Tag: Marketing

A Beginners Quick Start Guide To The Customer Journey

If you are new to business and online marketing, welcome! I know from experience that it can feel both exciting, yet overwhelming to know where to start. This article shows you how to get off the mark with the customer journey to your first few clients. It will address three core reasons why businesses fail as it relates to the customer journey. The three areas are, no product to market match, no compelling offer, and lack of funding. It will also cover some free and low cost assistive tools for online deployment.

Business Failure: No Market to Product Match

Before looking at all the bells and whistles that might comprise your marketing resources and essential toolkit, it's important to take inventory of what you are looking to bring to the table through your gifts and talents by way of a product or service. Having determined that, who is your target avatar and how does your product or service fit with the market? 

Research

Since a no product to market match is one of the cited reasons a business fails in the first few years, it is important to avoid the temptation to second guess the market. Let the market give you the feedback.

Step 1 – Collate

Compile research on your topic area from both a market data and educational perspective. Look at opposing viewpoints too. A simple free tool to start is to use your google browser to type in a buyer keyword to see what people are predisposed to buying in your category. Artificial Intelligence has also developed free tools such as SIRI and Google Voice. Google Keep and Evernote are valuable tools for capturing information.

You could also use social media sites such as facebook, linked in and google ads, or you could use special interest forums. Alternatively you can use sites like Fiverr or Upwork as a low cost way to get your research off the mark.

Step 2 – Engage

It's important to speak to your target market, in order to further test how your product or service will meet their needs. This will help you develop and refine your offer as you customize for an optimal fit. You can use typeform or google forms as a free tool to compile a brief survey. You could also print your form off and do this informally in your community or at your local business event. If you want to gather survey data on a more global basis, you might want to consider survey monkey as a more specific alternative to social media ads. This is a paid service.

Bear in mind that any data and research will form part of your marketing collateral later. Here is a free guide on how to create a lean canvas, which is a streamlined one page diagrammatic layout for your business model with research tips, by Ash Maurya. Keep it simple.

The Customer Journey

The whole process of sales and profits is not simply about how good your product is but also about the prospect you foresee becoming your customer. So it pays to understand the journey of sales from their perspective, not just yours.

Source Image: Customer Journey

For example there are various models which give out a structural formula from your perspective, and the most common one I see is the AIDA formula, which stands for Awareness or Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. That is client acquisition from your perspective, so you may wish to consider a more expansive process that covers the relationship from initial awareness to what it would be like to have a long term customer who is happy to espouse your services to others.

It is worth taking the time to profile your client as that will give you a depth of understanding which will enable effective communication as you create touch points. Psychographics is the term often used to describe this activity, where you examine attitudes, buying behaviours, desires etc.

Touchpoints

Touch points are the various ways in which you will communicate and educate your prospect throughout the customer journey. This may include email, direct messaging, business events and phone conversations. They will take on board the demographic profile of your prospective customer too. Demographics are to do with location, job, income for example.

If your solution is solving a problem a potential client does not even know they have, education is going to be a key part of your communication process. Bear this in mind as you move forward. Touchpoints should be a secondary consideration to building on the foundation of understanding your customer, as Mckinsey & Company conclude.

“We found that a company’s performance on journeys is 35 percent more predictive of customer satisfaction and 32 percent more predictive of customer churn than performance on individual touchpoints. Since a customer journey often touches different parts of the organization, companies need to rewire themselves to create teams that are responsible for the end-to-end customer journey across functions.” 
McKinsey & Company

You can create a visual template that maps out the customer journey using free tools such as mural. Or you could use microsoft dynamics. Here is an example of a simple design overview.

Source Image: Customer Journey Template

Education

This is an important factor and needs to be done in a way that rather than simply persuade, will help your prospect make an informed decision. This means including the benefits but also the downsides, or who this is not for. This approach helps to build trust, which is at an all time low in general. So be willing to take the time to build trust. An automated way to educate your prospects in a drip feed manner is by the use of an autoresponder. This way you can pre-sequence and deliver content at a reasonable pace.

Autoresponders do not come cheap and increase as your audience grows. The only exception to that which I found is trafficwave.net which keeps a consistent low price regardless of audience size. Better still is Markethive’s free autoresponder which has a one click sign up facility and great deliverability. For a walk through on the setup of this autoresponder watch this video tutorial.

You can combine that with a medium to educate your prospects such as live events or video. You can use audio too if you are camera shy but video is best in a world where trust is at an all time low. Education is where you get to showcase your expertise as to how your offer will significantly benefit your prospect. This may happen in an experiential online or offline event. 

The more you can show rather than just tell, the better.  You want your prospect to be able to experience a different future as a result of purchasing from you. Assistive free tools you can use are zoom’s video conferencing tool to interact, which is free to use for 40 minutes for a maximum of 100. You can also record videos too. OBS is a free video and live broadcasting tool which you can download to your computer and create educational content too. Markethive will shortly be coming out with its own inbuilt video conferencing in due course as it comes out of beta. So watch this space.

Business Failure: No Compelling Offer

When you offer your product it is important that it is a compelling offer, otherwise you will fail on execution. This is where proof of concept comes in.

Proof of Concept

Proof of concept is where you get to test the viability of your product or service through confirmed sales, prior to a full launch. This may come in a break even or beta form, where you give a discount in return for your prospects trial of your offer, and their video feedback for example.

The results can become part of your marketing on a bigger scale later. In the meantime, it is important to bring clarity and confidence to the prospect if they are to buy from you. While it is possible to conduct sales manually, you will also need to consider an online website and payment structure. 

When it comes to websites, your choice will depend on your business model. You could use a simple lead capture page to start with, which will allow you to integrate your chosen autoresponder. Markethive also offers free capture pages. WordPress is a popular free drag and drop website platform with free themes which shape the look and feel of your site. 

You will need a domain name and hosting for your website if you choose this route. You also may need to acquire a bit of technical knowledge to put it together. Here’s a tutorial. A less usual but cheaper and faster alternative is amazon S3 web buckets. Canva is also a great free resource where you can use templates to build websites and create graphics to get started.

