homebusiness

Ever wonder why so many of the latest new business ideas only LOOK or SOUND like the latest new business ideas…until you actually find out what they actually are?

I’m talking mainly about a rash of home business training courses that promise you amazing software that will be your instant ticket to wealth. But if you’ve bought any of these courses lately you’ve undoubtedly discovered that these products:

Aren’t new at all.
Aren’t at all what they said they were on the sales pages.
Are possibly even the EXACT same product as ANOTHER product you bought that had a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT sales page.

Many people – possibly even you – are unspectingly being sold the EXACT SAME product over and over and over again. But are led to believe that they are getting a “brand new”, “never before seen” product.

They aren’t.

Of course, what’s so terribleis so many people are willing to deceive you in this way and send you to misleading…and sometimes even illegal sales pages!

The diagram on this page explains exactly how this all is happening

A person creates a product and licenses it to SEVERAL other people to sell. In the diagram you can see the “Licensor” licensing “Product A” to 5 DIFFERENT Licensees (people who have purchased the rights to sell Product A).
Each licensee creates their OWN unique sales page to sell Product A
Each licensee then pays a percentage of each sale to affiliate marketers to sell Product A.

Here’s the problem:

Purchase 1.

Let’s say someone claims that they have a “great product to recommend to you” and then send you a link to a sales page for that product. You go to a sales page created/developed by Licensee #1. The sales letter doesn’t really tell you what the product is, but the sales letter sounds convincing, so you order.

After you order you get “Product A”. You hate Product A because it’s not at all what the sales letter made it sound like it would be. So you refund the product.

Purchase 2.

A week or so later someone claims that they have a “great product to recommend to you”. Maybe they even claim, “This product is so secret it’s never been seen before!” They send you to a link to a sales page for that product. You go to that sales page and it’s a DIFFERENT sales page than the previous one. So, of course you assume that if you order you will get a different product than the one you ordered last time – and refunded.

But lo and behold, after you order…AGAIN you get “Product A”. Since you already know you hate Product A you immediately refund it.

Purchase 3.

Maybe an entire month goes by this time. Again you get a link from someone who claims they have a “money making product that will make every other product ever sold obsolete” Wow. Sounds impressive. There’s NO WAY it could be that same product – Product A – that you hated so much and already refunded twice.

So you go to this NEW sales page and again it’s DIFFERENT than the two previous sales pages. And it can’t be Product A (the one you hated so much) because you’ve been promised that this new product will make every other money making product ever sold obsolete.

So you order and you are stunned, angered, and outraged…it’s “Product A” again!

Get the idea? Are you outraged yet?

Needless to say, this can keep going on over and over and over and over again. And the people recommending this ridiculous nonsense don’t care – because they know that a huge number of people will either:

Never look at the product and find out it’s the same one they ordered last time.
Finally get around to looking at the product – but discover too late (after the refund period) that it’s the exact same product they ordered last time.
Convince themselves that buying the product was a good idea even though they know that the product is nothing at all like what was described on the sales page.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions about this explanation or the diagram below, feel free to post your questions in the comments section and I’ll answer them.

If you’re looking for real money making ideas you’re obviously not alone. There are millions of people everyday looking for real money making ideas who are convinced that amidst all of the nonsense, scams, and confusing messages they will be able to find ways to generate income that will work for them.

Many of you have asked me who you can trust and I’ve suggested to you that you need to learn to trust yourself and your own opinions. Now, I can tell you who I believe will give you better information on making money than others – and I’ll do that in this post. But even that information I give is based on the general demographics of this site – but as corny as it might sound each one of you is unique and bring your own unique experience, talents, and personalities to the table.

If you only follow my advice or anyone elses advice for that matter you truly could end up selling yourself short. I’ve had several people that I’ve met through WorkAtHomeTruth.com who have done extremely well in ways I never would have thought of. I’ve met a person who went on to have an incredibly successful translation career. I’ve met a fellow who built over 400 niche websites within 18 months (and what he did NOT do is spend thousands of dollars on expensive “guru” products). I’ve met a person who started as a low level worker in the field of search engine optimization who went on to build his own company of 54 workers. But their success had nothing to do with ME or my advice…it had to do with their own ability to learn to trust themselves, strong motivation, the ability to network intelligently and as always, some amount of luck.

