|
|
|
Family Matters: Easing the Transition to a Home Business
Ask any would-be entrepeneur why he or she wants to start a home based business and you'll get a wide variety of replies. Regardless of the reason, there's one thing for certain: starting a home business doesn't just affect you, the entrepreneur;...
Foreclosure Home Deals
Did you know that you can save tens of thousands of dollars on the purchase of your home by investing in a foreclosure or preforeclosure property? When you are trying to purchase a home for the first time, and you have limited resources and limited...
Home Based Business That Works
WORK FROM HOME
If you are one of the many of thousands of people who aspire to work from home full-time, it is important to understand the commitment and dedication a home based business requires. There are plenty of programs online today...
How to Tackle the Three Major Stresses Associated with Every Home-Based Business
Owning your own home-based business is by and large a very rewarding, exciting endeavor. You can set your own schedule, and be where you want, when you want. You can oftentimes forego the commute to a "regular job" and save money on gas and...
Start your own work at home business, by building your own Affiliate Website.
Here is a free 10 step program that will guide you through the steps to build and publish your own website.
Follow these easy 10 steps, and grab your part of the $54 million dollar internet boom. You can own an
incredible affiliate website of your...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Those Oh So Tempting Work at Home Ads
We've all seen those tempting work at home ads at one time or
another. And probably have even been tempted to call them. You
know the ones.
ˇ°Make $2000 a week stuffing envelopes in your homeˇ±
ˇ°Earn thousands of dollars per month - from home - processing
Medical Billing Claims. No experience required.ˇ±
Yet as tempting as they sounded, we tend to not call as
something in the ad just doesn't seem right. Unfortunately,
every day many people do call these ads and join the programs -
much to their financial detriment. While a small number of
ˇ°work at homeˇ± positions are legitimate, the vast majority are
designed to make money for the person running the ad, not the
person who is calling the ad. Those dreams of a good income
earned at home quickly become a nightmare of charges, fees,
supply costs and more. And after all that, no work that you can
get paid for ever materializes.
While there are scams covering the entire range of
possibilities, the most common of them fall into 3 broad
categories.
Medical Billing - The idea here is that you become an outsource
avenue for handling medical billing, chasing accounts
receivable, handling electronic insurance claims and more. And
the company tells you that they have trained sales staff
available to get you accounts. This business requires an
investment of anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000. For this, the
company will train you and provide you with materials that you
need to handle the processing. The pro at the other end of the
phone makes it sound really good as they explain how huge the
problem is and how much you can earn even with just a few small
account.
The reality in this opportunity though is anything but rosy.
Usually the promised sales help never appears and you are left
with getting clients on your own. And those few who even try to
give the business a go when they discover this fact usually quit
very quickly when they find out how much competition there is
for business and how much is locked into large and well
established firms.
Envelope Stuffing - The pitch here is that they will tell you
how to earn money stuffing envelopes. A fee must be paid for the
knowledge. The catch is that while they make the pitch, they
make it sound like they are selling you training materials for
an already lined up job. The reality is that they are generally
selling you a blueprint to go out and run the same sorts of ads
so that you can sell the same materials to others. In other
words, you get your own customers and then you sell them the
same info - run ads and sell the course.
Assembly/Craft Work - This type of activity sounds real good for
the handy person. The pitch
is pretty simple. You buy the
equipment and raw materials from the company, you assemble the
product and send it back assembled and the company will pay you
your costs plus a certain profit per item produced. The only
catch, and it is made to sound reasonable, is that the finished
goods must meet their quality standards for you to be paid.
As a conscientious crafter, you figure this is no big deal
because you do good quality work. The reality is that the
company will never find any of your items of good enough quality
for you to buy and you are left to market the goods on your own
if you want to recoup your investment. In other words, once they
sold you the machines and raw materials, they wipe their hands
of you.
Does this mean that all work at home jobs are scams? Not at all.
There are many legitimate work at home opportunities in the
above categories and in many others. But there are also many
scams out there and you need to protect yourself. And to do
that, you need to ask lots of questions and check out their
references before moving forward with any work at home
opportunity.
Questions you might ask include:
What are the specific tasks that you will perform?
Will you be paid on salary or a commission or per piece?
Who will actually be paying you?
When will you get your first paycheck?
What is the total cost to participate in the work at home
program? And what specifically do you get for you investment?
Do they have references that you can check out (i.e. other work
at home people you can call)?
Listen to the answers they give you and do some additional
checking - even if all the answers seem on the up and up. Be
sure to check with the Better Business Bureau, your state
Attorney General and any local consumer protection agency. If
you are up to a bit more snooping, enter their phone number in
the Google search engine and see what results you get. Also you
can go to the FTC website ( ) to research the
company to see if they have any complaints against them.
If, after doing all your due diligence, you feel the opportunity
is legitimate and is something you wish to participate in, go
for it. There are many good opportunities out there and many
folks earning very comfortable livings from their spare bedroom.
But if an opportunity just doesn't seem quite right for you,
pass on it. There are many more out there for you to explore.
About the author:
Steven Chabotte is a freelance writer about a variety of
subjects. If you have ever had a problem with a business
opportunity, be sure to check out the fine attorneys in your
state at http://www.myattorneyfinder.com
|
|
|
|
|
|