How many times have you heard about a great home business opportunity? Probably more than you care to remember. But to go along with this..... how many of these home business opportunities ended up being a scam? Again, probably quite a few. Hopefully, you were never the victim of any of these scams. But unfortunately there are others who probably fell for these "opportunities." The fact of the matter is that these scammers would not be wasting their time if they were not making any money. And as long as people continue to get mixed up in this business, these scammers are going to stick around to trick more and more people.
The best way to avoid a home business scam is to thoroughly research each opportunity before you move forward with it. This means doing much more than simply reading a bit about it online. You may get lucky and end up with a good home business opportunity, but chances are that you will not. Not only will you want to read what is available on the site itself, but you will also want to search for other information as well. Check with third party review sites and on message boards and forums. You may find out soon enough that a certain company has been reported as being nothing more than a scam.
If you want to do due diligence on a company, contact organizations that DO business with this company. If they're a member of the Direct Selling Association, see if they're in good standing.
Contact Dun & Bradstreet to see if they have a satisfactory credit rating. If they're a publicly traded company, go online and pull a financial report to see if the company is in good health.
You may also want to check with the Better Business Bureau if you are thinking about getting involved with a home business opportunity that you are not sure of. They will be able to tell you if they have any complaints on file. If they do, you will want to avoid the opportunity at all costs. But if it appears that a company is doing business the right way, you can continue your research.
Before you decide to do anything, attempt to get in touch with the company that you are interested in. Can you get them on the phone? Do they respond to your emails? If you cannot even talk to a company before you start, there is not a chance that they will be around when you need them. This is one test that you can run early on in order to ensure that you are dealing with a reputable company. If you do happen to get an employee on the phone ask them questions in order to get some feedback on the company. Anything that will give you better insight into the home business opportunity is a good question.
Also, examine the types of people who are part of a business you are interested in as well. Do they seem legitimate and eager to share their excitement and success with others or are they just pushing X Y or Z opportunity down your throat? There are certain business in our industry that are geared toward personal development and true success - not getting rich in the next 30 days.
You can tell a lot about a company by the other companies it does business with too. You can also tell a lot about a company by the types of people it attracts.
Overall, home business scams are all over the place. Do your part in putting them out of business by not falling prey. The best way to do this is through extensive research and questioning. As a general rule avoid any and all start up programs especially the ones that promise you the moon and stars and tout "You Do Not Need To Do ANY THING to Make Money". I guarantee there's no such opportunity that will make you money without any effort on your part. If it were so, the promoters would not need you to join them! Also be aware of advertising scams. Yes they are out there.... and they prey on the fact that most people that get involved in MLM or Home based businesses do not like to recruit. Their game plan is to promise to build your downline for a fee but they never deliver!
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