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#Sales Funnel Building
rajjerryn · 9 months
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philly1000 · 1 year
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Learn how to make sales funnels and sell products online in this blog post
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saleslessons · 2 years
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Sales Lessons from golf
Who could have thought Golf can be married to sales? But and this is a significant but, Gaurav Kumar is known for making the twain meet. You might think sales is done sitting in a room hunched over the telephone or computer, while golf is all about an open landscape. How could these two so dissimilar things be ever reconciled? It can be with creativity. And sales are all about creativity.
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Gaurav Kumar started his career in sales. He went through all the ups and downs that many of us go through in our lives. What made Gaurav stand apart from the crowd was his jujitsu determination to strike a path on his own. He did this by bringing new ideas into his job. Time went by. Hours turned into days; days into weeks; weeks into months; months into years. And then came a time when the labor of the past congealed together to create a swift-flowing pool of success.
People have a very bad habit of noticing success but not the labor and effort that went into the making of that success. Gaurav has not forgotten his journey. He has reached his destination, but the memory of the journey is still what he covets the most. Why? Because it was in the journey that he learned precious life lessons.  And he decided to share these lessons with others.
Sales lessons from golf might seem outlandish or improbable. But when you read the book, you realize there is so much in common between the art of sales and the art of swinging your golf club. Golf builds your character; sales bring out your true charter to the fore. Sales demand your full attention, and golf teaches you how to be attentive to even the smallest things in your life. You must make the right investment to ace the game of sales. Golf too is about making the right choice and investment.
This book, it is worth noting, breaks away from orthodox sales hocus-pocus and brings the focus back to basics. Take care of small things in life and bigger things will fall into their place automatically. It is a must-read book for beginners as well as sales experts to elevate their sales acumen to another level.
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sivasaikrishna · 1 month
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Unlocking the Power of ClickFunnels: Transform Your Business with High-Converting Sales Funnels
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, capturing and retaining customers is more challenging than ever. With countless distractions vying for attention, businesses need a strategic approach to stand out and drive conversions. Enter ClickFunnels — the ultimate solution for entrepreneurs and businesses looking to streamline their marketing efforts and skyrocket sales.
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What is ClickFunnels?
ClickFunnels is a revolutionary online platform that empowers businesses to create high-converting sales funnels with ease. Gone are the days of complex coding and technical hurdles. With ClickFunnels, anyone — regardless of technical expertise — can build customized sales funnels that guide potential customers seamlessly through the buying journey.
Why Choose ClickFunnels?
User-Friendly Interface: ClickFunnels boasts a user-friendly interface that simplifies the funnel-building process. With drag-and-drop functionality and customizable templates, creating professional-looking sales funnels has never been easier.
All-in-One Solution: Say goodbye to juggling multiple tools and platforms. ClickFunnels offers everything you need to build, launch, and optimize your sales funnels in one convenient platform. From landing pages and sales pages to email marketing and payment processing — ClickFunnels has you covered.
Optimized for Conversions: With ClickFunnels, optimization is built-in. Benefit from proven funnel templates and best practices designed to maximize conversions at every stage of the customer journey. Plus, robust analytics and split testing capabilities allow you to fine-tune your funnels for optimal results.
Scalability: Whether you’re a solopreneur or a multinational corporation, ClickFunnels scales with your business. Start small and expand as your needs grow — without worrying about technical limitations or infrastructure headaches.
How ClickFunnels Works
Choose Your Funnel Type: Whether you’re looking to generate leads, sell products, or promote an event, ClickFunnels offers a variety of funnel types to suit your objectives.
Customize Your Funnel: Personalize your funnel with your branding, messaging, and imagery. Utilize ClickFunnels’ intuitive editor to craft a funnel that aligns with your brand identity and resonates with your target audience.
Add Elements: Enhance your funnel with a range of elements, including opt-in forms, video embeds, countdown timers, and more. Each element is designed to engage visitors and drive them towards conversion.
Integrate Tools: Seamlessly integrate ClickFunnels with your favorite tools and services, such as email marketing platforms, payment gateways, and CRM systems. Streamline your workflow and leverage the power of automation to nurture leads and close sales.