Learn What To Stay Away From As Well As What MIGHT Work For You

The other thing to keep in mind is that there are only ideas that can increase your odds of making money. There is NO guaranteed money making idea anywhere. If someone tells you otherwise, run away…fast. Scammers count on people believing in magic bullets and guaranteed wealth.

With that out of the way here are some ways for you to start developing your own ideas and filters about what you should definitely stay away from and what might work for your own background, talents, and personality when it comes to making money on your own.

Work At Home Scam Educational Resources:

Robbing You With A Keyboard Instead Of A Gun - This is a book by my friend Lynn Edgington who works with an Assigned Federal Agent from the Secret Service as well 3 U.S. Postal Inspectors and has helped to take down a large number of very big financial scams including ASD Cash Generator, Pedro Dispenza/Peter Roor & Heleen Potman Poor (responsible for Oxford Club and many other scams estimated to be potentially near the billion dollar mark), InetGlobal/Adpacks (Steve Renner), Regenisis2x2, and too many others for me to list here. I contributed the chapter on work at home scams.
Bizop.ca - especially The Bizop News & The Franchise News
BobBear.co.uk – Directory of fake websites involved in money laundering and reshipping fraud.
Business Opportunity Watch – This site is financed by you, instead of by biz opp ads and commission links. Does EXTENSIVE and unique analysis of business opportunities.
ConsumerAction.gov - Consumer Actional Handbook
FakeChecks.org - Created by the National Consumers Leage (NCL), the nation’s oldest nonprofit consumer organization, as a central source of information and advice about fake check scams.
FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection – The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection works for the consumer to prevent fraud, deception, and unfair business practices in the marketplace.
FraudWatchIternational.com – Specializes in phishing fraud prevention. Includes free alert service.
How To File Consumer Complaints (and ways to possibly get your money back)
OnguardOnline.gov – provides practical tips from the federal government and the technology industry to help you be on guard against Internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information.
PatrickPretty.com - Covers Ponzi Schemes, pyramid schemes, securities fraud, investment fraud and Internet crime.
RealScam.com - Fraud fighting forum
SaltyDroid.info (R rated for language) – a controversial, useful, in-your-face site that can help you to think for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
WorkAtHomeTruth.com (the site you’re on) – especially the Not Recommended section here.

Resources for Money Making Ideas Online And At Home

Note, theses are my lists of places I like to check out. Hopefully over time you will develop your own lists based on your own abilities, talents, and personality.

Business oriented

These are listed these in alphabetical order.

Update 5/22/2011: Affilorama has been REMOVED from the list of recommended sites.

