Now Launching: "Sharing v1" and "Transporting v1" By Brian C Woosley on April 26, 2017 | |
Hello everyone, In our recent discussion, we concluded that, thanks to rapidly advancing technology… … the future will be one where fundamentally everything we want or need… will be ours fast, for virtually or nearly free If you’re new to this conversation or need a refresher on the above, you’ll want to read this first. Together, we then decided that, instead of waiting for the future to come to us… … we uniquely have everything it takes to make the future happen RIGHT NOW. The game plan 1. The first step we discussed, was to make it much easier to hit our Daily Goals, by removing the requirement to bid. As you’ve noticed, that item is now complete: 
In the coming weeks, you’ll see a completely revamped Daily Goals approach, which will allow YOU to choose your daily goal, as well as what activities you wish to utilize to hit your goal. Pretty cool, right? I love the idea of giving you choice! 2. Then, we released a series of optimizations to services by enabling empowr citizens to: • List services easier than ever before • Sell services locally (to those in your circle of trust) • Secure payment for sales with in-person validation • Have your sales of services count towards your Daily Goals, AMCO cash outs & stock option points 3. And today, we're excited to announce the launch of the first versions of Sharing and Transporting… … which are the key to the future we’ve been envisioning. Starting now, you’ll notice that when you attempt to list a product… … you're given the option to either Sell it… Share it... or do both. 
Sharing will allow us to generate repeat (IE: recurring) revenue from the things we list… … allowing each of us to earn more from each of the things we list. It will also encourage us all to list more things… … because now we’ll want to list (to Share) many of the things we have that we don’t want to sell. So, let’s discuss exactly what sharing means, how it works, and how you can start increasing your earnings by sharing TODAY! What does “sharing” mean, exactly? Let’s imagine you’re the owner of this drill. 
You bought it for $50 at the store over a year ago, and since then, you've used it just a few times. Fact: The typical drill is used for an average of 13 minutes over its lifetime. Wouldn't it be great if you were able to share the drill with others so that your $50 didn't go to waste? With sharing on empowr, citizens can “use” products (like, say, this drill) by paying a “daily use price” to the “product sharer”. In the case of the drill, if you decided to share your drill for $5 per day, after sharing with just a few people, you'll not only recover the cost that you originally paid for the drill, but you can then continue sharing it with others (earning $5 every day) for as long as you’d like or the drill lasts.
Each time you share that drill, you’re generating recurring revenue.
This means, you keep earning every single time you share with someone else. So, you can very clearly see how you could easily make that $50 back and MORE after just one or two shares, plus even MORE every additional time that you decide to share it. Now let’s learn about how YOU can “share” on empowr: To share a product in the marketplace, simply “create a listing” as you’re accustomed to doing: 
You’ll want to add photos, name the product, description of what it is, and then select a category that accurately illustrates what it is you’re listing.  
From the top of your settings, you’ll see a drop-down menu which gives you the option to “Share”, “Sell”, or do “Both”. 
⦁ If you select “Sell” you’re choosing to list your product for a one-time sale (as you’ve been doing). ⦁ If you select “Share” you’re allowing others to pay to "use" your product daily (but not purchase it). ⦁ If you select “Both” you’re allowing others to either pay to "use" your product daily OR purchase it outright for your sale price. If you've chosen to share your product, you'll want to set your daily "use" price, which is the amount that you'll earn each day someone uses your product. 
To protect your item, you’ll also want to specify a security deposit amount for the item. This is the amount that empowr will withhold from the product user, until the item is returned to you. Keep in mind - if you set your security deposit too high, many citizens may not have enough profits to be able to use your product… Or, even if they do have enough profits, they may be reluctant to use it because of the deposit being too high. So setting your deposit too high may result in less customers for you! Be sure that your security deposit is fair and reasonable, to attract more potential customers. 
Perhaps you want to set it very high so that people won’t want to keep it for themselves? Don’t worry, we have a solution that we believe will stop people from doing that. More on that in a moment. Lastly, don’t forget to select the shipping weight of the item (this will help us find the right empowr transporter for the job - more on that soon). 
Once you click “Save”, you’ll be able to review your listing details and then click “Sell it now” to officially list your item in the marketplace! 
Using other people's products Earlier we explained how sharing enables empowr citizens to earn recurring revenue from things they’re not using all the time. Now imagine, that instead of purchasing the drill in the example above, you simply use someone else’s drill for $5 a day on those few days that you need it each year. That $50 that you spent on purchasing the drill, would have only been $15 - freeing up your earnings for a wide variety of other things. By having access to anything you could ever want, when you want it, your options will quickly become much greater than you could have ever imagined. So where do you find items that you can use, and how do you go about using them? From the marketplace, you can view listings that are specifically available to “Use”. 
