What to avoid when choosing a home business opportunity @HelenLindop


It’s no surprise that there are scammers looking to take your money in return for business opportunities that don’t exist. And of course, you should run a mile from those.

But there are plenty of entirely legal business opportunities that are simply poor value for money.  By that I mean that most people buying the opportunity will make little more than pocket money. The few people who are doing well for themselves will be used as the case studies given to potential new recruits – after all, that are just good marketing. The problem is that often their stories don’t show the reality for the vast majority of the people who sign up. If you dig a little deeper, you’ll often find that the successful few have a background in sales, which is a huge advantage.

You could argue that a high failure rate is to be expected if people are buying into these business opportunities with little or no business experience and are only working part time. But I don’t think that’s good enough. If a business opportunity is being offered to you at a price, you should have a decent chance of success providing you work hard.

If you see the following clues, be on your guard:

- “Anyone can do it” – actually, not everyone has what it takes to succeed as a self-employed person.

- “Everyone needs to buy these” (e.g. consumables like household cleaners, gas or electricity) – true, but that usually means your competition will be fierce.

- The founder of the scheme being presented as an ordinary housewife – Look closely and she’ll often have run businesses before. True, she may be working part time for a few years while she brings up her kids- but is it likely that you can replicate this success with your own skills and experience?

- “I’ll be your partner in…” – you SHOULD get support and training but always keep in mind that you are a customer and you are being sold to. You’re not an equal partner in the usual business sense.

- Using the lifestyle as a selling point – “I get to travel the world and earn money at the same time” – if you’re starting a business, your focus should be on what you have of value that your customers want to buy. Keep in mind that this ‘lifestyle’ tactic is putting you firmly in the customer role when you need to be thinking like a business owner.

- “I’m working flexibly around my kids and loving it!” – Great, but are you earning more than minimum wage?

- Any suggestion that you can earn a full-time income by working part-time hours. This is possible, but it usually takes a few years of hard work (minimum) to build up to this point. And only a relatively small number of people have the stamina, mind set and skills to do it. Are you one of the few?

- “No hard sell, just sell to your family and friends” – do you want to be hassling your family and friends on a regular basis to buy these products? Will they want to buy these products?

- Any business where you just have to follow a series of steps to guaranteed success. It’s never that simple.

These tactics are NOT definitive signs that you’re about to be ripped off, but they are indicators that you should keep your eyes open, read between the lines, check the small print and definitely Google the company to see what others are saying about it. It can be hard to tell a good opportunity from a poor value one and you do need to do your homework.

If you’re tired of hypey, poor value home business opportunities, take a look at The Fast Start Up course and Community . I think you’ll find it a refreshing change!

 

 


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