When I get leads, for any business, I only buy double opt in leads. What this means is that they fill out a form confirming that they want business opportunities. Usually there are two steps involved in this, hence the term double opt in. They fill out the form, then they confirm the information included.
Also, there are dozens of forums set up specifically for people to advertise their business. There are a lot of them through the yahoo forums, and also through hotmail. If you join those and advertise, you are usually asked to advertise once a day, but many ignore that rule.
I don't, because you can get kicked out of the group. But the point is, these are specifically to advertise in, so it's not considered spam. I would say that when you join, set your email options to reading the ads on the website, otherwise you will recieve thousands of emails from everyone else. It's much easier to go to the groups home, and read what you want there.
It's not the most effective way to advertise, but it does get some results over the long term when people see you advertising the same program over and over.
Same principle with safe lists. People go there to post and read ads. So it's not spamming to post there because that is what they are there for. However, always read the terms and agreements before you post anything. And there are ways to get peoples attention in the chat rooms without spamming also.
I use the chat rooms a lot. That is where I've gotten my 4 sign ups from. If done properly, it can be very effective. Also, when someone emails you with an advertisement, you could try sending a bounce back email. When you send the email, do not send your business info.
Instead send something along the lines of:

Hi,

Thanks for sending me your offer, however, I am already with a business that is changing my financial future to the better, and I'm having a blast doing so. This is such a terrific program that I'm telling everyone I can about it. If you would some more information on what's got me so fired up, then please reply to this email and let me know.

Sincerely,Dave
With this email, I am not spamming them, and if they reply, then they are giving me permission to send them information on my business. So it's not spam in this case.

Sincerely,
Dave

P.S. Notice I did not use a sig line in my reply.

There are so many reasons for people to quit it's amazing. I don't worry too much about trying to convince them to stay. If they've made up their minds to leave, you probably won't change it anyways. I know a lot of people come on board thinking that in a week or two they are going to be making thousands of dollars with no work.
You may have explained that they need to do work, but people tend to hear what they want to hear, not what you actually said. Especially with all of these programs out there saying that you can get rich without doing anything. Just keep sending them emails on how to build their business, how to join this forum, etc....
I've gotten two signups in the past 2 days, so I'm pretty happy. One is going to be interesting to see what he does. He signed up, but is listed as inactive since he didn't list a way to pay for the service. He says that his father is a king over in one of the African countries. Haven't verified that yet. If he is, I may be into a good thing here.
I'll keep ya'll  posted on what I  find out.

David Rowland

After just a few months I sure wouldn't give up. It takes an average of 2 to 5 years to build a successful business for the average person. It can get expensive yes, but as long as your trying, you will succeed. You do need to have a business plan though. Without a business plan your chances of success are based more on luck, and chance than anything else.
You need to plan your time, money, advertising, etc, etc, etc.....
Also, there are dozens of ways to advertise for free. They do take some time, but that is why you budget your time. I have 5 business's now with GDI. I am having fun with all of them, but I only allocate 2 hours a night to promote my business's on the internet. Why? So I don't get burned out and discouraged with them. There are other things that I can do also. I belong to several forums, where I am making myself known, or already have. Many of the people there know what I am doing, and I know what many of them are doing. I don't always tell everyone when I'm chatting with them, but I do use sig lines like crazy.
Be patient. It takes time to build a successful business. Of any kind.

Sincerely,
Dave

I'm new to GDI, and I'm very glad to see that GDI is trying to help deaf folks to build their own business. I'm hearing, and have a lot of deaf friends. I know some sign language, and also Cued Speech. I interpreted for a time at a church that I used to attend, and I was a Cued Speech Transliterator for two years at a local school. I'm also the moderator for the Cued Speech forum.
I enjoy signing, and cueing, although I do need to practice quite a bit more than I do.
I have worked in other business's where there were some modifications made to help the deaf within the company, but none so much as what GDI has done from what I have seen. I look forward to seeing what else will be done to help with the communication needs, not just of deaf folks, but other languages as well.

Sincerely,
Dave

Hello Everyone,

My name is David Rowland. I was a member in FFSI under Derek Bohlken some time back. That business wasn't working very well for me, and I had to drop out. I have continued looking for a business that I could do without a lot of physical activity, due to a bad back. Right now I work as an electrician full time, but it is becoming very difficult to do so because of my back. I'm hoping to be able to build up my GDI business enough to retire from construction by the end of this year.
I look forward to working this business and seeing what happens.