Don’t see that many items available to use in your area? Don’t worry, the number of items available will be growing rapidly in the coming weeks and months. How do I know? Already, every minute hundreds of new items are being listed to share! If you find the product that you’d like to use, you can simply click “Use Now” to see all the details about it... 
... including more photos, a description, the use price per day, and what the security deposit is to secure the use of the item: 
Why the need for a security deposit? By using products that other empowr citizens are sharing, you're responsible for the safe return of the item so that the product sharer can allow other empowr citizens to use the product after you. As a product user, if you were to ever break or lose and item, your security deposit will be used to pay the product sharer so that they can fix or replace it. What if I don't have enough profits to cover the security deposit for a product I want to use? When attempting to use a product, your security deposit can be covered by reserving a portion of your empowr profits, which will be returned to you as soon as you return the product back to the product sharer. To make sure both product user and product sharer have an awesome sharing experience, citizens that don't have enough profits to secure an item will be unable to use it at this time:  Does distance between the product user and product sharer matter? To ensure fast delivery, to use or share a product with others, the product sharer and product user must be located within at least 20 miles (30 kilometers) of each other. In fact, the sharer can shorten this distance even further when listing the item. 
Before you get started sharing and using products on empowr, you'll want to first set your location where empowr transporters can meet you to deliver or pick-up packages. 
Now that I'm ready to use a product, how do I receive my item FAST? Once you find exactly what you’d like to use, just click “Use” and confirm that you’d like to use the product. 
From there, the system will look for eligible transporters in your area that can drop-off the product to you. 
If a transporter is available, you'll be notified that they're on their way… … and most likely it will be within less than an hour! But… how will you be notified when a transport has been initiated? We’ve come up with an easy, convenient way to make sure that you’re notified the moment a transport is initiated. As you’re going through your Circle of Trust, the moment the transport is initiated, we’ll notify you with a bright green banner at the top of the page, which will appear on any profile that you’re visiting. 
You can act directly from the green banner to arrange the transport, confirm the pick up or drop off, or contact the other party. And what if there are no transporters available? 
Why wouldn't there be any transporters available?
Being a transporter is a big responsibility. We want to ensure only the best folks are allowed to take possession of citizens’ shared products and deliver them safely and punctually. Therefore, to be eligible to earn from transporting, you’ll need at least 10 transporter ratings of 4.0 or higher. This is to ensure that only the best, most trustworthy transporters can pick-up and drop-off products to other empowr citizens. Wait! Question: How can I get rated at least 10 times as a transporter, before being allowed to earn from transporting? Answer: You can transport for yourself – when you’re the user of a product. The product sharer will be able to rate you as a transporter – both when you pick up the item, as well as when you return it. In that manner, you’re only being entrusted with a product that, as the user, you would be handling anyway. And soon, you’ll also be able to transport the items you’re sharing, in order to get 10 good ratings under your belt. And that’s why, at first, no one will have enough transports (and a high enough transporter rating, based on at least 10 transports) to be able to transport items for others. As soon as many of you have reached 10 transports with good (4.0 average or higher) ratings, we will open up transporting and you'll be able to start earning from transporting immediately. (And to make it even more fun, at that time we’ll list the top rated transporters, that have surpassed 10 transports, so we can all congratulate them!) Transporting the stuff you’re using As discussed, when picking up or dropping off an item that you're using, you'll have the opportunity to be rated as a transporter. That means, by transporting the first few items you've decided to use, you should focus on doing an awesome job so that you receive a 5-star rating every single time. The more 5-star ratings you receive as a transporter, the more transporter earnings you can earn later. We’ll discuss why else ratings are so important in just a little bit. The different roles in the transportation process To make it easier to discuss this, let’s agree on some terms. Let’s say that Joe is sharing a product with Sally, the user: • Joe is the product sharer • Sally is the product user When the transporter is going to pick up the product from Joe… … along with being the sharer, Joe is also the sender. When the transporter is delivering the product to Sally… … along with being the user, Sally is also the receiver. Now imagine that Sally has finished using the product, and requests a transporter. This time, Sally (the user) will be the sender… … because she’s sending the product back to the sharer… … and Joe is the receiver… … because he’ll be receiving his product back. I know, lots of new roles/terms to think about (sharer, user, transporter, sender and receiver)… ... but that’s it! Now that we’ve agreed to these terms, now we can move on. If you need to pick-up the product yourself (acting as the transporter) you’ll want to select “Open my empowr inbox” to communicate with the product sharer and agree on a place and time to pick-up the product. 