Launch and Optimize: Once your funnel is live, monitor its performance in real-time with ClickFunnels’ comprehensive analytics dashboard. Identify areas for improvement, conduct A/B tests, and optimize your funnel for maximum ROI.
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Get Started with ClickFunnels Today!
Ready to take your business to the next level? Join the thousands of entrepreneurs who trust ClickFunnels to power their sales funnels and drive results. Sign up for a free trial today and experience the difference firsthand. With ClickFunnels, the sky’s the limit!
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digital-saurabh · 7 months
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Is the AADME Digital Marketing Training Institute the best for beginners?
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Are you a newbie in the field of digital marketing and feeling overwhelmed by the plethora of training institutes offering digital marketing courses? Is the thought daunting you about whether AADME is the best digital Marketing Training institute for beginners?
Then let me tell you, you’re not the only one with this doubt. One day I was also in a similar situation as you are. But then I took a chance and clicked Book Your Free Trial Class Today. After that, all my clouds of doubt were scattered.
Want to know why according to me AADME is the best digital marketing institute for beginners? Then read this blog where you will come to know about AADME, its internship-based course, faculties, resources and comparative analysis. So, let’s get started…
AADME- Asia’s No.1 Digital Marketing Institute
Alok Academy of Digital Marketing Education (AADME) is one of Asia’s leading Digital Marketing training programs with live classes focusing on the overall development of an individual and provides courses on all aspects of digital marketing. 
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AADME is a prestigious and award-winning digital marketing institute with more than 50,000+ learners generating quality results worldwide.
AADME transforms you from a digital marketing novice to an expert in 4.5 months with the internship-based digital marketing course.
 Internship-Based Digital Marketing Course
With the aim of making you a digital marketing master even if you are naive, this 4.5-month online digital marketing course provides you with 10 power-packed and action-oriented leadership programs that will reveal the hidden tricks and methods used by digital marketing masters.
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During this duration, you will learn all aspects of digital marketing - Web Design, SEO, social media marketing, graphic designing, brand building, lead generation and much more…… 
You will be given weekly assignments on what you have learned which makes this course very interesting!!!!
Lastly, a 2-month paid internship involving live projects and funds to run ads will give you real-world working experience.  
Book Your Free Trial Class Today to get a snippet of this course.
After getting an overview of the course, are you curious about the mentors? Let's dive into who they are and what they bring to the table.
Teaching Faculty and Expertise
I think the chief mentor of AADME- Alok Badatia sir having more than 15 years of experience needs no introduction to the Digital Marketing industry. 
Having worked for Min. of Home Affairs at GOI and corporate companies like WIPRO, he teaches the very technical concepts in such an efficient manner that it becomes a piece of cake for beginners.
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Other mentors also hold valuable knowledge in their respective domains. The experience shared by them during live sessions gives you goosebumps and makes you excited to explore more about digital marketing.
AADME's mentors keep you ahead in the dynamic world of Digital Marketing through unique learning methods and resources. Let’s know about it…
Learning Methods and Resources
The online live sessions make AADME unique as these sessions provide you with updated knowledge which is very necessary due to the ever-changing nature of Digital Marketing.
Now you might be worried what if you missed any live sessions…? Then you just have to watch the recorded video of the session missed from Asia’s biggest LMS (Learning Management System) of which you get lifetime access. Isn’t it so soothing…..!!!!
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Unlimited doubt classes give you crystal clear learning and  24/7 instant Support by AADME whenever you get stuck is the icing on the cake.
Are you still sceptical about AADME? Listen to what AADME’s alumni say
Now let’s delve into what makes AADME so unique….!!! 
Comparative Analysis
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AADME doesn't just shape digital marketers, it transforms lives. So, no one can deny the fact that AADME is the best digital marketing institute for beginners.
Thank you so much for reading this long. If you’re not just the reader but an action-taker, what are you waiting for!!
 Book Your Free Trial Class Today and enter the world of Digital Marketing by holding the hands of AADME.
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pagebuilderpro · 7 months
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Whether you are a beginner in ClickFunnels or have years of experience, this ClickFunnels SEO Guide is going to help you a lot.
