Selecting Your Work At Home Business Opportunity
by Kirk Bannerman
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Published on this site: January 2004 - See
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I started looking for viable work at
home opportunities back in 2001. 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 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.
Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business
and resides in California. For more details, visit his website
at http:/business-at-home.us
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