TCredits and PriceBender Penny Auctions

TCredits are the currency for our store, TripleClicks. You can use them for a lot of things.

 * You can list unwanted stuff for sale and turn them into cash. It only costs 1 TCredit.
* You can bid on PriceBender penny auctions. You get VP and MRP when you do this, too.
* You can use them to purchase TripleClicks products.
* You can use them to reward affiliates on your team using your Genealogy.
* You can use them as contest prizes on your Leadership Page.
* You can offer free TCredits to attract new TC members and earn lifetime commissions on their purchases. * You can download music from the TC Music Center. It's just one TCredit per song.
* You can enter the Pick-the-Price contest for each PriceBenders auction.

 One of the most popular ways to use your TCredits is for PriceBender auctions. TCredits cost as low as $0.29 each, and you can use them to win things for pennies on the dollar! A lot of affiliates set up a standing order for 125 TCredits and use them in the penny auctions to grow their business. You can win PSAs, CSAs, IAHBE subscriptions, S-Builder Co-op Units, Lifetime Custom Prestige Domains, and more.

The SFI Forum: The Best Place to Get Answers to Your Questions

The best place to find information and answers to your questions is the SFI Forum. I'm always happy to answer any questions you have, but it's often faster to go to the forum. There are different threads for different aspects of SFI and TripleClicks, and chances are - someone has already asked your question and there is in answer waiting for you there. :)

Duplication and Being a Team Leader

The key to success with SFI is simple, and anyone can do it.

1. Become an EA (Executive Affiliate) every month.
2. Recruit five active affiliates every month.
3. Train your five affiliates to do these three steps.

This is simple duplication, and it is the backbone of success at SFI.

If you have a penny of the first day of the month and double it every day, do you know how much you end up with in 30 days? You would end up with over $20 million. Duplication is a powerful tool!

Now let's see what happens if you find five affiliates every month, and teach each of them to do the same thing.

Time	EA2s	Total EAs	Matching VP	Monthly Income
Month #1	5	5	7,500	$3.75
Month #2	25	30	45,000	$22.50
Month #3	125	155	232,500	$116.25
Month #4	625	780	1,170,000	$585.00
Month #5	3,125	3,905	5,857,500	$2,928.75
Month #6	15,625	19,530	29,295,000	$14,647.50

Putting a little bit of effort in every day has the potential to pay off in a big way. And that doesn't even include the other income streams the SFI Compensation Plan includes!

Different levels of Team Leader bring different benefits. You receive free TCredits, free second-home CSAs, and - most importantly - matching VP on your downline.

Level	Tcredits	CSAs	Matching VP
			(all EA2s, including CSAs)
EA2	10	2	yours only
BTL	12	1 share	6 levels of your downline
STL	14	2 shares	8 levels of your downline
GTL	16	3 shares	10 levels of your downline
PTL	20	4 shares	12 levels of your downline

Once you have established a solid team, you will see the benefits of duplication manifest itself in your monthly commission check!

Sales VP and Action VP: Team Leader Requirements

When you earn VP each month, they are either action points or sales points. This is important when you start thinking of becoming a Team Leader.  

You earn Sales Points when you makes sales or purchases at TripleClicks. To be a team leader, you need a minimum of 1500 sales VP. A maximum of 2000 sales points count toward your Team Leader status.

	VP Needed	Sales Points	Action Points
EA/EA2	1500	0-1500	0-1500
Bronze TL	3000-3999	1500 -2000	1000-1500
Silver TL	4000-4999	1500 -2000	2000-2500
Gold TL	5000-5999	1500 -2000	3000-3500
Platinum TL	6000+	1500 -2000	3500+

To prevent SFI affiliates from buying their Team Leader status, you need to earn a certain amount of action points. If you are doing your daily To-Do List and building your downline, this is achievable. Your daily (330 VP) and weekly (152 VP)  points will bring you almost up to 500, half of what you need to become a BTL. Then if you help five of your PSAs attain EA2 each month, you should be almost there.

In order to be a Team Leader, you also need to have sales. Purchases must be made from TripleClicks - either your own purchases, or purchases made by your TC referrals. SFI is an affiliate program for selling TripleClicks products, and that is how we all make commission. This is why many of the most powerful Team Leaders at SFI have standing orders and make their own purchases there. It is "our" store.

