John Dilbeck Musings

If you don’t already know it, I’m a huge fan of Site Build It!, Ken Evoy, and their 5 Pillar Affiliate Program.

I’ve joined and tested hundreds of affiliate programs, and the 5 Pillar Affiliate Program remains at the top of the list.

You can earn generous commissions from each sale, and recurring commissions from each annual renewal. This is true lifetime commissions, and the folks at SiteSell go out of their way to make sure you are credited for the sales you make.

It is a two-tier program, so you can earn residual commissions each time someone you refer to the affiliate program makes a sale.

SiteSell offers outstanding training, a regular newsletter for affiliates, great promotional tools, dedicated affiliate managers, and free members-only forums.

The 5 Pillar Program remains one of my highest paying and most reliable income streams.

Have you joined, yet?

It’s free, you know.

Come learn more about the Site Build It! 5 Pillar Affiliate Program.

If I were going to recommend only one affiliate program, this is it.

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.

Join hundreds of thousands of other creative people who are selling their designs on CafePress.

Whether you are an artist who creates original paintings and drawings, or you have wonderful photographs, or are talented at finding just the right words to express an opinion, you can sell your creative originals at CafePress.

Perhaps you want to self-publish a book or sell your CD through CafePress.

They make it easy for all of us.

All you have to do is create your design and upload it to their server. Apply your design to dozens of products and let Cafepress handle all the production, shipping, customer service, returns, and website.

You promote your products online and offline and, when a product sells, you earn a commission based on the price you set. Each product has a baseline price and you are free to set your price over that minimum price. You earn the difference between the two prices.

There is much more information at the CafePress site about how to sell through their service.

I’m regularly selling designs I uploaded months ago and I always enjoy depositing the commission checks I receive from CafePress. You can, too.

Start selling today!

A Little About CafePress

I’m sure you know by now that you can get a free account at CafePress where you can upload your custom designs onto about 80 products - free.

You can open your own free or premium shop at CafePress.com and sell your own designs. Whether you want to sell t-shirts with slogans, your own original books or CDs, or clothing, mousepads, calendars, and other products with your own original art, you’ll find CafePress an easy way to set up your online store and let them take care of the printing, processing, shipping, and customer service — and send your royalty checks for the sales you make.

I’ve been a shopkeeper at CafePress since 2002 and I heartily recommend the company. I love getting emails telling me that I just made a sale and then, a few weeks later, getting my commission checks in the mail.

If you are serious about selling your products on CafePress, I seriously recommend that you get a premium store. You can create multiple sections and offer your designs on more products. It is much easier to manage a single premium store than multiple free ones. I know. I also know that I am making more sales from my premium store than I ever did from my free stores.

I invite you to visit my CafePress shop at Shirts-Mugs-Hats.com. You will find an eclectic collection of products with a variety of designs.

If I had known then what I know now, I would have opened several themed premium shops and I am thinking about doing that next year. It is much easier to market a themed collection because you can target your market much easier and it is easier to describe what you are selling. Each premium shop costs only $7 per month (less if you pay annually), and I’m earning enough that my shop is basically free, since it is paid for out of my commissions earned.

A Little About Squidoo

You may not have heard about Squidoo, but you will.

Squidoo is becoming very popular. In the few months since it was introduced, nearly 41,000 lenses have been built.

You can open a free account at Squidoo and create as many lenses as you want for free.

In fact, you may even earn money from your lenses. I’m getting small commission payments each month, and they are growing. You can, too.

CafePress and Squidoo Co-Branded Lenses

Now, for the news I just learned about a few hours ago.

CafePress shop owners can now create a new CafePress co-branded lens by going to the CafePress headquarters on Squidoo and following the directions. It looks to me as if you must create a new lens to participate in the joint venture, so, in addition to my Custom T-Shirts lens, I just created a cobranded lens at John Dilbeck’s Shirts, Mugs, and Hats Store at CafePress.

Why go to the extra effort?

I believe in promoting my efforts as widely and as often as possible, so a new lens that links to my CafePress shop can’t hurt - and neither can linking to it from other lenses, websites, blogs, and so forth.

