Early (big) news for 2020 <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:AllowPNG/><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--> <div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); max-width: 600px; width: 100%; margin: 0px auto;"> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" align="center" style="width:600px;"><tr><td><![endif]--> <div style="max-width: 600px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px auto;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="font-size: 0px; width: 100%; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top; font-size: 0px;"> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><td style="vertical-align:top;width:600px;"><![endif]--> <div class="column column-100" style="display: inline-block; width: 100%; vertical-align: top;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; font-size: 0px; padding: 15px; text-align: left;"> <div> <h1 class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: bold;"><a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1237/2e5a3bdab117f714/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/5942805061173248/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">Early (big) news for 2020</a></h1> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Hello empowrians,</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Normally I wait until around January 1st to talk about the new year ahead of us, but this year we have some big, very important and timely announcements that we wanted to bring to your attention as soon as possible.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Getting right to it, our three (3) big announcements are:</b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(58, 117, 34); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">1. Marketing plan ready for launch:</b> Thanks to a tremendous amount of hard work this year -- <b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">A MASSIVE EFFORT</b> -- by more than 200 people in our community, we've finally successfully identified all the details for our marketing approach for getting to critical mass globally in 2020, and are now – FINALLY --moving forward with our big, global marketing push! More details below.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(58, 117, 34); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">2. Now hiring Vice Presidents:</b> In order to launch and expand everywhere, we are hiring Vice Presidents for cities around the world to lead and manage operations in their city. As we promised we would, we are giving our best citizens who have worked hard for this mission and community for so very long, the first shot at those positions! More details below.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(58, 117, 34); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">3. The empowr alpha site will be taken down in 30 days from now, to make way for beta and global launch:</b> To pay for our massive global launch, we must cut all costs substantially. That means that we must reduce our computer server costs by 75%, by shutting down the alpha empowr site on Jan 5, 2020 in preparation for the beta launch.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Let's get into details on all three items now.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><br /></p> <h2 class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; margin: 15px 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(58, 117, 34);" class="bard-text-block style-scope">1</span><span style="color: rgb(58, 117, 34);" class="bard-text-block style-scope"><span style="color: rgb(58, 117, 34);" class="bard-text-block style-scope">. </span>Marketing plan ready for launch</span></h2> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">As you may remember, the last time we spoke (much earlier this year) I mentioned that it would likely be months before we chatted again, as our team on this end – with the help of many of our amazing community members -- was about to go deep – very deep -- into a project to try a LOT of different approaches to solve our <b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">last remaining big challenge</b>.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">That last big challenge related to the marketing of the platform, and how to attract a lot of new users (citizens) to the platform very quickly – without getting and spending investor capital.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">As a reminder, together we've built just about all the technology it takes to deliver on our vision of giving the world a democratic social economy.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">But the technology by itself has much less – even little – value until it has a 'critical mass' of people using it.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Does this make sense? To illustrate my point, let me use an example.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">For our example, think of a platform like the ride-sharing app Uber.</b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">No matter how good their technology is, unless there are enough drivers in your area, the platform would have virtually no value to passengers in your area...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... and until there are enough passengers in your area, the platform would have little to no value to drivers in your area.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">There is a magical point at which there are "enough" drivers or passengers in an area to make it work. That point is called 'critical mass'.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">So, until critical mass is reached, the Uber platform has little (or even no) value, regardless of how great their innovations and technology are.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Which means every new person that uses Uber, will not be satisfied because they won't be able to get a ride (if they are a passenger)...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... or they won't be able to earn (if they are a driver)...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... and they will likely leave the app and never return again after their horrible (low value) experience.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">As you can see, Uber (or Facebook, or Amazon, or most such companies including empowr) have two (2) challenges: </b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">1. First, they must build the technology and platform.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">2. And second, they must find a way to achieve a 'critical mass' of users very quickly, otherwise their platform has little to no value to anyone.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">In the case of Uber, Facebook and Amazon, all three of them solved their critical mass challenge by raising many billions of dollars in investment capital from investors...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... which they then spent on advertising to attract a lot of people to their platform quickly (at the same time) so that, magically, they would have a lot of (a 'critical mass' of) users arriving at their platform at the same time.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">In the case of empowr, together this community accurately predicted that, in the future, the world would desperately need a platform where people could communicate and earn – an economy – but that didn't need to deliver growing quarterly profits to investors. </p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">We've discussed how, thanks to the '<em>network effect'</em>, big Wall Street funded companies would arise that would dominate entire global industries. They would become economies all onto themselves.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">And since these tech giant economies must deliver a growing amount of profits each quarter to their (Wall Street investor) shareholders, they would eventually damage society as those profits must be extracted away from the people they serve.