For a cottage industry, you might prefer to start with a low key way to test the water and build community so one option might be Buy Me A Coffee, which has less of a corporate feel, and where you can connect to a payment provider called Stripe. For payments in general, you can always use paypal, stripe or wise, both of which have an invoice feature, and are global providers.

Business Failure: Insufficient Funding or Lack of Capital

This is a common reason for business failure and many funding attempts fail and are unable to compete with global corporations. However, If you construct your business plan in the manner described in this article, you will stand a better chance because you will have demonstrated a compelling offer to market match.

New funding sources are emerging all the time yet many of the conventional ways still are not working for entrepreneurs. Creativity is needed and it may be that you start simple with a self-liquidating approach where you use a skill as a side hustle to acquire cashflow for your business.

Another consideration that has serious merit is Markethive. Markethive is an example of an innovative ecosystem which has overcome the product to market match, has a compelling offer and a funding solution for the new and existing entrepreneur, in action.

Firstly, Markethive is meeting a demand in the markethive place with a compelling suite of offers in both free and paid membership. Built from the ground up, it is now powered by the blockchain as a social network and inbound marketing ecosystem combined, with free and cost-effective tools to help level the playing field for the entrepreneur just starting out. 

If you need to acquire marketing tools to reduce costs, you get at least $2000 worth of that in the free membership alone, including an autoresponder and lead capture pages to name a couple. You also get rewarded for contribution to the platform. When it comes to cash flow its unique ILP offer [initial loan procurement] provides a paid subscription which gives you even more tools while sharing in the profits of the company as the company grows. 

This unique offer is shortly to expire, so check out all this ecosystem has to offer and see where it might fit your needs. It was built for you. Consider how it will help you future proof your business.

Launch Party

When you finally launch your offer, celebrate! Consider having a launch party where you create a special offer for first time customers.  It is no mean feat to have created an offer to market match and one that is compelling. You have set your business up for success! Although this article has addressed how to get off the mark, the sale is just the start, and it will bode well to remember that. 

How you nurture your client, so that they become a returning customer, where appropriate, is going to be down to how you nurture and support that relationship, as well as the value-added improvements you make to your offer. You will also need to consider how to scale and automate key parts of your business, such as social media content sharing so you can focus on your expertise.  

Also remember to continue to communicate with those who did not purchase. Many buy later in time. Lack of follow through is also responsible for lost sales. According to one report 60% of customers reject offers four times prior to an eventual purchase.

On a final note, the beauty of surveying prospects is that they too can become a part of the journey of your compelling offer, helping you to craft the perfect offer through their feedback. This makes them more than a purchaser, someone who has become part of the creative journey and solution. They are your community, the ones that are likely to act like your marketing arm or ambassador in the future. Look after them and your business success will increase.

 

 

About: Anita Narayan. (United Kingdom) My life's work is about helping individuals to greater freedom through joy and purpose without self-sabotage, so that inspirational legacy can serve generations to come. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

The Psychology Of Marketing

The Psychology Of Marketing

 

Marketing aims to identify and satisfy customer demands by providing products and services. The marketing process includes exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet a target market's needs, whether online or at trade shows and public events. 

The decision to launch a marketing campaign is reasonable based on several factors, such as the availability of products, the need to correct erroneous information, or a desire to drive traffic to a particular website. 

You can implement a marketing campaign to emphasize specific themes or attributes and select a target audience. These themes or features may inform customers about the value of that particular product or service or inspire them to purchase it. It is essential to know your target demographic, as it allows you to tailor your ads to meet their needs and desires.

Marketing arose as a result of the rapid development of civilization. As long as there was an excess of demand over supply, manufacturing companies could concentrate on production only. However, with the rapid growth of technology, the production process accelerated, and gradually the market began to satiate until supply began to exceed demand. At that moment, solving how and what to produce was already necessary. 

With the modernization and simplification of production, the number of companies on the market also grew, and consumers got more choices. With increasing competition, companies began to address the question of what steps to take to make consumers choose their products. And hence there was space for the emergence of marketing.

 

Thus, marketing creates links between the market and businesses. It is based on human needs and desires. The human factor is applied and manifested both on the demand and supply sides. It is evident that psychology will also play a role in marketing.

Five Basic Psychological "Tricks."

1. Reciprocity (commitment)

    – give a little something for free, and then it'll come back to you

      as no one wants to be in debt 

2. Liquidation Offer and Consistency

    – we don't all like to make decisions 

    – we are afraid of the new and the unknown

    – we'd better shop at a friend's

3. Price Anchor and Contrast

     – When something's on sale, we go and shop

4. Paralysis of Decision-making

    – make it easier for people to make a choice and make an offer that, at a glance, 

      is the best possible solution you can buy

5. Social Proof

    – a lot of people have already bought it.

More About These Five Points:

What is the principle of reciprocity?

One person gives another a "gift," and the donee feels obligated. Thus, they feel a natural obligation to return the gift (to meet the following requirements of the donor).

What is a liquidation offer?

It is an offer so convenient and cheap that we do not have to think about buying for a long time. The price tag of such a liquidation offer is often meager, so we just do not have to consider for a long time whether it will pay off for us or not.

How does the principle of consistency work?

The principle "advises" us not to take risks and do what we already know and have tried. It protects us from the fear of the unknown. It is the principle people follow when they shop in the same supermarket for years, even if a few meters away is a new modern supermarket, which is cheaper and has a broader range.

What is a price anchor?

Discounts in marketing can work precisely because of the price anchor. It is the price tag or value of the goods. For example, when a product costs 100 USD, the price anchor equals 100 USD. When the goods suddenly have an "action" price of 69 USD, it seems advantageous to us thanks to the price anchor.

What is the paralysis of decision-making?

It is caused by more similar offers where the customer hesitates on what to choose.

Eliminate selection where possible or pre-select the most crucial option – the most effective solution to decision paralysis.