Once you’ve both agreed, you’re ready to exchange the product! When you arrive at the agreed upon location and have picked up the item, you’ll both need to confirm the pick-up in-person with each other. To confirm, you can both simply click the provided link in the inbox message: 
By clicking the link: If you’re transporting the item (even though you’re also the user) you’ll be taken to the “I’m Transporting” page: 
If you’re the sender (you’re sharing the product, and you’re waiting for the transporter to pick it up from you), you’ll be taken to your “En Route to Me” page. 
From there, you’ll both click “Confirm Pick-Up” to confirm the pick-up: 
Once the pick-up has been confirmed, you’ll both have the ability to rate each other:  
To rate each other, we’ll use a simple 5-star rating system (1 star being the worst experience, and 5 starts being the very best experience). You may also choose to provide additional feedback, that may be helpful for the other person to improve. And there you have it… Congratulations! The product user has successfully received the product, and the product sharer is earning. Now, just enjoy using the product! Ready to return the product back to its owner? Once you’re finished using the product, you can return it to the sharer. As the product user, simply visit your “I’m Using” page and select the item you’d like to return. 
Then, select “Return this item”: 
Once you decide to “Return the Item” empowr will look for transporters in your area. 
If there are no transporters nearby, you will see the following message: 
By clicking “Open my empowr inbox” you’ll again be taken to an inbox message between yourself and the product sharer. You’ll want to confirm the drop-off time and location for the return. 
Once you successfully meet up with the product sharer and you’ve returned the item, you’ll both want to confirm that the drop-off occurred. To do so, simply click the “Confirm Drop-Off” link in the inbox message: 
Once you both click the link, you’ll both be asked to confirm that the drop-off occurred.  
Remember – it’s important that you confirm the drop-off together, so that empowr can verify the transaction.  
Once empowr has successfully confirmed the transaction, you can rate each other:  
Note: Leaving additional feedback is completely optional and is not something you need to do. The important thing is to simply rate the other person (1 to 5 stars). Your rating of each other will not be shared with each other. Also, your rating will not take effect instantly, so they won’t be able to know how you rated them. That should give everyone the peace of mind to rate as honestly as possible. To view any items that you’ve successfully used or shared, just visit your “I’ve Shared” or “I’ve Used” pages. 
As a product user, you can also rate the product you used, by visiting your “I’ve Used” page: 
As a product sharer, you can rate the product user by visiting your “I’ve Shared” page: 
Be sure to provide honest ratings regarding the product, the user and your experience. The more accurate and honest your ratings, the better the empowr economy will become. Earning from sharing Once the sharing transaction is complete, visit your balance to see your earnings: 
As a product user, you’ll also see that your deposit was fully returned to your balance. 
Always make sure that you return the product in the same condition that you received it, so that 100% of your deposit is returned to you. Sharing now counts toward your Daily Goals, AMCOs & stock option points As you know, services now count toward your Daily Goals, AMCO cash outs & stock option points. And now, so does sharing! And very soon, transporting will count, too! Disputes We’re working on integrating the new sharing features into the new dispute system so that any sharing disputes can also be handled as quickly for you as any other dispute. Unreturned item We’re also working on a new Unreturned item feature, so that sharers can block anyone from using their products that has not returned someone’s shared product in recent months. Remember, if a user doesn’t return a shared item to the sharer, they will lose their security deposit, of course. Naturally, the security deposit will be given to the product sharer. In addition, the platform will automatically give the user a 0 rating for the use of that item -- which will also make it difficult for them to use more products. But soon, using this new Unreturned item feature, sharers will also have the ability to make it impossible for anyone that lost or didn’t return an item (from any sharer) to use any of their products. Users: As you can see, it’s really important that you protect the sharers’ items even better than if they were you own. Otherwise, you’ll easily get locked out of using more products on empowr, for months. If I were you, and I accidentally lost a product, I would quickly purchase the same product from somewhere and ensure it gets delivered to the sharer. By doing that, your Unreturned Item count will not be negatively affected, and also the sharer will gladly rate you 5 stars, I am sure. What matters the most? Perhaps the most important thing to understand about Sharing, is that now ratings will matter A LOT. For example, as soon as your customer (the “product user” of the thing you’re sharing) is finished using it, you’ll be able to rate them: Did they treat your item as if it was their own? If not, rate them poorly, which will help lock them out of the marketplace. As a product sharer, you’ll control who (based on ratings) will have access to YOUR stuff, and who will not. The product users that do not treat the product sharer’s products well, will quickly be locked out of using that sharer’s products… … and with just 2 or 3 bad ratings, blocked from Using products from everyone else too. As a product user, you