You can create Coffee Units like this for free with Affiliate Future

Hi Gano Buddies, an update stock etc

I've sorted out the problem that occurred as seen in the previous blogs - you have just got a glimpse of an old problem in the marketing industry, that rears it's ugly head newbie or old timer.

Time to move forward now - blinkers on the horse as it has a place to go, no use getting distracted by things either side of the road.

Okay so what am I doing. I've rewritten my profile at the place concerned so it should be clear that permission to use my profile/photo is required before use. Just like the license I give you on blogs that you may reuse.

I've got my local brand coffee - I am still undecided if to give the lot away to a local charity I know that might want it or if to sell it on ebay - I might do a mixture of both - it depends on if they are allowed to accept gifts from strangers - or if this as a gift would be of any use in their fund-raising ?, I'll give them a ring and see how their current efforts are going as if the charity is to close down I might be better off with the eBay plan - maybe 50/50, it would be nice to at least make my money back.

DXN - I soooo wish they had an on-line shopping cart system. My Upline owns an off-line coffee shop so he stocks a certain amount of the product I want to resell - so umming and arring on that still.

Energi Coffee - this is my other favorite in terms of taste - these people are really starting to market their products well off-line in coffee shops - so I am tempted to upgrade to a gold membership on this product line.

More Private Label
back to private label coffee, I am looking at getting some more samples from other wholesalers so I can compare products.

My business cards are on their way, they are mainly to pop in any ebay items I ship out, ebay haven't banned this yet as far as I am aware - if they have I will just have to order packaging with my twitter address all over it instead! (unless they plan of banning packaging too!)

So usual administration hiccups to getting this thing on the road - another good reason some might say to stick to Affiliate products instead - no people, no sticky tape, no red tape... well you still have to find the customers either way, and the top in the game in the States all recommend getting a potential customer on your own list BEFORE you hand them to the affiliate link - so I'm following that advice.

Lesson 10 - Dealing with illness when you are an affiliate or Invidual business owner

Hi folks I haven't been around for a couple of days properly as I was going through a 'down' patch (I suffer with bouts of depression), then I come back to hear that a well known business networker has just found her life tumbled onto new ground by the wheel of fortune (that is what my previous post links to and I suggest you read it because Natalie went from having a normal week as a successful business woman running an on-line business to finding out she was seriously ill - she has decided, that for the time being she wants to share her experience and find others in the same situation - hence the shout out to her and baby - as communicating with your network of friends and contacts is the ultimate way to channel the right people to the right places - it is what we spend our lifes doing!)

I was planing on writing an article about how to keep the wheels turning in a business if you suffer from an illness, longterm like depression but now finding out this I am also looking at the totally unexpected like Natalie has experienced just recently.

One in 4 of us get cancer at some point in our life's - which means time out to recover.

Then there are mental ailments like anxiety and depression - but what happens to are income stream when these black clouds come down on us ? - we need to prepare a plan for illness - a 'living will' of sorts - if we want things to carry on.

Things I can recommend from my experiences over the years:

Firstly - you need to think about your business as a whole - is it like a market stall / shop where you can just close shop and come back when you are better ? - In the UK we get free health care - so if it is something big like cancer or something requiring time in hospital - we are extremely fortunate in the fact the State provides highly trained doctors and nurses for free.

In the UK, we are often heard to grumble and complain about the care in NHS hospitals - but the reality is that although there are some bad problems going on there (like any organization has it's ecosystem problems) - on the whole the quality of care and professionalism is second to none -

And if you are ever taken with an illness in the UK - I'd recommend the NHS over anything private here, as private hospitals often end up transferring patients to NHS because they don't have the resources / equipment to deal with many problems - they are shadows of the NHS and not worth the cash from all I've read and heard about over the years.

I realize it is a totally different thing in USA - where you have to either pay or go to a city hospital if you can't afford it - I've heard horror stories of city hospitals - and private ambulances leaving dying people on roads because they didn't have insurance - this might be media hype - I don't know. But medical treatment costs over there so - you definitely need to have a back up plan to keep you earning.

The number one recommendation for keeping your business going - when you can't do it, is automation if you are an affiliate of a product like Ganobrand you can automate getting traffic, educating your recruits, by setting up the following things:

You have the 2 sets of people (that can switch from one to the other) - you have buyers (direct buyers of the product) and sellers (your recruits that earn you residual income by copying your method)

So - having a blog and / or website of your own you can capture potential buyers and sellers by automation using feedburner and / or an autoresponder - the autoresponder can provide new visitors articles/newsletters (with your links at the bottom) up to a years worth in advance in some cases! personally I am thinking of reopening my AWEBER account as they are the best in the business for autoresponders - the free ones are good practice to learn how to use functions, but AWEBER are the thing to use once you have your content prepared.