ClickFunnels SEO Guide is something that will help you to maintain the rank of your website or funnels on Google and you will get a larger amount of traffic through your funnel or website.
ClickFunnels SEO Guide will concentrate on different topics like how to buy an SEO friendly domain, how to set meta tag for your domain, how to place keywords, and many more.
If you are willing to go further with your funnels or websites, we would suggest you read the article completely.
So that you get all the necessary information from this ClickFunnels SEO Guide and use them in your funnels or websites.
Let’s get started.
Read More: https://pagebuilderspro.com/clickfunnels-seo-guide/
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babu-2022 · 11 months
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Udimi: Targeted Advertising & Lead Generation Powerhouse
Udimi is a marketplace that connects businesses and marketers with solo ad providers. Solo ads are a form of email marketing where businesses can pay to have their message or offer sent to a targeted list of email subscribers. Udimi allows businesses and marketers to find and purchase solo ad services from a variety of solo ad providers, making it easy to reach a targeted audience and drive traffic to their website.
One of the key features of Udimi is its large selection of solo ad providers. The platform has a wide range of solo ad providers, each with their own list of email subscribers, which means that businesses and marketers can find providers that have a targeted audience that aligns with their niche or market. Additionally, it offers a review system, which allows users to see the performance of the different providers and helps them make an informed decision when purchasing solo ad services.
Another great feature of Udimi is its fraud protection system, which helps to protect businesses and marketers from solo ad providers who may not deliver on their promises. The platform has strict guidelines and a system in place to detect and prevent fraudulent activity, which means that businesses and marketers can trust that the solo ad services they purchase will be delivered as promised.
Udimi also offers a range of tools and features that make it easy for businesses and marketers to manage and track their solo ad campaigns. For example, the platform offers a click tracker, which allows businesses and marketers to track the number of clicks their solo ad received, and a split-testing feature, which allows them to test different versions of their solo ad to see which one performs the best.
In addition, Udimi offers a user-friendly interface and a variety of pricing plans to suit different needs and budgets. The platform offers a free account, which allows users to access basic features, while paid plans offer more advanced features and tools. This means that users can choose a plan that fits their needs and budget.
In conclusion, Udimi is a valuable tool for businesses and marketers looking to reach a targeted audience through solo ads. The platform offers a wide range of solo ad providers, fraud protection system, and a variety of tools and features that make it easy for businesses and marketers to manage and track their campaigns. Additionally, its user-friendly interface and customizable pricing plans make it accessible for businesses of all sizes. With Udimi, businesses and marketers can easily reach their target audience and drive traffic to their website, making it a powerful tool for online marketing.
Discover the power of Udimi and unleash your marketing potential!
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Building The Sales Funnel: Tips And Techniques For Effective Sales Prospecting
Effective planning is crucial for successful prospecting. Here are the best practices and the steps you can follow to plan your prospecting efforts:
Define your target audience for the sales and marketing campaign: -The first step is to identify the specific types of customers you want to target. This includes their demographics, needs, and pain points.
Develop a list of prospects ( Wish List of Prospects):- Create a list of potential prospects that meet your target audience criteria. This can include individuals or companies that fit your ideal customer profile.
Know your prospects (KYP): - Do your homework on each prospect before reaching out. Look for common connections, recent news, and potential pain points to personalize your outreach.
Determine your outreach channels:- Decide on the channels you will use to reach out to prospects. This can include email, phone calls, social media, networking events, or other channels.
Tap The Link Below To Learn More Points = https://grovaleulers.com/tips-for-effective-sales-prospecting/
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rajjerryn · 9 months
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Unlocking Business Potential: A Comprehensive Guide to Building a Digital Business Strategy with Hybridmarketing Strategy
In today's dynamic business landscape, having a robust digital marketing strategy is essential for sustainable growth. Hybrid Marketing HQ is your trusted partner on this journey, specializing in "Digital Marketing Strategy for Business Growth." Join us as we explore the key components of a successful digital business strategy, delve into the importance of funnel building, website development, and the role of a social marketing consultant in achieving your business goals.