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Indeed, we have seen all 3 of the companies I mention above, act in ways that are making it clear that they are harmful for society, but have little choice because if they don't deliver more and more profits to their investors every 90 days, their stock will crash, their employees will leave and their management team will be fired:</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Uber's trials and tribulations are <a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1235/ebd194fbfc356d11/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/5788568624824320/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">well-documented</a>; Amazon is becoming quite famous for <a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1233/97acc2a66bff9905/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/5277169888788480/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">how little it pays its employees</a>, and of course Facebook has lost all trust from everyone (Silicon Valley, media and even most of its own users) involved, since it has become clear that they are a <a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1231/ceb419450fc6fd2c/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/4890603068588032/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">morally bankrupt company</a> that will do whatever it takes to survive even if it means breaking democracy around the world with their fake news and echo chambers that are dividing society, and with their continual user privacy violations that it has needed to do, in order to generate profits for its shareholders.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">As a result, this community decided that we would take the more difficult road, and attempt to build our platform <b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">without taking any money from investors</b>. Indeed, we generated 250 Million U.S. Dollars and were successful in using that capital to build all the technology needed to deliver an economy to the world.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Here's a partial list of the things we successfully figured out, through a lot of hard work, trial and error together:</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">1. Social network that (unlike Facebook) doesn't create echo chambers</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">2. Full economy platform – first of its kind to combine social, marketplace, and currency – which is what Facebook is still trying and struggling to bring to market</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">3. Sharing of everything (<a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1229/b6f6fd80b70b82be/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/4678968764792832/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">Watch video</a>) to attack the climate crisis</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">4. The software, know-how and techniques to crowdsource all work with our Success Coaches (now called Guides) so that we don't need to hire tens of thousands of employees, like Facebook does</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> a. Responsible for education, marketplace and social network moderation, dispute management, customer service</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">5. Paying users for their usage: Posting, sharing and communications, while beating fraudsters, in order to attack global income inequality</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">6. Generated diverse revenue streams – while not selling ads, users' data or their privacy to corporations:</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> a. Transaction revenue</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> b. Subscription revenue</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> c. Advertising revenue (only to community members not corporations)</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> d. Cryptocurrency revenue</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> <br /></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">As many of you know, NONE of the above was easy, or went right the first time.</b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Together, we dreamed, we built, we failed, and we kept picking ourselves back up and we kept working at it until it finally came together.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">And of course we did all of that without giving up on our mission and selling the community out – we're still at it -- and continue to not take a single penny from profit-seeking investors.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">And, as it turns out, together we were right:</b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">As we predicted, the Internet has made it easy for people with a lot of money, to monopolize entire global industries, sending inequality to new heights.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">As an example of how bad it has gotten, now <a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1227/fa23535106796615/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/5659946165469184/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">26 individual people own as much wealth</a> as the bottom half of humanity (4 billion people).</p> </div></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]></tr></table><![endif]--></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td></tr></table><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" align="center" style="width:600px;"><tr><td><![endif]--> <div style="max-width: 600px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px auto;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="font-size: 0px; width: 100%; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top; font-size: 0px;"> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><td style="vertical-align:top;width:600px;"><![endif]--> <div class="column column-100" style="display: inline-block; width: 100%; vertical-align: top;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="alignmentContainer" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; font-size: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"> <div style="padding-top: 10px;"> <!--[if mso]><v:rect xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" filled="f" stroked="false" style="width:10;height:10"></v:rect><![endif]--> </div></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]></tr></table><![endif]--></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td></tr></table><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" align="center" style="width:600px;"><tr><td><![endif]--> <div style="max-width: 600px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px auto;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="font-size: 0px; width: 100%; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top; font-size: 0px;"> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><td style="vertical-align:top;width:600px;"><![endif]--> <div class="column column-100" style="display: inline-block; width: 100%; vertical-align: top;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="alignmentContainer" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; font-size: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="image" src="https://d1yoaun8syyxxt.cloudfront.net/af701-00da03f1-95e1-4503-9217-07c5a0f20a1b-v2" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; width: 96%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="576" /></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]></tr></table><![endif]--></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td></tr></table><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" align="center" style="width:600px;"><tr><td><![endif]--> <div style="max-width: 600px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px auto;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="font-size: 0px; width: 100%; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top; font-size: 0px;"> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><td style="vertical-align:top;width:600px;"><![endif]--> <div class="column column-100" style="display: inline-block; width: 100%; vertical-align: top;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; font-size: 0px; padding: 15px; text-align: left;"> <div> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; line-height: 1.6;">Also as we predicted together, people are being squeezed economically and they are <a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1225/1febca50a61d2933/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/6083856350576640/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">rising up everywhere</a>, shaking democratic institutions to their core, demanding change.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">But that change is not coming, as the combination of the Internet and big capital is not slowing down and will eventually drive 99% of the income and wealth into the hands of the richest top 1%.