I will be setting up an autoresponder for this site soon - I recommend you join it and take note of the process - i.e you come to this blog, you fill in the form for the free ebook, you are sent to a thankyou page that asks you to confirm your request, you visit your email inbox, you click on the link in the e-mail, you are then sent to a page with the free ebook and a thankyou for joining, then you should get an e-mail once a week, sent automatically, with an article you can use in your / or on your website/ blog (or in your own newsletter to recruits) and a link to a marketing resource or coffee related item.

Once the autoresponder is set up - it is your virtual assistant waiting for visitors to your blog.

Getting visitors to your blog in the first place

Getting your blog in traffic exchanges - is an automated method once it gets going ! - I'm looking at an url rotator script (I'm not happy with the coffee review script, for my purposes, so will probably be deleting that and trying some of the other scripts - scripts are a big source of automation - when you are happy with them!)

You can send automated tweets to your twitter account by using TwitterFeed Twitter feed will take any RSS you put into it and sent it to twitter - example I am using my coffee club at SocalMedian as my content for twitter as it has all the latest coffee news,tweeters and bloggers fed into it in the coffee industry. - this could be used to read the latest going on via your phone/tablet - if you just want to keep up to date about trends by reading - join up there and add your feed if you are into coffee ;-)

So imagine you can't get to your PC, if you have set up your twitter profile page on twitter you can still follow people automatically by using Tweetlater - and it DM's them a thanks for following message (with your blog / website link in it.) Your profile page should also have the link to your blog or website.

All traffic/vistors are directed to your blog - your blog has the autoresponder and the autoresponder has the links to the affiliate programs or product you are selling.

The next part of automation to make the most of twitter - is to make sure the RSS of your twitter account gets across many social networks - this is done by using one of the codes provided by twitter - i.e the widget code - you copy the code that will work for the social network you are using - you put the code anywhere and everywhere you can on-line - that piece of code automates the driving of traffic to your twitter profile - your twitter profile - links to your blog - etc.

Those are a few of examples to be getting on with. Think - blog, aweber, twitter,traffic exchanges,social networks, widgets,tweeterfeed,tweetlater - these are keys to automating a stream of traffic to your newsletter/product that once set up work on autopilot - just about every expert I have spoken to or read up on uses these tools to drive traffic.

Lesson 7 - Affiliates and Licensing

This is a response to somebody who asked about licensing laws and where coffee affiliates stand - I've added to this article as it was getting a big 'drawn out' on their comment page! :-)

Disclaimer: this is just my opinion (based on using various ecommerce methods in UK and USA - like International eBay sales, dropshipping accounts, Affiliate and Distribution/Reseller accounts) and you are best checking with a legal adviser, small business advice center or local government for your own County or States laws for professional advise.

Re. licensing - from my understanding a person that promotes an Affiliate program isn't 'directly' selling so doesn't need a license to promote a product or service or using online or off-line 'networking' to spread the word about it.

- An Affiliate lets people know about a product or service available to buy *at a merchants website* (a merchant is responsible for complying with the laws/licenses etc. that allow certain goods to be resold in a particular country etc.).

If you brought packs of the product (as stock), at wholesale then resold them at retail price directly to the public, your County or State would have licensing laws you'd need to follow, which might be covered in the distribution agreement/ license / terms from the company/ merchant you get on signing up.

However - with Affiliate programs you don't usually stock/directly resell the product you recommend, an Affiliate has a different role to a Reseller - some programs offer a mixture of both.

Offering a low cost/free sample for potential customers to try ( from your own personal supply - if you want) then *directing them to the website* (via flyer/ business card etc.) so they can order the full amount, and /or getting them signed up to the affiliate program has greater advantages in some ways.


- a website reselling example -

I can resell website hosting setting by own price, taking the money (setting up a paypal button), setting up the domain name for the client, setting up their e-mail account and / or manging their whole site for them (if they pay me!) or I can direct people to my webhosting providers affilite program and earn a commission that way.



If you had local people that wanted to buy direct from you rather than the merchant, you could 'dropship' the product to them i.e they go to your own .com website, buy the product out of the shopping cart - when you receive their money you order from the merchant and they ship the product, you keep the difference between wholesale and retail price - that isn't direct selling either as far as I know - as they are getting the goods direct from the merchant rather than yourself - however if the customer wants a refund they will have to send the product back to you (in some cases) although some dropshippers will deal with refunds from your customers - it varies

The thing to remember - is *an Affiliate recommends* they promote and guide a potential customer to a merchant, it's the merchant that makes the direct sale, financial transaction and delivers the product.

