TripleClicks Deal-of-the-day: Herban Cowboy Wild Shave Cream $4.97 (normally $8.99) http://tinyurl.com/yh6qhbe

TripleClicks Deal-of-the-day: Microsoft Pinball Arcade PC Game $7.97 (normally $15.99) http://tinyurl.com/yh6qhbe

So, another Wednesday and another sloooooow lesson from the replacement teacher whom we will now have on a permanent basis. We somehow managed to spend an hour going through the alphabet and thinking of an item of food to go with each one. A whole hour doing that… The few words we actually learnt from this excercise were mostly useless as I have no intention of ever asking where the eel or the rose-hip soup is available for me to purchase.

More of her strange decisions regarding capital letters were on display again today with “APelsin” a prime example. To add to this little quirk she’s also decided that persika (peach) begins with a B and that pineapple is spelled wrong. Who are we to argue?

Moving on from moaning, there’s due to be a big test tomorrow, which I feel quietly confident about. I do keep making silly little mistakes, mostly with spelling, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

To end on a positive note, I must say I am quite enjoying the course, even through it strange moments. Everyone seems to get along very well, which always helps. We all say hej to each other and stumble through our conversations complete with our best miming. It brought a smile to my lips the other day as I caught myself miming the word “hungrig” (hungry) – rubbing my stomach and licking my lips. Where else could I get away with acting like such a fool and for it to be accepted with appreciation!

“SIRG stands for Starting Investigator Research Grant, and we had decided that this was a gap in the portfolio of programmes that we had on offer. Whatever the name or the echoes it awoke, we were pointed to the need for this grant scheme from our contacts with the researchers around Ireland. The growing problem was the number of Post-docs who were crucial to the work in a research group but got no help towards their own independence …” (more)

[Frank Gannon’s Blog, 24 November]

SFI now features an exciting, new “Co-Sponsorship” program.

What’s a Co-Sponsor? Co-Sponsor is a new position we’ve created that is assigned by SFI Corporate. Similar to the Sponsor, the Co-Sponsor shares in the financial benefits and support responsibilities of the affiliate of whom he/she is the assigned Co-Sponsor.

As an affiliate’s Co-Sponsor, you can immediately begin earning up to 24% CV commissions on all their purchases (plus an additional 4% to 8% on all their sales)! This benefit can also continue monthly! For exact commission details and qualifications, see the SFI Compensation Plan.

Co-Sponsorships are assigned in two primary ways, which you can read about HERE.

What I want to talk about specifically today, however, is the co-sponsorships that brand new affiliates can receive, and the requirements. The requirements are very simple and straightforward:

Accumulate 1500 VersaPoints within your first 15 days

Do that and you’ve qualified to receive (currently, approximately 20) co-sponsorships that could be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars to you in the years to come.

But, wow, isn’t 1500 a LOT of points to have to produce in just 15 days? Actually, no. Let’s do the math:

Let’s say you just joined SFI. Assuming you’ve confirmed your registration and whitelisted SFI’s mailing address (these are the first two steps required before you can even enter the SFI Affiliate Center), you’ve already got 400 points to start.

For easy, “getting started” points, you can now do the following 13 actions:

For completing your Affiliate Profile (200 points)
For reviewing the “R” (Refer) Index (50 points)
For reviewing the “S” (Sponsor) Index (50 points)
For sending your SFI Commitment Message to your sponsor (50 points)
For entering a personal welcome message to greet the affiliates you sponsor (50 points)
For registering as an a2a member (50 points)
For reading the Getting Started FAQs (20 points)
For reading the “About SFI” page (20 points)
For reviewing the SFI Compensation Plan (10 points)
For reviewing the SFI Benefits Chart (10 points)
For reviewing the Global Growth Report (30 points)
For registering to follow SFI on Twitter (30 points)
For uploading your photo to the Affiliate Center (30 points)

All of the above can be completed, easily, in just 1-2 hours, and it’s generated another 600 points for you. So in just your first hour or two, you can easily reach 1000 points.

Of course, a new affiliate is also now receiving our LaunchPad™ “getting started” training e-mails. Each day’s quiz earns you another 20 points. So, by day 15, you’ve grabbed another easy 300 points (15 days x 20 points = 300).