48 Hour Report blog – Run by Jason Fladien. Various marketing and money making tips. Most recently known for his popular post Stay Away From These Products.
AbsoluteWrite.com – Writer’s site. Especially the writer’s forum here.
Arindam Chackraborty – Definitely follow his blog and sign up for his email list (which will notify you of new blog posts). He puts out some really great material for anyone interested in online business ideas and techniques.
Business.gov - Extremely heplful government site to help you understand licensing requirements, etc. for your home business. There is also a forum at http://community.business.gov.
Don and Jeremy – Internet Marketing Blog - Warning (R-rated language at times). No holds barred – tell it like its product reviews and internet marketing training.
Earn1KAday Blog - Run by Dennis Becker. Various marketing and money making tips.
ExtraIncomeForAll.com (low cost membership site of a large number of money making ideas) – run by Shawn Swinigan. I’ve also contributed quite a few ideas to the site now.
FastCompany.com – reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility.
FastCompany.com videos – Fast Company videos on YouTube
IveTriedThat.com - Run by Steve Wrzeszczynki. Also does some nice scam write-ups along with great experiments having other people try products out.
MakeUseOf.com - Cool websites, software and Internet tips.
Michael Brown Internet Marketing Blog - advice and thoughts on business and growth.
NicheWisdom.com - Run by Matt Levenhagen. Various marketing and money making tips.
ReadWriteWeb.com – ReadWriteWeb is a popular weblog that provides Web Technology news, reviews and analysis, covering web apps, web technology trends, social networking and social media.
RyanHealy.com – Blog about business growth strategies.
SBA.gov – The Small Business Association.
SEOBook.com – an enormous amount of free information about search engine optimization.
SparkPlugging.com – provides extensive information and resources for home based entrepreneurs and those who want to become home based entrepreneurs.
Stump Markus - Useful information and often complete money making ideas presented at no charge. Note: I’ve known Markus a long time and believe he often leaps to conclusions about fraud without connecting the dots properly – having said that, he took a stand against many online hucksters WAY before it was the “in thing” to do.
TechCrunch – a leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news.
TED: Ideas worth spreading – TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) makes the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free.
Tiffany Dow’s blog - does outstanding product reviews. Note: her Work At Home Truths book came out well after WorkAtHomeTruth.com – but is just a coincidence.
White Hat Crew – with Antone Roundy. Extensive, free, helpful information about internet marketing.
Wired.com – coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, politics, and culture
WorkAtHomeNoScams.com – run by Eddy Salomon. Various money making ideas, including freelance and job listings.

Freelance And Telecommuting (Home Job) Oriented

Note, it is extremely difficult to find a home job that is like a regular job. Most online positions are freelance positions where you are an independent contractor responsible for your own taxes and benefits.

You should also keep in mind that many low level (easy) jobs are often done over sees these days by people willing to work for as little as $2.00 per hour or even $2.00 per day sometimes. In other words, if you see a job listing claiming you can make a lot of money doing “easy work at home” don’t believe it.

That said, here is my list of places to look for Freelance & Telecommuting Positions. These places are places that are geared towards pretty much any type of work. If you are in a specific industry and are looking for a site to find freelance work you can ask in the comment section below.

These are listed in alphabetical order:

Best Of Fivver - a blog which features gig reviews and actual work samples from users of the popular microjob site.
Elance.com – popular site where businesses go to find freelance workers of all kinds.
FlexJobs.com – has a trained staff of real people that scour thousands of online resources for jobs – such as invidual employer websites, industry blogs, reliabe public job boards, and online newspaper calssifieds for all of the most current postings that involve some level of telecommuting and online work. Their staff is trained to weed out scams, thus saving you time.
HomeJobStop.com - The HomeJobStop Job Bank is an active job board specializing in home jobs and freelance work listings. Again, the site weeds out scams to save you time.
International Virtual Associations Association (IVAA) – The International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the professional education and development of members of the virtual assistance profession.
IveTriedThat.com – offers a free, 45 paidguide that shows you where and how to find real work at home jobs and freelance work.
MysteryShop.org – The Mystery Shopping Providers Association. This is the most reliable place to get information about mystery shopping opportunities.
ODesk.com - another popular site where businesses go to find freelance workers with almost any background you can think of. It’s also a good place to get a “reality check” of how little some workers are willing to be paid for basic tasks which can show you why the sites that claim you can make big money doing “easy jobs” are lying to you.
RatRaceRebellion.com – Launched the pioneering virtual careers training company, StaffCentrix in 1999. They post free job leads and resources at the RatRaceRebellion.com site. Founder, Chris Durst appears regularly on CNN as an Internet Fraud and Safety Expert.
TelCoa.org – The Telework Coalition. Enables and supports the advancement of virtual, mobile, and distributed work through research, education, technology,and legislation.
WAHM.com – has a good forum where you can often get feedback from people about specific companies.
WorkAtHomeTruth.com – there’s a telecommuting to to help you search for legitimate home jobs and freelance work at http://www.workathometruth.com/TelecommutingTool.php

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