How does contrast work in marketing?

It is similar to a price anchor. In short, we compare two variants (more expensive / cheaper). And naturally, we choose the more profitable one. 

If it is not evident at first glance which offers are better, then follows a decision paralysis. In this case, customers often choose neither because they are looking for the best possible solution (convenience, savings, etc.) and cannot make a choice.

What is social proof?

It's confirmation from other people that our decision is the right one. These are references, sales figures, but also, for example, restaurants full of people.

 

 

Half of all our activities are based on habit. 

In marketing, on the contrary, we need to break the potential customer out of his habit. But psychologists have observed that we are most accessible when we have a life change – we are moving, we have a baby, we are approaching 20., 30., 40., 50…. birthday. 

Finally, Something About Colours

Colour psychology is the study of hues as a determinant of human behaviour.

Carl Jung was one of the pioneers of the interpretation of colours and their significance for the human psyche.

Jung said,"colours are the mother tongue of the subconscious." Colour influences perceptions that are not obvious, such as the taste of food. Colours have qualities that can cause certain emotions in people. They can carry a specific meaning.

        

 

What Is New In The Last Years

Biochemical marketing, as the new type of marketing is called, can increase efficiency by up to half and reduce costs by 70-80% in the format of low-cost multi-layered marketing. And in doing so, it is enough to know and use the biochemistry of four substances generated in a healthy human body: serotonin, dopamine, endorphin, and oxytocin.

Each of these substances has its own features and functions. Still, they are all responsible for positive changes in the human body, increasing the level of trust between people, reducing stress and anxiety, and creating a sense of well-being. And thanks to this, low-cost marketing can be done through public relations, social media, events, etc., with the help of biochemistry.

 

In no case should we forget, whatever methods we use, that our goal is a satisfied customer who returns. The applied psychology of the marketing world helps to find the necessary keys to understanding how the human mind works and is the basic knowledge of getting potential customers to buy your products eventually.

 

Although, at first glance, marketing may seem like a simple matter, if you delve into the issue more, you may start to feel a little lost. Markethive will provide you with comprehensive marketing tools. It is a platform for entrepreneurs with many innovative features. You will find all the tools for your business under one roof and have the opportunity to contribute to the spirit of friendly cooperation.

"Marketing is a war of perceptions.“         Ivo  Toman

 

Sources:

https://www.marketingovenoviny.cz

https://foxentry.com

https://www.dusansoucek.cz

 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

THE ESSENCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

THE ESSENCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 

 

The entrepreneurial spirit is a gift that inspires others to become the best they can be. Entrepreneurship is the act of starting a business, and it requires creativity, drive, and the ability to solve problems. 

An entrepreneur takes a risk and works hard to make money. There are many types of entrepreneurs. Some start businesses from scratch, and others buy already-established companies. Some entrepreneurs work alone, while others need employees to help them run their businesses. 

The word “entrepreneur” comes from the French word “entreprendre,” which means to start or undertake a business venture. Although it can be a lot of work, entrepreneurship is rewarding and very fulfilling. The essence of entrepreneurship is having a dream and a vision for changing the world, being willing to take risks, and sometimes being misunderstood. 

Also, be willing to put in the work, put in more than those around you, and be ready to be the one who is not afraid of the darkness but rather the one who steps into it first. Entrepreneurship is more than just having a great idea and starting a business; it’s about changing lives and improving our world.

 

 

From passion and positivity to leadership and ambition, here are the entrepreneurs that best define the entrepreneurial spirit.

Armour Of Entrepreneur – Main Features

Passion

No one embodies the word "passion" quite like Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin mega-brand. Part of Branson's passion lies in his insatiable appetite for starting companies. Founded in 1970, the Virgin Group has expanded to more than 200 companies, ranging from music, publishing, mobile phones, and even space travel. "Businesses are like buses," he once said. "There's always another one coming."

Positivity

Jeff Bezos knows the power of positive thinking. Living by the motto that "every challenge is an opportunity," Bezos set out to create the biggest bookstore in the world with a little internet startup called Amazon.

Adaptability

Having the ability to adapt is one of the greatest strengths an entrepreneur can have. Every successful business owner must be willing to improve, refine and customize their services to continually give customers what they want.

Leadership

A good leader is someone with charisma, a sense of ethics, and a desire to build integrity within an organization–someone who's enthusiastic, team-oriented, and a great teacher. All of these attributes were embodied by the late Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, a company that has helped more than half a million women fulfill their dreams of owning a business.

Ambition

At age 20, Debbi Fields didn't have much. She was a young housewife with no business experience, but what she did have was a great chocolate chip cookie recipe and a dream to share it with the world. 

Fields opened her first Mrs. Field's store1977, despite being told she was crazy to believe a business could survive solely on selling cookies. Fields' headstrong determination and ambition helped her grow her little cookie store into a $450 million company with more than 600 locations in the U.S. and 10 foreign nations.

 

Once More – The Main FIVE

– Passion, Positivity, Adaptability, Leadership, Ambition

Most of it you cannot learn from books. It is in your character, in your experience, and in your life journey. 

You hear it all the time from famous entrepreneurs: Long before they were running multimillion-dollar companies, they were flexing their entrepreneurial skills by selling lemonade on the corner, building gadgets in their garage, or hosting weekly college beer pong tournaments. It seems that behind every successful mogul is a kid who grew up knowing they were born for business.

 

If you notice where those who represent some of the most successful entrepreneurs come from, much of the world is missing out. In many countries, private business was interrupted by political developments – it was sometimes very limited, often totally prohibited. In some parts of the world, it was not possible for teenagers to sell products house-to-house or set up their first small business in a garage.

Those who spent their youth in countries with limited opportunities now have to catch up with many. Sometimes it's like jumping on a moving train and not knowing where the train is going. And that's why people from these countries, without business tradition or continuity, need something extra. A good dose of :

 

  • Courage 
  • Enthusiasm
  • Self-confidence
  • Persistence
  • Support of their loved ones

While they often lack the money for investment to have a good start, if they have true entrepreneurial courage in their hearts and can mobilize their energy, then with a little luck, they have a chance of success. 

