Get-Rich-Quick Schemes Vs Legitimate Work-At-Home Opportunities

Get-Rich-Quick Schemes Vs Legitimate Work-At-Home Opportunities By Smiley Webb There are a lot of get rich quick schemes on the web that bill themselves as work-at-home opportunities, but get rich quick schemes seldom make anyone any money. There are real work at home opportunities out there. You just have to get past all the hype that people post on the web. Here are 10 tips to help you avoid wasting time and money on schemes that will never pay off; 1. How did you learn about this work at home opportunity? Did it come in a spam email or an email that you did not sign up for? Was it from a website popup or exit console? Was it in junk mail? These are signs that the offer may not be legitimate. Junk Mail may not be the final word on whether it is legitimate or not because many companies market this way, however, it is unsolicited mail much like spam. 2. Do they promise you will be making thousands of dollars in the first month or first 90 days with little or no work involved? Working at home is no different than owning any other business or working a job. It takes hard work and dedication along with a little luck to make good money at it. Any scheme that claims they can make you rich right away or that tells you that there is hardly any work involved, is a scam. If it were true, why would they need you? 3. Do you have to buy their software or ebook in order to get started? Are they simply in the business of selling you their package or are they actually doing this themselves? This is another sign that they may be in the business of selling you their ebook or package or tapes or whatever and not in the business they are trying to get you to do. Some legitimate work at home opportunities may require you to buy a membership or other product. You have to learn to recognize the difference. 4. Do they talk a lot about reveling secrets and shortcuts to becoming wealthy? Those who talk about teaching you the secrets of making money online or offline or that are offering shortcuts to wealth are usually scams. If it were a legitimate opportunity they would have no need to tell you that you don't have to work at it or that you will get rich quick. Ask yourself, if they have a secret that makes people wealthy, why would they tell it to you? 5. Look at the offer and read it critically. Pyramid schemes or MLM opportunities are notorious for their lack of truth and legitimacy. Pretty much anything with a downline should be scrutinized with care. Here is a clue to look for. If the primary focus of the organization is to recruit more people into the program, then it's probably a scam. It could even be illegal as a pyramid scheme where you live. If the primary focus is selling product, then it might be legitimate. That doesn't mean you believe the hype about how much you can make or how little you will have to work however. 6. Go to http://www.betterwhois.com and check to see who owns the domain name if the opportunity is web-based or if the offer lists a website. If the information listed in whois about the domain name looks false, such as phone numbers like 999-999-9999 or shaky looking email addresses and street addresses, then the offer is likely a scam. If there is no information listed there, then I wouldn't trust the deal either. If the name on the domain has nothing to do with the personal or company name of the person trying to sell you something, then it's a little suspicious as well. 7. If they use testimonials, go to your favorite search engine and type in the names on the testimonials and see what you find about those people. You never know what you might learn. Those with really common names are not so easy to search because you don't know which one they are, but those with uncommon names might be found. If they turn out to be with the company trying to sell to you, then the testimonial was bogus. Look also to see if they are from a similar address or phone number as the person or company trying to sell to you. 8. Again, using the search engines, type in the name of the opportunity and see if there is more information about them on other websites, forums, and blogs. You might even type the word scam or rip-off next to the name of the company to see if there are any posted complaints about them. Many people try to get the word out to others when they get ripped off. 9. Offline, call your local Better Business Bureau to see if there are complaints about the company. Online you can search for information yourself or search for the better business bureau online. 10. Finally, If the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. With scams, it might walk like a duck, talk like a duck, smell like a duck, and even look like a duck, but it might not be a duck. Check all work at home opportunities out carefully before spending too much money. Smiley Webb has been working for himself at home for enough years to learn the advantages and disadvantages of self-employment and loves to share his ideas and insights with people all over the world who want to do the same. Smiley also maintains websites at http://workathomebusiness.smileycomm.com and http://www.smileycomm.com for more information about work at home opportunities.