Introduction:
Welcome to Hybrid Marketing HQ, your gateway to revolutionizing your business with a powerful digital presence. In this comprehensive guide, we'll take you on a journey through the intricacies of "Building a Digital Business Strategy," exploring the pivotal role it plays in your business's growth. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting your business journey, understanding the fundamentals of digital marketing is crucial for success.
Chapter 1: Digital Marketing Strategy for Business Growth
In the first chapter, we delve into the core concept of "Digital Marketing Strategy for Business Growth." We'll discuss how a well-crafted digital strategy can transform your business, boost brand visibility, and increase revenue. Learn how to align your business objectives with effective digital marketing techniques to stay ahead of the competition.
Chapter 2: Leveraging the Power of Funnel Building
The second chapter explores the art of "Funnel Building" and its pivotal role in converting prospects into loyal customers. Discover how Hybrid Marketing HQ can help you design and optimize sales funnels that maximize conversions, ensuring every visitor counts and contributes to your business's bottom line.
Chapter 3: Elevate Your Brand with Website Development
A compelling online presence begins with a stellar website. In this chapter, we explore the world of "Website Development" and how it can make or break your digital strategy. Learn how Hybrid Marketing HQ's expert team can transform your website into a powerful marketing tool that attracts, engages, and converts visitors.
Chapter 4: The Role of a Social Marketing Consultant
Social media is a cornerstone of modern marketing. Our dedicated "Social Marketing Consultant" team is here to guide you through the intricacies of social media marketing. Discover how to leverage platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to build a loyal community, drive traffic, and increase brand awareness.
Conclusion:
Hybrid Marketing HQ is more than just a consultancy; we're your partners in business growth. With a focus on "Building a Digital Business Strategy," we empower you to navigate the digital landscape with confidence. Whether you're looking to enhance your digital marketing strategy, master funnel building, develop a captivating website, or harness the power of social media, our experts are here to help you achieve your goals.
Visit https://hybridmarketinghq.com/ to embark on your journey to digital success with us. Your business's future awaits!
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zylerkade · 1 year
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Selling While You Sleep: The Power of Personal Branding in Building Sales Funnels that Convert
In today's digital landscape, it's no secret that a strong personal brand is a powerful asset. By leveraging your personal brand, you can create an effective and automated sales machine that works for you even while you sleep.
In today’s digital landscape, it’s no secret that a strong personal brand is a powerful asset for professionals and businesses alike. As consumers become increasingly discerning, a personal brand can be the key differentiator that sets you apart from the competition. One area where this is particularly evident is in building sales funnels that convert. By leveraging your personal brand, you can…
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simeds · 1 year
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What is the Secret Email System?
The Secret Email System is an innovative approach to building an online business that allows entrepreneurs to live a freedom lifestyle. By creating a business machine that works 24/7, entrepreneurs can focus on overseeing the system instead of chasing new clients or delivering products or services. The system is based on email marketing, sales funnels, and building relationships with subscribers. This allows entrepreneurs to create a personalized, scalable, and profitable business that aligns with their values and passions. The Secret Email System requires hard work and dedication but offers significant rewards, including the freedom to live life on one's terms. It is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs who want to create a sustainable and profitable long-term business that gives them the freedom, fun, and adventure they desire.
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marketingsavage · 2 years
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CRM Benefits For Local Business
Client Connection Administration (CRM) system is an effective device which no service, large or small, can do without. This is due to the fact that the survival of any kind of profit-driven business is clients - or even more specifically customer loyalty.
Right here, I am mosting likely to detail some CRM advantages for small company.
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Allow's face it. Clients like to patronize companies which supply premium service. Basically, customer support can be broadly split into two sections - handbook as well as computerized ones. Hands-on ones refer to "the human touch", where firm personnel amuses the clients. The automated ones can be delegated CRM systems to manage for they are routine things - such as managing Frequently asked questions, order schedule and rates. So, the advantage here is that CRM releases business from being encumbered with ordinary things.
One powerful feature of all CRM systems is its ability to record valuable consumer data - what consumers acquisition, their getting practices, their choices, etc. This information, when appropriately analyzed are treasures in their own right because management would after that have the ability to properly and quite precise job their sales as well as revenue streams.