 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

BEWARE OF BELLS and WHISTLES and UNFOUNDED CLAIMS SOME HOME TRUTHS ABOUT ONPASSIVE AND PASSIVE INCOME

BEWARE OF BELLS and WHISTLES and UNFOUNDED CLAIMS
SOME HOME TRUTHS ABOUT ONPASSIVE AND “PASSIVE INCOME”

 

At one time or another in our online journey, we’ve been led to believe we can get-rich-quick or live a luxurious lifestyle on passive income for very little to no work involved. Even more now than ever, there are millions of people looking to make an income online and are spellbound by the so-called limitless potential of the internet especially when someone tells you you don’t have to do a thing, it’s all done for you, so just pay the money and let the money roll in passively. 

Although some of us learn that this is just fantasy, others, particularly the tens of thousands of newcomers to the online world are sitting ducks for any so-called company promising great riches with no real evidence of the amazing proprietary technology they endlessly spruik about and the passive income promises they make. 

 

Passive Income Is A Risky Fantasy

Online technology has greatly evolved since the dot.com era with automated marketing and AI and although it has its place, there’s a lot more to building a business than relying on automation or other people to work it or bring in new recruits for you.  What makes a business work is by creating value on a personal level. If you're going into the business with the intention of having it magically provide money for you while you sip margaritas on the beach, then you often get roped into dubious companies making unfounded claims. 

The majority of people I see who are only interested in passive income haven't learned how to create value in the first place. They're just going along with the gimmicks, tricks, and formulas, basically wanting and believing they will get the lifestyle promised to them without doing anything to the point where it becomes a cult. 

 

Too Many To Count

There have been so many companies that have failed due to pyramid structure or matrix compensation plans which is the primary structure that pays the thousands of people their promised millions of dollars. Either intentionally or unintentionally they failed. 

Then there are the ones that intentionally create a business with no products on the back end, in fact, the websites never existed.  Just one example is PRSI. William Caudell offered people a wholesome internet business that turned out to be a bogus marketing scheme, which cheated them out of $13 million was sentenced to 11 years in jail, originally 14 years, however, it was reduced after Caudell cooperated with the authorities by giving up his co-conspirators. 

PRSI made its money by charging a $295 "application fee" that qualified users for the "Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) System" that would provide them access to their own site in an Internet shopping mall.

But there were no Web sites, nor any intention to provide them. PRSI was "selling air". Instead of providing Internet shopping sites, PRSI recruited "CyberManagers" who would recruit others to buy into the plan, and the new recruits would find more participants to pay the fee – a classic, illegal pyramid scheme that hooked 48,000 people globally. The company's Web site advertised that the company was dedicated to protecting children and creating a pornography-free e-commerce site that would spark the interest of any humane individual. Great hook! 

Tugging On The Heartstrings 

The latest current program, as it stands at the moment, and similar in nature to PRSI is GoFounders/Onpassive which hone in on the heart of people. Everyone wants to belong to something. They play on peoples’ sense of community and tug at their heartstrings, literally brainwashing their victims. GoFounders.net seems to be the matrix program and the funnel to access Onpassive.com, (awaiting launch), which is purported to be the marketing suite with proprietary products. (Although it states on their website that GoFounders is the product. See image below) 

One of the catchphrases is “Artificial Intelligence with heart”. AI is defined by its very name, it has no heart, it’s artificial. The heart comes with the human aspect of a business that provides value and personal experience the customer receives from a living person. So if the main feature that sells this concept is to automate everything so the business owner doesn’t have to do anything but rake in the money, they are doomed from the very start. Any professional, experienced marketer will tell you there is no such thing as “completely done-for-you systems”.

While I was researching this topic I found that GoFounders.com, the domain, is up for sale for $31,700. You can buy this domain from Epik Inc. Copyright © 2020 by Epik Inc. All rights reserved. Whois Privacy services provided by Anonymize.com. Obviously too expensive to acquire for the company that boasts two luxurious offices – one in Bangalore, India, and the USA headquarters in Orlando, Florida, USA. These two locations actually rent temporary (by the hour) office space to any business, and thanks to another scam researcher, Robert Preston, who went to the Orlando Office only to find Onpassive is not there. 

Ash Mufareh is going to great lengths to make ONPASSIVE seem like it’s growing into an IT tech giant, yet it suffers from a lack of quality control. For  example, the video says “In the heart of Disney Land.” First, Disneyland is one word, and in California, not Florida where Walt Disney World is.

NOTE: Ash Mufareh has also registered another Orlando, FL address for ONPASSIVE that is not the same as this office building. This other address is, 9924 Universal Blvd., 224-320, Orlando, FL 32819. When you Google that address, it comes up as The UPS Store.

On one hand, they proclaim you will earn $2 million a month passively for a one time fee, so unsuspecting people sign up, pay the fee, only to find they are now saying you must “work hard and smart” to achieve that, along with financial disclaimers according to Ashraf (Ash) Mufareh, the founder and CEO of GoFounders/OnPassive, in a zoom meeting held last week by a group of leaders that invited him to speak. In that same webinar, he stunned the attendees with his new and latest announcement of implementing an Onpassive Academy for school kids, due to the COVID19 situation. I wonder if this will delay the launch yet again! 

 

The Perpetual Prelaunch

This program has been taking money from people while in prelaunch now for over 2 years with nothing, no sign of any marketing software, except for the promise of “never been done before” automation and AI technology, but to keep these members placated, it had provided a URL shortening tool which you can access for free anywhere. Personally, I refuse to call it a company until I see proof of their claims and products.  

The normal procedure for a real startup company has 3 stages. Telling members they are holding off the launch till everything is perfect while stipulating a joining fee is a RED FLAG. 