On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the most likely to need a license I'd score it like this

1. customer
2. affiliate
3. dropshipper
4. distributor / reseller
5. Merchant / Wholesaler

Note: if you are a distributor (or 'offical reseller') you could choose not to 'directly' sell as such (for example if but use an affiliate or dropship method - many websites offer to send the product to another address than on the credit card during the checkout process, when it asks where you want the package shipped to you add the customers address, signed for/insured/tracked delivery is best then you have proof the item was delivered.


Zara

A thought GanoBrand's two tier postioning

GanoBrand Offer a Two Tier Affiliate Program which means you can earn from direct sales and referral sales. Those two income streams could be used to reinvest into a Higher ticket Opportunity - which means you will start at a higher position (in that choosen Companies Compensation plan) and already be qualified to earn higher amounts.

The way I am viewing two tier affiliate programs at the moment is that they could be used to reinvest in higher ticket packages that get higher returns.

i.e you could make use of both Affiliate programs AND legitimate MLM programs to cover all bases - i.e if the MLM goes belly up you still have your direct sales funnels (feeding from the dying vine ? Mike Dillard ?) or if your Affiliate program goes belly up (i.e it dies) you have your MLM distribution channel.

By acting as an Independent Agent (which you are, as you are not employed by them)you can also make use of multi levels of recruitment entry - i.e a person with no money, can start on the free affiliate program, get to know the product, then later (if they want/ show alot of interest) you can introduce them to the same MLM.

OR if you have some new distributors in an MLM that are having problems making sales and slowly getting more and more demotivated (high turnover isn't uncommon) you could introduce them to the Affiliate Program as a further method of getting recruits & making some quick sales.

There are a number of MLM's that spring to mind now - including DXN (Lingzhi), Gano Excel (Ganocafe), HealthyCoffee (Energi)- and some others - all offer better payment plan's if you enter at a higher level from the beginning.

Added another Ganoderma Affiliate Stream

This blog is all about Ganoderma and products related to coffee, so I will be adding other affiliate programs of a similar nature Ganoderma Coffee is another program that is centered around the Reishi Mushroom so it qualifies for this blog and the attention of my affiliates.

You can sign up here: Ganoderma Coffee - This Company will ship the products worldwide

Here are the FAQ's for affiliates - they are straight forward to read and answer most questions:

Frequently Asked Questions

How much will I make as an affiliate?
We will pay you a 20% commission for every sale you generate by sending people to GanodermaCoffee.com through your affiliate link. Plus, if you
introduce others to this program we will pay you a 10% commission on the sales
they make!

This is a 2 level program:



(1) You (20% of retail sale paid to you)

(2) People who join under you (10% of sale paid to you)


What is the Cost to Join as An Affiliate?
FREE! There is absolutely no cost to Join GanodermaCoffee.com as an Affiliate!


Can I make Medical Claims?
NO! If you make medical claims, your account will be terminated immediately, as the FDA gets very upset as a result of this. WE have to protect our affiliates!


How and When do I receive my commissions?
When you sign up to become an affiliate, you are asked if you would like to be paid via paypal or via a paper check. Whichever form of payment you choose will be the method that you receive your monthly commission check.


Payments for the previous months sales are paid on the 3rd of the following month...
Example: Sales in January are paid on the 3rd of February. No minimum sales are required.


Am I responsible for my own taxes?
We will issue an IRS W-9 Tax ID form to you, should you meet the standards for issuance. You are be responsible for paying your own taxes from the income we send you.
This is the rule of the IRS, not us. The form should be returned to us, not the IRS.
The IRS requires W-9 Forms to be on file when total reportable payments to any individual, sole proprietor, or
business equal or exceed $600 per year. If we have paid you this amount over the past year, and we have
requested this form to be filed, please Click Here.


Will I be provided any sales tools to promote my business?
We have banners (welcome to use your own), text ads, and text links. If you do make your own banners, text ads, or text ads please have us approve them first. No medical claims, etc. Remember, the FDA gets very much upset about ANY health claims. Sites making such claims will be removed from the program immediately.

Sorry... that's the rules here in the U.S. See our terms before you join.


Will I be able to track my commission in my backoffice?
Yes! When you sign up as an affiliate, we will assign you an affiliate id. You will also be provided with a username and password to log into your account. Once logged in to your account, we provide tracking of all of your affiliates, affiliates sales, and your sales at mo additional cost.


Does GanodermaCoffee.com have a wholesale program?
If you would like to purchase from your own link, you can do so and receive 20% off your order. This will allow you to purchase our products at a very competitive price for resale. Of course, when you do this you will be stocking the inventory.


Do I have to stock inventory as an affiliate?
NO! That is the beauty of this affiliate program. There is nothing to stock at all. We will maintain the inventory, shipping, and sales. All we ask you to do is to promote the program and earn commissions from sales generated from your affiliate links.