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">We are also right that the most powerful companies on the planet would attempt to bring together the very thing we've been working on (an economy based on cryptocurrency).</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">If you haven't noticed, Facebook has been working on bringing <a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1223/14fb833377946404/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/4666355276316672/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">cryptocurrency into its platform</a> so it can become an economy.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">That is exactly what the world does NOT need at this point:</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">An economy of 3 billion people that's set up to extract money (IE: suck out profits) away from the community of people it pretends to serve, accelerating the economic haves/have nots (master/slave) class that's already rapidly forming globally.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> <br /></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Again, to be clear, we were right with a lot of things, but none of it came easy to most of us:</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Our community members, Success Coaches and employees have all experienced differing levels of personal difficulty in keeping the faith and staying focused.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Each of us, needed to decide for ourselves, if we could find the energy and optimism -- and funds -- to stay with the program and keep moving forward. Of course many of our amazing community members could not hang on and ultimately had to quit empowr to go find a way to provide for their families.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">And yet many of us hung in there, despite the immense difficulties, and managed to keep our chins up and find the optimism, not matter how hard that was to do at times.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">And some of us were even able to help others in the community, that were having the hardest time keeping optimistic, to find the light and hope.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">And so, on this end, here at the company headquarters, in 2019 we went deep into a project to see if we could find a way to get the platform to critical mass, WITHOUT taking money from investors.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">As some of you know very well (since you were working hand-in-hand with us on some or all of it) we tried many different marketing approaches.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Without big marketing dollars to spend, this surely has been a gigantic challenge and quite difficult to solve.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">But after trying nearly 30 very different approaches, we now believe we have the optimal set of answers, approaches and tactics.</b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Without revealing too much to our competitors, the answer is that we break the problem down to smaller pieces, and start with micro-communities.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">In other words, instead of trying to bring new citizens into the platform when there are not a lot of people around them (locally, where they live) yet....</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... we start by targeting very specific, smaller communities of people, that are the most likely to:</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">A. Understand and believe in our mission</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">B. Be open-minded to trying new things</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">C. And most importantly, immediately benefit from our offerings</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">The idea was that, somehow, if we can identify smaller, local communities that are the most likely to meet those three (3) criteria...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... and are able to reach them and bring in many of them into the platform <em>quickly</em>...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... then they will find value in the platform and stay engaged.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Then, from there, and with their help – and with their knowledge and experience with our platform, we can start expanding and reaching out to the adjacent communities and people...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... and start bringing them into the platform too...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... until nearly the whole world is utilizing our platform.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> <br /></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">The ideal market</b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">So, which local community is most likely to benefit from our offerings, be open minded, and believe in our mission?</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><u class="bard-text-block style-scope">Students</u></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Think about it for a moment. Students (in particular college and university students):</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">· Could use some extra income while they are in school, benefitting from earning from posting and sharing</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">· It is hard for them to work 'normal jobs' given that they need flexible work schedules because their class schedules are constantly changing every academic semester. That schedule flexibility is exactly what our platform offers.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">· Many of them do not have cars, and it is hard for them to physically get to a job location. Again, that location flexibility is a benefit our platform offers.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">· They are young and will be on this planet for at least another half century, and therefore have shown to be the most motivated to ensure the planet is in good shape (and therefore are most likely to value our Sharing of Everythingeffort).</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">· They are the most optimistic and idealistic – able to believe in big ideas and missions -- as life has not beaten them down as much as it has beaten down many older people. This ability to stay optimistic and hopeful is what defines most of you; without it you wouldn't still be reading this.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">· They still believe in a sense of fairness, and are more motivated to see a world where inequality is getting better, not worse</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">· They are the most capable and willing to learn and try new things – like our platform -- and less likely to get stuck in their old ways as much as older people are</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">· They often live within small distances of their campus – sometimes ten thousand, twenty thousand or even more of them living within just a kilometer or mile of each other...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... which makes for a great 'local' (as in, close proximity to each other) community to get the most value out of our platform:</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">o With the our <a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1221/360bb44f6a48db47/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/6131829994422272/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">Sharing of Everything</a> approach, as well as simple selling and delivering of products and services, a close geographic proximity to each other also means offering <em>services</em> becomes viable (near-impossible to do most services if the buyer and seller live far apart)...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">o ... and delivering products to each other is quite possible and even easy to do without having to pay for shipping</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Ideal target market: College and university students</b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">After trying many different approaches during the course of 2019, we have slowly but surely become more and more convinced that the college market is the best way to reach a critical mass of citizens, at a local level.