  1. In the Prelaunch stage, a company starts to build an audience so it can actually have a product for people to try.
  2. Private Beta is where a company has products that members can use and do use. It can still be buggy at this stage and this is where the company continues to develop and fine-tune its systems while still continuing with member development.
  3. Public Beta is when a company can take on more members because it knows it has delivered and continues to deliver value as well as introduce and roll out further upgrades and services that are stated on the white paper and road map. 

Marketing should start at pre-launch and carry through to all stages. All genuine companies that integrate and use the latest technology have an official whitepaper and road map. In all my research I have yet to find an Onpassive White Paper or Road Map.  

Notably, I found only four videos. Three of them were hyped up videos of roughly around 90-seconds in length each, that belonged to Ash Mufareh himself, but not of himself on his YouTube channel that had a total of only 420 subscribers. The one other video was a presentation by one of his recruits. You’ll only ever actually see him on a few webinars of his top leaders in Onpassive at which he has been an invited guest. 

All meetings seem to be very Kumbaya with very little substance and all very vague of what is actually promised to the members in terms of its “seismic revolutionary technology” and marketing tools. The rest is excited hype. Transparency doesn’t seem to be one of Ashraf Mufareh’s fortes. All of the webinars are still there on YouTube with the repetition of the exact same things said a year ago, always being equally “excited” and “blown away” by all the wonders Mufareh keeps talking about, during these webinars – but of course, that’s all “proprietary”, so he can only hint at it. (the guy seems to think “proprietary” means “confidential”).

Video Compliments of Julian Leahy

The Matrix Of Infinity

Onpassive’s compensation plan was until recently, a 3 x 10 matrix, and since been changed to a 3 x infinity corporate matrix. Every individual has their own matrix they need to fill within the corporate matrix. Below I do the math on a 3 x 12 level matrix then go on to 20 levels for those that haven’t taken that into consideration up to this point. 

The initial joining fee of $97 upfront, locks you into the infinity corporate matrix. Then at launch, you need to become a customer initially, pay one of four levels $25, $125, $250, $500. This is a monthly fee, which the leaders claim will become self-funding, therefore not out of pocket once you fill your matrix.  Each level has a finite amount of tools available for use. If you want them all to complete your marketing suite, you need to pay for all 4 levels upfront totaling $950 monthly. Once you have your back office, with a click of a button you become an independent reseller even though it’s touted that you just pay a one-time joining fee of $97 now before it goes up to $997, then sit back and earn $2 million a month. 

What is noteworthy is that for any MLM company to be a legal entity, it needs to have retail customers yielding retail sales separate from the distributors or resellers.

There are no qualifications needed, just join up and get paid by every new member that comes into your team. According to one of the leaders, Mike Ellis, This comp plan is “revolutionary” and “really really cool, really really ingenious” as you as a member get your level 4 monthly membership (once you’ve reached level 4) paid by the “profits of the company.” (in other words, the money from the people that have come in after you that are in your personal matrix within the corporate matrix.)  

Revolutionary? No, it’s been done and failed too many times before. This matrix program is just hiding under the guise of the latest technology of the products (that no one has actually seen yet) that most people know very little about. Any real AI company will tell you it is very expensive to implement and maintain to keep it running at top-notch. 

 

Let’s Do The Math

In a 3 x 12 matrix pyramid scheme in which the top 3 people recruit 3 new people. Those 9 recruits 3, the 27 beneath them bring in 3,  81 beneath them, 243 beneath them, 729 and beneath them, 2,187 beneath them 6,561 and so forth down to just the 12th level is 4,782,969 recruits. 

On the 20th level, it equates to 10,460,353,203 people which is more than the current population on earth. Unfortunately, everyone that comes in, even the last person to be signed up thinks they are at the top of the matrix. (Psst… you are! – The top of YOUR matrix with nobody under you until you make the effort to recruit, and until then you pay the monthly fee for the tools.) but wait, there are no more people left in the world to recruit. 

What about spillover? Unless you come under a hotshot recruiter and particularly if you come in at a lower level there is no spillover, it dries up as the people who have been told they don’t need to recruit come in before you have their infinity matrices to fill before they even get close to you. Let’s face it, most people that are drawn into a program that promises to make them a millionaire don’t know how or even want to work for their dreamy lifestyle. 

 

Genuine Customers Who Want The Purported Services Of Onpassive Are Waking Up

One of many members that joined over a year ago, had this to say,

“I, unfortunately, joined this company over a year ago "yea I know stupid me" but I didn't believe the bullsh*t about making all that money with the matrix plan doing little work but instead was trying to find a marketing system that would help me with advertising my affiliate programs and other business ideas. For the last year, I have been hearing the company's mouthpieces talk about we are "just about to launch so get in now". 

Since that time the "Founders'' have gone from around 25,000 to now well over 110,000 and still, we are "just about to launch". I just wanted the services which were promoted in the beginning but now it's all about creating an online meeting platform like Startmeeting which is going to be "bigger than Zoom or Google". Well, I DON'T CARE about that. I just want to have a marketing system that works and doesn't cost an arm and a leg which I am beginning to see now is next to impossible. 

I have given up on the $97 sign-up fee but it just pisses me off the way people can so blatantly promise a service(s) and then just put off providing it because they are some sort of MLM marketing company in prelaunch. I wish I had done more research and looked for other videos like yours back then, but I was just so eager to find something that might work for me that I just went in blindly. Maybe eventually this company might prove me wrong and actually launch but then again maybe golden raindrops will fall from the sky the same day I win the lottery too.”

Or there’s this one…

This guy seems to know what he’s talking about… 


 

About Ashraf Mufareh – The Last 10 Years

Ash Mufareh has been involved with different work at home endeavors that have been shut down almost as soon as they start. In 2010 Mufareh founded a recruitment-based matrix scheme called AshMax. 

Mufareh stipulated AshMax was NOT MLM but on the contrary, has a 5×5 sales matrix, with each new member required to recruit 5 additional members within 20 days. If someone does not meet this requirement, the person is forced out of the matrix. The full 5 x 5 matrix comes into effect after 100 days (5 x 20 day periods), at which point the first level member can reportedly expect to earn in excess of $22,000 per month, recurring, for life.