Saving VP Points for Your Second Month

If you are serious about making money with SFI, VP points are very important. It's very easy to earn Executive Affiliate status (1500 VP) your first month because there are so many one-time action points and bonuses (like FastTrack and making it into each new round of the E365). It's harder in your second month.

One solution to this is to set up a Standing Order. Standing Orders are discussed in more detail here. 

However, if you choose not to have an SO (or can't afford to), it is still easily possible to attain EA status your second month. The key is to stop earning active VP points once you hit your 1500 VP for the first month. (Or when you know you're within reach, if you plan to earn your 10-11 VP every day by logging in and doing your To-Do List daily and weekly actions.)

When you earn VP each month, they are either action points or sales points.  (link)

If you are doing your daily To-Do List and building your downline, it's not hard to get 1500 VP after a few months. Your daily (330 VP) and weekly (152 VP)  points will bring you almost up to 500. You will also earn VP for your PSAs who reach EA2 or higher status.

However, the second and third month are often the hardest to get enough VP without making purchases. This is why it's important to save your one-time action points for your second and third months, especially if you choose not to set up a standing order. They will help you reach executive affiliate status. (You can still view the pages for the one-time action points, just don't click on the green "V" in the upper right corner until next month!) 

As your team grows, you will be earning action points from them (when your PSAs reach EA2 or team leader status). The longer you are with SFI, the more active affiliates you have, and the easier it will be to reach executive or team leader status.

International Affiliates and Professional English

For international affiliates, even if your English is very good, you will probably still make mistakes in writing. It's a fact of life.

If you want me to proofread something before you send it out to your team or post on the forum, I will be happy to do that. Just send it to me in an email (kerrieann1975 [at] yahoo [dot] com) and I will be happy to check it and make any corrections for you.  I am an English/ESL teacher, so I do that kind of thing all the time and it will only take a few minutes for me to help you.

It's important to present yourself in a professional manner, especially when recruiting new affiliates or dealing with your team. :)

IAHBE, S-Builder Co-op, & the Importance of Standing Orders

A standing order, or SO, is a subscription you purchase every month. This is not a requirement for SFI, but I highly encourage it, if you are serious about turning SFI into a money maker for yourself.

You need to earn 1500 VP a month to earn your Executive Affiliate status and earn your part of the executive pool. If you have any CSAs (co-sponsored affiliates), you will lose them if you don't maintain EA status. After you have put some time and effort into growing your downline, you don't want to lose those people and the benefits they bring you!

Setting up an SO gives you the 1500 VP to automatically become an EA. You can certainly earn these points, but it is a worthwhile investment after your first month or two. These are the most common SOs set up by SFI affiliates and team leaders:

1.  IAHBE  This is a monthly subscription to the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs. It gives you a ton of resources designed to help you grow your business. It is an excellent information source, and it's worth investing in so you can learn more and earn more.

2. TCredit Pak (125 TCredits) This gives you 125 TCredits each month. TCredits can be used for bidding on Pricebender penny auctions, listing and purchasing products on TripleClicks, guessing at Pricebender Pick-the-Price contests, and downloading music. You can also reward TCredits to your downline. If you use them for bidding on the penny auctions, you can earn up to 125 action VP as well as 625 MRP. This is my favorite standing order, because I use the TCredits to win CSAs to grow my business, earn VP and MRP at the same time. Then I can get free TCredits with my MRP, too. It's a triple-win. =)

3. S-Builder Co-op Unit  SFI does their own global advertising, and you buy a share of the affiliates they recruit. Most people get about 5-10 new recruits per month from each co-op unit they purchase. This is a good option if you don't have a lot of time or energy to put into recruiting. 

Purchasing Affiliates at TripleClicks is usually more price effective for me . You can 30 affiliates for $50. You will get your affiliates within a few days. I like to purchase these (or bigger packages like 70 PSAs for $125 or 150 PSAs for $250. When you purchase the larger packages, you usually get more active, eager affiliates.