An additional essential CRM benefit for small company is that all the client information which has been captured by the system can be shared among all worried personnel or divisions within the firm. Never look down on this element of administration since when there appertains control as well as organized access to valuable information in a time fashion, and also efficient job flow will prevail. It will not only make every little thing move in a seamless manner however work efficiency might raise too.
Click on this link:- Sales funnel website
One of the CRM advantages for small business which is rarely highlighted is the fact that an excellent CRM system, when carried out well, can make consumers feel encouraged. They really do feel they have control over the acquiring procedure as they could do jobs such as evaluating consumer information and filling up the shopping cart at their very own time as well as ease. Without such a CRM system, company employees would need to execute all these ordinary duties, which are, generally, boring.
Undeniably, literally all companies apply a CRM administration system because they wish to have consumer commitment. Client commitment is something sacred in such a way due to the fact that it gas the growth of a firm. When clients feel satisfied with their purchases, are happy with the setting they remain in, and also feel they are treated pleasantly, they would certainly return. That is the ultimate objective of client loyalty - obtaining them to come back over and over. So, that must place on top in terms of CRM benefits for small company.
Lastly, what I wish to caution you is that the variety of competing CRM products out there is enormous. If you are new to the video game, you could be bewildered. So, it is best to choose the most effective one for your firm via references from individuals you now well. Yet whatever CRM system you finally install, the maximum CRM benefits for small company can just be achieved if you apply and utilize it properly.
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jacquescreatives · 2 years
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The real secret to having a successful online business
Repeat after me: The REAL money is in your EMAIL LIST!
But first, 2 personal questions:
1 - What would you do if one day, on a daily Google ranking check you found that one of your websites no longer appeared at the top of Google, as it had consistently done for months? And all of a sudden, the traffic you were relying on for your income came to a screeching stop. 
Would you be one of those savvy marketers who rely on their email list (not their website google rankings) to grow their business or would you be… 
Oh… I don’t know… a younger version of… MOI! 
2 - What you would say to a colleague who then asked you whether you had an email list in place?
Would you say what I said: “Google would never de-list me because I only use white-hat ranking methods, and thus why would I need an email list?”
→ Watch my reel where I reveal how the unthinkable happened to me!
I know what you’re thinking… 
“Jacques, I don’t rely on Google rankings. I have thousands, no, tens of thousands of followers on Instagram, and even more subscribers on my YouTube channel so what happened to you could never happen to me.”
Maybe…  But let me ask you a different question:
If something happened to these social media platforms, or you were de-listed or worse banned! What you would you do?
Would you be one of those savvy marketers with an ongoing email list, painstakingly built over the years? Or not?
If you don’t have an email list, my advice to you dear friends is to start building one today.  It’s not going to be easy. You’ll spend hours upon hours working at it, building it, and fine-tuning your expertise in the process.
But when you do have that email list, if the unthinkable happened, instead of your world collapsing around you, you’d quickly shrug this off as a “bump on the road” and continue to build your online business.
Ps. Think nothing could ever happen to today’s social media platforms? Ask Vine, MySpace, Friendster, Google+, etc…
Follow me:
Instagram: @jacques.creatives
Website: https://www.jacques.media/
Want to learn more about the real secret to a successful online business?
👇
https://www.jacques.media/the-real-secret-to-having-a-successful-online-business/
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digi-skill-grow · 2 years
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Sympathy for the spammer
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Catch me in Miami! I'll be at Books and Books in Coral Gables on Jan 22 at 8PM.
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In any scam, any con, any hustle, the big winners are the people who supply the scammers – not the scammers themselves. The kids selling dope on the corner are making less than minimum wage, while the respectable crime-bosses who own the labs clean up. Desperate "retail investors" who buy shitcoins from Superbowl ads get skinned, while the MBA bros who issue the coins make millions (in real dollars, not crypto).
