Home Based Business: Three Crucial Things To Avoid If You Want To Succeed

My assumption is that you’re reading this article because you’re looking for a way to change (some would use the word ’escape’) your current situation. Boring job, glass ceiling, stupid boss, office politics, no time for the family, credit card debt, second mortgage, no money for a much needed (or wanted) new car or vacation.

The bad news is that anything good and exciting (like the Gold Rush of the Old West, or the current one on the Internet) will attract the snake oil merchants of the world who are looking to cash in by taking advantage of people who are fool enough to believe their claims. “A fool and his money are soon parted,” and sadly, too many people these days part with their hard-earned money by falling prey to unscrupulous Internet predators.

What I’m going to share with you now are three crucial things to avoid in a home based business opportunity IF you want to find a good one, a legitimate one, one you will be proud of, one that will be straightforward and relatively simple to build, one that will change your life for the better, forever. These are three of the “secrets” that the snake oil vendors don’t want you to know.

1. AVOID bad marketing strategies
You want to make sure the team you are working with has a real marketing strategy in place that anyone can duplicate - a foolproof system that ANYONE can plug into and get results with. If you have to figure out how to generate your own leads or if the company relies mostly on you recruiting family members or friends (or strangers using the three-foot rule) or on purchased leads or newspaper advertising, RUN. RUN FAST! If you don’t have a reliable way of getting quality prospects in front of what you are offering you cannot be successful long term.

Really good marketing strategies that actually are proven to work are difficult to find. This is usually the weak link in many home based business opportunities. So look closely.

2. AVOID the pass-up sales deals
Make sure you don’t have to pass up any sales as part of a qualification system. You should be in a money-making position from day one. This is critical. Every time you make a sale you should be able to earn a profit - right out of the gate! That's an important element that will help you build a successful home business.

The problem with the pass-up sales deals is this: you start by spending, for example, $1,500 to get in the business (possibly charged to one of your credit cards). Then you spend the next two, three, four weeks working your butt off to market the opportunity, and you disburse another $500 to $800 on marketing. Then you finally find someone who wants to start and you have to pass him up to your sponsor. You’re now $2,300 deeper in debt and you have not made a penny yet.

Chances are you might end up spending another thousand or two before you FINALLY sign up your own first associate and make your first commission. Unfortunately, many people will give up before that happens, and they will retreat with their tail between their legs (and a huge credit card bill) while their sponsor (who did not spend a penny on marketing to make those two or three sales) laughs all the way to the bank.

3. AVOID convoluted compensation plans
Three things to watch out for:
Watch out for compensation plans that are so complex they require that you fill five placemats at the restaurant with circles and arrows to try and explain to your befuddled prospect how he will / might get paid… someday… maybe…

Watch out for plans that require “X” number of points, or credits, or XBVYZs (or any other combination of letters no one can remember or explain) to qualify for your check. As the ex-president of an MLM company told me recently, those plans are designed so that most distributors won’t qualify and the money will either roll up to the “leaders” (which explains why THEY make so much money) or it will not be paid to anyone, helping the company make astronomical profits.

Watch out for plans where it takes 1,000 people under you to make a decent monthly income. That makes it very hard, if not impossible, to build a successful home business.

Going back to the lotions, potions and miracle juices companies, another problem with those opportunities is that they only pay about 2% to 15% so many levels deep. They will tell you that when you fill the matrix, you won’t have to do anything and you’ll be making $20k to $40k a month. The truth is there are so many loopholes to their compensation plans that nobody ever reaches those levels. You either will have too many people on your left, but not enough on your right side to earn the higher level payouts. They tell you that you need more personal volume but your group volume is fine, or vice versa. Or my favorite, you had “fallout” this month, so you no longer qualify for that car bonus they promised you.

[There are actually 10 things you should really avoid if you want to succeed with a home business. You can find out about the other seven (including ‘soapboxing’, front-end loading and non-responsive sponsors) by going to the website in the resource box below. You will find there many informative articles on how to choose a good income opportunity and how to build one into a successful work at home business.]

In conclusion, think of the Internet as the Wild West of the nineteenth century. There are some really good opportunities out there in cyberspace, BUT unfortunately there are also a lot of snake oil merchants. Do your due diligence and you will find a legitimate home based business that over time will allow you to earn a solid residual income from the comfort of your home, and finally live the lifestyle that you and your loved ones desire and deserve. It CAN be done; we (my wife and I) are living proof of that.

Daniel G. St-Jean, BB, eBB, CWCC
(BizzBooster, eBizzBooster, Certified Wealth-Creation Consultant)

P.S. If you know some friends ‘in need’ who could benefit from reading this article, why not email it to them now? They’ll appreciate it. Wouldn’t you?

Need more money? Want more free time, more control over your life? Daniel G. St-Jean & Laurel R. Simmons (The BizzBoosters) run a very successful home based business that helps a LOT of frustrated people escape the rat race and live the Richer Life they desire and deserve. Please visit their website at http://www.MoreMoneyMoreTimeForLife.biz where you can read more informative articles under the tab More Information. Need help building your business - any business? Get your FREE copy of their bestselling eBook WHY Should They Do Business With YOU? at http://www.HelpForHomeBusinessSuccess.com