4. Veriuni Advanced Liquid Nutrition (32 oz Bottle) This is a super multi-vitamin in liquid form, and it is worth it. If you are outside the US and you decide you like the product, it might be worth ordering by the case to save on shipping though. Plus, it ends up being about half the price that way.

After the first few months of growing your business, I think it's worth getting an SO for at least one of these products. They are good for growing your business as well as maintaining your EA (or higher) status. It also makes it much easier to earn Team Leader status so you can collect matching VP commission on all the EA2s in your downline.

PSAs, CSAs and Commission: Your Bottom Line

PSAs are your personally sponsored affiliates. These are the people you recruit, and they will be the most valuable members of your team.  You earn 45% of commission value on everything they purchase at TripleClicks. They are also the ones who will build a team of their own - and their whole team will be part of your downline. If you earn and maintain a position as a Team Leader (Bronze or above), you will earn matching VP points on everyone EA2 (or higher) in your downline. This is where you can make big money. If you recruit active PSAs who build a good team beneath them, they are gold. (You should reward them for it, too!)

You can get PSAs by purchasing them at TripleClicks (packs of 15, 30, 45, 70, 150, 250 or 500), joining the S-Builder Co-op, or winning them at Pricebenders penny auctions. However, the most valuable PSAs are the ones you recruit yourself. There are lots of ways to recruit people. Doesn't pretty much everyone want to make extra money? :) Check here for Ways to Sponsor Affiliates or here for some other ideas.

CSAs are co-sponsored affiliates. These people are also extremely valuable. You won't make any money from their downline, but you will earn 15% of commission value from everything they purchase at TripleClicks. If you are a Team Leader (Bronze or above), you will also earn matching VP on your CSAs.

You can get CSAs by winning Pricebender penny auctions, winning daily drawings, or by maintaining Executive Affiliate (or higher) status. EAs receive a minimum of two CSAs, which Team Leaders earn many more than that. These are awarded the month following your qualification. 

CSAs can be very valuable. However, if you do not maintain at least an EA status (1500 VP for the month), you will lose all your CSAs.  Don't let that happen!  

The best way to avoid this is to set up a standing order for at least 1500 VP per month, so you will not risk losing these valuable assets.  The most common standing orders are for IAHBE, which costs $29.95 a month, or a 125 TCredit Pak for $36.25. Both of these will give you the required 1500VP to remain an EA, but the TCredit pack can give you a bonus of  up to125 action VP for the month when you bid on Pricebenders, and up to 625 MRP points as well.

As you grow your business, getting CSAs and active PSAs will continue to increase your income. You want to support these members of your team, help them out when they need it, and encourage them to build their own teams. I think that the matching VP commissions you can earn from these members of your team is well worth the investment of a standing order to make sure you don't lose any team members.

SFI LaunchPad: Basic Training

Launchpad is SFI's exclusive program to get new affiliates started. To get there, you can click on the green Launchpad button on the right side of your big blue banner. It's under your account information and your picture (if you have one).

There are thirty days of short lessons. At the bottom of each is a question you have to answer to earn the 15 VP points for that lesson. (If you get the answer wrong, just try again!) The information is presented in a simple way and will help you start to understand internet marketing and SFI's system. If you don't have much time every day, you should at least visit your Affiliate Center and do a Launchpad lesson every day. This will give you a solid start.

E365 Contest: The Entrepreneur Challenge

 The E365, or the Entrepreneur Challenge, is a contest based on VP points that you are automatically entered into when you join SFI. You are competing against everyone else who signed up on the same day.

The first five rounds last six days each. This is your first 30 days at SFI. The idea is to stay above the green line. The green line is the median number of points of everyone in your class that is still in the contest. 

If you get on the FastTrack and get your VP points every day, you will stay above the green line with no problem. For each round you advance, you get a prize. 

If you make it to round six, you are eligible for daily drawings for MRPs, TCredits, CSAs, and cash. (All you need to do is get your 10 VP for the day to be entered.) You will be eligible for 335 days, until the end of your first year.

If you become the E365 Champion for your class, you will be eligible every day for the next year, too. You get a cool plaque to hang on your wall, and you get bragging rights with your name and picture in the E365 Hall of Fame. 