It's ever been thus. The California gold rush was a con, and nearly everyone who went west went broke. Famously, the only reliable way to cash out on the gold rush was to sell "picks and shovels" to the credulous, doomed and desperate. That's how Leland Stanford made his fortune, which he funneled into eugenics programs (and founding a university):
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/malcolm-harris/palo-alto/9780316592031/
That means that the people who try to con you are almost always getting conned themselves. Think of Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) scams. My forthcoming novel The Bezzle opens with a baroque and improbable fast-food Ponzi in the town of Avalon on the island of Catalina, founded by the chicle monopolist William Wrigley Jr:
http://thebezzle.org
Wrigley found fast food declasse and banned it from the island, a rule that persists to this day. In The Bezzle, the forensic detective Martin Hench uncovers The Fry Guys, an MLM that flash-freezes contraband burgers and fries smuggled on-island from the mainland and sells them to islanders though an "affiliate marketing" scheme that is really about recruiting other affiliate markets to sell under you. As with every MLM, the value of the burgers and fries sold is dwarfed by the gigantic edifice of finance fraud built around it, with "points" being bought and sold for real cash, which is snaffled up and sucked out of the island by a greedy mainlander who is behind the scheme.
A "bezzle" is John Kenneth Galbraith's term for "the magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it." In every scam, there's a period where everyone feels richer – but only the scammers are actually cleaning up. The wealth of the marks is illusory, but the longer the scammer can preserve the illusion, the more real money the marks will pump into the system.
MLMs are particularly ugly, because they target people who are shut out of economic opportunity – women, people of color, working people. These people necessarily rely on social ties for survival, looking after each others' kids, loaning each other money they can't afford, sharing what little they have when others have nothing.
It's this social cohesion that MLMs weaponize. Crypto "entrepreneurs" are encouraged to suck in their friends and family by telling them that they're "building Black wealth." Working women are exhorted to suck in their bffs by appealing to their sisterhood and the chance for "women to lift each other up."
The "sales people" trying to get you to buy crypto or leggings or supplements are engaged in predatory conduct that will make you financially and socially worse off, wrecking their communities' finances and shattering the mutual aid survival networks they rely on. But they're not getting rich on this – they're also being scammed:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4686468
This really hit home for me in the mid-2000s, when I was still editing Boing Boing. We had a submission form where our readers could submit links for us to look at for inclusion on the blog, and it was overwhelmed by spam. We'd add all kinds of antispam to it, and still, we'd get floods of hundreds or even thousands of spam submissions to it.
One night, I was lying in my bed in London and watching these spams roll in. They were all for small businesses in the rustbelt, handyman services, lawn-care, odd jobs, that kind of thing. They were 10 million miles from the kind of thing we'd ever post about on Boing Boing. They were coming in so thickly that I literally couldn't finish downloading my email – the POP session was dropping before I could get all the mail in the spool. I had to ssh into my mail server and delete them by hand. It was maddening.
Frustrated and furious, I started calling the phone numbers associated with these small businesses, demanding an explanation. I assumed that they'd hired some kind of sleazy marketing service and I wanted to know who it was so I could give them a piece of my mind.
But what I discovered when I got through was much weirder. These people had all been laid off from factories that were shuttering due to globalization. As part of their termination packages, their bosses had offered them "retraining" via "courses" in founding their own businesses.
The "courses" were the precursors to the current era's rise-and-grind hustle-culture scams (again, the only people getting rich from that stuff are the people selling the courses – the "students" finish the course poorer). They promised these laid-off workers, who'd given their lives to their former employers before being discarded, that they just needed to pull themselves up by their own boostraps:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/10/declaration-of-interdependence/#solidarity-forever
After all, we had the internet now! There were so many new opportunities to be your own boss! The course came with a dreadful build-your-own-website service, complete with an overpriced domain sales portal, and a single form for submitting your new business to "thousands of search engines."
This was nearly 20 years ago, but even then, there was really only one search engine that mattered: Google. The "thousands of search engines" the scammers promised to submit these desperate peoples' websites to were just submission forms for directories, indexes, blogs, and mailing lists. The number of directories, indexes, blogs and mailing lists that would publish their submissions was either "zero" or "nearly zero." There was certainly no possibility that anyone at Boing Boing would ever press the wrong key and accidentally write a 500-word blog post about a leaf-raking service in a collapsing deindustrialized exurb in Kentucky or Ohio.