That’s a grand total of 1300 points now, without even breaking a sweat. To get the remaining 200, you can earn four points a day just for logging into the SFI Affiliate Center and visiting your SFI Homepage. You can earn 240 points for purchasing an EyeEarn Starter Kit. And there are numerous other actions listed on your SFI To-Do List you can take to easily reach 1500 points within 15 days.

And you can, of course, also earn UNLIMITED points with sales or purchases at TripleClicks (many of our most popular products come with 1000 points or more!)

By the way, if you hadn’t noticed, the new co-sponsorship program is designed to not only provide a great incentive to get seriously active in SFI right away, but also to ensure that the affiliates who receive co-sponsorships REMAIN active, too.

How? To retain any co-sponsorships received, an affiliate must achieve 1500 points or more every month. They forfeit the co-sponsorships if they fail to maintain the 1500 point level, and no one wants to lose such a valuable asset of course!

So, with that in mind, it’s VERY important that when you’re recruiting new affiliates that you work with them to reach the 1500 points in 15 days.

Here’s a tip for doing that: Go to your genealogy and use the Join Date filter to pull up just your affiliates who are within their first 15 days. Now, sort by “VP(T)–-this is the abbreviation for Total VersaPoints To Date–in descending (dsc) order.

You can now see exactly who in your organization still has an opportunity to secure a quantity of co-sponsorships, and you can contact them to see if you can assist them.

Here’s a really good way to do it: Click on their VersaPoints total–that is, the points listed under the “VP(T)” column. You’ll now see a listing (in a new window) of all the actions they’ve earned points for so far and all the actions that they can do to earn even more points. For many of your affiliates, you’ll probably see a number of “easy” actions that they can grab quick points for. Point these actions out to them and offer helpful advice where you can. For example, maybe they don’t understand how to get set up to follow SFI on Twitter (a 30-pointer), but YOU do.

Help them get as many points as they can. You’ll be helping them and you’ll be positioning yourself for great, long-term growth!

NOTE: Once you get them to 1500 points, they’ve also become an EA (Executive Affiliate), which earns YOU 100 VersaPoints for the month–and which you’ll continue to earn every month they remain at the EA level!

If you are reading this and not yet a member of my SFI Team, I invite you to join me and SFI in making money from home. Totally free to join! Yes, really. Free to get your affiliate account today. JOIN ME with SFI by CLICKING HERE.

Q) Is this your first venture into a home business of your own?
This is my very first venture as a home-business entrepreneur. I have years of experience in business administration and human resources management with American multinational companies.

Q) What were your initial goals when you joined SFI?
When I joined SFI a year ago, I wanted to take back control of my life, be “boss-free,” regain my financial freedom, and help my valued affiliates do the same. Network marketing is about people having control of their lives, living their own values, following their personal dreams, and supporting others to do the same. Network marketing is about contributing and empowering relationships and commitment to the success of other people. And, whatever it is we contribute to others will come back to us tenfold—at a minimum! My initial goals were, and still are, to be steadily ranked in the Top10 of SFI’s Top 100 lists and help my affiliates and leaders emulate success.

Q) What SFI product(s) have you most concentrated on selling?
The antioxidant vitamins! They are impressively effective fighting the aging process and are reasonably priced. My customers, women especially, appreciate its benefits, love the radiant look of their skin, and use them daily. After only one month of use, a glowing, fresh look of the face is noticeable. I receive very positive feedback from my customers.

Q) Without giving away your secrets, what two marketing strategies do you feel are most effective?
I firmly believe in the global exposure and awareness of our SFI businesses. Our customers and affiliates need to know the existence of our e-business or affiliate program. They need to know that our products and services meet their high quality/safety standards and their immediate needs, and at affordable prices. The awareness of our e-business is a rather slow process. It takes effort, serious work, time, patience, and consistency in order to get profitable results working online at home. Of course, to become successful, well-known, and profitable in our SFI business, just as with any other legitimate business in the world, we need to:

• Invest time to market and pursue new customers.
• Invest some capital for professional working from home.
• Market our SFI home business both online and offline.
• Make our SFI work-from-home highly visible.
• Set inspiring goals to achieve.
• Get our own copyrighted domain to redirect or link to our SFI free, personalized Gateways.
• Let quality and added value benefits be evident on our Websites.
• Be professional, enthusiastic, and get paid working at home.