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">And therefore, we have been working on a comprehensive plan to target the college market in cities around the world, that includes everything we've built plus:</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">· Local merchants around campuses</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">o Students will be able to use their <b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">mobile phone to pay merchants</b> with their earnings from posting content, along with other earnings</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">· And due to the local nature (close proximity of customers to each other):</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">o Earning by <b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Transporting</b> (finally!)</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">o <b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Services</b> and of course <b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Sharing</b> (as opposed to Selling) products</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Rather than take everyone's time here, in this blog post, discussing all the details of our marketing launch, we'll share it with our new <b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">city Vice Presidents</b> – who are the people that will be leading and managing each city's college campuses, students, merchants and Guides.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">For a list of the incredible community members that contributed to this massive effort, go to the bottom of this post.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> <br /></p> <h2 class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; margin: 15px 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: bold;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(58, 117, 34); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">2. Now hiring Vice Presidents</b></h2> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Each city will need a leader, to work with the local universities, students, Guides and merchants.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Naturally, for their work, Vice Presidents will earn a % of all the revenue that their students and merchants earn.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">This VP role is looking like the very best opportunity to earn that we've had in our history.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Our process of training Vice Presidents will get started in the coming days, so that immediately after the New Year rolls around (in just 30 days from now) they'll be able to start working and earning.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">To apply for the Vice President position for your city, <a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1219/c59035b2543fb03f/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/6165376776011776/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">go here</a>. </p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">I know you have many questions, including:</p> <ul class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; margin-top: 16px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: initial; line-height: 1.6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"> <li class="" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">What are the Vice President's responsibilities?</li> <li class="" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Will I have support? How do I know what to do?</li> <li class="" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">What kind of merchants can I bring in?</li> <li class="" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">How much can each VP earn? Are there any limits? How much time will this take?</li> <li class="" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Who can be a Vice President?</li> </ul> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">We will answer all of those questions for you; rather than go into all those details here, simply take a few seconds to raise your hand to indicate your interest, and we'll answer all of that.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Thanks to all the hard work and incredible focus and persistence, the empowr community has figured out what it takes to arrive at critical mass quickly and without taking any funds from investors.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Those steps with now be detailed for Vice Presidents.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Our first step together will be to show you <b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">the exact steps you need to do</b>, to bring your city into critical mass.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">To indicate your interest and find out all the details, simply fill out <a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1217/d5e266dfb1ff26af/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/4997609259532288/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">this quick form</a>.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> <br /></p> <h2 class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; margin: 15px 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(58, 117, 34);" class="bard-text-block style-scope">3. We must now take down the alpha site to cut costs and make way for our global beta launch:</span> </h2> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">The monthly cost of keeping the empowr alpha system's computer servers up and running is approximately $100,000 USD.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Up to now, all such costs have been paid by our community of citizens, Guides (success coaches) and employees.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">In order to have the resources to pay for the global launch, we must cut that cost.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Since we know everyone has already more than done their part, instead of asking the community for donations that total up to $100,000 per month, we think it makes more sense to take the alpha site down, in preparation for the beta launch and marketing push.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">The empowr alpha site will be taken down in 31 days from now -- on <b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">January 5th, 2020</b>. When that happens:</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">A. The empowr product will become inaccessible.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">B. Everyone's data will be gone forever, unfortunately, since the storage of the data makes up a lot of the monthly cost.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">That means that, when the beta site is launched, everyone will need to start with a fresh new account.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">To be clear, your coins that are on the blockchain will be fine and won't be affected; but your empowr balance will be inaccessible until the beta site is launched unfortunately, since it lives in the empowr site and cloud.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">When the beta site is launched, your alpha coin balance will appear in the new beta site.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">When the beta site is launched in January, the monthly cost of hosting our servers will be much lower because all the data will be gone.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">In order to give everyone some time to back up any blogs, photos or other content they have, we are giving the community 31 days before taking down the alpha site.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">So please, take some time over the holidays to back up any amazing blogs and other items that you think you will later miss.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><br /></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Imagine critical mass</b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Just think of all the benefits that will come once the new platform is up and running and the marketing process has begun:</p> <ul class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; margin-top: 16px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: initial; line-height: 1.6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"> <li style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">A wider variety of people in the community and things in the marketplace (merchants, services and product sharing)</li> <li style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">= More people transacting</li> <li class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">= More liquidity on the exchange</li> <li class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">= More buying and selling</li> <li class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">= More cash outs for everyone</li> </ul> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">An empowr platform with critical mass is not something any of us at empowr have ever experienced.