The people who were drowning me in spam weren't the scammers – they were the scammees.
But that's only half the story. Years later, I discovered how our submission form was getting included in this get-rich-quick's mass-submission system. It was a MLM! Coders in the former Soviet Union were getting work via darknet websites that promised them relative pittances for every submission form they reverse-engineered and submitted. The smart coders didn't crack the forms directly – they recruited other, less business-savvy coders to do that for them, and then often as not, ripped them off.
The scam economy runs on this kind of indirection, where scammees are turned into scammers, who flood useful and productive and nice spaces with useless dross that doesn't even make them any money. Take the submission queue at Clarkesworld, the great online science fiction magazine, which famously had to close after it was flooded with thousands of junk submission "written" by LLMs:
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/24/1159286436/ai-chatbot-chatgpt-magazine-clarkesworld-artificial-intelligence
There was a zero percent chance that Neil Clarke would accidentally accept one of these submissions. They were uniformly terrible. The people submitting these "stories" weren't frustrated sf writers who'd discovered a "life hack" that let them turn out more brilliant prose at scale.
They were scammers who'd been scammed into thinking that AIs were the key to a life of passive income, a 4-Hour Work-Week powered by an AI-based self-licking ice-cream cone:
https://pod.link/1651876897/episode/995c8a778ede17d2d7cff393e5203157
This is absolutely classic passive-income brainworms thinking. "I have a bot that can turn out plausible sentences. I will locate places where sentences can be exchanged for money, aim my bot at it, sit back, and count my winnings." It's MBA logic on meth: find a thing people pay for, then, without bothering to understand why they pay for that thing, find a way to generate something like it at scale and bombard them with it.
Con artists start by conning themselves, with the idea that "you can't con an honest man." But the factor that predicts whether someone is connable isn't their honesty – it's their desperation. The kid selling drugs on the corner, the mom desperately DMing her high-school friends to sell them leggings, the cousin who insists that you get in on their shitcoin – they're all doing it because the system is rigged against them, and getting worse every day.
These people reason – correctly – that all the people getting really rich are scamming. If Amazon can make $38b/year selling "ads" that push worse products that cost more to the top of their search results, why should the mere fact that an "opportunity" is obviously predatory and fraudulent disqualify it?
https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/29/aethelred-the-unready/#not-one-penny-for-tribute
The quest for passive income is really the quest for a "greater fool," the economist's term for the person who relieves you of the useless crap you just overpaid for. It rots the mind, atomizes communities, shatters solidarity and breeds cynicism:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security
The rise and rise of botshit cannot be separated from this phenomenon. The botshit in our search-results, our social media feeds, and our in-boxes isn't making money for the enshittifiers who send it – rather, they are being hustled by someone who's selling them the "picks and shovels" for the AI gold rush:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/03/botshit-generative-ai-imminent-threat-democracy
That's the true cost of all the automation-driven unemployment criti-hype: while we're nowhere near a place where bots can steal your job, we're certainly at the point where your boss can be suckered into firing you and replacing you with a bot that fails at doing your job:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/11/robots-stole-my-jerb/#computer-says-no
The manic "entrepreneurs" who've been stampeded into panic by the (correct) perception that the economy is a game of musical chairs where the number of chairs is decreasing at breakneck speed are easy marks for the Leland Stanfords of AI, who are creating generational wealth for themselves by promising that their bots will automate away all the tedious work that goes into creating value. Expect a lot more Amazon Marketplace products called "I'm sorry, I cannot fulfil this request as it goes against OpenAI use policy":
https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/12/24036156/openai-policy-amazon-ai-listings
No one's going to buy these products, but the AI picks-and-shovels people will still reap a fortune from the attempt. And because history repeats itself, these newly minted billionaires are continuing Leland Stanford's love affair with eugenics:
https://www.truthdig.com/dig-series/eugenics/
The fact that AI spam doesn't pay is important to the fortunes of AI companies. Most high-value AI applications are very risk-intolerant (self-driving cars, radiology analysis, etc). An AI tool might help a human perform these tasks more accurately – by warning them of things that they've missed – but that's not how AI will turn a profit. There's no market for AI that makes your workers cost more but makes them better at their jobs:
https://locusmag.com/2023/12/commentary-cory-doctorow-what-kind-of-bubble-is-ai/
Plenty of people think that spam might be the elusive high-value, low-risk AI application. But that's just not true. The point of AI spam is to get clicks from people who are looking for better content. It's SEO. No one reads 2000 words of algorithm-pleasing LLM garbage over an omelette recipe and then subscribes to that site's feed.