According to one ex-member of AshMax, 

“things were well organized over there (AshMax), for a while – weekly webinar meetings, training sites, upline/sponsor communications on point. The crux for me, the goal post kept moving, things got shaky and no one was giving disclosure.  Long story short, things went pear-shaped, never got sorted, refunds never happened, etc.” 

In 2012 he became involved with a Ponzi scheme called TelexFree using his TelexMax. TelexFree had legal troubles in Brazil. In 2014 the SEC shut it down revealing TelexFree U.S. investors lost in excess of $3 Billion.

A couple of years later Ash Mufareh became involved with another Ponzi scheme based out of Brazil called PayDiamonds. That endeavor didn’t last long either and in mid-2018 it was closed down. It was at that time when Ashraf Mufareh started GOFOUNDERS/ONPASSIVE. 

Here is one of the three videos on Mufareh’s official YouTube channel. The title of the video is, “Ash Mufareh – The Visionary Behind the World’s Best Online Business Solution”. With a title like that, wouldn’t you expect to see or hear Ash saying something about his AI-Tech baby? How about footage of him working with his team? I certainly did and was left disillusioned when I viewed them. There was nothing but self-aggrandizing and hype. Ash is not the person in the video.

Absolutely none of the ONPASSIVE videos show footage of Ash Mufareh. You would think that if someone was creating the next best thing, that person would want to get out there and promote his new creation. Wouldn’t you expect that after 2 years of promoting and collecting an accumulative total of $11,640,000 from 120,000 GoFounder members at $97 a pop, he would be able to and want to reveal the progress to date?  You will always find a genuine owner of a startup out there in full view with updates and progress reports every step of the way.  

Trustpilot, as its name suggests, should be trustworthy about its reviews (you would think) however, a multitude of reviews look very suspicious to me… here are just two,

How can this be if they haven’t launched the marketing suite yet?

A Few Tips To Recognize A Scam 

Adapted from the FTC website

  • If a plan purports to sell a product or service, check to see whether its price is inflated, whether new members must buy costly inventory, or whether members make most "sales" to other members rather than the general public.
  • Beware of any plan that makes exaggerated earnings claims, especially when there seem to be no real underlying product sales or investment profits.
  • Beware of any plan that offers commissions for recruiting new distributors, particularly when there is no product involved or when there is a separate, up-front membership fee. At the same time, do not assume that the presence of a purported product or service removes all danger. 
  • Beware of any program that claims to have a secret plan, overseas connection, or special relationship that is difficult to verify.
  • Beware of any plan that delays meeting its commitments while asking members to "keep the faith" and keep taking on new signups that must pay a joining fee.  Many pyramid schemes advertise that they are in the "pre-launch" stage, yet they never can and never do launch. By definition pyramid schemes can never fulfill their obligations to a majority of their participants. To survive, pyramids need to keep and attract as many members as possible. Thus, promoters try to appeal to a sense of community or solidarity, while chastising outsiders or skeptics.
  • Finally, beware of programs that attempt to capitalize on the public's interest or naivety in hi-tech. Every investor fantasizes about becoming wealthy overnight, but in fact, most hi-tech companies only yield substantial profits after years of hard work. 

Summary and Reality Of So Many Team Building Pyramids

The victim, like the first investor, thinks of himself at the top of the pyramid but suddenly realizes that he is actually at the bottom, unable to find people interested in the program to build out his downline. He is not alone because mathematics shows that MOST investors will find themselves at the bottom of the pyramid when it collapses. The very structure of a matrix dictates that whenever the collapse occurs, at least 70 percent will be at the bottom level with no means to make a profit. 

The GoFounder members will be quick to say that ONPASSIVE is an AI & IT company and not an MLM. If that is true, why is a matrix-based multi-level compensation plan used to build a team? Those are MLM hallmarks!

In my opinion, it shouldn’t be frozen in a prelaunch for over 2 years while taking people’s money. It should have reached the BETA stage by now so those 120,000 members that have paid their money can start tinkering with it at least, with ongoing updates and reports from the engineering department and corporate body, not just avid over-excited members who have only been in it for 15 months, taking the lead and have obviously drunk the kool-aid. 

Right now the only thing that may attract a naive marketer is its claim of being “100% Hands-Free Completely Done-For-You Automated Online Success” and for the people who want to believe that there’s money-for-nothing ogle over the proposed passive earnings in the compensation plan. 

If you apply some simple logic to their claim against the actions of a member aggressively promoting and recruiting, it contradicts itself. It’s clear to me that anyone who joins has been swept up by the thought and promise of making millions passively. 

A successful business that brings real value does not put making money a personal priority and just wait for the money to roll in while you sleep. An excellent article explaining why “passive income” is a dangerous fantasy and points out 4 reasons why,

1. You Can't Stay Ahead of Competition Passively
2. You Can't Maintain a Loyal Tribe of Customers Passively
3. You Can't Lead Great Teams Passively
4. You Can't Create Meaning, Passion, or Purpose in Your Life Passively

 

My Final Thoughts

The evidence and timelines in this article are correct at the time of researching and writing. It certainly makes sense to me to BEWARE & to look out for RED FLAGS and apart from doing your own due diligence, logically think about what is really happening here. 

What Onpassive is promoting is nothing new or special in the technical aspect, in fact, at the moment it’s fresh air until it launches (if it ever does). Automated marketing and AI technology are already being used along with blockchain and cryptocurrency in the marketing arena for far less money and there’s been no need for a pyramidical recruitment matrix. 

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, a very successful entrepreneur revealed that Tesla has had a spectacular run this year despite the COVID 19 impacts. In a recent interview, he offered some advice to other entrepreneurs, suggesting that any company of any caliber put their investments first into engineering and developing a product that is superior before investing in Marketing,

“My advice, you know, to corporate America or companies worldwide is spend less time on marketing presentations and more time on your product. Honestly that should be the number one thing taught in business schools. Put down that spreadsheet and that PowerPoint presentation and go and make your product better.”

