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 It takes careful planning to build
your home based business. Avoiding costly mistakes
beforehand will prevent you from losing valuable time and
money invested. In this day and age, business scams are
lurking everywhere. So how do we keep ourselves from
falling prey to becoming victims?
1) Research- It sounds so simple, doesn't it? You
would be surprised how many people just jump into a
business without researching a company's background. The
Better Business Bureau offers background information and
reliability reports on many companies. Not all companies
may be listed unless the company is a member of the BBB or
an individual has filed a complaint. It never hurts to
try, and it only takes a few minutes. http://search.bbb.org/search.html
If a company is listed, then you will get a general idea
of how long the company has been in business and whether
or not there have been complaints, reports, or resolutions
to any complaints filed. The BBB also has a section on
current scams at http://www.bbb.org/alerts/Scam.asp.
These are not just business scams, but the information is
extremely useful.
2) False claims- Does the company make claims that
just "sound too good to be true"? You know how
the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true,
then it probably is. Amazingly enough, there are a number
of people on the Internet who are lured into believing all
the "hype". Why does this happen? Because we
want so badly to believe that what is written has to be
true. We want that "quick fix" or "quick
income stream". I'm not saying that the quick income
stream isn't always possible, but you have to know your
stuff! If you are a newbie at affiliate marketing or
online business building, that "quick fix" just
isn't going to happen. It's a learning process. I've been
working on my business for 5 years, and I'm still learning
things every day.
3) Contact information- Does the business have
contact information available on their site? Can you call
them? Do they have a physical address? A legitimate
business will have that information posted on their site
in an easy to find spot.
4) Ethical business practices- The Direct Marketing
Association has posted a set of guidelines for Ethical
Business Practice at http://www.the-dma.org/guidelines/ethicalguidelines.shtml.
These guidelines include such things as:
*terms of the offer
*advance consent marketing
*special offers and claims
*marketing to children
*sweepstakes sites
*fulfillment of orders
*collecting personal information and data on your website
*online marketing
*telephone marketing
*fund-raising
*laws, codes, and regulations
Know what to look for beforehand.
5) Does the company offer goods or services?
Legitimate businesses will offer some type of goods or
services for any fees they charge. A company that claims
you can make money by recruiting new members is an illegal
pyramid scheme. If the company charges a fee, they must
offer some type of service or product. Two great websites
on fraud are the Internet Fraud Watch www.fraud.org
and the National Consumer's League at www.nclnet.org.
6) Ask, Ask, Ask! If you do a search on business
forums or discussion boards, what will you find? Thousands
of websites where you can post and ask questions about
business. Chances are that the opportunity you are
interested in has already been discussed many times over.
Seek the opinions of other people who are building a home
based business. The advice is priceless and well worth
your search efforts.
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