become an SFI Marketing Group affiliate.

Sometimes the first step is the hardest. You’ve made the decision to see what SFI is all about and to determine how it fits with your desires, goals, and plans.

Why did you join SFI?

I joined because I was already earning commissions from several companies, but they were all one-time commissions whenever I sold something for them. I was looking for two things that would help me grow my income and improve my financial security: residual income and leveraged efforts. Plus, I love working from home and not having to deal with a boss or a commute to work. I love setting my own goals and doing my best to create my own destiny — and I absolutely hate asking anyone for a day off when I want to do something else.

Just by joining SFI, I — and you — have already started leveraging our efforts, because SFI has thousands of people helping to brand the company on the Internet, and because they provide us with quite a few gateways to promote the company and the products we offer. We offer training, support, and encouragement through direct contact and through the SFI discussion board.

SFI offers over 600 products you can sell, and earn a commission for each one.

I love the middle of the month when my SFI check arrives and I get to deposit it in the bank. How about you?

One thing that’s required for getting a check from SFI is to complete Smart Start. That gives you a quick overview of SFI, the compensation plan, and some of our products. When you complete SmartStart, you’ll have your gateways activated so you can start promoting them.

To become an affiliate with SFI, you already responded to one of my gateways where you filled out a form and joined as an affiliate — and I thank you for taking that step.

Perhaps you wanted to build a home-based business. Perhaps you wanted the free Secrets of Internet Millionaires offer:

Secrets of Internet Millionaires

Perhaps you’re just kicking the tires to see what SFI is all about.

One of the beauties of SFI is you can take all the time you want to look at the company from the inside and it won’t cost you a single penny. Take all the time you want.

We’re here and ready to help you grow your business whenever YOU decide you’re ready. It will take time and effort to get there, but there is a very good chance that you can increase your income by the amount you desire in a couple of years or so. There’s no guarantee, but there’s a much better chance with SFI than you’ll ever have with your current boss.

One step at a time is how you get from new affiliate to Group Leader.

If you complete SmartStart within ten days of joining as an affiliate, you’ll be a FastTrack affiliate.

Finishing SmartStart gives you 5 SVP and that makes you half-way to being Multi-Income Qualified. (That’s Step 3 on the Six Steps.)

Once you complete Smart Start, your gateways are activated and you can earn a one-time commission when you sell something. But, one of the reasons SFI is so attractive is that you can earn income from several other income streams, too. Becoming MIQ opens up three more income streams. You’ll start earning residual income for any sales you make. That’s like being paid to work this week, and getting another commission check every month that particular customer purchases again.

(Some of our products don’t pay residual commissions, they only pay a one-time payment. Some of the new telecommunications products are like that. It’s such a competitive jungle with cell phones, long distance, and such that we only get paid a single sign-up commission for them, but this is no different than it is with other companies with which I work.)

All of you getting this message today have completed Step 1. You’re an SFI affiliate and the company and I are here to help you progress and earn.

Some of you have completed Step 2 (Smart Start) and now your gateways are active and you can start promoting them. There are lots of ways to do this, and you can find much more information at www.sfimg.com, the SFI discussion boards, or I’ll be happy to help every way I can if you email me at jd@johndilbeck.com. Please put “SFI” somewhere in the subject line. I’m here to help you progress and earn more.

I can recommend places to build your website, places to advertise, and things you can do online — and offline — to market our products and grow your business. Just don’t bother your friends and neighbors or take the short-sighted route and send any spam emails. When you start becoming successful, your friends, family and neighbors will ask you how you did it.

Spam will just kill your business before you even get started. It doesn’t work, it’s rude, and SFI will terminate your affiliation without recourse if you do it.

SFI is a business and is here for the long haul. Slow and steady will build your business, too.

If you’ve made the commitment to complete Step 3 and become MIQ, then you’re really starting to make progress. Remember, you don’t have to pay anything to become MIQ. However, if you want to get off to a quick start, you can set up a standing order for IAHBE and for $29.95 you’ll be MIQ every month. I recommend this approach.

Why?

Because, you won’t really make a lot of progress before you become MIQ. You have to open the residual income stream.