What Musk says speaks volumes to me. To be a legitimate company, there needs to be “a product” long before it starts taking money from interested parties. Even in the initial stages, you won’t see any investor just hand over the money on promises or without seeing at least the blueprint (or white paper) of the startup company’s products which should be available to the public. They need to see that it’s a viable company and marketing hype incessantly and publicly just doesn't cut it for savvy investors.

Before the claims of how “mind-blowingly, nothing out there like it” system is broadcast to the world, the company needs to be transparent with its products and after 2+ years, it should be well into a BETA phase and not continuously delaying the launch, repeatedly saying you still have time to get in at the cheaper price. Food for thought.

 

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

What is cryptocurrency?

What is cryptocurrency?

 

Bitcoin is a form of cryptocurrency 

Cryptocurrency is a form of digital money that is designed to be secure and, in many cases, anonymous. It is a currency associated with the internet that uses cryptography, the process of converting legible information into an almost uncrackable code, to track purchases and transfers. Cryptography was born out of the need for secure communication in the Second World War. It has evolved in the digital era with elements of mathematical theory and computer science to become a way to secure communications, information and money online. The first cryptocurrency was bitcoin, which was created in 2009 and is still the best known. There has been a proliferation of cryptocurrencies in the past decade and there are now more than 900 available on the internet. Here's everything you need to know about cryptocurrencies. 

How do cryptocurrencies work? 

Cryptocurrencies use decentralised technology to let users make secure payments and store money without the need to use their name or go through a bank. They run on a distributed public ledger called blockchain, which is a record of all transactions updated and held by currency holders.

Units of cryptocurrency are created through a process called mining, which involves using computer power to solve complicated maths problems that generate coins. Users can also buy the currencies from brokers, then store and spend them using cryptographic wallets. Cryptocurrencies and applications of blockchain technology are still nascent in financial terms and more uses should be expected. Transactions including bonds, stocks and other financial assets could eventually be traded using the technology.  

What are the most common cryptocurrencies? 

  • Bitcoin:
         Bitcoin was the first and is the most commonly traded cryptocurrency to date.  The currency was developed by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, a mysterious figure who developed its blockchain. It has a market capitalisation of around $45 billion as of July 2017. 
  • Ethereum:
         Developed in 2015, ethereum is the currency token used in the ethereum blockchain, the second most popular and valuable cryptocurrency. Ethereum has a market capitalisation of around $18bn as of July 2017. However, ethereum has had a turbulent journey. After a major hack in 2016 it split into two currencies, while its value has in recent months reached as high as $400 but crashed briefly to as low as 10 cents.
  • Ripple:
         Ripple is another distributed ledger system that was founded in 2012. Ripple can be used to track more kinds of transactions, not just of the cryptocurrency. It has been used by banks including Santander and UBS and has a market capitalisation of around $6.3 billion.
  • Litecoin: 
    This currency is most similar in form to bitcoin, but has moved more quickly to develop new innovations, including faster payments and processes to allow many more transactions. The total value of all Litecoin is around $2.1 billion.

Why would you use a cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrencies are known for being secure and providing a level of anonymity. Transactions in them cannot be faked or reversed and there tend to be low fees, making it more reliable than conventional currency. Their decentralised nature means they are available to everyone, where banks can be exclusive in who they will let open accounts.  As a new form of cash, the cryptocurrency markets have been known to take off meaning a small investment can become a large sum over night. But the same works the other way. People look to invest in cryptocurrencies should be aware of the volatility of the market and the risks they take when buying.

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Why the feds took down one of Bitcoin’s largest exchanges

Why the feds took down one of Bitcoin’s largest exchanges

Tracing Mt. Gox’s stolen coins led feds to Alexander Vinnik

  This week, one of Bitcoin’s largest and most notorious coin exchanges

was brought down by law enforcement — and police and prosecutors are now beginning to explain why. On Thursday, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Alexander Vinnik — thought to be the operator, or one of the operators of Bitcoin exchange BTC-e — charging him with 21 counts of money laundering and other related financial crimes. The counts range from operating an unlicensed money transmittal business to a variety of money laundering charges, including laundering associated with ransomware payouts and a theft from the now-defunct Mt Gox exchange. More generally, the indictment paints BTC-e as a hub of criminal activity, laundering the proceeds of everything from drug trafficking to ransomware attacks.

As some suspected, Vinnik’s alleged crimes go beyond just operating the exchange. Feds believe he played a role in the theft of more 800,000 bitcoin — about $400 million at the time — from Mt. Gox, a staggering loss that ultimately shuttered the exchange. According to the indictment, 530,000 of those bitcoin ended up passing through wallets controlled by or associated with Vinnik, although his role in the larger scheme remains unclear.Vinnik’s alleged crimes go beyond just operating a Bitcoin exchange

Vinnik himself is in custody, arrested while on vacation in Greece, but the Bitcoin world is still sorting through the larger implications of his arrest. BTC-e was one of the last major exchanges outside the reach of conventional finance, and now that it’s gone, it’s unclear what might replace it. There are many legitimate uses of Bitcoin, but Bitcoin transactions have also become essential for online crime — whether it’s ransomware or Silk-Road-style online marketplaces. There will continue to be demand for exchanges like BTC-e, and ____. With feds directly targeting exchanges that don’t play by the book, the split between the two halves of Bitcoin is becoming starker and starker.

BTC-e, founded in 2011, always stood out as an anomaly among the major Bitcoin exchanges. Even a cursory look at BTC-e flagged it as a little strange. “Their exchange prices always seemed weird and out of line with every other exchange, and I had wondered why,” Matthew Green, a professor at Johns Hopkins University told The Verge in an email.