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">(Again, as an example, an Uber with critical mass has little value; but an Uber at critical mass has immense value). </p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Just imagine the empowr experience after we surpass critical mass soon.</b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Our process of training Vice Presidents will get started soon, so that immediately after the New Year rolls around (in only 30 days from now) they'll be able to start working and earning.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Again, to apply to be the leader (Vice President) for your city, simply let us know of your interest <a class="bard-text-block style-scope" data-merge-field="https://af701.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/1215/22c45dcdbbfdbbf3/b853c7b0eac1f392abc503af3debd467e2e36db248206fcdad7a896a32655ced8aa7aac035b07436c211035d39519266" href="https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/5977508531142656/6300406923919360" style="color: rgb(43, 170, 223); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> <br /></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(58, 117, 34); padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">2020 is only 3 weeks away!</b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">With the big, and very difficult 2019 'research year' finally behind us now, 2020 promises to be our most exciting year yet. </p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">(And there will be a few surprises that I am not at liberty to speak about quite yet, to ensure that our competition doesn't hear about it).</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Personally, I cannot tell you how incredibly excited I am to finally be back to working with everyone on the product, making it faster, bug-free and adding all the features you've been asking for, speaking with you more often, and charging forward together again...</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">... like we did together for so many years before we all got sucked into this last big challenge.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"> <br /></p> <h2 class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(58, 117, 34); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; margin: 15px 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: bold;">A huge thank you to some very special people</h2> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">A big THANKS again to everyone that worked hard in the efforts to figure out how to achieve critical mass without investor capital.</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><b class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">It was a long and difficult process, but together we did it. </b></p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Here are those superstars – sorted in alphabetical order. Thank you!!!</p> </div></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]></tr></table><![endif]--></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td></tr></table><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" align="center" style="width:600px;"><tr><td><![endif]--> <div style="max-width: 600px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px auto;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="font-size: 0px; width: 100%; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top; font-size: 0px;"> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><td style="vertical-align:top;width:600px;"><![endif]--> <div class="column column-100" style="display: inline-block; width: 100%; vertical-align: top;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="alignmentContainer" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; font-size: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="image" src="https://d1yoaun8syyxxt.cloudfront.net/af701-5c4d7c8e-cf95-4180-a897-ff693f4941be-v2" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; width: 96%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="576" /></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]></tr></table><![endif]--></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td></tr></table><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" align="center" style="width:600px;"><tr><td><![endif]--> <div style="max-width: 600px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px auto;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="font-size: 0px; width: 100%; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top; font-size: 0px;"> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><td style="vertical-align:top;width:600px;"><![endif]--> <div class="column column-100" style="display: inline-block; width: 100%; vertical-align: top;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="alignmentContainer" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; font-size: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"> <div style="padding-top: 15px;"> <!--[if mso]><v:rect xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" filled="f" stroked="false" style="width:10;height:15"></v:rect><![endif]--> </div></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]></tr></table><![endif]--></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td></tr></table><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" align="center" style="width:600px;"><tr><td><![endif]--> <div style="max-width: 600px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px auto;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="font-size: 0px; width: 100%; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top; font-size: 0px;"> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><td style="vertical-align:top;width:600px;"><![endif]--> <div class="column column-100" style="display: inline-block; width: 100%; vertical-align: top;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; font-size: 0px; padding: 15px; text-align: left;"> <div> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; line-height: 1.6;">Please accept my sincere apologies if I accidentally forgot to include you on the list. </p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Yours truly,</p> <p class="bard-text-block style-scope" style="color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px 0px; line-height: 1.6;">JC</p> </div></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]></tr></table><![endif]--></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td></tr></table><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" align="center" style="width:600px;"><tr><td><![endif]--> <div style="max-width: 600px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px auto;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="font-size: 0px; width: 100%; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top; font-size: 0px;"> <!--[if mso]><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]><td style="vertical-align:top;width:600px;"><![endif]--> <div class="column column-100" style="display: inline-block; width: 100%; vertical-align: top;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="alignmentContainer" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; 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padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);" target="_blank">Unsubscribe</a></p> <p style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px 0px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px;">NTRS 860 S Los Angeles St Ste 804 Los Angeles, California 90014 United States</p> </div></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td><![endif]--> <!--[if mso]></tr></table><![endif]--></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <!--[if mso]></td></tr></table><![endif]--> </div> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://is-tracking-pixel-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/render/5610127493562368/5806179395960832" width="1" /> Early (big) news for 2020 Early (big) news for 2020 ... 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