Additionally, I don’t know how CafePress and Squidoo are promoting lenses created through the CafePress Squidoo headquarters, but I did see a link to my new lens and to my list of lenses on the CafePress headquarters. So, I’m getting some additional promotion, at least.

What I don’t like about it

There are many positives to selling your products on CafePress and creating lenses on Squidoo. I’ve mentioned some in this post, and I’ve talked about others previously in different locations.

I’ll stipulate it as a given that you should do this if you are selling any designs through CafePress.

But, all is not perfect with this solution.

For example, on my new lens, I just wasted over an hour trying to use the automated tools provided for picking products from a particular CafePress store, in this instance, mine.

I know I have a white tshirt that says “Because I’m the Mommy, That’s Why!” and I can find it in about a minute on my site.

But, when I tried searching for it using the promote a store part of the CafePress module, I could not find it. I know it is tagged with both “johndilbeck” and “mommy”, but it never showed up in the search.

I know I have many products with “USA” on them and I tried to find them using the search. I found many of my other USA flag wear products, but never did find the USA tshirt or sweatshirt.

So, I manually linked to them in the introduction of the lens and deleted the promote a store module. I’ll replace it later, when I have more time.

The CafePress affiliate program

Recently, CafePress introduced an affiliate program and it’s starting to pay off for me. In fact, I’m earning enough from the affiliate program that my premium shop is paid for through those commissions and I get to keep the commissions from all my product sales. I like that, and I’m eager to increase both income streams.

So, I’ll be doing some extra promotion over the next few months leading up to Christmas and the holiday shopping season.

I know I don’t produce the best products on CafePress. I do mostly styled text designs and lots of people don’t care for them. But, now, as an affiliate, I can recommend more topical designs, cute designs, artistic designs, and others that I like.

You can, too.

Unless you can drive a ton of targeted visitors to the site, you will not get rich, but you could make several hundred dollars through this affiliate program.

Here are some categories of products you can purchase at CafePress. Do your gift buying early and avoid the crowds!

• Politics
• Pets
• Dogs
• Humor
• Junior’s Gear
• Bumper Stickers
• Art and Photography
• Fantasy Art
• Military
• Geek
• Pop Culture

Something for everyone

CafePress offers millions of products from hundreds of thousands of designers, so there is probably something there for everyone.

Not only that, but creative and artistic people can sell their own designs, and everyone who is willing to exert the effort can recommend their favorite designs through the affiliate program.

We all prosper by helping each other promote and sell our products.

It’s great to see Squidoo and CafePress working together to help us in our efforts.

Ken Evoy, President of Sitesell, has always promised that the 5 Pillar affiliate program will be a great way to build a business for anyone who was willing to do the work necessary to make sales.

After all, why join an affiliate program if you don’t want to earn commissions from making sales?

He’s also promised that, eventually, he’ll close the program to new affiliates so that the people who have worked to build the company can maintain good sales and lifetime commissions. While closing the 5 Pillar program to new affiliates isn’t imminent, it’s closer than it was.

If you are a person who has access to webmasters and people who want websites that work — and make sales — then you may want to look into the 5 Pillar affiliate program. Earn generous residual, lifetime commissions from selling webhosting and infoproducts.

Ken’s always invited people to join the program and see what it’s all about. He still extends that invitation, but, now, you’ll be expected to work the program and not just read the newsletters. Don’t miss the chance to learn from one of the best online marketers. Sitesell’s products are outstanding and so is the company.

It’s an easy company to represent, because the infoproducts are leaders in their field and they offer great content for very reasonable prices. And, Site Build It! is simply the best web design, web hosting, and web promotion system on the planet. I’ve looked for years for a better service and haven’t found one yet. Sitesell delivers on that promise — as long as you follow the guidelines that have been proven to work.

(More information: Site Build It!, Case Studies of SBI users, Sitesell.com, Make Your Site Sell!, Make Your Knowledge Sell!, Sitesell 5 Pillar Affiliate Program.)

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.)