Nicholas Weaver wrote at Lawfare that BTC-e was noted for its “sketchy ownership and control.” The exchange was supposedly located in Eastern Europe, but there were no clues as to who ran it — until now.300,000 bitcoin from Mt. Gox went to wallets tied to “BTC-e administrative accounts” But the big surprise in the indictment is how closely tied BTC-e is to a massive theft at Mt. Gox, one that eventually bankrupted the exchange in 2014. Founded in 2010, Mt. Gox dominated the Bitcoin world for years, at one point processing 80 percent of all bitcoin-to-currency transactions. Mt. Gox first suffered a multimillion-dollar theft in June 2011. When the exchange collapsed in 2014, the equivalent of nearly half a billion dollars was unaccounted for.

On Wednesday, in the wake of the arrest of Vinnik, WizSec published a blogpost presenting the findings of an investigation into the Mt. Gox thefts that they have apparently been preparing for years. According to WizSec, the Mt. Gox hot wallet private keys were stolen sometime in 2011, and the hacker (or multiple hackers) continued to steal bitcoin through 2012 and 2013. The bitcoin were laundered through wallets controlled by Alexander Vinnik. The indictment claims that 300,000 bitcoin were stolen from Mt. Gox went directly to three connected BTC-e accounts “directly linked” to “BTC-e administrative accounts” that only BTC-e admins and operators could have had access to.

At least one of the accounts — under the name “Vamnedam” — was controlled by Vinnik and “others known and unknown.” (The “others known” are either not named in the indictment or have been redacted from the published document.)Many of the charges allege more straightforward money laundering" More bitcoin from the theft were sent to other Mt. Gox wallets and wallets at a third exchange — the now-defunct Tradehill, which operated out of San Francisco, California. From there, they eventually ended up at BTC-e, in an account that was directly controlled by Vinnik. WizSec also claims that the wallets that laundered Mt. Gox coins also handled “coins stolen from Bitcoinica, Bitfloor and several other thefts from back in 2011 and 2012.”

It’s not clear whether Vinnik was directly involved in the Mt. Gox theft, or how close he is to any of those previous thefts, or even the CryptoWall ransomware hackers whose funds he is accused of laundering. But when it comes to Mt. Gox, at least, BTC-e’s proximity to the theft is fairly suspicious.“Anybody who thought about this for a second understood that law enforcement was working on a case against BTC-e" While the Mt. Gox allegations are the most eye-catching, many of the charges that brought down BTC-e allege more straightforward money laundering. The very first count listed in the indictment is for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business: a criminal charge based on failing to register with FinCEN, an intelligence network that’s mandatory for all financial companies dealing with US customers.

Participating in FinCEN comes with a range of requirements, from registration to internal anti-money laundering programs. Since 2013, it’s been clear that Bitcoin exchanges had to follow those same rules, and for the most part, exchanges have complied — and prosecutors haven’t been shy about filing charges against services that don’t. In recent years, BTC-e has been the largest Bitcoin exchange not registered with FinCEN, a distinction that made it an obvious target for law enforcement, even without Vinnik’s alleged Mt. Gox involvement. “Anybody who thought about this for a second understood that law enforcement was working on a case against BTC-e,” said Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center. “The question was just whether the government would catch them.”“designed so that criminals could effect financial transactions under multiple layers of anonymity”

Where other counts in the indictment focus on money transfers linked to theft and ransomware, the first two — operation of an unlicensed money transmitter and conspiracy to commit money-laundering — focus on the technological capabilities of BTC-e itself, claiming that the exchange had a “criminal design.” “BTC-e’s system was designed so that criminals could accomplish financial transactions with anonymity and thereby avoid apprehension by law enforcement or seizure of funds,” the indictment says, pointing out that BTC-e only required “a username, password, and an email address,” unlike “legitimate payment processors or digital currency exchangers.” The indictment also points to suspicious usernames like “ISIS,” “CocaineCowboys,” “blackhathackers,” “dzkillerhacker,” and “hacker4hire” as additional support for the money-laundering allegations.

The language in the indictment about BTC-e’s “criminal design” mimics the indictment against Liberty Reserve — an anonymous currency service taken down by law enforcement in 2013 — which also accused the online exchange of having a “criminal design” and a system “designed so that criminals could effect financial transactions under multiple layers of anonymity.” (The Liberty Reserve indictment also took the time to point out that account names on the site included “Russia Hackers” and “Hacker Accounts.”) BTC-e’s website claimed that they required customers to provide proof of identity — namely, a scanned ID card and a scanned utility bill or bank statement — and forbid any US customers, letting them off the hook for FinCEN registration. But neither turned out to be true, according to the indictment.“Exchanges will go one of two ways. Either they’ll clean up their act… or they’ll go fully underground.”

Now that BTC-e is down for good, it could have a profound impact on the criminal ecosystem more broadly. BTC-e handled about 5 percent of total Bitcoin transactions, but recent research found that as much as 95 percent of ransomware cashouts happened through the platform. With most comparably sized exchanges already registered under FinCEN, the takedown could make it both harder and riskier for criminals to cash out — something law enforcement seems to be counting on. In the same Lawfare piece, Weaver says he thinks taking down BTC-e “will probably prove more important than the AlphaBay and Hansa takedowns” in fighting online crime. For Bitcoiners less invested in law enforcement’s war on dark web marketplaces, the lesson is a more ambiguous one. Cornell professor Emin Gun Sirer says the focus on FinCEN compliance could lead to a lasting split in Bitcoin markets, as exchanges face the choice of whether to comply with US government demands.

“Exchanges will go one of two ways,” Sirer says. “Either they will clean their act, by first shopping for the most lenient jurisdictions and complying with relevant KYC/AML laws, or they'll go ‘fully underground,’ and operate with no rules, behind Tor and other anonymous communication technologies. The most colorful drama ahead will involve exchanges, such as Bitfinex, that operate in the gray zone, where they seem to neither comply with relevant laws nor go fully underground.” For a technology with a surrounding community built on libertarian ideas, that may be a difficult pill to swallow. But as the past week has made clear, those that don’t will be taking a very serious risk.

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden