Make Money Online

Here is a comment from my recent post: “What Is Your Biggest Question About Making Money Online?”

“With so many folks pushing so many money-making products out there, how do we distinguish between the legitimate ones & the scams (without losing our shirts in the process)?” – Comment by Bobby

You are not alone to be worried about getting scammed or getting ripped off.

Just take a look at some of the words people look up every day:

Internet Scams
Email Scams
Home Business Scams
Work At Home Scams

You have thousands of people each and every day typing in words looking to see if something is a scam.  Its a huge fear that is real and alive in most people looking for a way to start any type of business online or off.

So the question is… how do you deal with that fear.

Do you let it cripple you and take no action?

Or

Is there a way to identify a scam or a ripoff so you dont get taken to the cleaners.

Now keep in mind… Ive been at this for 10 years now and ive seen a lot of business opportunities and here is my 2 cents on how to spot a blatant scam.

Scam Sniffer #1 – What do they promise.

Here is one I got today:

“Get $349,859.04 For A
One-Time Fee Of $29.99″

If you ever hear a blatant outright claim or guarantee that you WILL make money… then leave that site or meeting as fast as you can.  No one knows what you will make… no one can even specualte what you will make. Don’t buy it… as much as i would love to shell out $29.99 to get my $350K i know this is crap crap crap. 

Scam Sniffer #2 – Does the business model make sense.

All you have to do is tell 2 people…. when they tell 2 people and they tell 2 people and thier 2 people tell 2 people… you will be RICH RICH RICH!

I’m sure you have heard this before.  While it is true that you will make money by getting people to join a business opportunity you must look at the business model and see whats really going on there.

In september of 2001 i ran across a new company that sold replicated websites as a business opportunity… these websites were designed to get people to shop at 10,000 stores and we (the distributors) would make money.  At the meeting they boasted that the company had made over $20,000,000 that year and had over 40,000 distributors.

A quick look at the numbers told me a lot about thier business model.

$500 start up fee X 40,000 recruits = $20,000,000

So all their business was doing was generating money selling crapy little replicated sites with no real value at all.

Another one a friend keeps bugging me to join is one of these PAID TO SURF / Investment Plans.

Basically they wanted me to give them $12,000.  All i had to do was surf a few websites and they would pay me a percentage every day for a year.  At the end of the year i was supposed to make many times what i put in.  They covered the “investment” terms up by saying its buying advertising at $1 per click and its non refundable.  So all they have to do to suck my $12K is send me some bull crap traffic… and it was crappy traffic too… not one email resulted from my $50 free traffic package my friend so separately asked me to test.

This was a lousy cover up for a bad idea.

So why does this work. 

This works because people want to get huge payoffs for doing nothing.

Don’t buy it.

For More Scam Sniffers check out: Internet Marketing Scams Revealed

Ok so now lets look at some of the good things to look for:

- Look for honesty… is the company up front with you about earnings and expectations.

- Look at what you are buying… what do you get for your investment.  

I saw one company who was asking $997 to join them and they give you resell rights products.  So the real question is… what is the real value of the resell products… and can you sell them?  If they are not worth much (they werent, i saw them on other sites for $67) and you cant sell them… go somewhere else.

On the other hand… if its a decent learning program that is going to teach you how to start a business… this could be a good bet.  Just make sure the plan makes sense, seems ethical, and is something you want to do.

So many people buy stuff describing something they really don’t want to do.  If you dont have a desire to do the business you probably wont make it.

The moral of the story is to invest in yourself.

So next time someone comes up to you and says… pay $1500 and you can join my “Travel Discounts Business” where you can make money selling travel…

1. Look at what you get for $1500… do you just get in? do you get training? Do you get support? Are you going to learn anything?

2. Look at the business model… where is most the money comming from? Do they offer travel deals that compare to the other travel sites? Are they destinations people want to go to…. or do you have to email your friends something like “Special Discount To Guatilahara For 2 People $1950 if you go on the third tuesday of june at 6:30pm!” 

3. Is this something you want to sell… and something you can make decent money on?

4. Look at the alternatives… the major travel sites online have free affiliate programs where you get a percentage of what people buy.  DID you hear that… you can do the same thing without paying $1500!

So use common sense… invest in yourself first – Learn as much as you can.

One last little note:

You Dont Have To Do Anything RIGHT NOW!  Take your time… learn… research… then decide.

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