GDI

I know that many people feel that this isn't a genuine, honest business opportunity because there are just no retail customers at all, and the product isn't exactly marketable because it's identical to those offered elsewhere at much lower prices. This must surely be a problem for you?

Isn't it true that the only people buying this company's "product" are those joining for the "business opportunity", in other words to earn the right to sell it to others?

I know that there are a few (I think very few!) people who've been in it for a long time who are still making some monthly income from it, but I think almost everyone who's joined it in the last year or two has dropped out by now, after realising this? I think no other "MLM company" (it isn't one really, but that's what they call themselves!) has such a high drop-out rate? I have to say, looking at what the product is and what it costs and what you can buy it for elsewhere, that doesn't surprise me. And yet there seems to be a constant turnover of new people trying to pitch me for this - I just don't understand where they all come from and how they get talked into it, when almost nobody's really earning anything much from it ... very mysterious.

What I say each and every time someone tries to interest me in this is "Come back in 6 months if you're still promoting it and then I'll sign up." So far, of course, nobody has been, because everyone realises faster than that that they'll never cover the cost.

alexa: What I say each and every time someone tries to interest me in this is "Come back in 6 months if you're still promoting it and then I'll sign up." So far, of course, nobody has been, because everyone realises faster than that that they'll never cover the cost.


Yes Alexa, this is basically a hosting plan, with a matrix.
Of course, that makes it something other than 'identical' to other hosting plans.
You'd have to compare GDI to a Web Hosting Plan with a matrix, or some other money making opp., to be fair.

And 'retail' implies something bought 'wholesale' and of course, sold retail with a markup.
Many 'service industry' products, are legit but can't classify their customers as 'retail customers'.

Anyway, after 8 months I am still with it, and the cost is more than covered at this point.
I am learning more about this 'product' and expect my downline to continue to grow.
For whatever reason, my downline has also stuck with GDI - I have had NO quitters.
Also, a number of my downline members have bought extra hosting.

As for 'product', web hosting is definitely a product.
The matrix?
Well, I believe the information age is producing some new types of 'products' that don't necessarily fit the definition of physical 'products' that we can touch.
The service industry, which America now embodies, perhaps more so than any other nation, has certainly produced some different ideas as to what a 'product' is.

I expect the information age to redefine things as products, and ways of earning income.
It's still nebulous, but I think this is only natural.

For example:
Casinos offer little in the way of 'product', other than to simply make money (plucking those chickens!), and have 'fun'.
Gambling, is then a product?
A product that was illegal just a short time ago.

Lottery tickets offer NOTHING in the way of 'product' other than a money making opportunity.
Again, illegal not too long ago.

And the odds on actually making money with these 'products' are infinitesimal, while you have NO WAY of substantially affecting the outcome.
The 'house' wins, you lose.
It's that simple.

Of course, there are gambling 'pros', as there are internet 'gurus', who have ways of beating the 'odds'.
But at least on the internet, you really have a chance to do almost ANYTHING, to effectively increase YOUR chances of 'winning'.

The whole insurance industry too is little more than legalized gambling wouldn't you agree?

Then, so many 'professionals' charge you for their 'time'.
'Counseling' is the word, but what is the actual 'retail product'?
The 'retail customer'?

Anyway, it's not unreasonable to expect this information age, coupled with the internet, to produce some new and unusual categories and types of products, and to challenge our pre-conceived notions of just what constitutes a 'product'.
I think the service industry has been doing this for decades now.

Perhaps, 'how to make money online' is the product!
And not too long ago, there was no 'online' to make money on!

I just wish GDI had more beefed up hosting packages such as MySQL databases, 1-click installs and all that sort to make it more worth the $10 per month thing. I mean yeah, you can forward it to 000webhost which is the best free package available, but I don't like their ToA.

I was in for a couple of months, but had to cancel out for now. I may take another look at this in the distant future after I help out my team.

TJ I emailed you, what Can I say I try to keep the inbox as uncluttered as possible, but sometimes I get a little behind inhousekeeping

As for the log, create one. Not to hard if you have excel...or on paper for that matter, a few columns a few notes to yourself...

