How To Get Started For FREE!

[Karen Barnes]

This little how to venture was written for those that want to get started building their business due to lack of funds. You can use these methods to gain retail sales as well. While using free methods of advertising will take quite a bit of time, effort, and patience, you can most definately build your business without any out of pocket costs.

While this method may take longer than using paid advertising, you can and will get results. You will need to definately need to have a great headline to gain your visitors attention. So you will need to test your headlines to see which sites bring in your visitors.

How to get started for free

Q: How can I make money with SFI without spending any money?

A: You can earn money with SFI without spending any money by advertising the Veriuni Store, IAHBE, VCL, VNU, LD, MG, VARGA, ISP, GD, WS, and NS (these are the gateways that end in these suffixes that have the products that you can sell particular items for retail sales) to people who are not an affiliate of SFI. You can get this gateway that is set up with your own referral number and with your name. Go to https://www.sfimg.com/ log in and click on My Account. Then click on view/edit gateway.


Q: How can I advertise my gateway that you mentioned without spending any money?

A: You can do this by placing ads that are pre written and approved for you to use in the Marketing Aides section, to free classified sites, click thru sites, safelists, ffa sites, in your email signature, banner exchanges, get paid to read email sites, get paid to read emails for advertising only sites, and there are many more areas that you can advertise both online and offline to gain sales.

Q: Where can I find these sites to advertise on?

A: You can find any of these sites by searching any of the major search engines. Use search terms such as free business classifieds, paid business classifieds, pay per click search engines, free and paid safelists, etc. Use more than one search engine to find more sites to advertise. Also use variations on the search terms to find advertising places. You will be surprised at what you can find when switching up your terms.

Q: Why is it so important from everyone says to become EA?

A: The reason that it is important to become EA whether it be from your own personal purchases or through retail sales is that once you become EA, you can earn on two levels of commissions instead of one. Then once you become BTL through 10 svps then you open yourself up for even more revenue streams and the same with PTL (Will now refer to Platinum Team Leader).

Q: There is so much reading on this site, what are some of the key points in SFI that I should focus on reading and understanding first?

A: The key sites that I am going to mention (yes you have heard this quite a bit now) are:

1. Smart Start from front to end. There is a ton of information in there and reading it only once you will inevitably miss something. So read it two to three times and take notes.

2. Next Step Training.

3. Internet Income Course- George Little a SFI Affiliate, just like yourself has written this course to aid everyone in succeeding with your home business with SFI.

You can find these three things at http://www.sfimg.com under training in the main menu on the left.

Q: I have contacted my TL/sponsor/upline several times asking questions with no response from them, where else can I find help?

A: The most underutilized resources in SFI that people do not take the time to find or don’t know they exist are the discussion board ( http://sfidboard.com ), the affiliate resource center ( https://www.sfimg.com/ ), SFI Team Training ( http://www.sfitraining.com/ ) and the SFI Resource Center ( http://www.sfiteam.com/ ). See more about these sites at http://sfidboard.com/announcement.php?f=3 .

Q: Is there any type of information that can help me better understand how and why using free advertising works?

A: Yes, there sure is. Here are two posts by Johan that explains how he used and still uses free classifieds to build his business.

1. Small Guide to Free Advertising http://sfidboard.com/showthread.php?...ans+Free+Guide

2. Free ads (still) work http://sfidboard.com/showthread.php?...ans+Free+Guide along with his Get Out of the Dark post ( which has been posted by a dboard member- 4th post down in this thread)

3. Sharing is Caring http://sfidboard.com/showthread.php?...Caring+sharing explains and gives you some free pay per clicks to get started with. By the way, using these types of pay per clicks can also help build your business.

Q: Is there any url trackers that I can use to track where my visitors are coming from?

A: Yes. Try Adminder at http://www.adminder.com Adminder can track where and how many visitors you are getting with each site that you use.

[sarsuelo]

Karen, you've outdone yourself! This is wonderful. ;-)

[John Carpenter]

Hi thanks, it's useful for newbies !

