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Maybe the reason you're
interested in setting up a home business is because you've
seen an ad that perked your interest or you were
approached by a friend or colleague about a great home
business money-making opportunity and those
entrepreneurial juices started to flow. Your imagination
starts to flow and dreams of quitting your job fill your
every thought.
Hello, hey, ok... time to
stop dreaming. I hate to burst your bubble or stop your
fantasy ride but before you give your boss a piece of your
mind there's a few things you need to consider.
First, you need to realize
that probably 99% of all home business / work from home
offers out there are flat out scams. After all, if it was
that easy to pay a few dollars and make thousands,
wouldn't everyone be doing it by now and why tell you
about it?
Below I've listed and
briefly discussed how to recognize and avoid a few of the
biggest scams out there.
Location... Location...
Location Check out every offer and assume it's a scam
until you have iron-clad proof that it's not. A few things
to consider are: Where did you see that work from home
offer? If you got it by traditional mail or by email or
saw it on a poster taped around a telephone pole, then I
can guarantee you right now that it's not a legitimate
offer. On the other hand, if you saw the ad in a
newspaper, in a jobs magazine or on a jobs website, then
it's a little more likely to be legit - but not
necessarily.
Envelope Stuffing Will this
scam ever end? Well, not until people stop falling for it.
This is the most established work-from-home scam of all
time and it's been going on for what seems like forever
now. How it works is that once you pay your money and sign
up to work from home, you are sent a set of envelopes and
ads just like the one you responded to. The whole idea is
to simply get names of people who are interested in home
business ops and get a quick buck. You could make a little
money if you mail to the right mailing list but don't
count it. Work from home offers like this are simply
illegal pyramid schemes. You will not make money putting
letters into envelopes - so get over it and move on!
Shoddy Supplies The
practice of charging for supplies is hard to pin down to
any one scam - it's a common most work-at-home scams work
(including the envelope stuffing scam mentioned above).
You'll be asked to make a minimal "investment"
for whatever materials will be needed to do the work and
then you'll receive a collection of very shoddy materials
that are worth a fraction of what you paid for them and
last but not least you'll soon realize that there was
never a market for work anyway.
Don't walk - run... if
anyone asks for money upfront. Any company worth it's salt
would be willing to deduct any "fees" from your
first paycheck. Any company not willing to do that, is in
all likely-hood simply out to scam you into giving them
some upfront money and then as the saying goes...
"leaving dodge" as quickly as possible.
Working for Free This
variation on the scam is common with crafts. You might be
asked to work from home making clothes, ornaments or toys.
Everything appears to be legitimate - you received
materials without paying any money and you're doing the
work. Unfortunately for you, when you send the work back,
the company will tell you that it didn't meet their
"quality standards" and will refuse to pay you.
They will then sell what you've provided and move on to
the next sucker.
Never do craft type work
from home unless you're selling the items yourself.
Remember, you don't need to restrict your sales to
consumers only... you could also be selling to
wholesalers. The bottom line is this, you need to be the
one deciding what you make and then collect the money
yourself.
Medical Billing, Typing
From Home and More Many work-from-home scams involve
persuading you that some industry has more work to do than
it can handle and so it has to outsource to people like
you, working from home. For example, you might be told
that you'll be typing legal documents or entering medical
bills into an electronic database. These scams have one
thing in common - they all say that all you need is a
computer and they go on to explain that all you need to do
to make big bucks is to buy some "special
software".
The software is package so
it appears to be from a completely unrelated company, but
don't be fooled - the whole purpose behind this so-called
opportunity is to simply sell you the over-priced and
worthless software. And of course, once you open and load
the software on your computer you will never get your
money back because that's how all software guarantees
work. Once you break the seal you own it.
Starting your own home
based business is a dream that millions of people have and
it's a legitimate and worthy endeavor. Unfortunately, the
crooks out there know this and they play on these desires
and so you need to be very cautious. And remember,
starting a home business that involves "working"
for another company isn't the best idea even if they offer
a completely legitimate opportunity. The reason is because
even if they do pay you for your work, you still won't
earn anywhere near the income could if you were to start a
home-based business where you created your own product or
service. So why even bother with these outside companies
at all?
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