More importantly, though, you get recognized for the hard work you did to build up your SFI business.  It's a great incentive to succeed at SFI!

The Affiliate Center and Your Daily VP Points

If you want to be successful as an SFI Affiliate, you need to log in to the Affiliate Center every day and earn your VP points for the day. To get there, click on the left side of the big blue banner at the top of your screen. You need to make a habit of this. The world won't end if you miss a day, but if you are serious about turning SFI into a profitable business, this should be a daily routine. It's a good idea to bookmark the Affiliate Center, too. 

The Affiliate Center has a few different parts to it. Below your big blue banner, there are twelve tabs. Each of these tabs will give you an overview of a different section of your business. You can earn 11 VP a day here with about 15-20 minutes of your time. More importantly, you will be keeping up-to-date with what's happening and what you should be doing every day.

Each tab will be in red at the beginning of the day. After you have looked at the information under each tab, you need to click on the blue banner at the bottom of the page to get your VP, showing that you've reviewed that information. If you get your 10 VP for the day, you will get a Daily Versapoints badge. You will get a new badge if you go for 10, 30, 60, 90, 180, and 365 days in a row.

The Alert tab gives you the latest news, the latest forum posts, and any other special alerts you need to pay attention to.

The To-Do List will tell you what to do next. The daily actions include visiting each tab on your homepage as well as checking out the latest items at TripleClicks. You can also earn VP for bidding in the Pricebender penny auctions or being a Top 20 Enroller. (These are the top 20 affiliates that had the most people sign up under them the day before.)

The Tips tab gives you a Tip of the Day and a few other inspirational thoughts. These can be really powerful ideas, and they can help you motivate and drive you to success.

The Stream tab gives you communications from SFI corporate, your sponsors, your a2a network, and any ECAs you have connected with.

The TripleClicks tab shows you the Deal of the Day, upcoming Pricebender auctions, and other TripleClicks information.

The Scoreboard tab keeps track of your VP point score and how much money you've made so far this month.

The A2A tab shows messages from your a2a network, recommends friends for you, and shows new a2a members. It also has a search function, which allows you to find other SFI affiliates who are close to you or share your language. 

The Movers tab shows your most active affiliates. This is very valuable, since you can see your affiliates who are most serious about making their business work. These are the affiliates you want to connect with and guide them to duplicate your results.

The Growth tab shows the Global Growth Report for SFI and TripleClicks. This is a great place to see who the most successful affiliates and Team Leaders are.

The Goals tab shows your personal goals for SFI. You don't need to visit this tab every day for VP, but it is good to look at it once in awhile to remind yourself what you are working toward!

The Ask SC tab is next. People ask questions to the SFI Community, and we vote on the answers. In order to get your VP point for this tab, you need to click on the blue "Go" button and rate ten answers. These are some of the most pertinent questions asked in the forums, and there is a lot of good information to learn here. After you have rated 10 answers, you earn your VP. If you rate another 20 answers, you will earn an extra entry in the Daily Grand drawing.

The Win It! tab is where you can enter the Daily Grand. You get one entry for your first 10 VP points. Earn a second entry if you earn 20 VP in a day. You can also earn two more entries every day if you have a standing order (of at least 1500VP). They draw 100 winners every day.

 Finally, you should check out the latest items at TripleClicks. You get two points a day for doing this.

If you are still in your first 30 days, visit LaunchPad and read your new lesson. (It's on the left side of the big blue banner at the top, under your account info.) Don't forget to answer the question at the end to earn your 15 VP points.

You should do this much every day. Depending on how much more time you have available, and how much effort you can put into your business, you should also spend more time on the SFI site learning as much as you can. The more you learn, the better you can explain to your friends, family, and downline affiliates the power behind the SFI system. 

Make a habit of mentioning SFI to at least one person a day. Put up free internet classified ads. Put your affiliate link in your signature on any forums you visit. Here are more methods for sponsoring affiliates.

A note about VP: Once you have earned enough VP to be an Executive Affiliate, you should save your one-time action points for the following month. It is easy to get your points the first month, but it is harder the following months, unless you set up a standing order. More on that coming up.