But, you won’t really be spending $30 every month, in the long run. For every month that you are MIQ, you’ll be banking a share of the PTL bonus pool, which generally averages in the mid-$20 range every month. So, if you become MIQ and remain so for several months (with no breaks!), you’ll be banking one PTL bonus share for each month you remain MIQ. When you become PTL, you’ll receive a check for all the banked shares at the amount they are worth that month.

(If you skip a month and drop your MIQ status, you’ll lose any banked shares, so that’s why it’s easier to set up a standing order for any of the 10 SVP products. Then you don’t have to worry about it.)

So, if you remain an IAHBE member for, say, six months before becoming PTL, you’ll have six banked shares. When you become PTL (which is Step 4, by the way), you’ll get a check for six times the current PTL bonus pool amount, because you have six banked shares. If it is $25, then you’ll get a check for $150.00. This reduces your cost of IAHBE to about $5 per month, and the free book that’s available every month is worth more than that!

(Or, perhaps you prefer to buy the liquid nutrition or cleaning products. For instance, my mother was just diagnosed with gall bladder problems and has had to change her entire diet. I’ve decided that with such a restricted diet, she needs extra vitamins and minerals and the Veriuni liquid nutrition supplement looks like a perfect solution. So, I’ll be buying a bottle for her every month. On top of her getting a product that she needs, I get 10 SVP points and my sponsor will get a commission. Win-win-win.)

Plus, IAHBE contains a great selection of materials to help you learn how to be successful in marketing. It’s a great deal, and even if I were to leave SFI (and I have no plans for that), I’d continue to be an IAHBE member.

You can learn more about the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs by going to www.iahbe.org or, if you’re already an SFI affiliate, you can join by going to the affiliate store at:

affiliate store IAHBE page

(If you’re reading this and you’re not an SFI affiliate yet, you can learn more about IAHBE at:

International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs

and you can choose to become an SFI affiliate at:

Become an SFI affiliate )

But, you don’t have to do this (purchase a standing order for IAHBE) to become MIQ!

You can also become MIQ by selling enough products to earn at least 10 SVP each month. Sign up 1 IAHBE member, sell one bottle of liquid nutrition, sell any magazine subscription with 10 SVP or more, or any combination of products, and you are MIQ for the month.

(Step 4, by the way, is to become a Powerline Team Leader, PTL, and to start building your own powerline team. To become PTL, you need to personally sponsor at least three affiliates and produce at least 40 SVP of sales volume every month.)

You CAN progress through SFI without spending ANY money out of your pocket.

You’re not here to be a consumer; you’re here to build your home business.

YOUR BUSINESS.

And you don’t have to pay a penny for all the SFI employees, computers, Internet access charges, bandwidth, or anything else. SFI provides that to you for nothing. So, you don’t have to build the infrastructure and manage the systems and employees. You don’t have to stock products and ship or deliver them. You don’t have to arrange contracts with suppliers.

That frees you up to do nothing but market products and services. The more you sell, the more you earn.

When I start a new business, and I’ve owned several, I expect to spend thousands of dollars and take at least 3 to 5 years to earn a profit. It’s been just over a year since I joined SFI and I’m earning a profit, already.

You can do it, too. I’m even hoping you’ll be much more successful than I am.

New Riser Leads Co-op.

Last month, I expanded my marketing efforts and decided to start a Riser Leads Co-op. It’s in place and working.

If you’re in my powerline, I’ll be sending affiliates your way in the coming weeks and the only requirements to accept the affiliates as your personally-sponsored affiliates is to complete SmartStart and then become MIQ. I’m going to send up to three affiliates your way. If you don’t take me up on the offer, it will rise up to someone else in the powerline. If nobody takes me up on the offer, the new affiliate will become my personally sponsored affiliate.

If you pass on the offer three times, you may not get any more affiliates from my co-op. I’m willing to help you grow your business, but you have to do your part, too.

I think that’s enough for one message!

I hope you have a great weekend and enjoy some time with your friends and family.

All the best,

JD

(For more current information, please see SFISalesTeam.com.)