And the omelette recipe generates pennies for the spammer that posted it. They are doing massive volume in order to make those pennies into dollars. You don't make money by posting one spam. If every spammer had to pay the actual recovery costs (energy, chillers, capital amortization, wages) for their query, every AI spam would lose (lots of) money.
Hustle culture and passive income are about turning other peoples' dollars into your dimes. It is a negative-sum activity, a net drain on society. Behind every seemingly successful "passive income" is a con artist who's getting rich by promising – but not delivering – that elusive passive income, and then blaming the victims for not hustling hard enough:
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/12/blueprint-trouble
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I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-brainworms/#four-hour-work-week
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Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg
CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
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artdotpage · 8 months
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Problems facing modern artists & creators
I've talked with hundreds of artists and creators about the difficulties they face trying to earn a living from their craft.
This post covers two of the big ones (social media algorithms & bargain basement marketplaces), and what tools are available to grow your business despite these issues.
Social Media Algorithms and Audience Ownership
Social media platforms are a godsend for getting your work in front of potential clients and building a loyal fan base.
However as you will all have experienced, it can take a mastermind to figure out what kind of content the algorithm wants you to post, and if you don't do that you'd be as well throwing your content into the void as even your own followers might not see your post, never mind new viewers.
It also means you don't truly own your audience, if you post something slightly controversial your account could be deleted without warning, or perhaps a billionaire buys the site and everyone flocks to a new platform where you have to start growing your following all over again.
Solution: Build a mailing list
This is perhaps the single best marketing tool available to any business, and is sorely overlooked by artists and creators.
It's cost effective and because you own your mailing list it doesn't matter what's happening on social sites, you can always keep in touch with them.
The tricky part is converting people into mailing list subscribers. However I've seen plenty of creators successfully build one by offering incentives including free digital downloads, early access to content, discounts on your store etc.
Those who sign up to your mailing list would be considered high quality followers, someone who is much more likely to convert to a paid client and buy from you again in the future compared to the average follower on social media.
Tools
https://art.page/
https://substack.com/
https://convertkit.com/
Losing clients to undercutting competitors on the same platform/marketplace
If you run your business on a marketplace or platform, your clients are one click away from finding plenty of other choices who are willing to undercut everyone else to land a sale.
These sites have no incentive to make sure that traffic you drive to your profile actually purchase from you. Whether a sale is made through your listing or another seller, they collect their fee either way.
They also use uniform designs which reduce you to a generic product listing. Whilst this can simplify the customer experience, it means you have no control over the sales funnel and ability to differentiate yourself, making it harder to convert potential clients into paying customers.
Solution: Direct clients to your own site
Use your own personal website to make sales from, there are plenty of options with no monthly charge and lower fees than marketplaces. This lets you make dedicated marketing pages showcasing your best work to make a client excited about doing business with you, instead of just being a generic product listing.
Take advantage of marketplaces purely for their customer base. Don't rely on them as your sole business platform. This way, any fees you pay are worthwhile to generate sales you wouldn't have had otherwise. 
Tools
https://art.page/
https://www.bigcartel.com/
https://squareup.com/
Interested in more?
There's plenty more I have to share on this topic, including:
How to properly use Print on Demand without getting ripped off
Streamline managing your business so you spend more time creating and growing your business.
How to better utilize your brand to connect with clients and increase sales
So let me know if you’re interested and I’ll get writing!
Transparency
I'm building https://art.page to solve these exact issues, with the goal to create the best all in one site builder for artists and creators that makes running your business easy.
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