As for retention.
The reason a lot of people stick around is because it's only $10. $10 is a cheeseburger dinner or a soda a day, or not renting a movie, or missing 1 trip to the movie theatre in 2 months. Honestly this is what kept me around thorugh the first few months when the income wasn't there and it was costing me. The other thing I do to help retain people is build them up. I have people I've never spoken to that I know would have quit if I hadn't placed people under them. In fact my best producer on my level 4 is under a lvl 2 of mine that I'VE NEVER SPOKEN TOO. Right now she's making a pretty penny and from what I can tell she's never sponsored anyone herself, only the people I've fed through her.

Albeit the turnover is about 1 in 5 after 3 months 2 in 5 after 6 months, but for those that stick it out and even SEMI promote it after 6 months they are usually turning a profit...and because you can have it link to paypal essentially you could fall off the map and it'll self pay until your downline disappears.


Oh TJ if you need more info on the tracking log let me know I'll send you a copy of mine.

opendomain: Oh TJ if you need more info on the tracking log let me know I'll send you a copy of mine.


I thought that tracking log had some automation to it.
Apparently, it's just notes you take on your referrals?
glitch00: I mean yeah, you can forward it to 000webhost which is the best free package available, but I don't like their ToA

opendomain: The other thing I do to help retain people is build them up. I have people I've never spoken to that I know would have quit if I hadn't placed people under them. In fact my best producer on my level 4 is under a lvl 2 of mine that I'VE NEVER SPOKEN TOO.

This is something I didn't know was possible.
It sounds like a great idea...

glitch00: 000webhost which is the best free package available
Hi Glitch00!
I don't know about 000webhost, but I'd like to see how it compares to Xtreemhost.com - the TRUE 'best free package available'!

glitch00: I was in for a couple of months, but had to cancel out for now. I may take another look at this in the distant future after I help out my team

Well, if you read thru this thread, you will see that I too was about to give up on GDI, till I found The Spider Web Marketing System!

I have some members who have gotten more than one package, which is great for commissions!
GDI is really not a bad deal.
And it has propagated very well, so folx WILL sign up.

My only issue is that many of my SWMS referrals already have a GDI account, and can't signup under me as their GDI sponsor...

Yeah with the log it's just notes to optimize where you're posting and where you're getting flagged. Some places flag mroe than others and you can tell where to post and More of a statistics page if you will.

For placement, you can only place in your immediate downline, but like I said it's a great tool IMHO.

opendomain: For placement, you can only place in your immediate downline, but like I said it's a great tool IMHO.

Ok, so what do you mean by this:
opendomain: I have people I've never spoken to that I know would have quit if I hadn't placed people under them.

You are able to put your referrals under anyone in your immediate downline?

Correct anyone in your level 2.
Lets say I see someone that I've signed up, they've never returned a call or an email and they have become stagnant. I'll move a new signup underthem in hopes that when they do get around to checking their GDI stuff they see a new signup and will stick around. I try to cycle thorugh my downline and feed them as much as possible, sometimes it just makes more sense to help people ya know? Eitehr way I'm making $1...now would it have been nicer to have my top producer in my 3rd level vs. my forth...well sure, but in the end it was worth it to me to help that one person who is now making money...it's like they hit the lottery almost.

The great thing is that if it doesn't work and the person I placed under quits everything just rolls up one level.

Hi TJam, I do accept the points you make above.

I'm allowing that some "products" are actually "services" instead and obviously there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not suggesting that GDI hasn't got a product, obviously. And I know that (unlike many MLM companies) it's quite a well-established company too. All I'm saying is that it hasn't got a product which retail customers will buy: the only sales possible are to people joining for a business opportunity in order to sell it to others.

I'm not saying the product is useless or valueless. I'm just saying that it's (clearly!) worth about half what the price is. Which means that nobody can actually sell it as a product.

To me, and to many people of course, the first criterion of an MLM company is "does the company have a genuine product/service, perceived to be worth the money asked, which retail customers will buy?" I don't think anyone's pretending that the answer to this can possibly be "yes" with GDI, are they?

And yes, I accept your point that we're not quite comparing like with like here - fair point. But, you know, apples and oranges, it's all fruit, isn't it?