These points are contagious!

In today’s fierce competition, with 4 billion existing Websites and 60,000 (and counting) sites entering daily, to own “a roof on the Web,” is no longer an option, but rather, an urgent business necessity. Being the owner of a spam-free, quality content, copyrighted Website with an excellent ranking in the top pages of the major search engines, helps the visitors of our Website to understand, buy and appreciate the value-adding benefits the superior SFI products and services can offer to THEM!

I also find the offline SFI presentations to be very effective. The person-to-person contact establishes good rapport and enduring relationships. All the time, we train our affiliates on what to do. We almost never ask them what THEY would like to do. We are doing all the training, but we do not know who we are training, and this, in my view, seems like a blind approach. While it looks like great news to have upgraded EAs for a short term, in the long term, it turns out to be a loss of time, money and effort, when our affiliates and EAs are reluctant to move on and they get purged from T-Net. The majority of people are told daily what to do but are not listened to. First, I need to know who my affiliates are, establish rapport with them, gain their confidence and then, with their consent, proceed with the exchange of SFI information. I am prepared to make a difference, and I am ready to make it my business to hear what my affiliates have to say.

There is one thing though, I do not agree with and that is the “costs” reason for opting out—because our affiliates can do something for nothing with SFI. And I totally disagree with the mentality of some affiliates, who believe that the home-business company is a charity association. Did they ever hear about someone who succeeded in his own business without investment of time and a bit of money? Of course not!

Q) What is the single most important step to making a sale that you can share with new SFI affiliates?
The full knowledge of what we are selling is of utmost importance. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of reading. With knowledge, our customers and affiliates can sense our confidence and honesty, especially when we promote the added value benefits of the SFI superior products and services for THEM!

Q) What technologies do you consider most vital for your SFI business?
I use a cell phone. I believe people prefer the human contact rather than the impersonal autoresponders.

Q) List the following traits in order of importance to your business: enthusiasm, persistence, knowledge, and communication skills.
Knowledge, communication skills, enthusiasm, and persistence. I would add continuous promotion!!

Q) How important is following up with new affiliates to your success?
Follow-up is vital to maintain healthy communication and rapport with my affiliates. Many affiliates, though, are not responsive to follow ups.

Q) How do you handle rejections?
It saddens me seeing this precious, expensive, hard-earned human capital of inactive affiliates of my Genealogy. Of course, I move on, but I cannot stop thinking of those affiliates who allow the obvious benefits of the SFI opportunity pass them by.

Q) What has been your biggest motivation for making your SFI business a success?
My firm determination to make a difference as a successful SFI home-business entrepreneur!

Q) What has been your biggest obstacle in building your SFI business?
I did not allow any obstacle to stand in my way to build my SFI business!

Q) How does it feel to join the top movers and shakers in SFI?
It is a thrilling, joyful, and motivating feeling!

Q) Where do you want your SFI business to be a year from now?
I want my SFI Business to be globally known and appreciated. I want my SFI business to be first among equals, to stand out from the crowd on the Web. I want my SFI business to be always a top quality, inspiring model of emulation!

Dimitra Moore is a member of SFI, if you want to follow her footsteps and be successful like her then join SFI now!

So, Wednesday came and brought with it the arrival of the new teacher. Whilst she´s better than her predecessor, she’s still not great.

To begin with she tends to speak a bit fast – I know this is just realistic and I’ll have to get used to it sooner or later, but we’re still beginners… Maybe just a little slower…? Secondly and somewhat ironically her lessons are taught at a very slow pace. She spent what seemed like ages slowly, carefully and more importantly slowly writing up things on the whiteboard. Lastly her use of capital letters was generous to say the least, with no discernable pattern to when or where they might appear. I was quite surprised to see one pop up in the middle of mAj (the month of May in English) and two of the cheeky little fellows found their way into apeLsIn (orange in English). Maybe it was just her handwriting… I thought her 2 was a 9 to begin with…

Aside from the above confusion, the lesson was pretty basic with her taking quite a lazy teaching role – Requiring us to work out of dictionaries to fill in picture puzzles. Fun? Well… Meh.

The title of this post refers to my previous post concerning whether or not there was a sinister motive to the departure of the previous teacher. I made fun of this at the time, but it seems there may have been more to it than I had first suspected… After speaking with a few of my classmates during a break I happened to gain a little insight into the views others held of her. The word “witch” was one of the few English words I understood… While this was perhaps a little unfair, it turns out she had been making comments about people’s smell during the lessons – While it may not be pleasant to put up with other people’s bodily odour, to make fun of it in front of others when in a position such as hers is perhaps a little irresponsible. For this reason and perhaps more, some people revealed that they had complained to the college about her behaviour. Was this the reason for her departure? Who knows, but it would tie in with the glossing over of her sudden disappearance…

So, the bottom line: Are we better or worse for the change? I find it strange to say it, but I think perhaps worse. The old-style teachers do tend to have a way of making you remember the content of their lessons however unpleasant they, themselves may be. Whereas, the replacement, is perhaps remembered for all the wrong reAsoNs.

Det är alltid lika glädjande att se hur man förvaltar skattebetalarnas pengar. För en tid sedan så rensade man ur Nackstaskolan på alla inventarier, skolan skulle flyttas och in skulle istället SFI (Svenska För Invandrare) flytta. Många reagerade på att alla saker från skolan slängdes, riktiga möbler, whiteboardtavlor och annat som det inte var något fel på. Nu vill man ha 3 miljoner kronor att köpa nya inventarier till SFI för. João Pinheiro (S) menar att de saker som fanns var ganska oanvändbara, men är det inte lite märkligt då att det dög åt skolbarnen, men det ska inte duga åt vuxna som ska lära sig svenska?Sånt här är så irriterande, det är ju inte så att kommunerna flödar över av pengar, alla får verkligen dra åt svångremmen, skolor läggs ner, man drar in på personal inom omsorgen osv, nog fan hade skolans grejer kunnat vara kvar och duga även åt denna verksamhet?

Mondays are not usually good days – The thought of going back to school/work after a nice weekend is not one generally associated with happiness. however, today has been quite positive. I’ll start from the beginning;

Monday lessons are split into 2. The first hour and a half is spent in the classroom as usual and the second one and a haf hour is spent on the computers learning from language programs. Interesting side note; all the computers are iMacs yet come installed with Windows… Meh.

I had been having trouble with a few Swedish nouns and their plurals so I was not looking forward to going back to be tested on them. As it turned out, this was not the subject of todays lesson (I get that pleasure delayed until Wednesday), today was about food. As I’ve been in Sweden for a few months now and several occasions in the past, I’ve been food shopping a good few times and most of the words I knew already. As well as this little win ( if you can call it that), the best came after the break.

As there are only 18 iMacs and over 20 students, some of us have to sit on a table working from a book until people finish. When they’re done we switch tasks and those that were on the iMacs work from a book and vice versa. Today I ended up being part of the group that didn’t manage to negotiate the rush to get on an iMac first, and ended up sitting at the table ready to write. The tasks we get are never particularly taxing but more time filling. I managed to complete this fairly swiftly and changed with someone who had finished with their software questions. After doing this for the remainder of the lesson (I really need to work on my listening) the teacher approached me and asked if I would like to join another group – A faster working group – the more intelligent group!

Aside from the initial disappointment that a bachelor’s degree and several past visits to Sweden amount to a place in the lowest beginner group, I was quite pleased. I told my teacher I think on it and left with a spring in my step.

Will I change group? Should I? I feel as though I would like to learn faster, but then I’m worried I wont be able to keep up. Maybe it’s best to take the compliment and say, thanks but no thanks…

Lastly, the teacher mentioned in one of my previous posts (the scary one) has mysteriously quit/left. This was quickly glossed over during discussion with no mention of why. A cover up? Of course not, but strange nonetheless. I’m relieved in a way, although now there’s a new teacher to adapt to. What’s she like? I’ll find out Wednesday.

