The
selection process should focus on reality (there is no "magic" in home
based businesses) and reject any so-called "opportunities" that seem
too good to be true.
It was back in 2001 when I started looking for viable work at home
opportunities. It was a time consuming process, but in retrospect, I
give myself a pat on the back every month when I cash the check from my
home based business. The primary purpose of this article is to perhaps
help others make their selection with a little less time and effort
than I had to expend.
Having spent many years running traditional "bricks and mortar" type
businesses, I didn't buy for one second the numerous heavily hyped, or
worse yet, scam operations that touted the instant and fantastic riches
that could be achieved (often with little or no effort required). While
doing my research as to which business I would eventually pursue, this
type of claim became an instant
trigger for me to move on to check out some other "opportunity".
I mean, give me a break, if those claims were close to being true, why
would they share their "secret" with anyone else? They would just
execute their "magic system" and in short order would have made all the
money that exists in the world...yeah, right!
In the course of my investigations, a few other natural filters
surfaced to help me narrow down the realistic and legitimate
opportunities from among the far too numerous unfounded offers. Early
on, I determined that the "get in on the ground floor" offers were
essentially smoke. After all, if I wanted to take a chance on the
lottery, I would have purchased a ticket. Because of my business
management experience, it soon became clear to me that three of the
primary factors that would influence my choice would be:
*successful longevity (how long has this particular company been successfully doing business?)
*reasonable income expectations touted by the top management of the company offering the opportunity.
*support systems and training resources available to help the participants succeed.
One thing that really struck home with me was a statement made by the
founder of the company that I eventually selected for my home based
business. It went something like the following:
"Hardly a day goes by that I don’t hear from an affiliate questioning
why he or she is not seeing a big check yet. More times than not, the
person asking hasn’t even been involved for more than 90 days and is
only barely beginning to even understand how the whole system works.
And frankly, even if the number was six months, it’s still much too
early to be expecting a significant income stream to have developed.
I always say that if you’re not willing to give a business at least a
year, don’t even bother getting involved. You need to understand that
it takes time to get to know all the nuances of the compensation plan.
It takes time to determine which products you want to lead with. It
takes time to develop a game plan. It takes time to figure out what
marketing activities deliver the biggest bang for the buck. Anything
worthwhile takes sustained effort. If you’re not thinking long term,
you’ve set yourself up for failure."
To sum it up, the selection process should focus on reality (there is
no "magic" in home based businesses) and reject any so-called
"opportunities" that seem too good to be true.