can rate the product sharer's items, which in turn will also affect the ratings of the sharer themselves. Those product sharers with the best ratings, will have their items shown: 1. at the top of marketplace searches 2. at the top of profiles The lower rated items and people (product sharers) will have a hard time being found. And even when they are found, most product users will avoid using their items, after seeing their poor ratings. The very best thing you can do to succeed To set yourself up for long-term success, you’ll want to ensure the algorithms show you and your stuff first, before others, at the top of marketplace searches, and at the top of profiles. To accomplish that, there are only 2 steps: 1. Prepare to share a lot of things fast… … to ensure you get top placement in the marketplace. Get into as many product categories as you can. The more categories you share in, as soon as possible, the better. You’ll want the system to see you there quickly, so it fills the top spots with you and your stuff. 2. Then, as always, ensure your customers (the product users that pay you) rate you well. You already know what to do for that – which is to simply treat people like you want to be treated: • Under-promise • Over-deliver And: • Tell the truth about your product • Smile • Demonstrate that you care about their needs, including showing a sense of urgency • Always try and keep this thought in your mind: “The customer is always right” If you do those things consistently, you and your items will grab the top spots – leading to many times more sales for you… … which, in turn, will solidify you in the top spots even more… … bringing you even more sales and “top spot stickiness” …. …. and competitors will soon have a very difficult tough time unseating you from those top spots. The winning game plan summary: 1. Share as many things as you can, in as many different categories as you can. 2. Focus on getting 5 star ratings from each “product user” (customer) every single time Bringing you even more customers As mentioned a few days ago, empowr has acquired a massive marketing budget to bring you local customers. Specifically, empowr has secured millions of dollars that will be strictly used to promote your Shared items and Services. empowr will start ramping up that marketing spend in the coming days… … to promote your shared items and bring you customers. What’s next? Right now, all you need to do is start listing as many products as you can share, along with the services your think you can offer. Check out the categories of products in the empowr marketplace… … and do your very best to start listing as many products as you can. Any big sales happening in your local stores? Perhaps hit those up so you’ve got the items in your hands, ready to Share. Need some ideas on services that you might be able to list? Check out the some top selling services on the Hot Stuff page, and list those too! If you do your best to list as many products and services as you can, empowr’s marketing team will do everything in its power to start bringing you the customers. Together, let’s watch the empowr marketplace explode, and become the greatest marketplace in existence. Jumpstarting the future… now! With this launch, I believe that – together – we are the first company & community to charge forward with what will likely become the largest single category of commerce in the world: Sharing (We’ve already seen two companies -- uBer and AirBnb -- become massive entities, worth tens of billions of dollars each -- by enabling the sharing of cars and homes). And now, today, empowr is the only company & community on the planet that has built and integrated EVERYTHING it takes to pull off the “sharing of everything else”: Social networking Currency Marketplace Reputation management Transportation Collateral Educational system Arbitration and dispute management … And so much more. Yes, there are many companies in each of these categories, many of which are doing a good job in their category…. However: Not one of them has yet been able to build and integrate EVERYTHING it takes to pull this off. Not one of them was built without a penny of investor capital. (And therefore, none of them are able to organize their priorities around making your life better, as opposed to enriching their shareholders). And none of them has YOU, this incredible community of motivated, selfless individuals that have proven, time after time, that you’ll stop at nothing… … in your quest in this to make the world a better place, with more justice and less inequality. Together, we’re not just sitting back and talking about the future, but we’re making the future happen NOW. The people of the world will be better because of our efforts, as they gain access to an exploding variety of items -- quickly -- and for FREE (or for doing that which they’re already doing for free: social networking). When half the planet is living on $2 or less per day, can you imagine the difference we can make in their lives? And our planet will also be better. Much better: No longer will factories be needing to output massive amounts of things that will hardly get used. Make no mistake: Global warming is real, and it’s almost too late to do anything about it. But by moving fast & hard now, together we will have an answer when, in the future, we’re asked: What did you do to make a difference, when scientists were all warning about this? And, yes, of course there will be bugs, issues and missing features (don’t worry – we are always listening!) But as always, you can rest assured that, together, we will continue to overcome any and all obstacles in our path to enabling opportunity, hope and influence for everyone. Any questions? We’re here for you.
Your President,
Brian Woosley
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