“A cut of €100 million in the research budget is being considered by the Government. If implemented, the move would put hundreds of millions of euro in foreign direct investment in jeopardy. Cutbacks at that level would also likely force the closure of at least three major university-based research centres, putting hundreds of research jobs at risk …” (more)

[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 13 November]

I love what I do for a living really I do, cooking has always brought pleasure to me. However my profession isn’t exactly easy to make a lot of money in, not unless you get lucky or you make some great connections, which thankfully I believe I have done of late.

So I have found other methods to make money and that is online. I have been at it for a few years and have found some great ways to do it. I consider them investments long term growth plans with huge jumps in income as they grow. None of them are guaranteed to make you wealthly overnight but they all give you repeated income on a regular basis.

The biggest problem you may come across is the lack of faith people see in a business model like this. Everyone, me included has looked for a quick buck business, they don’t exist. I have discovered over time it is all about persistance your willing to persever and build your business that creates the success. Most us us give up to easily and get discourage, we tend not to commit.

If you have the desire and the plan to succeed you will, in what ever venture you decide to do. below are the business’s I have chosen, prehaps they are for you or perhaps they aren’t I leave it for you to decide. If you have a question go ahead and leave a comment or contact via Twitter I will be sure to get back to you. When you join one of the business’s below you will definately have a way to contact me.

This is the frist online business I tried:

GDI Global Domain International, It is truly fantastic. Very simple; Buy your domain and then you can offer the same to the next person, the link will take you to a video it explains how the company works.

Next:

SFI, this company is very interesting because you start for FREE you can even make money just by promoting on a blog and getting a sale for FREE. Downside of FREE is it slow to succeed this way. The companines hole thing is co-oping to earn much like Amway. They just introduced this year something called TripleClicks this has been very awesome for the company and those who use it.

Next:

AdvoCare: This company is my favorite. Instead of going to GNC why not have my own that I get 20% to 40% savings on product just for $79 for a Distributor Kit and a Website. I buy my product and save 20% promote my site and customers buy my product, I earn 20% as sales volume increase I earn up to 40%. Once a year I renew my Distributor’s lisence for $50. This company has endorser’s like Drew Brees and Kyle Orton, this year they are the first direct sales company to Sponser college football the “AdvoCare 100 Indepence Bowl” on December 28th, 2009 on ESPN2.

I certainly hope this post made you think about ways “To Earn a Little More Green”

Time is flying by here since the start of the SFI (Svenska för invandrare) course. I suppose it gives me something to do throughout the day instead of what I was doing before. Which was… well, not much.

Our class seems to be settling in to a nice routine. We have four different teachers (or lärare), of which I can only say I like one of. It could be said I’m not there to like them, I’m there to learn, but it never hurts, does it? One of them, I’m borderline scared of – She’s pretty much the quintessential old-style teacher. By that I mean, she requires that you get it right or she’ll make you look like a fool – and have fun doing it. Luckily I’ve yet to experience this wrath first hand – Still, plenty of time yet. Of the other two I dislike there’s the token ‘cool’ teacher that teaches us the slang and sports the sort of hair you can’t help but question, and lastly a quiet, mild woman who smiles just that bit too much.

On a more serious note:

Progress seems to be slow but steady – With no discernable ability structured groups, this may be hindered to a greater extent.

Content has mainly been basic, with a recent introduction to some grammar. Tonight’s läxa (homework): the topic of plurals! With 5 different ways to perform the equivalent of sticking the letter s on the end of an English noun (I know there’s more than 1 in English, too), it may be a long night.

I feel sympathy for my girlfriend already, whom I’ll undoubtedly pester in a strained Swedish/clearing my throat accent. We had a little go at a conversation earlier, which didn’t go too badly (aside from the moment I thought she suggested we buy some poo at the shop instead of sweetcorn – sometimes learning the curse words in another language has its disadvantages).

On a final note, I received my confirmation from immigration yesterday that I’m allowed to stay here for two years. A little daunting to acknowledge written down like that, but I’m sure it’ll be great. To end on a cliché: Time will tell…

“Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) was established as a key organisation in the implementation of the Irish National Development Plan (NDP) 2007-2013 and the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2006-2013. A sum of €8.2 billion has been allocated for scientific research under the NDP and SSTI of which SFI has responsibility to invest €1.4 billion. SFI ’s remit was to invest in academic researchers and research teams who are most likely to generate new knowledge, leading edge technologies and competitive enterprises …” (more)

[Watchdog on Higher Education in Ireland, 10 November]

“A Trinity College Dublin biochemist, Prof Luke O’Neill, has won the inaugural Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) researcher of the year award. Prof O’Neill also won the RDS /Irish Times Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence last month. Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation Conor Lenihan announced the award last night on the opening day of the annual SFI summit …” (more)

[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 10 November]

Ladawnna Robinson of Alexandria, VA, has been drawn as our winner of the October 2009 LaunchPad Rewards Cash Drawing. Ladawnna won $1,314. Congratulations, Ladawnna!

“Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr. Conor Lenihan T.D., has today announced Professor Luke O’Neill of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) as winner of Science Foundation Ireland’s inaugural SFI ‘Researcher of the Year’ accolade. Minister Lenihan made the announcement in a keynote address to the SFI Science Summit, at a two-day conference in Athlone attended by over 300 of Ireland’s leading scientific researchers …” (more)

[Conor Lenihan, Fianna Fail Blog, 9 November]

“A new research cluster called FMC2 aims to make Ireland a key player in advanced financial software. With tens of thousands of stocks, bonds, commodities and other assets in which to invest, the job of the asset manager has grown increasingly complex and it would be nigh on impossible without the assistance of modern information technology …” (more)

[Irish Times, 6 November]

I recently came across an article with the title ” Do Not Trust Strong Future International or SFI.”

The author goes on to point out how his monthly commissions were adversely affected through a change in SFI’S commission structure. I don’t disagree with what happened to this ” online biz entrepreneur” because I recently experienced a similar situation with SFI, however I wish to point out some very crucial differing  factors.

1) My experience is very different compared to the authors.

2) I tried to post a comment to the said article before posting to this blog , but for some reason I could not get the comment to post.

3) I have no animosity towards the author of the article

First up here is the article and my response to it:

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Javier_A_Garcia

My Response:
It’s truly a shame Javier that you feel this way about SFI. However, my experience has been different.

Recently SFI made some big changes to the scoring system for EA status and team leader status…you can now become an EA in your first month, with out paying, just by completing certain activities.(complete a certain amount of SFI’S training modules and you can be an EA in your first month) This is reasonably easy to do.

In other words, if an SFI affiliate completes most of the initial training in their first month they will gain enough vp points to qualify for EA status.

What this meant for my business, at first, was that I suddenly had a flood of non paying EA’S in my down-line and I went backwards a little in my monthly commissions.

To be honest I felt a bit disheartened, but I thought I’ll just hang in there to see what will become of SFI’S new points plan and my business.

The out-come has been this:

1) initially my monthly pay dropped a little

2) loads of activity among new and old affiliates (lots of new non paying EA’S)

3) my monthly pay is now increasing and I’m getting a heck of a lot more quality growth among affiliates because, it seems, they’re taking the time to study SFI’S training materials.

4) lost a lot of dead wood (people who just sat there and did nothing)and gained people on fire to build their business.

This has been my experience…I shudder to think where I would be now if I’d pulled out of SFI.

Javier, thanks for your honesty about your experience with SFI, we all have such different experiences, I wish you every future success.
Paul Beamon

http://www.youtube.com/Homebiz707

“It is important to distinguish between the concepts of an object, and the name(s) of that object. This has resulted in widespread confusion between the properties of the name, and those of the object itself.” A great line by J. Noel Chiappa and one very applicable to the process of Settlement Free Interconnection (SFI) or “peering” as it is commonly known.

When people say “peering” what they most often mean is a bi-lateral settlement free interconnection. This is a business term, not a technical term, because the properties of the interconnection are orthogonal to the business relationship that causes that interconnection to exist. What are these properties?