How much profit per month are you making after 8 months in the business, TJam, and does that make it well-paid work for what you've actually done? (I'm not seriously suggesting that you should answer this in public, of course, it's only a rhetorical question to try to make the point that like 99% of GDI distributors you'd actually probably have earned more per hour working for the minimum wage in McDonalds, I suspect, if you're honest with yourself about it!!).

alexa: How much profit per month are you making after 8 months in the business, TJam, and does that make it well-paid work for what you've actually done? (I'm not seriously suggesting that you should answer this in public, of course, it's only a rhetorical question to try to make the point that like 99% of GDI distributors you'd actually probably have earned more per hour working for the minimum wage in McDonalds, I suspect, if you're honest with yourself about it!!).

I will both agree and disagree with this.
At first, by all means yes I would have made much more money with a Wal-mart type job. Now however the returns have definately been worth the investment in time.

Not just the monetary returns either, but the journey and getting back into marketing. Not that this is exclusive to GDI, but to me marketing online / owning your own businessis something everyone should take a serious stab at at least once. It broadens your horizons and opens your eyes to a lot of different things.

I can see your point with trying to Market domain names being very difficult because like you said you can get tehm elsewhere for cheaper. What you can't get is as successful of a business model for such a low monthly cost.

With GDI you are absolutely marketing the ability to make money by marketing the ability to make money, which in a sense goes against much of what you would warn people about, speaking with a first hand perspective of being ripped off by MLM companies as well as someone who's experienced success with GDI I will say I would recommend it still, making money or not. If only because the business plan is so simple to promote and it is residual.

opendomain:
I will both agree and disagree with this.

Fair enough. It does rather seem, though, that you've agreed with about 95% of what I said and disagreed with only about 5%, which is very nice of you!

I think the only area where we actually disagree is that you think GDI is a "successful business model" and I don't. (I do see that it was for a small number of people who were in a few years ago when it started, and yes, a tiny proportion of that tiny proportion even got some residual income out of it, but that's not uncommon in MLM!). The proportion of people who succeed with it now is absolutely tiny - to be honest, I don't really believe there are any at all. You guys are in the tiny, tiny minority still promoting the thing, and you're obviously not finding it easy at all, and even you are not claiming to earn anything worth having out of it. Something is wrong here, surely?!

alexa: How much profit per month are you making after 8 months in the business, TJam, and does that make it well-paid work for what you've actually done? (I'm not seriously suggesting that you should answer this in public, of course, it's only a rhetorical question to try to make the point that like 99% of GDI distributors you'd actually probably have earned more per hour working for the minimum wage in McDonalds, I suspect, if you're honest with yourself about it!!)

If you check my postings, you'll see I have done little to nothing to promote GDI, and some other plans I support as well.
I am actually still quite the newbie, learning how to promote as I go along.

But GDI has worked out faaar better than ANY minimum wage position - where you have to show up when THEY tell you, wear what THEY tell you, take a break when THEY tell you to, come in on your off days when THEY think you should, and go home too too tired, and too too late to get a decent amount of sleep, to say NOTHING about rest and relaxation, only to have to begin breaking rocks on the chain gang once again, too too early the very next day!

This is without even taking into account the cost of transportation nowadays!

And of course, when THEY want to, you are fired!
OUT of a job, with absolutely no redress - unless there's a McDonalds/Minimum Wage Worker's Union I'm not aware of.

$1 earned at HOME, on your own terms, is far FAR more valuable than a dollar earned working for someone else.
Compare like with like is what I would say, once again, to your questions.

That said, I have been doing little to promote GDI, other than to include SWMS in my sig. link, both here and in a few other forums.
'Guaranteed Traffic/Hits' has also worked well for my SWMS promotional effort, which automatically promotes my GDI link.

Those 'efforts' have paid off quite well, especially on a 'work/time in v. money out' analysis, I would say.

In public, or private.

alexa: The proportion of people who succeed with it now is absolutely tiny - to be honest, I don't really believe there are any at all. You guys are in the tiny, tiny minority still promoting the thing, and you're obviously not finding it easy at all, and even you are not claiming to earn anything worth having out of it. Something is wrong here, surely?