>The reason that it is important to become EA whether it be from your own personal purchases or through retail sales is that once you become MIQ, you can earn on two levels of commissions instead of one.

But is it necessary to be a EA at the start ? As soon as you enter SFI you are "violently" invited to become EA : I don't see any interest to do so at the moment :)

[LABlue]

Originally Posted by John Carpenter

Hi thanks, it's useful for newbies !

>The reason that it is important to become EA whether it be from your own personal purchases or through retail sales is that once you become MIQ, you can earn on two levels of commissions instead of one.

But is it necessary to be a EA at the start ? As soon as you enter SFI you are "violently" invited to become EA : I don't see any interest to do so at the moment :)

Yes, it is pushed quite a bit, both by the site and often your upline as well. The obvious reasons for SFI and your upline is so that they can get commissions and SVP toward their bonuses and such. That's being honest.

But there are benefits to becoming EA right off the bat - such as the Fast Track bonuses if you EA within ten days of joining. Plus, the double commissions, and the banked PTL Bonus Pool shares. And a lot of people EA just by purchasing things like Affiliate Mastery - which helps you learn how to grow your business - or by buying things in their affiliate store that they might buy at Walmart or something instead. So it is no skin off their back to EA right away.

However, I encourage my affiliates to EA by SELLING, not BUYING - as I would prefer to have an affiliate who gets the rewards of EA by really working the business, not just buying something from their store. If they EA that first time by making sales - they feel like they've really accomplished something and I feel they are more likely to stick around.

Anyway, the answer is, no you don't have to EA until you feel like it - or you just make enough sales to get it. Don't let the pressure to EA put you off - this is a great business all around for many, many reasons. ;-)

[csmarketing]

Excellent q & a but the caring+sharing link does not work. Neither is the free guide link. I have the free guide but I would like to read about the caring+sharing . thank s

Michelle

[Ray Richardson]

Originally Posted by csmarketing

Excellent q & a but the caring+sharing link does not work. Neither is the free guide link. I have the free guide but I would like to read about the caring+sharing . thank s

Michelle

The links have been repaired(I think)

Ray

[csmarketing]

Great yes Ray thanks

Michelle

[Karen Barnes]

Thanks Ray for the assistance.

[montanas]

:notso: NOW I AM TEST ALL OF THIS METHODS, BUT "AdMinder"=ZERO, and others same results. what I do incorrectly?

[audia6]

karen thankyou for this this is just what i have been looking for ive recently joined sfi & made myself miq & boy although i went through everything im not completly up with computers & the knowled as this is new area ive just come into to try & want to succeed in & i dont give in easy now i see where i am going. thankyou for the shinning light to guied me thankyou again :Super:

karen thankyou you are a real life saver now i can get on my way & help others too :C)

[Karen Barnes]

Originally Posted by montanas

:notso: NOW I AM TEST ALL OF THIS METHODS, BUT "AdMinder"=ZERO, and others same results. what I do incorrectly?

Could you elaborate a little more? I think I know what you are asking, but I'd rather make sure before I try to answer.

I do apologize for not getting back to you sooner.

[Karen Barnes]

audia6, you are quite welcome.

All the rest that have found use in this are welcome too.

[Larashomebiz]

Great post, Karen! I am using this as a follow up email along with my welcome email to my new affiliates. I think you out-did yourself with this awesome post. Thank you! :)

Lara
PTL

:S)

[shamsery]

Though this my first visit to the board , I liked the post educative post of your , Karen. I am from Bangladesh and solicit every ones co-operation

[driven]

Incredible post!
an awesome get started for free guide...makes me actually DO SOMETHING!

muchos gracias from newby city!

driven

[LilKathy]

undefinedundefined

How Do You Find Out What last month's commission amount is?

I just signed up with SFI, and have become:

1. MIQ
2. Joined IABHE

and made a recent sale of telephone services , 10/02/04.

How do you find out what last month commission are?

Thank you,

LilKathy

Moderator's Note: E-mail address removed per SFI DBoard Policy. Please see http://www.sfidboard.com for details.

[Daniel Dashnier]

Commissions are posted on or about the 10th of each month. You'll see them under "My Reports" at https://www.sfimg.com.

[res6sjos]

:BigEyes:

Originally Posted by audia6

karen thankyou for this this is just what i have been looking for ive recently joined sfi & made myself miq & boy although i went through everything im not completly up with computers & the knowled as this is new area ive just come into to try & want to succeed in & i dont give in easy now i see where i am going. thankyou for the shinning light to guied me thankyou again :Super:

Thanks, Karen I'm brand knew and lack of funds. I will give this is a try.
I need all the help that I can get. I'm all excited about SFI. Thanks again for your information. email removed per SFI DBoard Policy





karen thankyou you are a real life saver now i can get on my way & help others too :C)

[Lmarie]

I am wondering how to advertise products on the web? I looked at free pay per clicks but you still had to "pay" for every click. (lol) I also looked for pre written ads for products in the tools section, but there isn't any. Can anyone give me some suggestions on this.
I have read a lot of this forum and I might have missed the answer to my problem. This is a lot to consume in this tiny head of mine. (lol)
Thanks in advance,
Lisa :headbang:

[DavidLee37]

hi

i have a blog which is aimed at a niche thus i advertise the products to that niche

signature files, but i find that if u sell the product st8 it doesnt work thus i write say a free report on say residual income then i can back end the nwm books

so instead of advertising your products directly you are offering information plus also when the subscribe to your freee report via autoresponder you have their opt in details

[cssmith]

thanks, this is really helpful. Do you have this written as an article? I'd like to send it to my mailing list if you do. If not you should write an article with your resource box on the bottom of it so that interested folks could publish it in their ezines and get you some traffic to your websites.

[scmart]

I found this very interesting but could not get access to the link>http://sfidboard.com/showthread.php...=Caring+sharing as this page is unavailable. Will aprreciate further help and guidance.
Thanks and regards.
scmart :glowface:

[Karen Barnes]

The link you posted doesn't work but the link in the post just above yours does.

[senam]

I am so glad I found this. It answered so many questions! I have been going through all the training I can. I even sent an order in so I can be EA as soon as possible, even though I'm still not sure how all of this works, I'm doing my best to understand it and do it right. :~)

[Karen Barnes]

Senam when you have more questions by all means come back and ask away.

We all are here to help.

[Raj kumar]

:greenie: :greenie:

Originally Posted by sarsuelo

Karen, you've outdone yourself! This is wonderful. ;-)

[ASHWIN1]

hi, wish you happy new year. I have joined this programme and became EA on 31/12/04. It seems amazing but I am stell learning. I still have doubt that how it will work, despite several testimonials. I am yet to see anybody in my downline.

Please help me with the tips if any.

thanks

[gladiator]

Originally Posted by audia6

karen thankyou for this this is just what i have been looking for ive recently joined sfi & made myself miq & boy although i went through everything im not completly up with computers & the knowled as this is new area ive just come into to try & want to succeed in & i dont give in easy now i see where i am going. thankyou for the shinning light to guied me thankyou again :Super:








karen thankyou you are a real life saver now i can get on my way & help others too :C)

By Robert Kiyosaki



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am sometimes asked, "Why do so few people make it to the top of their network
marketing system?"

The truth is, the top of the network marketing system is open to everyone-unlike
traditional corporate systems, which allow only one person to reach the top of the
company. The reason most people do not reach the top is simply because they quit too
soon. So why would someone quit short of the top?

Most people join only to make money. If they don't make money in the first few
months or years, they become discouraged and quit (and then often bad-mouth the
industry!). Others quit and go looking for a company with a better compensation
plan. But joining to make a few quick dollars is not the reason to get into the
business.


The Two Essential Reasons to Join a Network Marketing Business

Reason number one is to help yourself. Reason number two is to help others. If you
join for only one of these two reasons, then the system will not work for you.

Reason number one, means that you come to the business primarily to change
quadrants-to change from the E (Employee) or the S (Self-employed) quadrant to the B
(Business owner) or I (Investor) quadrant.

This change is normally very difficult for most people-because of money. The true E
or S quadrant person will not work unless it is for money. This is also what causes
people to not reach the top of the network marketing system: they want money more
than they want to change quadrants.

A B quadrant or I quadrant person will also work for money, but in a different way.
The B quadrant person works to build or create an asset-in this case, a business
system. The I quadrant person invests in the asset or the system.

The beauty of most network marketing systems is that you do not really make
much money unless you help others leave the E and S quadrants and succeed in
the B and I quadrants. If you focus on helping others make this shift, then
you will be successful in the business.
As a B or an I, sometimes you don't get paid for years; this, a true E quadrant or S
quadrant person will not do. It's not part of their core values. Risk and delayed
gratification disturb them emotionally.


Delayed Gratification and Emotional Intelligence

One of the beauties of network marketing is that it focuses on developing your
emotional intelligence as well as your business skills.

Emotional intelligence is an entirely different matter from academic intelligence.
In general, someone with high emotional intelligence will often do better than
someone with high academic intelligence but low emotional intelligence. That
explains, in part, why some people do well in school but not so well in the real
world.

The ability to delay gratification is a sign of higher emotional intelligence. In a
recent study of emotional intelligence, it was found that people who could delay
gratification often led more successful lives than those who could not.

This is why the educational system inherent in a good network marketing opportunity
is so important. It's the emotional education or emotional intelligence aspect of
their programs that I find so valuable for people.

Many people write me and tell me they loved my book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, but I fear
that many of them don't get the most important point of the book: Lesson #1, "The
rich don't work for money."

Once I have built or bought an asset, that asset works hard to make money for me.
But I will not work for money-I will work only to build or buy assets. Those assets
make me richer and richer, while I work less and less. That is what the rich do. The
poor and middle class work hard for money, and then buy liabilities instead of
investing in assets.


What Kind of Asset is a Network Marketing Business?

Remember, there are two reasons required to be successful in network marketing: to
help yourself, and to help others. Reason number one means helping yourself get to
the B side of the quadrant. What about reason number two

The beauty of most network marketing systems is that you don't really make much
money unless you help others leave the E and S quadrants and succeed in the B and I
quadrants. If you focus on helping others make this shift, then you will be
successful in the business

If you only want to teach yourself to be a B quadrant and I quadrant person, then a
true network marketing system won't work for you. You may as well go to a
traditional business school, which focuses only on your becoming a B quadrant
person.

The beauty of a network marketing business is that your goal is to create assets,
which are other B's working under you-and their job is to create other B's working
under them. In traditional business, the focus is for the B to have only E's and S's
working for them.

The type of business I was taught to build is a business with me at the top and E's
and S's at the base. I really don't have room at the top for many other B's, which
is why in my businesses, I strongly recommend that all my employees look into
network marketing as their own part-time businesses.

The traditional corporate system really is a pyramid, because there are a few B's
and I's near the top, and more E's and S's at the base. A network marketing system
is a reverse pyramid: its primary focus is to bring up more and more B's to the top.

One type of pyramid, the traditional type, has its base on the ground; the other
type has its base in the air. It's a pyramid that pulls you up instead of pushing
you down. A network marketing business gives everyone access to what used to be the
domain only of the rich.

This passage is excerpted by
permission from The Business School
for People Who Like Helping People,
by Robert T. Kiyosaki, with Sharon
Lechter, CPA, authors of Rich Dad,
Poor Dad.


:sword:

[Elmarc]

I bought "The Business School for People Who Like Helping People", by Robert T. Kiyosaki, with Sharon Lechter, CPA, when it was the IAHBE book of the month. It has a prominent spot in my business library! It's available, along with several other great books, from your Affiliate Store.

Elmarc

[trudenny]

Hello Karen.
That was a very good article,However i don't think it covered everything.For instance what about those of us who have yet to have a website?
Aren't there costs involved in getting a website and/or domain name?
The real concern for me is Domain registration.
What ae your thoughts?
Thanks Dennis

[Karen Barnes]

Some great questions there Dennis.

I'll work up an article for the board with the questions that you posed. Be on the look at for it. Please give me a few days though.

[8475560]

Hi Karen,

I'm preparing to write to my affiilates to encourage
them to go to this section of the DBoard.

When they are new they might get confused with
some of the outdated terminology. EX:MIQ,PTL,GL.

Is it possible to update that?

Thanks Karen -- you really do give excellent info.

Edith

[Karen Barnes]

I think I got it all changed now in the original post that started this thread. If you see something that I missed in that post, please let me know.

When time permits, there will be additions to it to cover the new comp plan and its counter parts.

[John Wilson]

6-Month FREE Trial!
No Credit Card Required!
No Strings Attached!
1 Domain Name Included!

This is an offer from a great host. They are BIG!

They let you register a domain name for FREE.

It may be limited to US, I am not sure about the countries where it is available but I know it is available for US.

Get email at your domain name. Set up your own website for 6 months for free. One offer per phone number. They will call you to verify your request.

go to http://1and1.com

John Wilson

[8475560]

Hi,

I'm in the process of creating a website
that will be promoting SFI opportunity
and products. Does the content have
to be approved by SFI?

Thanks,
Edith

[omeomi]

1&1 is excellent to work with. They also have domain name registration for about $6.

[Elmarc]

Originally Posted by 8475560

Hi,

I'm in the process of creating a website
that will be promoting SFI opportunity
and products. Does the content have
to be approved by SFI?

Thanks,
Edith

SFI does not approve web sites, but does have a Personal Website Policy.

Elmarc

[n4ynu101]

GREAT PIECE !!!!
I will paste and save for future resource for my future affiliates , thx for the homework !

[Karen Barnes]

You're welcome.

I am still working on the website info. It will be a lot longer than this one.

[n4ynu101]

Keep me Posted , Great material to have for those tuff questions we all face from our affiliates , Allot of work you are doing , Thx
:Koolaid:

Guy

[8923238]

Thank you for this briliant guide.
I glad to have more contact with you to help me improve my business

[dickielim]

Great! more to learn from you

[GodGell]

thanks, this post helped me a lot, altough i still didn't make it past that 5 svp that i got by reading smart start.
i registered a new user into my downline just for testing, i wanted to delete the user as soon as i find out what it's like. :) but then i got a mail saying that 2 affiliates joined the user i registered into my own powerline. they still didn't become EA either, but i'm not sure if i can have 2 sfi accounts at the same time.

i definietly have to try to get my business started without using any cash, as i turned to SFI because i have absolutely no income and i wanted to see if there is a way of getting out of it without having to get on the anti-wealth plan.

anyway, i'll mail your post to those 2 affiliates, probably they'll get inspired by sfi just like me.
personally, i think there's a problem with sfi in this area. it offers you tons of text to read, but only a quarter of that text is actually useful. sfi almost "bored me away", because i often fell asleep while reading the tons of useless crap sfi said i have to read to become a successful affiliate.
so, i think what sfi needs is an article (or multiple articles) that aren't full of this crap, but contain useful information instead (just like this post, which does not have all the "sfi is good, sfi has history" etc crap and focuses on real information instead). that way the affiliates wouldn't have to dig through all this to get the information they need about sfi, and therefore much more affiliates would stay at sfi instead of just getting bored and quitting.

[Elmarc]

Originally Posted by GodGell

*snip*
i'm not sure if i can have 2 sfi accounts at the same time.
*snip*

One account per affiliate.

Elmarc

[GodGell]

@@@@ :( what should i do then? one account is my "real" account, and one was just a test. i wanted to delete it but then 2 affiliates registered under it so i can't delete it now (only by losing those 2 affiliates).