1. Customer and network infrastructures routes (and only those routes) are exchanged
2. Transit (peer routes, exchange routes) are not exchanged

From #1 and #2 above, only “on-net” routes are exchanged, which means that only “on-net” traffic destined for the network’s customers and infrastructure is exchanged.

That is the technical property of a “peering” session. The flow of money is orthogonal to the mechanics of interconnection. If there is a contract or some financial relationship between the two networks, then it is termed either Settlement Based Interconnect (SBI) or “paid peering.” The properties of the interconnect remain unchanged.

So to sum up, I would like to use the following terms for interconnection universally:

• Interconnection with “on-net” routes and no settlement: SFI
• Interconnection with “on-net” routes and settlements: SBI

“The reputation and capacity of Irish universities to earn research income will plummet internationally if the Government fails to continue supporting research in the December Budget, University College Cork president Dr Michael Murphy has warned. Dr Murphy said it was critical that the Government continues to back universities in winning research income through funding the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and other agencies if Ireland is to maintain its reputation …” (more)

[Barry Roche, Irish Times, 30 October]

Q) Is t his your first venture into a business of your own?

I’ve been online since 1997, and since then, I have started and experimented with MANY businesses just like everyone else. I was struggling when I first started but got my first successes from selling information products and building lists in niche markets. These two models are still relevant and prevalent in any market online, particularly the MLM industry. This is because the Internet is primarily about information and communication.

You can see my full story on my Websites http://www.InternetWealth.com and http://www.InternetMillionaires.com.

Q) What were your initial goals when you joined SFI? How have those goals changed since you joined?

SFI is a great program with great products. Few companies can combine these two elements successfully. I only have one goal, and it has remained the same throughout the years I’ve been a member here. I wouldn’t even call it a goal but a “mission”—to focus on getting as many people exposed to SFI as I can, whenever I can!

Q) What SFI product(s) have you most concentrated on selling? Why?

I market the main membership itself as that will lead people to the rest of the products.

Q) Without giving way your secrets, what two marketing strategies do you feel are most effective (i.e. offline ads and flyers, pay-per-clicks, personal Website, banner ads, autoresponders, etc.)? Why?

List building combined with effective article marketing. These are obviously just a part of the process. The most crucial asset of your business is to have a SYSTEM with which to make money. If you need some help with this, feel free to contact me.

Q) What is the single most important step to making a sale that you would share with a new SFI affiliate?

The single most important step in MLM is preselling before sending the visitor over to your Website. This greatly increases the conversion.

Q) What technologies (i.e. cell phone, autoresponders, software, etc.) do you consider most vital for your SFI business?

I would say the autoresponder.

Q) List the following traits in order of importance to your business: enthusiasm, persistence, knowledge, and communication skills.

Enthusiasm, knowledge, persistence, and communication

Q) How important is following up with new affiliates to your success?

Very important. My business is a people business, and with the Internet, it’s about communication and preselling. Following up also maximizes the sales you get without doing anything else.

Q) How do you handle rejections?

I don’t. My focus in on using the follow-up to educate and presell and get as many new people to the follow-up campaign as possible.

Q) What has been your biggest motivation for making your SFI business a success?

I truly believe in the products and program. With that, I hope to help people achieve their own financial goals.

Q) What has been your biggest obstacle in building your SFI business?

Being able to help everyone given my limited resources.

Q) How does it feel to join the top movers and shakers in SFI?

Great! It’s both a honor and privilege.

Q) Where do you want your SFI business to be in a year from now?

The sky’s really the limit with this business. My slogan is “start small, dream BIG” and so should yours!

Want to follow Ewen’s footsteps and become successful with SFI? start your first step here

“Three NUI Galway research scientists have been awarded grants as part of a €7.9million Science Foundation Ireland grant scheme. Dr Kimon Andreas Karatzas, Dr Eva Szegezdi and Dr Hongyun Tai all received grants in excess of half a million euro from the Government-run scheme announced last week by Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Conor Lenihan. According to Minister Lenihan, investments such as this are vital to Ireland’s future research projects …” (more)

[Galway Independent, 28 October]