1st How do you know who is succeeding and who is not? And what are you basing these percentages off of? I've never been polled?

2nd I clearly said initially I would have made more money working at Wal-mart, but now, NO I make more money from GDI than if I had a full time Wal-Mart job. I liken the initial slump to the same slump ALL start up businesses experience. This is usually cause by lack of customers and lack of a pipeline. NOW, however; I find myself not lacking either at this point.

I will point out that beyond a hard headed rush in the beginning I really haven't promoted GDI like many people might think. I write an article here or there and pass out a card every now and again, I've even spent a little on purchasing advertising(less than $50), but nothing like you would expect. All I've done is invested in time. Time here and in other forums helping people with GDI and helping people with other questions they might have. I created a guide that pretty much sells itself and GDI for me. My site could hardly be called a GDI marketing page as I promote more of my team mentality than anything.

What I don't understand is that based on your two websites you're using the cash leveraging system, which per its own advertisement has:
NO SELLING
NO CUSTOMERS
NO PRODUCTS

Unless there is some magic behind what you're doing I'm just not getting it. How can you try and down play GDI for not having a "product" when your own advertisements literally say "NO PROUDCTS" to quote something I read just recently, "something is wrong here , surely?!"

I stand by my choice to work with GDI and to help other experience the same success.

I am also a GDI member and am interested in sharing any ideas that can help buid a solid downline. I belive one of the key ingredients to GDI is a quality capture page that is SEO ( search engine optimized) The system that you are using do you compose the emails that are sent out.

You have hit the nail on the head as they say. It is crucial to have an upline who is more interested in helping you than helping themselves which ironically they are doing by helping you. I try and learn as much as I can about what works and what doen't and then share it with my downline.

Congrats on your success with GDI. Can you please explain to me what the program is that you refer to as 3in7

opendomain: 1st How do you know who is succeeding and who is not?

By reading the forums at WAHM.com, mlm.com and thenetworkmarketingforum.com, where you can see all the people who decide to join it expressing their regrets as they gradually realise, a month or two or three later, that they can never have a single genuine retail customer because they're selling a product that's available elsewhere at better prices. (Which I note you don't deny!).

opendomain: I liken the initial slump to the same slump ALL start up businesses experience. This is usually cause by lack of customers and lack of a pipeline. NOW, however; I find myself not lacking either at this point.

Well done. I hope it stays bright and sunny for you. I think we both know that you're in a very tiny minority.

opendomain: How can you try and down play GDI for not having a "product" when your own advertisements literally say "NO PROUDCTS"

Very easily. GDI is a business opportunity (or is claiming to be, anyway). My program is not. Not only is it not a business opportunity, but it isn't a business at all, and it says so very clearly and very openly! So you're not exactly comparing like with like, my friend!

opendomain: Unless there is some magic behind what you're doing I'm just not getting it.

Yes, I think we all see that you're not getting it.

I think that the parts you're not getting may have to do with the fact that (a) you're comparing something that's a business and something that isn't, and (b) the cost: what you're discussing involves a regular monthly outgoing and at a higher price than the same product can bought for elsewhere. What I'm discussing is just a one-off $25, and of course that attracts huge numbers of people, and once they cover their initial $25, they're all in profit, so you see many of them enthusing about it and nobody scrambling to cover their own costs. And of course that duplicates, hence my income.

opendomain: I stand by my choice to work with GDI

And so you should. Just as I'm sure you respect my right to stand with what I'm promoting, too.

alexa: .

Ok.
Best of luck.

Thanks - and to you also!

Hey Alexa,

I just had to make a comment....

A quick check of the GDI forum shows a mix of people from Newbie's to seasoned Veterans.

Participation in the GDI forum is high, and people are having success from the "recent" postings I have read.

I see GDI as a great place to make mistakes and learn from these. If you make all the mistakes under the sun that is ok your risk is low $10.

Do a ok job and you will get a few to join. Do a great job and many will join you and follow you with your future bigger ventures.

If I'm a Newbie I'd rather lose $10 than $10,000.


Have a great weekend !




Aaron Riddell