[Ray Richardson]

From the Affiliate Agreement

6. A maximum of ONE affiliate per household is allowed. However, you may apply to be granted an exception for children or other relative(s). In all cases, the affiliates must reside in the network of the Personal Sponsor.

You can see the agreement at https://www.sfimg.com/Reference/AffiliateAgreement.sfi

Are you sure that those affiliates were referred by that user? I have a feeling that the email you were sent was telling you that two affiliates were placed under your other affiliate in the T-Net and not that they were referred by that affiliate. Check and see if this was a "Network Growth Report." If it was, it was a notice that the network was growing beneath the affiliate and not thet the affiliate had referred another affiliate.

Ray

[GodGell]

hmm. i checked the "my reports -> sponsored affiliates" page in both accounts. in the real account, i see only one which is the test account. in the test account i don't see anyone in the downline, though. i'm gonna check that mail again.

*** 02/04/2005 Network Growth Report for Bleh Blargh ***

"bleh blargh" is the name i registered in the test account.

Good news! During the last 24 hours, the following 2 new SFI affiliates joined your sales team:

(name0), (location0), (country0)
(name1), (location1), (country1)

(Max. 20 shown here. See http://www.sfimg.com/Gen/ for complete listing to date)

SALES COMMISSION INFO:
As a member of SFI's Team Network, you can earn 6% of the total CV (Commission Volume) on each of these affiliates...every month! To qualify for these commissions, you simply need to become an Executive Affiliate no later than 02/14/2005. Becoming an Executive Affiliate is easy. Plus, we GUARANTEE you a commission check your first month!

(...)

it seems like it was a network growth report indeed, but i got a mail of the same content informing me of 1 new user when i registered the test account. so i thought this meant someone registered into the test account's downline.

so there are no affiliates under my test user, then. i'll delete the user.

update: done, i went through the somewhat sad process of opting out of sfi, of course, only with the 2nd account, in the "real" account, i'll keep trying to get my business going. :)

[FARHANA RIZVI]

Originally Posted by LABlue

Yes, it is pushed quite a bit, both by the site and often your upline as well. The obvious reasons for SFI and your upline is so that they can get commissions and SVP toward their bonuses and such. That's being honest.

But there are benefits to becoming EA right off the bat - such as the Fast Track bonuses if you EA within ten days of joining. Plus, the double commissions, and the banked PTL Bonus Pool shares. And a lot of people EA just by purchasing things like Affiliate Mastery - which helps you learn how to grow your business - or by buying things in their affiliate store that they might buy at Walmart or something instead. So it is no skin off their back to EA right away.

However, I encourage my affiliates to EA by SELLING, not BUYING - as I would prefer to have an affiliate who gets the rewards of EA by really working the business, not just buying something from their store. If they EA that first time by making sales - they feel like they've really accomplished something and I feel they are more likely to stick around.

Anyway, the answer is, no you don't have to EA until you feel like it - or you just make enough sales to get it. Don't let the pressure to EA put you off - this is a great business all around for many, many reasons. ;-)

I am trying to log on to get EA from first day continously.But www.sfimg.com could not opened completely . So how can I get with MIQ
with in ten days

[GREEN AND GREEN]

IM SOOOO CONFUSED ABOUT ALL THIS FREE ADVERTISING...I HAVE LOOKED THROUGH FREE ADS AND HAVE FOUND NOTHING THAT IS COMPLETELY FREE...EVERYONE KEEPS TALKING ABOUT THESE FREE ADS BUT I HAVE NOT SEEN A LIST OF THEM ANYWHERE....IM NEW AND COMPLETELY CONFUSED AND FRUSTRATED!!!! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!!!! :eek3: PLEASE EMAIL ME

[Karen Barnes]

You mean you the list like these:

Free World Classifieds

Free World Classifieds 2nd List


SFI Training Classifieds--which has a mix of free and paid classified sites

Plus doing a search for any "free classified ads" "free ads" "free advertising" etc with any search engine will give you more sites than the ones I have listed here.